France
Foreign Book
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The iconic children’s book Michka was written by Marie Colmont and illustrated by F. Rojankovsky in 1941. It follows the adventures of a stuffed animal named Michka and conveys a beautifully humble moral, interweaving a magical world of little animals with a tale of Christmas spirit.

Elisabeth is Michka’s “jeune maîtresse,” an old-fashioned way of saying that she’s the stuffed animal’s owner. Elisabeth is described as “une méchante petite fille” who can quite aggressively “elle vous secouât” (shake you) and “vous jetât” (throw you), “tant pis s’il lui restait une de vos pattes dans la main” (even if one of your paws is left in her hand). Elisabeth is “une petite fille impérieuse et maussade” (a bossy and sullen little girl), whereas Michka is “…un petit ours. En peluche.” Descriptions of him are quite brief, as he is tiny and devoid of immediately apparent personality traits. These passages are written in the “passé anterieur” tense, because Elisabeth’s actions happen before Michka’s great escape. This tense was also common in old-fashioned literary styles.

"This book conveys a beautifully humble moral, interweaving a magical world of little animals with a tale of Christmas spirit."

Eventually, Michka runs away from this tyrannical little girl and sets off to the snowy outdoors. “Or, depuis bien cinq minutes, un roitelet le suivait” (Then, a little goldcrest bird immediately starts following him). The conjunction “or” is quite popular in fairy tales, synonymous to “alors” (then). The goldcrest is a great prankster, described as a “farceur,” who loves to “moquent de vous” (make fun of you). The little bird plays a joke on Michka, hiding from the stuffed animal and exclaiming “Piou! Piou!” when Michka finally catches him.

Michka enjoys his life outside so much that, on multiple occasions, he exclaims, “J’amais plus je ne serai un jouet, ça, non!” The “ça, non” is a double emphasis, remarking how much Michka never wants to be a toy ever again. After enjoying a pot of honey, he overhears a conversation between “deux oies sauvages” (two wild geese) perched on “la cime de l’arbre” (the top of a tree). Their first words are “Can can,” which is the French onomatopoeia for geese. These geese later become the chorus, expressing the moral of the book. They say that, this time of the year, one must “aider son sembable” (help his or her fellow person), “secourir les malheureux” (save the unfortunate), and “réparer les injustices” (repair injustices).

Michka heeds this sage advice when he encounters “une renne” (a reindeer) pulling a sleigh with presents. He offers to help deliver them, and so the story goes on to tell of how “Michka s’amusait comme un fou” (Michka was having the time of his life delivering the packages). Both get to the last poor-looking hut with a sick child in it. They are out of presents, so Michka offers himself as the final present, as his good deed for Christmas. He shakes off his sadness at losing his freedom with a “soupir” (sigh) and “embrassa d’un coup d’oeil la champagne” (hugs the countryside goodbye with a last glance).