The Sailor- Boy´s Tale

The Sailor-Boy´s Tale by the Denmark author  Isak Dinesen´s , one of the most prominent voices of twentieth century, was first published in 1942 in the book entitled "Winter´s Tales" , narrated in the style of the ancient fairy tales.

 Simon is a young sailor who  travels with not fixed  destination throughout the world. Being still a boy, and moved by a  mysterious strength , he  rescues a  peregrine falcon tangled up  in the ropes of the main mast of a ship,  since then ,their fates become linked by an invisible bond.
 Two years later, Simon is coming of age and still working on boats , here, there and everywhere.  In Norway, he goes  ashore and he meets Nora by whom he is promised a kiss under condition of coming back the next day.

He befriends Ivan , a Russian sailor , who unconsciously blocked Simon´s way to the long -awaited kiss and eventually everything finish in manslaughter .Chasing by the Russian crew , he would never had managed to escape alive but for Sunniva `s help who is more than an old woman and who  his fate was linked to , as it was to the falcon .

The story is told through an omniscient narrator who , as if he were a talented storyteller , is  able to read the boy´s soul using numerous adjectives and movement in its words . Traditional elements such as the sea, adventure ,or far -off  countries  are also present and they are bound to create another kind of reality full of mystery and magic , as it shows the final spell .

Not only is the story well worth reading , but also the whole book . Its simple plot , about a boy coming of age, can be defined as a Bildungsroman , that is to say , a story of learning into adulthood since he is put to test  within unforeseeable events . As for any downside , the only one that comes to my mind is that the story leaves us eager for more .