Torun – 4

This story focuses on the unfair treatment of a child, Janko, a peasant child, who becomes fascinated by the sounds of fiddles from a nearby manor house. He tries to sneak into the manor to touch them, but he is captured, sentenced to a whipping and dies from his injuries. This rather sad story of a peasant boy dying from a thrashing imposed by the authorities contrasts sharply with the hero of the folktale who becomes the saviour of a whole town. 

On the northern side of the main square at ul Chelminska there’s a statue of the comic-strip dog Filuś with his owner Professor Filutek’s umbrella leaning against a lamppost. This comic strip was created by Zbigniew Lengren a Polish cartoonist and illustrator. He was awarded the “Order of Smile” an international award given by children to adults distinguished in their love, care, and aid for children. The idea of the Order of the Smile was established in 1968 by the Polish magazine Kurier Polski. In 1979 the Secretary-General of the United Nations Kurt Waldheim officially recognized the Order of the Smile as an international ‘order’. You will not be too surprised to read that JK Rowling has also been recognised by the Order of Smile.