“A few days ago, Rudolf went out to the toilet in the middle of the night and saw how his father, King Henry – in only his dressing gown – was descending the stairs to somewhere. Even though Rudolf desperately needed the toilet (and this almost turned out badly), he couldn’t resist spying, and so silently as a ghost he went down to the bottom after his father. And he could not believe his eyes. Henry was playing with precious stones of all possible colours, just like Dynda played with his building blocks. Rudolf didn’t see any more, because he had to run to the toilet, but the next morning he told Karolina. And of course, she didn’t believe him. “Hogwash,” she said (even if it’s forbidden for princesses to talk like that).
But the very next day, Kuba, the son of a miner, said that their father, the king, was rumoured to be greedy.”

Published by Meander press in the Modrý slon edition, 2011. The book is illustrated by Matěj Forman and Josefína Formanová.
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Narrated by: Matěj Samec
Recorded by: Jan Sedláček, Mr Wombat
Audio post-production: Jonáš Richter
Musical accompaniment: Markéta Lisá
Illustrations: David Bohm

Jiří Stránský
(1931-2019) was a prose writer, poet, scriptwriter, playwright, columnist, translator and scout. In the years 1992-1996 he was the president of the Czech Centre of PEN International. Under the totalitarian communist regime he was persecuted and twice imprisoned, spending a total of eight years in labour camps in the Jáchymov uranium mines. In addition to his now renowned books written in prison (THE LAND GONE WILD, AUCTION and HAPPINESS) and his prose works (FLIGHT, SILENT POST, STAŘEC A SMRT, TONES) and his collection of poetry BEHIND THE FENCE, he also published the children’s books STORIES FOR KLARA, POVÍDAČKY PRO MOJE SLUNCE and PEARLS. For his many years of work for the scouting movement, his life lived according to the Scout Oath and his lifelong example to others, he received the highest award of the Scout Association – the Silver Wolf Award.

Supported by the Prague City Council and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.