Mining the folklore

 

Purely by accident, I discovered that someone has translated and selfpublished two books featuring medieval swedish ballads. Which made me a bit sad, since the only edition I can find in Swedish is partially out of print, not to mention they are hardcovers and big hefty books. I simply don’t have the space for 5 thick, big volumes. Sigh. But then I remembered Garmarna, which have recorded some of the songs. So. I am listening to them on Spotify. And I am getting so many ideas for new books from the texts.

“Herr Holger was quartered and drawn at twelve, at eleven he returned again.” “I will not abandon you until the bedrock shatters like ice.” “The youngest cried their mother from the grave.” That is just some examples. I am not even mentioning the werewolf. And the love story, and.. yeah.

The medieval ballads is blood thirsty, and contains forbidden love, magic, murder, curses, not to mention supernatural beings. The only problem is that this happening while I am trying to writing another book. Sigh. But I am not protesting, since I love the ideas I am getting.

I am also glad that I got this reminder, since I am awful at mining my local folklore, and it is rich and deep, filled with a very down to earth magic.