Release date is 2025-12-17

Janina ja Nanina eli Punainen ja sininen prinsessa -- Purppuratoukat ja kultaperhoset -- Eläinten tuomioistuin -- Kirottu kirkkoherra eli Jumalan vanki -- Taikayrtit eli kolme joululahjaa -- Patmes Pahantekijä ja Tabu Taivaanpoika -- Miekka, Raha ja Rukousnauha -- Uponnut maailma eli tarina "viisasten kivestä" -- Suitsuttajat, viisi sivua elämän kuvakirjasta.

Tuula Temonen

"Uponnut maailma" by L. Onerva is a collection of allegorical tales written in the early 20th century. Blending dreamlike fairy tale, satire, and parable, it explores the tensions between good and evil, power and compassion, and faith and reason. Central figures range from the twin princesses Janina and Nanina to questing princes, a tormented parish priest, and whole fable-worlds of insects and animals.

The opening of the collection presents several distinct tales. First, a mirrored-princess story shows Janina’s malice and Nanina’s gentleness as a clear‑sighted prince unmasks deceit, tragedy follows, and remorse slowly refashions the “red” princess into the “blue,” until people see only one good ruler. Next, a fable of blood‑drinking caterpillars and thoughtful “philosopher‑grubs” imagines a moral evolution: those who renounce violence cocoon and emerge as golden butterflies, ending the reign of the purple devourers. Then an animals’ court hauls in a lost hunter; testimonials expose human cruelty and complicity, and a wily ape persuades the lion‑king to release the man so he may continue destroying his own kind. Finally, the start of a village drama follows a careerist priest who, intoxicated by science and doubt, fumbles rites, shocks pupils by saying man made God “in his own image,” stumbles through a wedding, and, wracked by nightmares and fear, resolves to face the pulpit—where the text breaks off. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Helsinki: Otava, 1925