The 4th of July Namnsdag Present

Happy 4th of July! 

You're going to think I'm strange (and of course, you're right), but instead of telling you about my 4th of July memories, or the reason we celebrate the 4th of July, or even Dad's memories of the 4th of July and his birthday, I'm going to post a story about something that happened to my great grandmother in Sweden on a long ago 4th of July.  This has been a favorite story of mine since I was a little girl.  My Aunt Ejvor wrote and published a little story book 21 years ago which I illustrated, telling the story, so I am going to copy the story in her words.  Hope you like it.

The Namnsdag Present

by Ejvor Merkley

In Sweden, each day has a name, and if you are lucky and one of the days of the year has your name --- you can celebrate a "Namnsdag", (Names Day).

Your family and friends will bring you flowers, or a pretty handkerchief, a picture, or maybe a SPECIAL SURPRISE!

June 24th is Johan's day. Oct. 31st is Edith's day, July 4th is Ulrika's day, and Einar and Emil had a mother named Ulrika! 

"What can we get mother for her name's day?" asked Einar.

"Let's go to the woods and pick her a bouquet of wild roses," answered his brother, Emil.

"No," said Einar.  "We did that last year."

"Aunt Ulrika is special," said their cousin, Otto.  "We need a special gift for her."

The three boys thought and they thought and they thought.  They thought about a special present as they rode their bicycles to work at the sawmill each day.  They thought about it as they helped father in the garden each evening.  They thought about a special present just before going to sleep each night.  And Ulrika's day was getting closer and closer.

One day as the boys rode home from work they saw a large group of people standing in front of a farm house.

"Let's stop and see what's going on,"  Einar called out.

It was an auction.  The boys had fun watching people bid for chairs, dishes, tables, clocks.... and then the man brought out a great big GUN!

"What am I bid for this gun?  It is very old, it was used by a brave Swedish soldier in the last war," the auctioneer called out. 

"That gun is too big to hunt rabbit with," said one man.  "It would make too much noise," said another.  "Nobody wants a gun that old," said a woman.

"I'll buy the gun!"  shouted Einar.  "I bid 10 'ore'."  (10 pennies)

Everyone was very quiet.  Emil looked at Einar.  Cousin Otto looked at Einar.  ALL the people looked at Einar.

"Why do you want that old gun?" they all said.

"To use for my mother's names day present."

"Going, going, and sold to the young man for a name's day present," shouted the auctioneer.

Einar carefully carried the gun to his bicycle.  It was so big he rested part on the seat, then he walked the bicycle home.

"What will mother do with a gun?" grumbled Emil.

"We're not going to give her the gun...we're going to use it for her present," answered Einar.

"How do you use a gun as a present?" cousin Otto wanted to know.

"Don't you remember," Einar explained.  "When the King or other important people visit our village they are always honored by shooting off guns."

"I know about that," said Otto.  "it's called a gun salute."

"That right," continued Einar.  "We're going to surprise our mother with a gun salute on her names day.... we're going to start her day off with a bang!"

What a good idea!  No one else had ever had such a special names day surprise.  The boys hurried home to hide the gun so no one would know of their names day present.

On Ulrika's day, (the 4th of July) the boys crept out of bed very early.  They dressed, then tip-toed outside to where the gun was hidden behind the chicken coop.  Carefully they carried the gun to the corner of the house where father's flag pole stood.  They tied the gun to the flag pole and then they began to pour gun powder down the barrel, and some shot (pellets) and even some gravel was rammed down the barrel.  They wanted to be sure Ulrika's Day started off with a bang!

Then they struck the flint, but the gun didn't go off with a bang....it went off with a ROAR!  It roared so loud the boys tumbled to the ground.  It roared so loud the house shook.  It roared so loud the dishes rattled on the kitchen shelf and the bed shook where mother and father were sleeping!

The boys looked at each other, and then they looked at the yard.  All the shot the boys had loaded in the gun had sprayed across the yard and cut down all of mother's raspberry bushes.  It had sprayed across the chicken pen and cut off the rooster's tail feathers and the chickens were running here and there, trying to find a place to hide.

In the house the dishes stopped rattling and the bed stopped shaking.  Mother and father jumped out of bed. 

"What's going on?" shouted father.

"What's happened?" cried mother.

Einar, Emil, and Cousin Otto jumped up, grabbed their bicycles, and calling "Happy Ulrika's Day!" Then they pedaled off to work as fast as they could.

When the boys returned home that evening they explained to mother that they had wanted her names day to start off with a bang, not with a roar. 

"Well," said mother, "the raspberry bushes will grow back.  The rooster will grow more tail feathers, and luckily, none of the dishes were broken.  But boys, that gun is too big, too old, and too loud, so I've put it away where it and you will be safe.

Now, if you visit Sweden, be sure and stop at Parkstugan, the house where Ulrika and Johan Johnson lived with their children, Einar, Emil and Edith, and sometimes Cousin Otto.  Behind the house is a little hill and in the hill is a cave.  If you go back into the cave, you will find a stone ledge, and that's where Ulrika hid the names day gun.

But remember.  Be very careful because that gun does not go off with a Bang, it goes off with a ROAR!

The End