Tales From My Travels In The Northern Parts Of Dalecarlia
Several summer ago I set out on my broom heading for the northern parts of Dalecarlia, Sweden. My initial plan was to visit the small town Älvdalen to do research for my upcoming book on the witch trials of 1668-1669. But in my travels my focus shifted from the witch trials to the wizarding community. I became fascinated by their way of life and their amazing stories. I decided to focus on the present and of a community slowly shrinking into nothing. It is time to listen to their stories and the people who still believe that there is hope for the countryside.
This is NOT a textbook.
THIS BOOK IS NOT COMPLETE! PLEASE PUT ON YOUR BOOKSHELF AND RETURN FROM TIME TO TIME. I WILL POST UPDATES ON MY PROFILE PAGE.
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
5
Reads
691
Laurens Sanger
Chapter 3
You are probably familiar with merpeople, the sentient beast who live underwater. They can be found all over the world and until recently, also in the rivers of northern Dalecarlia. But when the muggle built hydroelectric dams (this is once again another muggle way of creating the electricity they depend on) the rivers was forever changed, and in Laurens Sangers mind - destroyed. The changes upset the native merpeople who was forced to leave their native river. With great sadness they moved further downstream until another hydroelectric plant was built and they once again had to start over. But after their fourth resettlement they gave up and moved to the Baltic sea. But the sea was polluted to such an extent that many of them died. They finally made it to the North sea where they established a colony with other european merpeople who has also been forced away from their homes.
I met up with Laurens Sanger who befriended the merpeople when he was just a boy. He learned to speak their language and saved up his pocket money to buy gillyweed. Laurens spent a lot of his time with the merpeople, learning about their history and culture. He is the author of the classic, “The merpeople of the Darlecalian river”, written in the 1920’s. In the 1980’s he wrote with great sadness “The exodus of the merpeople of the Darlecalian river.” Many of Laurens childhood friends died in the Baltic sea, but he makes an annual visit to the North sea colony. With his books they consider him their champion and official spokesperson.
Laurens agreed to take me to one of the old settlements. I helped him row the boat and when we reached our destination, he cried. After comforting Laurens and chewing our gillywood, we jumped in the water and swam down to the bottom of the river. The sight of the ruined village was one of the most disturbing sights of my live. The once prosperous community was nothing but a pile of stone, all destroyed by the dam. We saw no fish, as their natural migration routes had been destroyed.
Returning to the surface we talked for a while and then returned to the shore. Laurens signed my copies of his book and we then went separate ways. A few weeks later I heard about his death, he was only 104 years old.
