Inspired by Disney anthropomorphism, Czech animator Zdenek Miler invented Krtek the mole in 1956 to star in a short animated film to educate children on the processing of flax seed. In 1963 he began producing new cartoons based on the character, but instead of narraion elected to use his young daughters act as voice actors, providing non-verbal exclamations but no spoken words.

There is something very slow and deliberate about the cartoons in this series that make it feel at once primitive and perhaps a little slow for today's kids but make the stories' jokes that much funnier. Here are a couple of good episodes, which you'll find with translated titles from every eastern European country as well as in English. Like the Smurfs, Barbapapa, and Moomin, Krtek has become an international icon of only transitional importance in the U.S.

I liked this first episode a lot because Z and I have been working pretty hard on learning to read notes on a staff as part of her violin practice. Be patient with the pacing and you and your child will be delighted by it.



Mole's most frequent companions are the mouse and rabbit shown in the episode below. Their near-constant presence makes what happens at about 3:40 in the video you are about to see truly shocking. I find the music that accompanies this tragic turn of events hilarious. It is about as desperate a tenor as this slow-moving action can achieve.



- Jeremiah

And no, that isn't Felix the Cat. It's a cat who barely passes legal muster as an original work.


- Jeremiah