Scandinavian literature summaries - 2023

Short summary - Fuglane
Tarjei Vesaas

Thirty-seven-year-old Mattis, from the point of view of others, a weak-minded fool, lives on the shore of a forest lake with his forty-year-old sister Hege. Recently, the relationship between them is not going well. Tired of having to think daily about how to feed herself and her brother, from morning to evening busy knitting sweaters (the only source of funds), cleaning the house, cooking, Hege began to annoy Mattis's fantasies, which, as it seems to her, come from inactivity. Mattis has what's on his mind, on his tongue. And today they are sitting on the porch of their dilapidated house. Hege, as always, knits, and Mattis looks dreamily somewhere into the forest. Suddenly, he happily tells his sister that he sees her gray hair - it's so interesting! Hege couldn't hold back her devastating gaze: another would have wondered where she got those gray hairs from!

In the evening, a miracle happens to Mattis: he witnesses how a woodcock makes an evening pull over their house. This has never happened before! Watching the bird, the hero thinks that now everything will be fine, the difficult time of misunderstanding between him and his sister is over. Excited, Mattis bursts into Hege's room to share his joy, asks her to go outside to look at his woodcock, but runs into a wall of incomprehension.

At night, Mattis has a wonderful dream: he has become a handsome, strong, courageous guy. The sleeves crackle with muscle as he flexes his arm. His head is full of those words that girls love to hear so much. The birds call him to the forest - and from there a beautiful girl comes out to him, his girl - she was born from the evening cravings. In a dream, the hero becomes the owner of three treasures, which he so strives for: mind, strength, love.

But morning comes, and with it reality invades Mattis's life: Hege with her constant grumbling that Mattis should go to work. How can he work, because the thoughts surging after the thrust will interfere with him! A woodcock is pulling over their house - that's what he should be thinking about now! And they haven’t hired him for a long time - everyone in the district knows that the Fool cannot work. But Hege is relentless - she knows what is important in life. Mattis walks from manor to manor - everywhere the owners lower their eyes when they see him. In one unfamiliar estate, he is hired to weed turnips, but very soon they also realize that he is the Fool. Now he said goodbye to this estate forever.

Mattis thinks about the woodcock all the time. He pulls over their house in the morning and in the evening, when people are sleeping. But he, Mattis, can sit on the porch at this time. They are with the woodcock together. Mattis goes to the forest, deciphers the woodcock's letters (footprints at the bottom of the puddle), writes answers to him. They are with woodcock together! Finally someone understands! Harmony with nature is what Mattis strives for. The hero has wisdom unknown to an ordinary, “normal” person. He understands the soul of nature, finds long-awaited peace in communication with her.

The woodcock is killed by a fellow hunter, to whom Mattis, in a fit of spiritual openness, himself told about cravings. When Mattis picks up the shot bird from the ground, she looks at him - so it seems to him - then the bird's eyes were covered with a film. Mattis buries the bird under a large rock. Now she lies there, but this last look will always disturb him, reminding him that his happiness is destroyed by evil people who do not understand the wise language of nature. The hero is also looking for simple human love. After all, it is so important that someone chooses you in life. But who will choose the Fool? And Mattis has so much unspent tenderness. Once he met two girls on the lake: Anna and Inger. The girls are not local, so they don’t know yet that he is the Fool. They may be aware of this, but they feel the kindness, insecurity of Mattis, his reverent, careful attitude towards them - and it was precisely this attitude of the guys that they longed for in the depths of their souls. Mattis is trying his best to behave as expected - after all, this is his first real meeting with girls. He offers to take a boat ride. He knows that rowing is the only thing he can do well. He directs the boat to the shore where the grocery store stands - now everyone can see that Mattis is excellent with oars and that he, like a real guy, rides with girls on a boat! This incident lives in the memory of Mattis for a long time, giving him pleasure.

Mattis is very afraid that Hege will leave him. He sees: his sister has changed lately, has become irritable, indifferent to him. She forbids looking into her eyes, which means something. Increasingly, he repeats the phrase: “Just don’t leave me!”

Hege suggests that Mattis take care of the move. He manages the boat well - let him be on duty on the lake, in case someone needs to cross to the other side. Mattis is very grateful to his sister for this proposal: transportation is the only job that will not interfere with his thoughts and dreams. The hero realizes that hardly anyone will use his services, but immediately plunges into this game. He likes to say that word, "carrier." It's not so easy to be a carrier - you have to keep up both here and there. And who knows how to steer a boat straighter than he? It is a pity that the trail from the boat does not rest on the water, if only it could be seen for several days!

During a thunderstorm, which Mattis is terrified of, misfortune occurs: one of the two dry aspens standing in front of the house in which the heroes live falls, cut off by lightning. Everyone in the area knows that these aspens are called Hege i Mattis. Now one of the aspens has fallen. But whose? Mattis is full of forebodings, it seems to him that Hege's aspen has fallen. He is very afraid of losing his sister, shares his anxiety with her, but she does not want to hear such nonsense.

An outsider appears in the family of Mattis and Hege - the lumberjack Yorgen. Mattis himself ferried him to his shore, Jörgen became his only passenger during his work as a carrier. Now the lumberjack lives in the attic of their house, the money he pays for the room allows Hege to keep the house in order, feed himself and his brother. Gradually, Mattis begins to notice changes in Hege: she becomes even more indifferent to him, but she blossoms with each appearance of Jörgen. Mattis is sure: they will leave him, now nobody needs him for sure. He wants to return Hege, leads her into the forest, to their cherished hummock (once they sat here side by side and had long conversations about a variety of things), talks about his fears. But Hege, indifferent in her happiness to someone else's pain, does not want to know about Mattis's experiences, she accuses him of selfishness. How does he not understand, because now she has a reliable support in life, and now she and Yorgen will be able to provide the family with a comfortable existence!

Mattis's anxiety grows when Jörgen forbids him from transporting and takes him into the forest with him. He wants to teach Mattis how to cut down trees - you can always earn a living by doing this. What for? Do they want to leave him? And by what right does Jörgen interfere in his life?

Once, during a break in work, Jörgen tells Mattis about poisonous mushrooms - fly agarics: in the old days they cooked soup for those they wanted to kill. Driven to despair, Mattis plucks one of the fly agarics growing nearby and eats a large piece. Jörgen is frightened, but soon becomes convinced that nothing is happening to Mattis, and mocks him: he should have eaten a whole mushroom, or even more than one.

Returning home, Mattis sees fly agarics everywhere. They seemed to surround the house with a poisonous ring. But they weren't there before, were they? Mattis asks his sister about this, but she indifferently replies that it has always been like this.

So Mattis comes up with a plan. He will wait for good weather and go to the lake. Swimming to a deep place, he will punch a hole in the holey bottom of the boat, it will quickly fill with water. And Mattis, who cannot swim, will hold the oars under his arms. Let nature itself decide whether he should die or live with Hege and Jörgen.

Mattis is waiting for good weather. At night, he listens to the “good” wind rustling outside the walls of the house, and peace descends on him. He does not want to go to the lake, but the decision has been made, he will not retreat.

And then the wind stopped. Last night Mattis heard it, but he won't go now, he never said he'd do it at night. After all, the only passenger during the work of the carrier. Now the lumberjack lives in the attic of their house, the money he pays for the room allows Hege to keep the house in order, feed himself and his brother. Gradually, Mattis begins to notice changes in Hege: she becomes even more indifferent to him, but she blossoms with every appearance of Yorgen, Mattis is sure: they will leave him, now nobody needs him for sure. He wants to return Hege, leads her into the forest, to their cherished hummock (once they sat here side by side and had long conversations about a variety of things), talks about his fears. But Hege, indifferent in her happiness to someone else's pain, does not want to know about Mattis's experiences, she accuses him of selfishness. How does he not understand, because now she has a reliable support in life, and now she and Yorgen will be able to provide the family with a comfortable existence!

Mattis's anxiety grows when Jörgen forbids him from transporting and takes him into the forest with him. He wants to teach Mattis how to cut down trees - you can always earn a living by doing this. What for? Do they want to leave him? And by what right does Jörgen interfere in his life?

Once, during a break in work, Jörgen tells Mattis about poisonous mushrooms - fly agarics: in the old days they cooked soup for those they wanted to kill. Driven to despair, Mattis plucks one of the fly agarics growing nearby and eats a large piece. Jörgen is frightened, but soon becomes convinced that nothing is happening to Mattis, and mocks him: he should have eaten a whole mushroom, or even more than one.

Returning home, Mattis sees fly agarics everywhere. They seemed to surround the house with a poisonous ring. But they weren't there before, were they? Mattis asks his sister about this, but she indifferently replies that it has always been like this.

And so Mattis comes up with a plan. He will wait for good weather and go to the lake. Swimming to a deep place, he will punch a hole in the holey bottom of the boat, it will quickly fill with water. And Mattis, who cannot swim, will hold the oars under his arms. Let nature itself decide whether he should die or live with Hege and Jörgen.

Mattis is waiting for good weather. At night, he listens to the “good” wind rustling outside the walls of the house, and peace descends on him. He does not want to go to the lake, but the decision has been made, he will not retreat.

And then the wind stopped. Last night Mattis heard it, but he won't go now, he never said he'd do it at night. After all, early in the morning the wind can start again. But in the morning, Mattis hears the words of Hege: "It's so quiet today ..." It's time to implement the plan.

The farther Mattis sailed, the wider the native coast became, which opened up to him from his place. Everything he saw was dear to him. Temptations overcame him, teasing him with clear air and golden trees. Sometimes he thought: there is no need to look there - and lowered his eyes. He had to restrain himself so that he had the strength to carry out the plan.

And now the rotten board in the bottom is knocked out, the boat is quickly filled with water. He hung on the oars, he flounders in the water, gradually moving in the right direction - towards the shore. But suddenly the wind begins - after all, it began again that day! And now the water has come into agitation, as if she wants him to choke, to let go of the oars.

"Mattis!" Turning around, he shouted in utter despair. On a deserted lake, his cry sounded like the cry of an unknown bird...