Horndal, Sissel

Máttaráhkkás weite Reise

A story from the Land of the Sami

Translated from Norwegian by Elisabeth Berg
© 2019 Baobab Books
Original edition
32 pages, hardcover, 29 x 22,5 cm
CHF 23.80 / € [D] 18,50 / € [A] 19,10
ISBN 978-3-905804-96-6
Ages 5 and up

Foreign rights sold
Danish, Norwegian, Sami, Swedish
→ Foreign Rights Catalogue

As the cold winds come up in autumn, the bear disappears into the forest and the birds gather in large flocks. It is the time when daylight vanishes in the far north.
People become quiet and look up into the dark sky where the gods and godesses are at home. And they have great plans: new life is set to come into the world. Everybody helps and it is Máttaráhkká, the foremother, who takes a ray of sunshine for her long journey to earth where she hands over the precious freight.
Then, in early summer, when the snow has melted and the blueberries are ripe, new life is born in the hut near the lake …
Máttaráhkká's Journey tells a story from the world of Northern Europe’s Sami people. The Norwegian Sami artist Sissel Horndal refers to oral traditions handed down over the centuries, but tells and draws the story from a contemporary perspective.