The Cunning Keeper of a Threshing Barn
Andrus Kivirähk
The nature of a nation is revealed in its fairy tales: they document truths and store them in crystallized form for centuries. Let us have a look at Estonian fairy tales, which nearly always have a barn-keeper and a shrewd man called Ants.
We do not find brave noble heroes fighting dragons and liberating imprisoned princesses from castle towers. There are no kings and powerful wizards, beautiful elves, or legends about everlasting love. The heroes are neither rich nor famous, and will never become king. Nor are they knights swinging their battle-axes on a battlefield. In fact, they never commit heroic deeds. Moreover, they hardly bother to leave their homes!
They sit by the fire, puffing at their pipe or lie down somewhere with their toes pointing towards the sunshine. They can be chums with both the Creator and Satan. Sometimes they meet some evil spirit or other, but they do not reach for their sword or cross. Instead, they have a nice little chat together, but there’s always an ulterior motive. They may even enter the service of Lucifer himself, to do nothing particularly useful. Quietly, however, they’ll pinch their master’s things, and rip off their superior at the first opportunity.
They are also familiar with all kinds of witchcraft, and use it for the sole purpose of amassing wealth and fortune for themselves. To that end, they may conjure forth treasure-bringing goblins, or turn into a whirlwind in the shape of a fly that crawls out of someone’s nose; or charge off in a trough to a neighbour’s barn for grain. After walking around a grey stone they may turn into werewolves. Once in a while, an enraged neighbour or landlord appears as a whirlwind, to claim the hero’s treasure instead! But not to worry - the barn-keeper knows a remedy for that too - he hits the greedy intruder with a rowan branch and cripples him. And life goes on.
Finally, the Prince of Darkness or the Grim Reaper comes to claim his soul. He asks the visitor to take a seat on a tar-covered bench, or pours some hot pitch down his throat. The enemy flees while the barn-keeper or Ants sit in front of the fire and puffing on a pipe as if nothing had happened. Forever after. These fairy tales portray Estonians as a cunning thicket of alders under the high and mighty timber forest.
They’re not afraid of either storms or an axe; they are here to stay.
The four articles about “Estonian characteristics” form part of a collection entitled “Estonian People” published by the Estonian Institute. They are reproduced with the permission of the authors.
