Another boustrophedon, this time with a story.
It was a full and busy day, and I wasn't at home much. So I had to make a book in my lap and this is what I came up with. The boustro...is cut and folded freehand from a piece of watercolor paper. You almost can't tell from the images but no two pages are the same size or shape; all folded up it's a pretty eccentric looking thing. But it doesn't seem to matter.
The story is the beginning of the Finnish epic, the Kalevala. A maiden floats in the primordial waters; she floats for seven hundred years. A bird, looking for a place to build a nest, finally settling on the maiden's exposed knee, which is protruding above the waters. The bird builds its nest and lays seven eggs, six of gold and a seventh of iron. As it sits on the eggs, the maiden's knee begins to warm, until it is so burning hot that she jerks in pain and the eggs fall into the sea and break. From the broken pieces are formed the earth and the heavens, the clouds, stars, moon and the sun. At last the Water Mother, having so long ago been impregnated by the sea and wind, gives birth to a fully grown son, Vainamoinen, who goes on to have many adventures and to become a hero of his people.
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