When Pippi Grew Up

A while back, I wrote briefly about "Pippi Longstocking", a book I got as a gift from a German friend. It's famous in Europe - especially Germanic countries -

I’ve never read the book, but I got an idea – the exploits of a little girl who triumphs over her fears and anxiety, has superhuman powers but seldom uses them and is a bit of a wild, untamed spirit. Pippi is attached to her home and her (very) few friends, but takes a trip every now and then with her father aboard the Hoptoad.

The interesting question for me is what happens to Pippi when she grows up?

The easy answer is Pippi will never grow up, because she doesn’t want to. She’ll probably take on Father Time with her superhuman abilities and most likely win; after all, she fought policemen who were going to take her to an orphanage against her will..

I think I got an answer: I’ve met her. And today is her birthday. I was going to write on her wall “Grattis på födelsedagen!”, and I actually did, only to realise that everybody will and already did wish her the same thing. I could wish her the Sugarcubes song, but that would most likely remind her of some Chilean symbol:

She lives in this house over there,
has her world outside it.
Grapples with the earth with her fingers and her mouth,
she's [twenty]five years old.
Thread worms on a string,
keeps spiders in her pocket,
collects fly-wings in a jar
scrubs horse flies and pinches them on a line.
she's got one friend
He lives next door,
they listen to the weather,
he knows how many freckles
she's got,
She scratches his beard.
she's painting huge books,
glues them together,
They saw a big raven;
it glided down the sky,
she touched it.
Today's a birthday,
they're smoking cigars,
he got a chain of flowers,
Sows a bird in her knickers,
they're smoking cigars*,
lie in the bathtub,
chain of flowers.

* – in an MMORPG

Maybe, to make it more personal, I should wish her a Romanian song (MP3, trilulilu) by Alexandru Andries.

When at home If you have at home-a place Where you can stay as long as you want Without anyone knowing, Precisely that’s where you hide And in your thoughts you enter Through a secret door That only you know ... Don’t tell me that’s not so coz I won’t believe you! X2 Then, your face is brown And your eyes turn blue Larger and with no curtains, Isn’t it so, I guessed how you comb [yr hair] smiling And how softly sing whispering to yourself, Like when you crave A sailor ... Don’t tell me that’s not so coz I won’t believe you! X2 Do not hide your hands in your pocket You’re tied to their lines as written in a docket And if I’d know a game I’d try it right away... If you had a place at home When at home!

Cînd stai acasă Dacă ai acasă-un loc  Unde poţi să stai cît vrei  Şi să nu ştie nimeni, Precis că acolo te-ascunzi Şi-n gîndurile tale pătrunzi Printr-o uşă secretă  De care ştii doar tu... Să nu-mi spui că nu-i aşa fiindcă nu te cred ! Să nu-mi spui că nu-i aşa fiindcă nu te cred ! Atunci faţa ta e maro Şi ochii tăi devin indigo Şi mai mari şi mai fără perdea,  Nu-i aşa, Am ghicit cum te piepteni zîmbind Şi cum cînţi în gînd şoptind uşor, Ca atunci cînd ţi-e dor  De-un marinar... Să nu-mi spui că nu-i aşa fiindcă nu te cred ! Să nu-mi spui că nu-i aşa fiindcă nu te cred ! Nu-ţi ascunde palmele în buzunar, De desenul lor eşti prinsă c-un zar Şi dac-aş şti vreun joc L-aş încerca pe loc... Dacă ai acasă un loc, Cînd stai acasă !

Perhaps I should write for her a poem, but I won’t. I’ll just tell you that her eyes are beautiful and green and sometimes blue and blink far too often for my liking. I discovered, however, that the blinking stops when I get really close and I peer deep into her soul. It is then when her pupils dilate, and yet she’s not afraid or petrified: she avoids the natural succession of steps.

Words don’t come easy to me, which is why to see the rest (possibly a poem) you will need a password.

Show my encrypted thoughts (FURL)

I shared with her, before losing her, my Memories of Sweden (and with you everybody else, tomorrow next).

Sources / More info: ig, w-pl, 10-bd, aa-acasa

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