Ⓐ - Ⓩ ~ Q for Questions

This is a series of studies for my long-time-in-the-writings book about the magic in the Nordic countries.
  We are in the 70es on Unicorn Island, an island off the coast of southern Zealand. A handful of teachers have gathered the broken threads of magic once again, trying to revive the magic in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Faroes and partially Greenland.
  Our main protagonist is Susan (me) from Elsinore and her three co-apprentices and friends Heidi, Tage and Lis living at Unicorn Island.
  I grasped the chance to write a little bit about some of the lesser known apprentices in this A-Z challenge.

 Ⓐ - Ⓩ

Q is for QUESTIONS

Q: From River: Why would Olav's father try to keep his magic secret and not tell his wife who surely would understand?
A: In one of the first chapters Thora tells us why the Unicorn Farm is situated in Denmark. Talking about magical animals, giants and such she says:

  "Such creatures need two things: Wild forests, vast, desolate areas, and for people to believe in them. In days of old there were Little People at the farms, elves on Møn, trolls in the forests and goblins along the beaches. The Klabautermann, mermaids, and the flying Dutchman thrived and threatened people at sea. People respected such creatures, even feared them.
  But now? Forests are tamed, fields are ploughed right up to the rivers and forests. Radar, radios and GPS systems have taken the mystery out of seafaring life.
  If you said you'd met a troll or an elf in the forests here, people would laugh at you and say you had a vivid imagination. They would never believe you.
  The school is located here for exactly the same reason. People here in Denmark don't believe in anything supernatural any more. That's why it's easy to hide here. At most they half-believe in ghosts like the white lady in the manor house. Otherwise, everything has a rational explanation. And people very much see what they think they see or want to see."

But to really understand why I'll have to tell a bit about Denmark, this goes for Norway as well, and to a lesser degree for Sweden.
  Olav's father, and with him many other fathers and mothers who knows about, or even suspect the magic in the family, tries to suppress it. They have read all about the persecutions and the witch-burnings under Christian IV (King of Denmark and Norway from 1588 to 1648). They remember lynchings and mobs when people deviated too far from the norm, and even in the 70es  in little happy, frivolous Denmark, it was easy to cross the line. People fear what they do not understand. People - especially in Denmark, because of the law of Jante - kills anything bigger and better than themselves. Actually I think the law of Jante, is the best explanation to this question.


Q: I have one myself. Always at the Unicorn Farm we see the apprentices have trouble remembering the Icelandic words for things and to pronounce their spells the right way. Why is this when Gylfi every morning cast the Mál sameinast - the language spell, allowing the apprentices to understand one another?
A: Because the Mál sameinast only allows the professors and apprentices to understand the spoken word. They cannot for instance read Japanese or Arabic if they do not know the letters. And they still speak their own languages. Also the casting of spells is so to say immune to the language spell, they still hear the word said in Icelandic whenever anyone is casting a spell.


Q: From Mesymimi: it would be nice to have a list of which apprentices survive to join Birch Manor.
A: I fully understand that you do not feel like reading through the chapters Finding out I & II and compile one yourself   😉. I actually do have such a list. Nnn Mmmmm means dead.

In Finding out II, Knud has this comment to the list:  "Actually an incredible number of apprentices have died. I let my former colleague do the maths. Out of 39, far more than 19 should be alive today. 33 would be the expected number. I have not counted in the teachers, as they were older."

An even more extensive spreadsheet over only the living and their spouses, children and grandchildren can be found at my Unicorn Farm/Birch Manor Blog.

Susan Olsen	Main person - storyteller
Fiona Andersen	Painter and healer in Hundested
Veronika Andersen	Dead in a traffic accident
Heidi Bach	Now Tanja
Tage Bach	Now Svend. Stage magician like his dad
Lis Bach	Now Ida
David Hansen	Joined the squatters and suffered a cannabis psychosis. He jumped out the window one day the police stormed the building
Knud Thorsen	Married to Susan
Sarah Poulsen	Drunkard, consprationist 2 children with magic.
Josh Traustason	Shot in bande rivalries (not magic related accident)
Kirstin Jonsdottir	Almost drowned, severely handicapped.
Rósa Sigurdsdottir	Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft
Selma Finnbogadottir	Married Grani, died on honeymoon
Sif Reynisdottir	Flew hanggliders, crashed
Elvin Reynisson
Finnbogi Yngvason	Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft
Grani Starrason	Married Selma, died on honeymoon
Helge Nyström	Alive
Harald Eklund	Died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a summerhouse
Bo Eklund
Lukas Eklund
Britta Eklund
Kalle Berggren	Died much later from a disease (not magic related)
Anna Berggren	Alive in Helsingborg
Ingrid Karlsson	Died in a traffic accident
My Birkeland	Alive
Marit Ravndal	Married to Jan-Wine and party
Astrid Ravndal	Travelled to India with Nata - found dead in Goa
Olav Ravndal	Wine and party Married to Monica
Hilde Westvold	Head nursie in Nordnorge, last name Haugen.
Monica Bakke	Married to Olav-Wine and party
Terje Myhre	Dead from drugs
Bjørn Anderson	Dead from drugs
Jan Espedal	Wine and party married to Marit
Jouka m Mustonen	Dead from drugs
Nata Kanerva	Travelled to India with Astrid - found dead in Goa
Marja Koivu	Dead with parent, aunt and her children wen a summerhouse burned.
Paula Koivu
Aamu  Raita	Now Clara Married to Uwe Weber in Shiltach.
Niklas Joensen	Unknown
Sanne Joensen	Unknown