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fredag den 19. april 2024

Ⓐ - Ⓩ ~ 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

 

10 kommentarer:

  1. I did not know about the Law and Jante and had to look it up. Interesting. Like most social systems it has some positives and some negatives.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Maybe because I have grow up with the law of Jante, I have a hard time seeing the positives here, It's a bit like crayfish in a bucket all keeping one another from climbing out of the bucket.

      Slet
  2. I looked it up, too. Fascinating. Also, if you'd simply pointed me to those chapters, I would have gone back and read them when I have time. Thank you for making the list anyway!

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. Those chapters are long and talkative, and I had the list hanging around, so no problems ;)

      Slet
  3. I hadn't thought about persecutions and witch hunts and so on. But it is still sad to marry and have to keep such a thing from your spouse, more so if the children inherit the magic.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. It is, and I think this is one reason why so many of the people bestowed with magic married one anoter. Maybe, somehow, they could feel it.

      Slet
  4. How did I miss this post? I put it down to blogger playing its tricks. Again. I am v glad to have found it - and horrified at how many died.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. The loss of magic was hard to the apprentices indeed. I'm happyu that Blogger finally has let you see it.

      Slet
  5. It makes sense to hide what can cause problems for you. It is terrible how people destroy what they don't understand.

    The list - not sure I like to know. I just read some these characters and they are gone. But is the normal way of life.

    Have a lovely day.

    SvarSlet
    Svar
    1. It makes great sense, exactly because people destroy what they do not understand.

      Slet

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