Mio, Min Mio: Update Two

I meant to do Mio, Min Mio in three updates, with this update taking it as far as I have read so far, which is right into the hole in the mountain. But I thought a large passage from this chapter was so beautiful that I wanted to give it it's own update. :)

The plot has officially started. Along with such new vocabulary words as twisted, cursed, and burn away, readers watch as Mio discovers his destiny in a somewhat unusual way. He heard a snatch of a story from the well that whispers in the evenings, but only enough to tell him that a kings-son who rides in the moonlight should ride through the dark forest. Rightio, so that he does, even though his dad seems really emo about it. Mio logically thinks that because his dad is being emo, the dark forest is dangerous, but his father the king assures him that it's not. What could be dangerous about a forest that sleeps in the moonlight? He asks. Mio goes to best-friend Jum Jum and says that he's going to ride through the ominous sounding dark forest. Jum Jum says something along the lines of, "Well, finally!"

And so they go. They go across the island of green meadows and over the morninglight bridge, (or sort of, because it becomes the moonlight bridge at night, but they take it down at night... so only near dawn or dusk... but they can still get over the ocean when it's gone because Miramis the golden/white horse can fly), and then past some mountains, and they are in the dark forest, which makes Miramis very happy because he is from the dark forest and all of his friends live there. Mio has a moment of wondering whether Miramis wouldn't be happier in the dark forest with his friends, but Jum Jum and Miramis convince him that everyone is happy with the current situation. Everyone rides through the forest together and Mio's cloak gets torn.

In a little cottage in the forest they meet a creepy old weaver woman. She is weaving 'legend cloth' or something to that effect. And as she weaves, she sings: "Moonbeams, moonbeams, the red blood of the heart, silver and silver and purple, apple blossoms, apple blossoms make the weaving fine and soft, softer than the night's breeze in the grass. But the sorrowbird sings over the forest." I'm not kidding about this. In an odd conversation that somehow moves very quickly and dramatically, although some of the basic interchanges are illogical, the weaver woman reveals that her daughter, too, has been taken by THE EVIL KNIGHT KATO, the border to whose dark realm is just outside the dark forest. Also, the white horses that live in the dark forest (Miramis' herd) weep blood for their foals, who have been taken by THE EVIL KNIGHT KATO.

Mio declares that he is going to go to the Land Beyond and kill THE EVIL KNIGHT KATO. Jum Jum says, "I know". Mio is like, "How do you know? I only knew myself a minute ago!"

And then comes my favourite part of the book so far.

"Du vet så lite du, Mio," sa Jum Jum. "Jeg har visst det lenge at du skal til Landet Utenfor. Det vet alle."
"Vet alle det?"
"Ja da," sa Jum Jum. "Veversken her vet det, de hundre hvite hestene vet det. Hele Den dunkle skogen vet det, trærne hvisker om det og gresset og epleblomstene her utenfor, alle vet det."
"Gjør de det?" sa jeg.
"Hver eneste gjetergutt på Grønne Engers Øy vet det og spiller om det på fløytene sine om natten. Nonno vet det. Farmoren hans vet det og Jiri og søskene hans. Brønnen som hvisker om kvelden vet det. Alle sammen vet det, sier jeg jo."
"Og min far kongen?" Hvisket jeg.
"Din far kongen har alltid visst det." sa Jum Jum.
"Vil han at jeg skal dra dit?" spurte jeg, og jeg kunne ikke hjelpe for at jeg skalv litt i stemmen.
"Ja, det vil han," sa Jum Jum. "Han sørger, men han vil at du skal gå."
"Ja, men jeg er jo så redd," sa jeg og begynte å gråte. For først nå kjente jeg ordentlig hvor redd jeg var. Jeg tok Jum Jum i armen.
"Jeg tør ikke, Jum Jum," sa jeg. "Hvorfor vil min far kongen at akkurat jeg skal gjøre det?"
"En gutt av kongelig blod er det eneste som kan gjøre det," sa Jum Jum. "Bare en gutt av kongens blod kan gjøre det."
"Men hvis jeg dør da?" sa jeg og grep Jum Jum hardt i armen.
Han svarte ikke.
"Vil min far kongen at jeg skal gå allikevel?"
Veversken var holdt opp med å veve, og det var så stilt i stua. Sorgfugl tidde. Trærne rørte ikke et blad, ikke en susen var å høre. Det var helt stille.
Jum Jum nikket.
"Ja," sa han, men han sa det så lavt at jeg nesten ikke kunne høre det. "Din far kongen vil at du skal gå dit allikevel."
Da ble jeg helt fortvilt.
"Jeg tør ikke!" skrek jeg. "Jeg tør ikke! Jeg tør ikke!"
Jum Jum svarte ikke. Han bare så på meg og sa ikke et ord. Men Sorgfugl begynte å synge igjen, og det var en sang som nesten fikk gjertet til å stanse i brystet mit.
"Han synger om den vesle datteren min." sa vevesken, og tårene hennes falt på veven og ble til perler.
"Jum Jum," sa jeg. "Nå går jeg. Nå går jeg til Landet Utenfor."
Da gikk det en susen gjennom Den dunkle skogen, og fra Sorgfugl kom det en trille som det aldri hadde lydt maken til i noen skog i verden.
"Ja, jeg visste det," sa Jum Jum.
"Adjø da, Jum Jum," sa jeg og kjente at nå holdt jeg på å begynne å gråte igjen. "Adjø da, kjære Jum Jum!"
Da så Jum Jum på meg, og øynene hans var så snille og lignet helt på øynene til Benka. Så smilte han litt.
"Jeg slår følge med deg."
Jum Jum var min venn, min virkelig venn. Jeg ble så glad da han sa at han ville slå følge med meg. Men jeg ville ikke at han skulle komme ut for noe vondt.
"Nei, Jum Jum," sa jeg. "Du kan ikke være med dit hvor jeg går nå."
"Jo, jeg blir med deg," sa Jum Jum. "En gutt av kongelig blod ridende på en hvit hest med gullfaks og med en eneste venn til følge - akkurat det er det som er forutsagt. Du kan ikke forandre på det som har vært bestemt i tusen og tusen år."
"I tusen og tusen år," sa veversken. "Jeg husker at vinden sang om det den kvelden da jeg plantet epletrærne mine, og det er lenge, lenge siden nå. Tusen og tusen år."

Vi gikk ut gjennom døren, fulgte stien mellom epletrærne og steg til hest. Da løftet Sorgfugl de sorte vingene sine og seilte opp mot fjellene.
De hundre hvite hestene sto stille og så etter oss da vi red bort mellom trærne. De fulgte oss ikke. Epleblostene lyste som snø i måneskinnet. De lyste som snø ... Kanskje jeg aldri kom til å få se så vakre, hvite epleblomster mer.

My Translation:

"You know so little, Mio" (this is repeating several, usually in a funny way). said Jum Jum. "I have known for a long time that you would go to the Land Beyond. Everyone knows it."
"Everyone knows it?"
"Yes," said Jum Jum. "This weaver knows it, the hundred white horses know it. The whole dark forest knows it, the trees whisper it and the grass and the apple blossoms out here, they all know it."
"Do they?" I asked.
"Every shepherd boy on the Island of Green Meadows knows it and plays it on their flutes in the night. Nonno knows it. His grandmother knows it and so does Jiri and his brothers and sisters. The well that whispers in the evening knows it. Everyone knows it."
"And my father the king?" I whispered.
"Your father the king has always known it." said Jum Jum.
"Does he want me to go there?" I asked, and I could not keep my voice from shaking a little.
"Yes, he does." said Jum Jum. "He is sorry, but he wants you to go."
"Yes, but I am so afraid." I said and began to cry. Suddenly I felt precisely how afraid I was. I took Jum Jums arm.
"I daren't, Jum Jum," I said. "Why does my father want me to do it, and no other?"
"The only one who can do it is a boy of royal blood," said Jum Jum. "Only a boy of the blood of the king can do it."
"But if I die there?" said I and gripped Jum Jum's arm hard.
He didn't answer.
"Does my father want me to go regardless?"
The weaver stopped weaving, and it was so still in the room. The Sorrowbird was silent. Not a leaf on the trees stirred, not a rustle could be heard. It was completely still.
Jum Jum nodded.
"Yes," he said, but he said it so softly that I almost couldn't hear it. "Your father wants you to go regardless."
Then I fell into complete despair.
"I daren't!" I screamed. "I daren't! I daren't!"
Jum Jum didn't answer. He only looked at me without saying a word. But the Sorrowbird began to sing again, and it was a song that almost stopped my heart.
"He is singing about my little daughter," said the weaver, and her tears fell onto her cloth and turned to pearls.
"Jum Jum," I said. "I am going now. I am going to the Land Beyond."
Then there was a rustle through The Dark Forest, and from the Sorrowbird there came a sound the likes of which have never sounded in any forest in the world.
"Yes, I knew you would." said Jum Jum.
"Farewell then, Jum Jum." I said and felt that I almost began to cry again. "Farewell then, dear Jum Jum!"
Then Jum Jum looked at me, and his eyes were so kind and looked so much like Benka's eyes. Then he smiled a little.
"I am going with you."
Jum Jum was my friend, my true friend. I was so moved when he said that he would go with me. But I didnæt want him to come to any harm.
"No, Jum Jum." I said. "You can't come where I am going now."
"Yes, I can." said Jum Jum. "A boy of royal blood riding on a white horse with golden mane and with a single friend - it was foretold precisely that way. You cannot change what has been known for thousands and thousands of years."
"Thousands and thousands of years," said the weaver. "I remember that the wind was singing about it on the evening I planted my apple trees, and that is a long, long time ago now. Thousands and thousands of years."

We went through the door, followed the path between the apple trees and mounted Miramis. Then the Sorrowbird lifted itself on it's strange wings and sailed up towards the mountains.
The hundred white horses stood still and watched us as we rode between the trees. They didn't follow. The apple blossoms shone like snow in the moonlight. They shone like snow ... Perhaps I shall never see such beautiful, white apple blossoms again.