Draget E-Book

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 29

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Draget is a village in the very South of Finland. There, the war between Russia and Sweden in the year 1714 was settled. The strategy of Peter the Great, the leader of Russian that time, was successful. It all happened in Draget. The battle is remembered as the Battle of Rilax. or the Battle of Gangut. This novel is a pamflet telling the story by Nikolai, a ten year old boy. He was there. He saw what happened in the Draget. Nikolai and his friend Tapio were privileged to live with that drama. Something missing? Nothing that really matters.

Leseprobe

Draget

DragetCopyright

Draget

Many many years ago in the 18th century, a young boy, Nikolai was watching the best show ever he had seen in his short life. He was living in the country house, like almost all boys did in that time. The country was vast land without major cities, except the capital of Åbo. There was a castle, and some hundred houses. It was a city of that time. The other places along the coast line were only villages with two or, no more than ten houses. Children were playing in the woods and yards, running without shoes almost all year around. How it was possible, that so many young boys and girls remained unbeaten by the snakes? It is a wonder. Maybe, the snakes had enough space to stay in their own houses of rock and remains of nature.

The major job of Nikolai was to collect wood from the woods, and keep the fire burning in their one-room house. It was an easy job to do in the summer season, however, the winters were much more difficult to survive. As a clever boy, he had made a large hill of twigs and logs behind the house. It was for the winter. When the ground was frozen and covered by snow, it was too late to collect something to burn. You must act like squirrels, collect and hide, collect and hide. However, it was not needed to hide anything. My logs and mine and your logs are yours. That was the unwritten rule among the collectors.

In this village, there were some houses with a barn in their first floor. It was a floor-heating of that time. The cattle gave the warmth, that went upwards. But the warmth does not go always upwards. The warmth from the Sun, or from a big fire can also go sideways or downwards. However, these are exceptions. The main rule is, that up on the oven, by the ceiling, is the warmest place, and most smoke. There you can get your bare feet warm again.Nikolai knew it very well.

Nikolai was in his second family. His first father and mother had died, the father in the war against the Russians, and the mother of diseases. Nikolai had a good luck to find his place in the neighbor's house. They did not have a boy, so it was a good deal for both. They got a good boy to help with heating, and Nikolai got a new home. The old house, where Nikolai's first family lived, was not much to mention. Nikolai's father never had time to built the house. It was more a shelter against the wind and rain than a house. Nikolai's father had always worked for the others, helping them with hunting and fishing. Sometimes, Nikolai followed his father during these trips. Then, he got a knowledge of how to hide in woods, tight ropes, and how to row and sail the boat. Not so many ten year old boys could that all.

The village people had started their normal day, when the fisherman, who had been in his morning catch on the East side of the peninsula, had seen something unusual. There was a convoy of boats and ships coming in the horizon of the sea. He had taken all the nets up, and rushed back to his boat yard. He left all behind and ran. ”They are coming, they are coming,” he shouted to all he saw in their yards. He ran through the main road of the village to his home. His wife and two children were already awake, when he started whispering: ”they are coming, hundreds of boats, we must hide the goods.”