lauantai 9. kesäkuuta 2012

Lapissa syntynyt skotti

Lontooseen ilmaantui vuonna 1694 kuuro Duncan Cambell, joka sai suosiota sekä huomiota ennustuksillaan. Vuonna 1720 julkaistiin kirja The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell, jonka kirjoittajaksi on väitetty Daniel Defoeta, mutta Wikipedian artikkelin mukaan todennäköisemmin kyseessä Edmund Curll.

Ja mitäs yhteyttä tällä skotlantilaiselta vaikuttavaa nimeä kantavalla miehellä on Suomen historiaan? Ei todellisuudessa todennäköisesti mitään. Mutta jos uskoisi elämänkerran joka sanaa niin Duncanin isä olisi Orkneyn saarilta muutaman mutkan ja Suomen kautta päätynyt Lappiin. Ja kirjoittanut sieltä isälleen
When first I entered this country, I thought I was got into quite another world; the men are all of them pigmies to our tall, brawny Highlanders; they are, generally speaking, not above three cubits high, insomuch that though the whole country of Lapland is immensely large, and I have heard it reckoned by the inhabitants to be above a hundred German leagues in length, and fourscore and ten in breadth, yet I was the tallest man there, and looked upon as a giant. The district in which I live now, is called Uma Lapmark. You must understand, sir, that when I landed at North Cape, in Kimi Lapmark, another district of Lapland, there was at that time a most beautiful lady come to see a sick relation of her father's, who was prefect, or governor of Uma Lapmark, which is a post of great distinction. This lady, by being frequently in the company of French merchants, who traffic now and then in that province of Uma Lapmark, understood French, and having heard of a man six foot and a half high, desired to see me, and when I came, she happened mightily to like my person; and she talked French, which when I answered, she made great signs of joy, that she could communicate her sentiments to me, and she told me who she was, how rich, and that not one in the company besides could understand a syllable we said, and so I might speak my mind freely to her; she told me the customs of the country, that it was divided into cantons, like our shires, and those cantons into rekars, or certain grounds allotted to families, that are just like our clans. As she was beyond measure beautiful, she was extremely good humoured, a thing rarely to be met among Lapland women, of a better stature than her country women, and very rich, and of good birth: I thought it would be a prodigious turn of fortune, for a man in my circumstances, if I could make any progress in her heart, which she seemed a little to open to me, in such a manner, for the beginning, as if such a successful event, if managed with prudence, might not be despaired off.
Ja tästä rakkaudesta syntyi Duncan. Ennustajalle ei eksoottisesta taustasta tietenkään ollut haittaa vaan silkkaa hyötyä.

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