Złota kaczka w pięciu smakach. Warszawska legenda i jej rekontekstualizacje

Abstract

The text narrates the story of the printed edition of Andrzej Słowaczyński’s vaudeville Chłopiec studukatowy, which was the first to include the golden duck legend. It reconstructs the cultural and topographical context of the 1830 performance in Teatr Rozamitości in Warsaw (Variety Theater), and traces its phonological paradoxes. The vaudeville parodied Ferdinand Raimund’s Chłop milionowy, and today it remains a valuable testimony of both urban and regional folklore. Additionally, it exposes the social-spatial perceptions of the 19th-century Varsovians. Paradoxically, Chłopiec studukatowy owes its resulting commercial success to the literary, albeit cursory interpretations of the legend which followed.