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AShellfishLover t1_j6e9yjf wrote

Reply to comment by AShellfishLover in [WP] The person you're dating comes to dinner to meet your family. But the instant you step in the door, your grandmother goes deathly pale, and shouts the name of a creature from her country's folklore. by Affectionate_Bit_722

Notes:

  • Apologies for the Swedish, but it felt right to the story. Any errors in translation are mine, and I would welcome corrections as my general Scandi knowledge combined with Google Translate paved my way.

  • Fossegrim, or grim, also known as Nacken are a fascinating little bit of folklore, and I've tried a few stories with them, but this was the first that felt right.

  • If you want to know what the Hell I am quoting as the song Anders sings, it is a traditional Swedish song (the Nack and the Maiden). A version on pipes can be found here though there is more than likely one with a fiddle somewhere. The translation i ripped the lyrics from can be found here, so you can see how the texts work together

I'm glad people liked the story enough for me to come back to. I usually give a story an hour and then try to tie it up, but the prompt was too good to not finish. I hope you enjoyed, and have a great day!

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Slammogram t1_j6ee1zy wrote

Well written but I’m still confused what happened…

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fruitfiction t1_j6eo24i wrote

From what I gathered... Maja fell in love with an unageing, musical troll. Turns out her great-aunt (mormor's older sister) also loved this guy. He taught mormor how to play the fiddle.

Mormor's sister ended up pregnant & shunned from the family/village. The troll's mother is a water spirit who drowns anyone who loves or is loved by her son.

Mormor watched her sister drown. Andres was trying to save her, but to mormor's young eyes it looked like he was drowning her pregnant sister.

After her sister's death, mormor and her family moved across the ocean to where they're having Christmas dinner now.

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BiFrosty t1_j6f5ok9 wrote

You gathered way more than I did while reading it! Thanks for the synopsis, that's actually really cool!

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AShellfishLover t1_j6fbl63 wrote

Pretty much nailed it. Glad someone got it.

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fruitfiction t1_j6fdvjk wrote

I loved it! And I got to learn about a new (to me) troll!

I am curious about the fallout of this for Maja and everyone.

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CrivensAndShips t1_j6elyy4 wrote

Same. I’m getting that he’s fey and murdered/drowned the grandmother’s pregnant sister after she fell in love with him as a way to appease a stronger fey (the river?) who had some kind of control over him.

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[deleted] t1_j6emee7 wrote

The grandmother was the little girl. I assume the original girl that died was her sister. It’s the same man in both stories.

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Munoobinater t1_j6etp2a wrote

Same. Translations for the dialogue between grandma and anders would help

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Slammogram t1_j6fjnxd wrote

Like… he knocked up the grandmas sister and then his mom killed her? Like I’m confused

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Slammogram t1_j6ia7q6 wrote

Yeah, idk why they didn’t add translations.

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AShellfishLover t1_j6iydy5 wrote

Because it ruins the tension, as well as the meaning. Our narrator also doesn't understand the language.

If you wish there are places you can translate freely available online.

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Slammogram t1_j6izjlc wrote

I didn’t mean during the story- I meant when you responded afterward with “thank you for reading”. You could have added the translations then

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AShellfishLover t1_j6izp64 wrote

I mean I could have, but you also have the option to explore. Or not.

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Slammogram t1_j6j2n1f wrote

I’m also not the only person who commented this. It’s a fair critique. No one is tearing you up. Everyone here is saying it’s well written. But there is important dialogue between the grandmother and Anders and it would be helpful, especially for a mobile user like me, to have seen that in your afternote, and would have been less inconvenient for you, than the reader.

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TigRaine86 t1_j6m4909 wrote

I'm so glad to have commented on this so I could ce back and finish it. What a lovely story! You've definitely got a way of words about you. I don't speak Swedish but as someone pointed out, it was more mysterious in that way. I also loved how you subverted the fossegrim lore but also didn't exactly, as in dark things still happen but Anders is solich a well written and sympathetic character. And overall I really really like this, it has to be nlmy favorite prompt response period. Well done!

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LostFireHorse t1_j6gy825 wrote

This was fantastic, and the foreign language I had no subtitles for made it more mysterious, more emotional.

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AShellfishLover t1_j6gz4pp wrote

Glad you enjoyed it! Check out some of my other stuff if you like this, it's kinda my wheelhouse.

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steveatari t1_j6h7t83 wrote

Cool story and i dug it but incredibly hard to follow and the song somehow included commentary from the current girl and lyrics and historical facts? Terribly confusing tense/topic/time/location/song or reality jumps ♡

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