Koziołek Matołek

Koziołek Matołek (Matyas)
Koziołek Matołek (Matołek the Billy-Goat), drawing from the original Koziołek Matołek comic book
Publication information
First appearance	1933
Created by	Kornel Makuszyński (story) and Marian Walentynowicz (art)
In-story information
Species	Anthropomorphic goat
Place of origin	Pacanów, Poland

Koziołek Matołek (Matołek the Billy-Goat) is a fictional character created by Kornel Makuszyński (story) and Marian Walentynowicz (art) in one of the first and most famous Polish comics back in 1933. It became a cult classic, popular since its creation till today, and becoming an important part of canon of Polish children's literature.

Makuszyński and Walentynowicz created four books: 120 przygód Koziołka Matołka ("120 adventures of Koziołek Matołek"), Druga księga przygód Koziołka Matołka ("second book of adventures of Koziołek Matołek"), Trzecia księga przygód Koziołka Matołka ("third book of adventures of Koziołek Matołek") and Czwarta księga przygód Koziołka Matołka ("fourth book of adventures of Koziołek Matołek").

Pacanów, the setting of the comic, is a real town in Poland. Once when Makuszyński and Walentynowicz were sitting in a coffee house in Kraków, they spotted a sad looking man sipping a drink at a nearby table. They asked him why he looked so gloomy, and he told them that he came from the small town of Pacanów and was wondering how to help the town prosper. Makuszyński and Walentynowicz decided then to help him by popularizing the small town in their books.

The stories center around the quest that Matołek, an anthropomorphic goat, undertakes: to find Pacanów, a town where it is rumored they are making shoes for goats. Matołek's adventures are amusing if sometimes surreal. The titular hero is nice, naive, clumsy, laughable and not very bright — in many regards similar to another famous children stories character, Winnie the Pooh of A.A. Milne. His search for Pacanów takes him to many corners of the Earth, from Africa to the Wild West.