REVIEW OF "THE SAILOR-BOY'S TALE"

The Sailor-Boy's Tale is a short story by the Danish writer Karen Blixen, the author of Out of Africa.

On the way from Marseille to Athens, the sailor-boy, Simon, spotted a bird that stuck in the main-mast of the ship. The boy climbed up in order to free the bird, a peregrine falcon. Two years later, while on another ship on the northern coast of Norway, Simon stabbed a Russian sailor to death, for he tried to prevent him from meeting Nora, a girl who had promised to give him a kiss the previous day. Simon could meet Nora in the end, and she kissed him. Simon was eventually taken in by Sunniva, a Lapp-woman who avoided his capture for murder by pretending that he was her son. Then she explained to him that she was the falcon she had rescued, and she did nothing but return him the favour.

The story is an allegory of fate: what comes around goes around. The appearance of the supernatural creature, the old woman that becomes a falcon, provides the story with a fantasy element which I kind of dislike although it helps to convey the message in a more appropriate way and makes it more enjoyable.