{"id":8866,"date":"2020-12-17T23:34:58","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T23:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=8866"},"modified":"2020-12-17T23:42:07","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T23:42:07","slug":"ollies-ski-adventure-is-a-wintertime-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/ollies-ski-adventure-is-a-wintertime-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"Ollie’s Ski Adventure is a Wintertime Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Olles

“Olles skidfa\u0308rd,” Elsa Beskov, 1907.<\/p><\/div>\n


\nOlles skidf\u00e4rd <\/span><\/i>(Ollie\u2019s Ski Trip) is a Swedish classic. Elsa Beskow\u2019s winter tale follows young Olle\u2019s wish for snow and the magic that follows on his first ride with a new pair of skis. Let\u2019s read a passage of the story, learn some wintery vocabulary, and discuss a couple of much-needed modernizations to the text.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pioneering Children\u2019s Literature<\/strong>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Olles skidf\u00e4rd<\/span><\/i> was published in 1907 at a time when children\u2019s literature was evolving. Folktales told to children taught morals and used scare tactics to encourage good behavior. But for Beskow and her peers moved away from trolls that scooped up naughty little children and replaced them with gentle talking animals and plants. Beskow pioneered this paradigm shift, creating literature purely for the entertainment of children. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Beskow\u2019s Personification of Nature<\/strong>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Beskow was known for brilliantly personifying nature in her writing and illustrations. Below we will read a passage where she does just that with her characters Farbror Rimfrost<\/em> (Jack Frost) and Kung Vinter<\/em> (King Winter). But first, let\u2019s set the scene:<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Olle turns <\/span>sex \u00e5r gammal<\/span><\/i> (six years old) and his father gifts him <\/span>ett par nya skidor<\/span><\/i> ( a pair of new skis). <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Olle l\u00e4ngtade och l\u00e4ngtade<\/span><\/i> (Olle longed and longed) for it to snow so he can try out his new skis.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Men till slut kom vintern \u00e4nd\u00e5.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>\u00a0\u201cBut in the end, winter came after all.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Himlen var lysande bl\u00e5, och sn\u00f6n glittrade som av milliontals stj\u00e4rnor.\u201d<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/i>“The sky was bright blue and the snow glistened like millions of stars.”\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Olle ate his <\/span>gr\u00f6t och mj\u00f6lk <\/span><\/i>(porridge and milk), put on his <\/span>tjocka kavaj <\/span><\/i>(thick jacket) and went out alone on his skis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now an excerpt from the book:<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>“Vad det var vackert i skogen! Och vackrare blev det, ju l\u00e4ngre in i den Olle kom. Olle tyckte, att det var, som om han kommit in i vinterkungens f\u00f6rtrollade slott, och d\u00e4rf\u00f6r ropade han med h\u00f6g r\u00f6st: ‘Tack, sn\u00e4lla Kung Vinter, f\u00f6r att du har kommit till slut!’<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I detsamma h\u00f6ll ha p\u00e5 att trilla bakl\u00e4nges av f\u00f6rv\u00e5ning, <\/span>ty<\/b> framf\u00f6r honom stod en gubbe, gnistrande bit fr\u00e5n topp till t\u00e5. Olle <\/span>bockade sig<\/b> f\u00f6r gubben: ‘\u00c4r du Kung Vinter?’ fr\u00e5gade han. ‘Neej d\u00e5’ sa gubben, ‘jag \u00e4r bara Farbror Rimfrost jag, tycker du inte jag har gjort fint i skogen i dag?’\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>‘Har du gjort all det h\u00e4r vackra som glittrar?’ sa Olle.<\/span>
\n<\/span>‘Visa mig hur du b\u00e4r dig \u00e5t!’<\/span>
\n<\/span>‘Jag g\u00f6r bara s\u00e5 h\u00e4r,’ och i detsamma andades gubben p\u00e5 Olles rock, s\u00e5 att andedr\u00e4kten kom som ett vitt moln ur hans mun, och n\u00e4r molnet f\u00f6rsvann, var rocken \u00f6verdragen av vitt glitter. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Sen skrattade han och n\u00f6p Olle i \u00f6rat. ‘Du \u00e4r visst en duktig <\/span>gosse<\/b> du,’ sa han, ‘som inte \u00e4r ledsen, om det biter<\/span> litet<\/b> i kinderna. Jag tyckte du ropade p\u00e5 Kung Vinter nyss, kanske du vill f\u00f6lja med mig till hans slott h\u00e4r i skogen?’<\/span><\/p>\n

– Beskow, Elsa. Olles skidf\u00e4rd.<\/em>\u00a0Published by Wahlstr\u00f6m & Widstrand, 1907.
\n<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nModernizations<\/b>
\n<\/b>
\nAfter more than a hundred years, there is bound to be some outdated language. I\u2019ve bolded a couple of terms above for us to define.<\/span><\/p>\n

-Instead of ty<\/i>, we use f\u00f6r<\/em> today to mean \u201cbecause,\u201d or \u201cfor.\u201d
\n
\n-Bockar sig<\/i>, to bend down or \u201cto bow\u201d in this case, is not something little Swedish boys and girls do anymore.
\n
\n-En gosse<\/i> is an old way to say en pojke<\/i>, or \u201ca boy.\u201d
\n
\n-Litet<\/i> is lite <\/i>in modern Swedish to mean \u201ca little.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you read the entire story, you\u2019ll notice an entire portion that needs modernizing. Beskow describes Olle meeting S\u00e1mi people in Vinter Kung<\/i>\u2019s palace. S\u00e1mi men, women, and children \u201clappgubbar,<\/i> lappgummor,<\/i> and lappbarnen\u201d <\/i>are practicing duodji <\/i>(S\u00e1mi handcraft) and described in the same way as the other mythical fairy tale characters Olle meets in the story.<\/p>\n

Using \u201clapp<\/i>\u201d to describe S\u00e1mi people or activities is derogatory, and should never be used in today\u2019s language. The indigenous people that live in Northern Scandinavia today speak S\u00e1mi and are called S\u00e1mi. Astrid Lindgren\u2019s Pippi Longstocking has a few examples of language that had to evolve with modern culture as well. Just as Lindgren approved updates to Pippi\u2019s text, I believe Beskow would do the same if she were around today. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Swedish children\u2019s literature is one of my favorite genres EVER. I really enjoy taking a closer look at how stories like this one manage to stand the test of time, yet can miss the mark – even brilliant authors like Beskow aren’t 100% right the first time. Fascinating, isn\u2019t it?!
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Olles skidf\u00e4rd (Ollie\u2019s Ski Trip) is a Swedish classic. Elsa Beskow\u2019s winter tale follows young Olle\u2019s wish for snow and the magic that follows on his first ride with a new pair of skis. Let\u2019s read a passage of the story, learn some wintery vocabulary, and discuss a couple of much-needed modernizations to the text.\u00a0…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":8867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,3079,13],"tags":[3128,43,364862,3442,3446,10125,8239,34680,169,992],"class_list":["post-8866","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-swedish-language","category-vocabulary","tag-books","tag-christmas","tag-culture","tag-sweden","tag-swedish","tag-swedish-blog","tag-swedish-culture","tag-swedish-vocabulary","tag-weather","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8866"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8871,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8866\/revisions\/8871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}