Teodor von Łaski was a village teacher and a Masurian poet in the nineteenth century. He lived and worked in Rakowo (currently Rakowo Piskie) and Bełcząc. The article contains publications and commentary of his two poems: Wartość czytania (pol. The Value of Reading) and Do skowronka (To the Lark), as well as a letter addressed to Marcin Gerss. Łaski would work with him as the editor of "Kalendarz Królewsko-Pruski Ewangelicki" and "Gazeta Lecka". The works of the Masurian teacher show his literary ability and his strong ties to the Masurian culture. Łaski joined the effort of bringing the education to a broader populace, along with reading habits and exposing the work ethics. He believed in moderate conjunction of mental and physical effort.
The article focuses on the imitations of Polish literary texts. The authors were Masurian writers from East Prussia in the nineteenth century. The local press discussed the question of boundaries between creative processing of someone else’s work and plagiarism. The Masurians praphrased texts that were close to them in regard to customs and religion. The tale Lichy Zysk (Poor Profit) by Martin Gerss was written in this way. The text is a transformation of a short story by Józef Chociszewski Kto wygrał zakład? (Who won the bet?). Both works perpetuate the stereotype of a ‘’Jew” as an individual who is sloppy and extremely greedy for profit. Gerss’ text compared to the original is more concise. The Masurian tale contains elements of the local reality.
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