Nordic Folktales Can Be Funny!

 

The podcast Nordic on Tap, created by Eric Stavney, a print and radio journalist and enthusiast for all things Nordic, evolved from his role as a co-host on the Scandinavian Hour Radio Show on station KKNW in Seattle, an institution here in the Pacific Northwest. Eric now produces a podcast of interviews and readings, especially of Nordic folktales.

Recently he put together a podcast episode with the intriguing title, When Nordic Folktales Are Funny: Is That Even Possible?

For me, having decades ago encountered a small book of stories in Norway about the Molbo people, that wasn't a question. I have always appreciated the lively humor of Nordic folklore that balances out the dark and scary parts. The Molbo folk, said to live in a small town on the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark, are silly while pretending (and hoping) to be logical and wise. Every time I encounter the Molbo folk I have to smile.

Eric reads a few hilarious Molbo stories aloud on the podcast before sharing other humorous folktales from Finland and Norway. He includes one (about twenty minutes into the podcast) from my recent translation, Sámi Folktales From the Near and Far Worlds, “The Fox Frightens the Wild Animals.” It was originally told by Erik Persen Trollvik from Kåfjord in 1879.

The folktales in my translation can be pretty spooky at times, what with tales about ghosts, drowned people, and omens, not to mention the stories of violent encounters between the Sámi and various fiends like the robbing Chudes and the cannibalistic ogre Stállu in his many incarnations. But many of the stories are also amusing in a witty, dead-pan way. There are some with sillies—numbskulls lacking all sense—but in a number of tales the humor comes from the way the Sámi are able to outsmart their enemies. Over and over, the Sámi—and animals in their tales—are shown to be clever survivors.

Here’s the story from Sámi Folktales From the Near and Far Worlds,that Eric read aloud. For the full sound effects, check out his podcast!

The Fox Frightens the Wild Animals

The cat, the ram, and the fox built themselves a house in the countryside where they lived. The lion, the bear, and the wolf built themselves another house nearby. One day the fox went by their house and heard the bear say that they were going to chase away all three of them, the cat, the ram, and the fox. The fox heard this and went home to tell his companions.

“How are we going to protect ourselves against them? They are three champions.”

The fox said, “I know how to deal with that.”

The fox suggested to the ram that it go into the house and into a room there and bang on an empty barrel so it reverberated. And to the cat the fox said, “You go and sit up on the stove and hiss and show your claws.”

The fox himself lay down on the living room floor and pretended he was terribly tired.

The wolf came to the fox’s house and asked, “Who is that banging inside the room?”

“My servant boy is in the midst of salting wolf meat,” said the fox.

“What is that man doing sleeping on the stove?” asked the wolf.

“A big fellow is lying there resting a little,” answered the fox. “He’s a light sleeper and can be easily woken up,” said the fox.

Then the wolf was afraid, and he didn’t dare drive them out into the mountainside. The wolf returned home. The bear asked, “Well, did you get them to go?”

“No, I didn’t,” said the wolf.

The bear said, “Voi, you stupid animal! You’re timid, even though you have a big mouth and big teeth. Didn’t you manage to say a word to them?”

So the bear went to the house.

The fox said to the ram, “You must bang hard on the barrel.”

To the cat he said, “You must hiss and purr loudly and pull your claws in and out.”

When the bear arrived, he asked the fox, “Who is banging inside that room?”

“My servant boy is in the midst of salting bear meat,” said the fox.

Then the bear didn’t dare say anything either but went home. The bear went home, and the lion asked, “Did they leave?”

“I didn’t manage to get them to leave. I didn’t dare say anything when I heard that the three of them had already killed a bear,” said the bear.

So the lion went off to drive them away. The fox asked the ram to bang on the barrel for all he was worth. He asked the cat to hiss as much as he possibly could.

The lion came to the fox’s farm and asked, “What kind of person is that banging in the room?”

“My servant boy is in the midst of salting lion meat,” said the fox.

Then the lion grew afraid and thought, “It’s not worth it for me either, speaking to them. They have already killed a lion, and they’ll probably kill me too.”

So the lion went back to the same house where the bear and the wolf were.

Then the fox said to his companions, “We’re going to drive those three out into the countryside.”

The cat went first, the ram in the middle, and the fox at the end. The fox said to the ram, “Bleat when you come near their house.”

The cat came to the threshold. The bear caught a glimpse of it.

“Now they have come,” said the bear to his companions.

They hid, each in its place. The bear went under the bed. There was a little hay there. The wolf went up into the loft. The lion went behind the stove. Then the cat padded calmly in. It was so uncomfortable for the bear to lie quietly. He couldn’t help moving. He had to move. Then the cat dashed under the bed and clawed one of the bear’s eyes out. The bear was scared and came out and began to hop around in the middle of the floor. The cat was scared and jumped up onto a beam in the roof, and the lion believed the cat had come to kill him. The wolf escaped out the window, and the bear took the door post with him when he left. The frightened lion tore down one of the walls as he ran into the countryside. And so the three of them got the house.