Guten og Stjerna* (The Boy and the Star)

At the webpage of The Norwegian Theatre the following, among other things, is written about Guten og Stjerna* (The Boy and the Star):

"The writer Barbro Lindgren tells this story in the performance program:

'When I was a child a circus once came to town. And in that circus there was a horse meant to jump from a high tower into a tub of water. But the horse didn't dare to jump! It stood where it was, even when the ringmaster yelled and whipped it. Not until after the performance they managed to get the poor horse down, but how, I don't know.

At about the same time I got to hear about another horse. It lived in a town on the island Øland, where it had lived all its life. But now it was old and tired and unable to pull such heavy burdens. Because of that it was decided it was to be sent to the butcher in Kalmar, first with a car, then with a ferry across the strait

But the horse despaired and wanted to get back home. It succeeded in escaping the abattoir, to swim across the Kalmar strait and run back home! And the children who had been crying so hard when it was led away, were so happy. And the horse was allowed to stay at home for as long as it lived!

I told my little brother Kjellemann about these two horses, and because he had just learned how to write letters, he promptly wrote me a story. Atop the paper large, slanted letters said:

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A HORSE NAMED THE STAR.

The story was pretty short. First the horse called The Star ran about and was happy and leapt around his garden. Then it ran into a fence and died! With that, the story ended.

But now, many years later, I have made a longer story about The Star, leaping across the fence and surviving! And I let her become a circus horse not daring to jump from a tower - but risking anything to get back home to her boy!'"

Sources:

The Norwegian Theatre on Guten og Stjerna, www.detnorsketeatret.no, 16.11.2012, http://www.detnorsketeatret.no/index.php?option=com_play&view=play&playid=293&tab=1

Sceneweb on The Hedda Award 1998, www.sceneweb.no, 16.11.2012, http://www.sceneweb.no/en/awarding/23943/The_Hedda_Award_1998-1998

*Not yet translated into English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.