The golden goblet; Raduga Publishers, 1987

The author of this book is the well-known Soviet poet and prose writer, Kayum Tangrykuliev. If you and I were to decide to pay him a visit, we would first have to climb aboard a train, or better still, an airplane, and fly far to the south of the Soviet Union, to sunny, hot Turkmenia.

This is a fascinating land. Alongside the bright-colored cars and trucks on the city streets you can see the proud camel plodding along, or the donkey with its large sad eyes. Growing in the fields you will find cotton, from which lovely materials are woven which are then used to make clothing for young and old. And the orchards are filled with every kind of luscious fruit imaginable: bright red apples, brown pears, pomegranates packed full of ripe seeds, vines laden with juicy grapes, apricots, and even almonds. Enormous melons of all shapes and sizes are ripening in the fields. All these delicious and healthful fruits are cultivated by the Turkmen people. Much dedicated labor goes into planting, watering and tending them, and harvest time also calls for no small effort.

It is about all this that Kayum Tangrykuliev writes. He was born and raised in a Turkmen village not far from the Kara Kum desert. Since a young age he helped out his parents in the fields and orchards. And he saw with his own eyes how a new river- the Kara Kum canal - was cut across barren wasteland, and the arid desert sands transformed into green fields and flowering orchards. Young Kayum was filled with the desire to tell this story to other boys and girls.

For twenty-five years now children from the various Soviet republics and many countries abroad have been enjoying Kayum Tangrykuliev's light-hearted verses and fascinating short stories, for which he has been awarded the Hans Christian Andersen International Prize. After reading these stories, it's almost as if the young reader has been to the auther's homeland himself. Many thanks to you, Kayum Tangrykuliev!

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