LOFOTEN 67°52’50.2”N 12°58’57.4”E
MAGDA LINDBLOM
“Everything that is real was imagined first”
when we camp in the dark woods or under the glowing night sky, we tell stories. We always have and we always shall. When sitting there, surrounded by the sounds of nature, the trees bending and moving in the wind, the owl hunting through the night, we see stories. Our imagination is awakened and the sound of breaking twigs far off can make us visualize something that may, or may not, be there. When we lose big parts of our natural world, and our connection to it... what tales will go untold? What stories will go unwritten? Once upon a time they roamed the ancestral lands – the rocky mountains and deep, dark forests. They are part of our history and for some people the old myths and legends are still as obvious as the sunrise after a long night. Trolls and different creatures were said to wander around the landscape, protecting our nature. Walking those lands, thinking of the old myths and tales, I look up to the mountains, I can see their faces and bodies carved into the mountain sides. Made of earth and stone, I get the strong feeling that they are looking straight back at me. If they still exist in the shadows, where we can’t see them, I’m pretty sure Lofoten is a paradise where they can hide. Trolls and different creatures are described as being very smart and strong. Some are said to be the size of humans and others are the size of a mountain. It’s said that they have a deep connection to the environment they come from. They protect the forest, the deep fjords and mountains, and often us, and also our homes, but this we do not know. Today you can find massive stones across the nordic region, which legends tell us, were once trolls. Myths and fables remind us to take care of nature, to cooperate with every little living thing that is there – and if we don’t, they will punish us with bad luck. At least that’s what I was told, growing up in the north of Sweden. If we cut down our forests, the trolls will kidnap our children as a punishment for destroying their homes. Or, god forbid, those who forget to put honey in the porridge for the elves. Those could end up with years of bad luck and poor harvest. Our way of thinking gets narrower day by day, and our increasing lack of imagination and fantasy means that we take our planet for granted. But we still have the responsibility to take care of this planet. Now more than ever, Mother Earth and her inhabitants need us. And sometimes a little bit of imagination can spark a light. I want to be that light. Not all tales are fairytales. We may not see giants roaming our land, but we still believe in a lot that we can’t really see, so what is the difference? The old tales, where trolls and other magical creatures had an eye on nature, tell a story of harmony between us and nature.
109
MOTHER VOLUME ONE
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease