Quest for Kalevala

[Øyvind Schei]

Don Rosa Wrote:

>But now I am getting first reports from readers in Denmark who are
>confused. Now, I CANNOT READ DANISH... so I only know what I'm being told.
>But what I'm told is that the Danish editions have made no effort to write
>the Kalevalian rune-o-meter or research the proper wordings, and the
>dialogue was not even printed in a special font, as simple as computers now
>make that. And if you've seen the story, this would mean that the point of
>the final panel will be lost! If the rune-o-meter and font are not used on
>the dialogue in that final balloon, how would readers know who the old man
>really is who is speaking? All that extra dialogue work, creating poetry,
>counting syllables, timing phrases.... lost completely. (sob)
>Anyway, if this is all true, my point is to apologize to any Danish readers
>here on the ML, and assure them that what they are seeing is not what my
>intention was. These are the sorts of things, as I always say, that I have
>no control over. Once the story leaves my hands, I lose all ownership and
>control (after all, that's the reason I'm typing this myself rather than
>sipping that port).
>So, I can't do anything in a case like this but THANK the folks in places
>like Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany (and certainly, I fully expect, later
>on also my publisher-friends in France and Greece and Italy) who *do* offer
>me the opportunity to help them in their extra efforts to make a story be
>everything it was meant to be for the readers.
>THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!!!!!!!!!

I sadly have to say that the Norwegian translators hasn't used the
rune-o-meter either.
Luckily I have the Finnish version, so I see how this makes a point.
I wish I had the story in English. That would be fantastic. Ever thought of
scanning the sketches Don Rosa?

See ya,
Øyvind Schei,
Norway