Topic outline
- General
- Martin Krpan, a hero and a smuggler
Martin Krpan, a hero and a smuggler
I am going to tell you the story about Martin Krpan, a man of the people who is closely associated with national affiliation. He is one of those heroes of Slovenian literature who are distinguished by courage, dignity and modesty and who have been entirely internalised by Slovenians.
And the story goes like this…
- Salt production in traditional salt-pans
Salt production in traditional salt-pans
So Krpan would provide salt for ordinary people’s households…but where did he get the salt he smuggled from? If Trieste had a monopoly on domestic salt, where else could he find it? And how is salt produced anyway?
- Traditional salt-pans in the winter
Traditional salt-pans in the winter
Imagine salt-pans in the summer…with all the salt workers… in the hot weather…but what about the winter? Is there anything going on at the salt-pans during the winter, Krpan was wondering and went to find out…
- The future of traditional salt-pans
The future of traditional salt-pans
After getting all the information he was interested in, Krpan was wondering what the future would bring for the salt-pans and the people working there. Here is what he imagined..
- End of story
End of story
So, Krpan got all the answers to his questions and went on doing his business. However, after Austria abolished the salt monopoly in 1819, there was no need for Krpan to smuggle salt as everybody could buy salt in salt-pans. This was no problem for Krpan, though, being a man with many talents he would find some other work...