Thursday, July 13, 2006

What stories do you remember?

My mom recently sent me a copy of a story I had told her when I was a child. She was really great in writing down our creations and saving them over the years. Somehow she knew we would one day appreciate her dragging these boxes around as she moved.

The tale was about two 'nakeros' (don't ask, I have no idea what they are) and how they finally met each other, got to play, eat cake and then eventually get married.

There is one storybook that was given to my mom by her parents that I now have on my bookshelf. Its called 'Satumaan Portinvartija', the Gatekeeper of Storyland, by Jorma Maenpaa (umlauts on the 'a's).

This is my all time favorite fairy tale book. As a child, I would only get to hear stories from it when we spent the summer at my mom's home in Ilomantsi, Finland. The book always stayed there on the shelf. In the evenings, my sister and I would snuggle into our mom as we all lay on her bed and she would read these fantastic fairy tales to us.

To this day, I can clearly imagine the story of the Hullumylly (The Crazy Mill) - there were no illustrations in the book so all the images are my own. The Crazy Mill would grind the hearts of people and fill their sacks with whatever secrets their hearts carried.

I've started on my own translation of the book so I can share the stories with Peanut. While I hope she learns Finnish, I know its an uphill battle and I don't want her to miss out on the magic of this book.

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