In the story, a poor young orphan called Lapitch works as the apprentice for the Scowlers - a mean-mannered shoemaker, and his kind-hearted wife.
After Master Scowler blames him for the wrong size of a customer's shoes, Lapitch leaves a note and runs away from home.
Later joined by Bundaš, the Scowlers' dog, he sets off on a seven-day adventure, during which he meets Gita, a circus performer, and encounters a local thief known as the Black Man and his henchman named Grga.
The novel received its first favorable review in October 1913 from Antun Gustav Matoš, the renowned Croatian writer, and has since received a number of enthusiastic assessments by literary historians, earning it the status of the "premiere Croatian children's novel".
[1] Lapitch has been translated into all of Europe's major languages, as well as in Esperanto, Japanese, Vietnamese, Persian and Bengali among others.