Story time. :D
Jul. 5th, 2009 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regndoftCame back from Värmland yesterday, but... I don't feel like writing about it. I have a few photos from Mårbacka (Selma Lagerlöf's home and birthplace) I might post later if I feel like it, but right now... I'm tired and listless. I don't feel like doing anything much at all, to be honest. I've had a great and also a bit hard time down west, but it's been great. The stories I could tell somehow don't come out right when I think of writing them here though.
... If anyone wonders WHY I went to Värmland, it was to attend Arvikafestivalen. It's a music festival taking place in Arvika every year, and the big attraction this time was Depeche Mode. :D Whose concert was awesome, really, I've never been to a consert before... (Ranarim playing in a cottage in the middle of nowhere doesn't count, shut up. XDD)
Anyway, today has been... Quite shitty. I don't have anyone to talk to, I don't feel like doing anything, I'm just bored. Oh, but I did get new music today, which makes it better. Värttinä's Oi Dai (argh, now I've ordered all CDs of theirs I can get my hands on in the country, got to visit Amazon if I want more XDD) and Kraja's Under Himmelens Fäste. Folk music in a cappella. :D
However, I promised![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kitsuneasika I would translate some stories from my collection of Swedish folktales... And here is the first one. It's a story with a motive known from well-known sources like the Grimm brothers to the old Norse tales and a Roman satire. Here in Scandinavian shape.
The original title is "Lärdom är bra men Lagom är bäst" (there is no proper translation of "lagom"; the closest is the word I've used) and it was recorded by Nils Gabriel Djurklou in 1884, in a dialectal version that is sadly lost in translation.
Learning is good but Enough is best.
Once upon a time there was a rich farmer who had four sons. The oldest of them worked on the farm and would in time take over after his father, while the other three went out in the world to seek their happiness. None of them wanted to be a farmer, because deep inside they thought they were too good for such a simple duty. They wanted to find something better and more respected. So they parted and went separate paths, and it turned out as such that they all became apprentices of different doctors. And after some time they’d learned enough to practice the physician’s profession on their own.
The father died, and the three brothers went home to attend his funeral and get their share of what he’d left as his legacy. The oldest son paid for a good burial beer, and the more the drinking goblets were raised the noisier and more boastful the younger brothers became. It didn’t go on for long until a quarrel began, and it was about which of them was the most learned. That the oldest brother was inferior was obvious of course, and he had no urge to compete with his clever brothers.
“I can rip out my eyes”, one of them assured. “And then I can put them back again and still see just as well as I did before.”
“That’s nothing”, the other claimed. “But I can slit open my own stomach and remove the intestines. Then I’ll put them back and feel as fine as ever. Not many are able to do such a thing.”
“You think that’s something to boast about?” the third mocked. “Anyone who has got two hands can do that. But I can chop off my hands and then sew them back without anyone realizing that they’ve been chopped off. That’s how skilful I am!”
The farmer listened to his brothers with fear and admiration, and felt both wretched and insignificant, because he couldn’t show any such skills at all.
When the evening arrived the three brothers went up to the bedroom, but before going to sleep they did what they’d said. One ripped out his eyes, the other slit his stomach open and the third let the former two chop off his hands. In the morning a farm maid came in to ask if the guests wanted a glass of snaps in the morning, but when she saw what was lying on the table she screamed loudly:
“Ooh, how gross!”
So she ran after the slop pail. In it she pushed all of it and poured into the pigs’ trough. Then she went back to the kitchen, and there she met the mother in the house who asked how it was with her learned sons.
“I wouldn’t know”, the maid replied. “Surely they slept when I came in but I wonder what they’ve been doing last night. It seems like they dug up their old father and cut him in pieces, because that’s how it looked like on the table.”
“But sweet lord!” the farmer’s mother exclaimed. “Whatever you do, don’t touch it. That’s the kind of skills they’re capable of, those doctors.”
The maid didn’t dare to tell her that the pigs had feasted on everything and immediately ran out into the barn. There she got her hands on a cat and ripped out its eyes. Then she butchered a pig and took out the intestines. But, the maid thought, where can I find a couple of chopped off hands? Soon she helped herself: she ran to the gallows and in the noose hung a thief that she quickly cut the hands off of. She carried all of it inside and put it on the table in the bedroom. Now those doctors can performs their skills as they want, she thought, and so they did. As soon as they woke up each of them took care of what was on the table, and they weren’t just a little proud over their feats. But the brother, who was a farmer, him they felt sorry for, because he wasn’t learned at all.
So they parted, and each of them went home to theirs’.
------------------------------------------------------
After a couple of years the oldest brother would get married, and amongst the wedding guests were also the three brothers who hadn’t met for a long time. Each and every one were curious how it had turned out for the other two, and all affirmed that they’d earned a lot of money, because they say that doctors scoop up money with one hand while they do surgeries with the other. But it still didn’t feel too good.
“I don’t understand what has happened to me”, one said. “I see just as well during the night as the day, and as soon as I hear the lowest peep from a rat I’m forced to jump out of bed and chase it until I catch it. Is there any cure for this, you think?”
No, none of them knew.
“But with me it’s even worse”, the other complained. “Nowadays I don’t feel the least peckish for meat and pork and other delicacies. But all garbage and leftovers I see I want to devour immediately. No matter how much I resist I can’t help but fill my belly with such rubbish. Do you have any idea how to cure this?”
No, they’d never heard of such a disease.
“But I’ve got it the very worst”, the third assured. “It itches so in my fingers that I can’t keep them away from what’s not mine. Even though I’m the most honourable man on earth I can’t stop my hands from stealing, and soon I’ll probably dangle in the gallows.”
Now it was the farmer’s turn to feel sorry for his learned brothers:
“Poor you”, he said. “Then I’ve got it much better. I let the cat take care of rats and mice, rubbish I give to the pigs and never do I lay hands on what’s not mine.”
(Leaving this entry public in case I'll post links when I've done more of this in communities.)
A rather short and hopefully amusing (and educating?) start. I promise I'll do more translations, as long as they don't turn out to be too much of a hassle. It was fun. :D
... If anyone wonders WHY I went to Värmland, it was to attend Arvikafestivalen. It's a music festival taking place in Arvika every year, and the big attraction this time was Depeche Mode. :D Whose concert was awesome, really, I've never been to a consert before... (Ranarim playing in a cottage in the middle of nowhere doesn't count, shut up. XDD)
Anyway, today has been... Quite shitty. I don't have anyone to talk to, I don't feel like doing anything, I'm just bored. Oh, but I did get new music today, which makes it better. Värttinä's Oi Dai (argh, now I've ordered all CDs of theirs I can get my hands on in the country, got to visit Amazon if I want more XDD) and Kraja's Under Himmelens Fäste. Folk music in a cappella. :D
However, I promised
kitsuneasika I would translate some stories from my collection of Swedish folktales... And here is the first one. It's a story with a motive known from well-known sources like the Grimm brothers to the old Norse tales and a Roman satire. Here in Scandinavian shape.The original title is "Lärdom är bra men Lagom är bäst" (there is no proper translation of "lagom"; the closest is the word I've used) and it was recorded by Nils Gabriel Djurklou in 1884, in a dialectal version that is sadly lost in translation.
Learning is good but Enough is best.
Once upon a time there was a rich farmer who had four sons. The oldest of them worked on the farm and would in time take over after his father, while the other three went out in the world to seek their happiness. None of them wanted to be a farmer, because deep inside they thought they were too good for such a simple duty. They wanted to find something better and more respected. So they parted and went separate paths, and it turned out as such that they all became apprentices of different doctors. And after some time they’d learned enough to practice the physician’s profession on their own.
The father died, and the three brothers went home to attend his funeral and get their share of what he’d left as his legacy. The oldest son paid for a good burial beer, and the more the drinking goblets were raised the noisier and more boastful the younger brothers became. It didn’t go on for long until a quarrel began, and it was about which of them was the most learned. That the oldest brother was inferior was obvious of course, and he had no urge to compete with his clever brothers.
“I can rip out my eyes”, one of them assured. “And then I can put them back again and still see just as well as I did before.”
“That’s nothing”, the other claimed. “But I can slit open my own stomach and remove the intestines. Then I’ll put them back and feel as fine as ever. Not many are able to do such a thing.”
“You think that’s something to boast about?” the third mocked. “Anyone who has got two hands can do that. But I can chop off my hands and then sew them back without anyone realizing that they’ve been chopped off. That’s how skilful I am!”
The farmer listened to his brothers with fear and admiration, and felt both wretched and insignificant, because he couldn’t show any such skills at all.
When the evening arrived the three brothers went up to the bedroom, but before going to sleep they did what they’d said. One ripped out his eyes, the other slit his stomach open and the third let the former two chop off his hands. In the morning a farm maid came in to ask if the guests wanted a glass of snaps in the morning, but when she saw what was lying on the table she screamed loudly:
“Ooh, how gross!”
So she ran after the slop pail. In it she pushed all of it and poured into the pigs’ trough. Then she went back to the kitchen, and there she met the mother in the house who asked how it was with her learned sons.
“I wouldn’t know”, the maid replied. “Surely they slept when I came in but I wonder what they’ve been doing last night. It seems like they dug up their old father and cut him in pieces, because that’s how it looked like on the table.”
“But sweet lord!” the farmer’s mother exclaimed. “Whatever you do, don’t touch it. That’s the kind of skills they’re capable of, those doctors.”
The maid didn’t dare to tell her that the pigs had feasted on everything and immediately ran out into the barn. There she got her hands on a cat and ripped out its eyes. Then she butchered a pig and took out the intestines. But, the maid thought, where can I find a couple of chopped off hands? Soon she helped herself: she ran to the gallows and in the noose hung a thief that she quickly cut the hands off of. She carried all of it inside and put it on the table in the bedroom. Now those doctors can performs their skills as they want, she thought, and so they did. As soon as they woke up each of them took care of what was on the table, and they weren’t just a little proud over their feats. But the brother, who was a farmer, him they felt sorry for, because he wasn’t learned at all.
So they parted, and each of them went home to theirs’.
------------------------------------------------------
After a couple of years the oldest brother would get married, and amongst the wedding guests were also the three brothers who hadn’t met for a long time. Each and every one were curious how it had turned out for the other two, and all affirmed that they’d earned a lot of money, because they say that doctors scoop up money with one hand while they do surgeries with the other. But it still didn’t feel too good.
“I don’t understand what has happened to me”, one said. “I see just as well during the night as the day, and as soon as I hear the lowest peep from a rat I’m forced to jump out of bed and chase it until I catch it. Is there any cure for this, you think?”
No, none of them knew.
“But with me it’s even worse”, the other complained. “Nowadays I don’t feel the least peckish for meat and pork and other delicacies. But all garbage and leftovers I see I want to devour immediately. No matter how much I resist I can’t help but fill my belly with such rubbish. Do you have any idea how to cure this?”
No, they’d never heard of such a disease.
“But I’ve got it the very worst”, the third assured. “It itches so in my fingers that I can’t keep them away from what’s not mine. Even though I’m the most honourable man on earth I can’t stop my hands from stealing, and soon I’ll probably dangle in the gallows.”
Now it was the farmer’s turn to feel sorry for his learned brothers:
“Poor you”, he said. “Then I’ve got it much better. I let the cat take care of rats and mice, rubbish I give to the pigs and never do I lay hands on what’s not mine.”
(Leaving this entry public in case I'll post links when I've done more of this in communities.)
A rather short and hopefully amusing (and educating?) start. I promise I'll do more translations, as long as they don't turn out to be too much of a hassle. It was fun. :D
