Kummaliselt hele lõngakere - Heljo Mänd 85

Kummaliselt means oddly, curiously, strangely, something that is not usual.

Hele, bright, is often associated with sunshine, not usually with a ball of yarn, lõngakera.

Heljo Mänd's children's fable becomes even stranger with the appearance of three bright balls of yarn, which turn into three beings: Suvelaul (Summersong), a mix of a girl and a butterfly who sings sweet melodies; Little Joke (Väike Nali), boyish, with 17 pairs of arms and legs who wants to grow into a Big Joke (Suur Nali); and Paul, a boy who wanders into the forest wanting to forget his sadness. And of course, Käärimees Naksti (Scissorhands) who tries to interrupt and cut the yarn short.

The storyteller weaves a lovely tale with images right out of Norse and Baltic mythology - the Norns (similar to the Three Fates in Greek mythology), who weave the threads of life and the shadowy Yarn Cutter, a play on the Estonian "Nukitsamees"; perhaps the 17 pairs of hands and feet could be a reference to Odin's eight-legged horse. Suvelaul's sweet music that breathes life and dispels gloom could be right out of JRR Tolkien's Silmarillion: the music of creation.

The language is not hard and the story has a sweet ending: the yarn cutter's shears have become dull from disuse. In fact, the sunshine has made them rusty and they are not good for anything!

Who is Heljo Mänd? We know her as the author of Karu aabits and the creator of Karu Mõmmi, along with a host of other children's characters, the most famous being Leelo Leevikene and Jänes Juta. But she also writes poetry, plays and books for adults - a total of 150 works!

You could search Wikipedia for more, but why not go to www.raamatukoi.ee and do a search there? You will see a wonderful selection of her writings; unfortunately, many are out of print but available in Estonian libraries.

Kummaliselt hele lõngakere was published five years ago on her 80th birthday and she has another book on the way. The storyteller's basket is still full of yarn! And the word "yarn" in English is actually a old nautical term from the 1800s  and even earlier - sailors used to have a Yarn Sunday to mend their nets and sails with yarn from ropes!