My own small little

Ulf Stark & Linda Bondestam 2014: Min egen lilla liten


In a dark and gray cave lives a Creature. Its eyes and skin can’t stand light. Every time it goes outside in the daytime, it feels a little sick, and then real sick, then it dies. Creature is gray like the mountain where its cave is. And it is all alone. Little Spark, who came from the Sun breaks into the Creature’s darkness and shows it colors and light. But Spark lives only one day, then it has to return and leave its friend, Creature.

The tone of the story is shining with melancholy, wistful and poetic.
The story reminds me of Pessi and Illusia as well as the children’s song Menninkäinen and Päivänsäde (Ray of light and the forest troll)

I do not understand why my boys want to read this book over and over again. To me, its just too sad to be a good fairy tale. It reminds me too much of real life: you have a quick view of something that you cannot have and then it is taken away from you. I had to write about this book, because it so well describes the Finnish mentality: we are gray creatures and when someone flashy and bright comes we are amazed. And in the end, we are content to live in our little gray caves, because we have to, otherwise we die. Or so we think, the Creature has no choice.