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- Herausgeber: Books on Demand
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Serie: The Olina Books
- Sprache: Englisch
Olina's first meeting with a special new friend leads to an exciting quest. So exciting she forgets to eat the chocolate in her advent calendar. Soon she is off to help her friends in Whispers Forest. Join Olina as she reunites an Elf family in an adventure where magic unfolds. Olina and the Magical Christmas Cairn is the first book in the Olina series.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Seitenzahl: 62
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
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The first book in the Olina-series
By the same author:
Olina and the Mystery of the Lost Hare
Table of Contents
Foreword
December 1
December 2
December 3
December 4
December 5
December 6
December 7
December 8
December 9
December 10
December 11
December 12
December 13
December 14
December 15
December 16
December 17
December 18
December 19
December 20
December 21
December 22
December 23
December 24
Foreword
This story has been translated from Danish and the story has its inspiration from Danish folklore. It is woven with elves, trolls and magic.
Christmas time is a magical time, and in my childhood days my Mum and I lived with my grandparents on their farm for a while. Every Christmas we put out rice porridge or pudding for the elf. I played in the hay loft with the kittens, and sometimes, just sometimes, I might have seen a pointed, red cap in the hay…
The elf in this story, has its origin from Danish folklore. He is a household deity with roots in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian folklore. Nissen, as he is called in Danish, has his name from the old common Danish name Nis or Niels. Nissen is known from Nordic folk tales and fairy tales, and today he wears a red pointed cap. Now a days, the elf is primarily a symbol of Christmas, but previously there were wood elves, church elves and farm elves.
Trolls too are mythical human-like creatures from Scandinavian folklore. They are described very differently: from friendly giants to ugly, foul creatures. They are often seen with rough or grotesque features. They live underground in rocks or caves and are typically thieves, strong and rather stupid. They kidnap children and replace them with their own troll babies - changelings. I have taken the liberty to portray and make my own story about the troll in this story and his ways.
There are a lot of hills/mounds here in Denmark in the woods or fields and a lot of them are still here because they are heritage protected areas. They were old burial sites from the Viking era and some of them contain carved stones to make the mound stabile. In the traditional folklore, trolls are also said to live in these mounds.
Finally, we have the magical cairn in our story. Cairns are often used as landmarks, points of reference in nature, even astronomical marks and burial sites.
Cairns or varder in Danish, have been used throughout the world and history for many different purposes. Common to all is that it is a man-made stack of stones.
So much help, so much inspiration - thank you from all my being to all involved creating this book. A special thanks to Michelle whose magical illustrations have made this story come to life in ways that makes my heart skip with joy.
I really hope you will enjoy the story, and I wish you a very magical and happy Christmas.
Maria
December 1
It was a lovely Sunday morning. Olina opened her eyes and immediately remembered that it was December 1st. She was very excited, she had been given a chocolate calendar by her grandmother, and today she could open the first one. She slipped into her woolly socks and put on her dressing gown over her pyjamas, it was cold on the farm in December.
Downstairs, Mum was making oatmeal and it smelled wonderfully of cinnamon and honey. The woodburning stove was lit, which also crackled nice and warm. Olina rushed to eat her portion of porridge as she looked towards the chocolate calendar. When she was done eating, she hurried to put her bowl on the kitchen table and found the first one. The chocolate was in the shape of a bowl of porridge. She loved chocolate and put it in her mouth and enjoyed it thoroughly.
Mum smiled at her, “will you bring the porridge over to the elf?” She asked as Olina was heading upstairs again.
“Can't it wait?” Olina asked quickly, “I would like to go up and finish my drawing for Grandma.”
“It’s up to you, but you know how grumpy the elf gets if he doesn't get his porridge in December.”
“Oh, that's not real, it's probably the cats eating the porridge we put up on the hay loft.”
“It's up to you if you want to risk our little friend turning into a teasing elf all December, you never know what he will do.” Mum laughed as she winked.
Olina hesitated in the doorway, but then turned around and took the small bowl of oatmeal covered in cinnamon sugar and butter that was about to melt. Out in the hallway, she put on her warm boots and a hat before heading over to the barn.
She could hear the horses snort next to the barn and gasped as a cold wind rushed past her when she opened the barn door. It was not quite daybreak yet, so she had to squint her eyes to see where the ladder was in the darkness. She thought she heard a sound of something clapping, but she shook her head. It must be something she imagined.
When she had crawled all the way up the ladder, she saw a flash of a red tip out of the corner of her eye. She shook her head again, but she was quite sure what she had seen in the darkness ...
December 2
The morning after Olina had been on the hay loft, she woke up and smiled to herself. It was Monday and she was going to school. Tomorrow, Grandma would come and get her. They were going to the forest to gather pinecones and moss for Christmas decorations. She was looking forward to their little tradition and to telling Grandma what she had seen on the hay loft yesterday. She didn't want to tell Mum because she would just tease her and say Olina didn’t believe it was anything but the cats emptying the bowl of porridge. When Olina had gone to the hay loft to pick up the bowl in the afternoon, it was completely empty. No red flashes anywhere.
Olina ran down the stairs dressed, hair brushed, ready for breakfast. “Good morning,” Mum said surprised, “I was about to call on you, you are up early today.”
“Yes,” said Olina, shrugging her shoulders, “I must be ready well in time to eat my breakfast, open my chocolate calendar AND go out with the porridge before school.” Mum didn’t say anything but laughed a little as she went over to stir the porridge.
Meanwhile, Olina went over to look at the chocolate Advent calendar. She found the number ‘two’ and behind it was a chocolate shaped candle. She quickly ate her porridge and decided to save the chocolate for later.
