Release date is 2026-04-29

Musta kotka -- Rahahuolia -- Untuvaniekka -- Opettaja Finsdal -- Ruona -- Maalaistulokas -- Ensimäinen käsky -- Viimeinen koulupäivä ennen joululomaa.

Juhani Kärkkäinen and Tapio Riikonen

Musta kotka by Bernt Lie is a collection of short stories written in the early 20th century. Centered on boys’ lives in a Norwegian town and its nearby forests and fjords, the pieces mix spirited adventure with warmth and moral insight, from playground rivalries to family finances and the call of the sea.

The opening of the collection first shows schoolboys enthralled by gaudy “Indian” tales from a local shop, which spills into summer war games in a valley: Antti Bech (“Musta Kotka”) leads the “Delawares” against Kristian Haasted (“Haukansilmä”) and the “whites,” with rules for scalps (hats), blunt arrows, and shields. On the last day of vacation Antti’s surprise attack wins the camp; a fierce duel ends in an accidental wound, remorse, and the two boys’ reconciliation as they lead everyone back to ordinary school life. The next story shifts homeward: Tyyne overhears her parents’ debt worries, quietly returns her brothers’ spending money, withdraws her own bank savings, and gives it as a Christmas gift—met with gratitude and news of her father’s raise. A final fragment introduces “Untuvaniekka,” explaining the fishermen’s term for a novice boy, the kinship with gulls, and a youngster’s winter-long longing in the boathouse to join the Lofoten or Finnmark fishing—only the beginning of that tale. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Helsinki: Suomalainen kustannusosakeyhtiö Kansa, 1907