Vladimir Nazor’s tale of Veli Jože comes to me quite often in spite of all its palpable faults. Set in Motovun, it is about a giant from one of the hamlets surrounding the hilltown. Written in 1907 and published a year later, it is a call for the liberation of Slavs in Istria and beyond. The tale ends miserably, but Veli Jože nonetheless survives in people’s minds as a champion for the Slavic cause. In short, nothing but a prodigy will save Istria. Indeed, the end of World War I in 1918 saw the creation of Yugoslavia, the country of Southern Slavs, which was a part of the bulwark against the Soviet threat, but Istria was not part of it. It had to wait until the end of World War II in 1945 for the privilege. Nazor was vindicated once again after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, for Istria remained part of Croatia. But who were the historic giants? Just like in Nazor’s sorry tale, Slavs were not the creators of their own fortunes. The prodigy actually came from abroad. In addition to the two global wars, the breakup of the Soviet empire in 1989 made Yugoslavia redundant, which is why the bloody civil war was allowed to run its course before haphazard foreign intervention. The tale ends with Croatia’s accession to the European Union in 2013. Once again, the hope that things will get better has nothing to do with the Slavs, the supposed giants, but with prodigious external events. And that is how things are likely to remain till the end of time. Veli Jože is but a sore disappointment from start to finish. Nazor’s curse, to coin a term.