A Norwegian American Strip and a Poem
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A Random Sample of Ola and Per Comic Strips
THIS PAGE contains a sample of Ola and Per episodes (strips). "Han Ola og han Per" is the Norwegian name of the strip. It was made between 1918 and 1935 by the artistic farmer Peter Julius Rosendahl (1878-1942), a native of Spring Grove in Minnesota. The strip was first published in the Norwegian-language Decorah Posten, Iowa, with continuing reruns since, and has lately been published weekly by The Western Viking in Seattle and a few Minneapolis papers in addition to being published as books.
The sample is prepared from the two volumes of Ola and Per cartoons
edited by Joan Buckley and Einar Haugen [Hp, Mop]. Haugen has furnished the English translations of titles and content. The strip numbers are as they appear in their collection of about 554 strip episodes out of 599. The dates given are the publication dates in Decorah-Posten. The strip episodes from the first strip collection are about 50 percent enlarged, and those of the second collection about 90 percent enlarged. Tormod Kinnes
Click on a text link and a strip episode appears in a separate window that you may move about on the screen, resize and form as you please [LINK]. To view another episode easily, click on its text link and then [Alt + Tab] to get the popped up windows (pages).
From Han Ola og han Per
16. When the Profit Went up in Smoke. - September 3, 1920
30. A Quaint Way of Catching Rats. - January 21, 1921
34. Per Gets and Unexpected Ride into the Air. - February 18, 1921
37. Per "Fixes" the Hay Fork - March 11, 1921
51. When Ola was Going to Mind the House - December 30, 1921
70. Per Gets his Axe Spoiled on Ola's Worthless Head - May 12, 1922
72. Lars Finds Out That Water Is Wet - May 26, 1922
94. Per and the Wireless - January 19, 1923
97. An Unfortunate Move - February 9, 1923
105. Per Gets into a Hot Spot - April 6, 1923
129. Lars Gets a "Warm" Reception - November 2, 1923
157. "Goodbye for Now," Say Per and Ola - May 16, 1924
185. Per Is Always the Same Fool - April 17, 1925
186. Værmor Has to Bite the Dust - April 24, 1925
187. A Test That Failed - May 1, 1925
200. Per Hunts Eskimos - November 13, 1925
From More han Ola og han Per
225. Per Can Fix Anything - May 7, 1926
230. Homeward Bound - June 11, 1926
246. Lars is Not So Easy to Get Rid Of - November 19, 1926
256. Lars Observes the Weather - January 28, 1927
262. An Effective Hair Tonic - March 11, 1927
268. The Cure Was Worse than the Illness - April 22, 1927
276. Per Was Prepared - February 3, 1928
291. The Little Girl Wanders Away - May 18, 1928
302. The Trip Ends in Disaster - August 3, 1928
321. An Unsuccessful America Trip - December 14, 1928
328. When Danger Is at Its Worst, Help Is Nearest - February 1, 1929
367. A Sad End to the "Farm Relief" - February 7, 1930
376. Lars is Inventive - April 11, 1930
377. Too Much of a Good Thing! - April 18, 1930
394. An Unsuccessful Gasoline Tanking - November 14, 1930
402. Lars Doesn't Enjoy Washing Himself - January 9, 1931
407. You Can Never Know . . . - February 13, 1931
411. Things Turn Out Badly for Per Again - March 13, 1931
415. An Unfortunate Mistake - April 10, 1931
454. They Find Many Strange Things in the City Dump - March 4, 1932
456. They Land in the Ditch - March 18, 1932
488. Lars Finds a New Friend - February 3, 1933
490. A "Comfort" from Lizzie - February 10, 1933
497. An Unsuccessful Portrait Painter - April 7, 1933
512. The First Misfortune on the Trip - July 21, 1933
522. The Kidnapping a Mistake - September 29, 1933
525. Will It Be the World's Fair or Not? - October 20, 1933
539. Mrs. McOlson Faints in Astonishment - March 16, 1934
567. Another Manure Spreader - October 5, 1934
586. The Sheriff Had to Give In - April 19, 1935
THE LAST STRIP
599. It Would Have Been Fun to Come Along! - July 19, 1935.
A Poem about the Strip "Han Ola og han Per"
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| Peter Julius Rosendahl (1868-1941), farmer, cartoonist, poet and more. |
Han Ola og han Per | Ola and Per |
| by Peter Julius Rosendahl | Translation by Einar Haugen |
| Der er to gamle Gubber, | There are two older fellows, |
| som jeg holder noksaa kjær; | Whom I hold very dear; |
| den ene heder Ola, | The name of one is Ola, |
| og den anden heder Per, | And the other one is Per. |
| men om de nu er virkelig | But whether they are real, |
| det kan jeg inte si, | I certainly can't say, |
| jeg ser dem kun i Drømme | I see them just as fantasy, |
| og blot i Fantasi. | A dream by night or day. |
| Den Rolle som de spiller | The roles they play |
| i Vesterheimen her, | In our Western Home out here |
| det gjøres for at lette | Are meant to ease and lighten |
| den Byrde, som I bær. | The burden that you bear. |
| For en ting ved de fleste, | For most of us can see |
| naar alting gaar paa Kant, | That when everything goes wrong, |
| At Livet det blir lettere | A little fun and foolishness |
| med lidt Tull og Vaas iblandt. | Make it easier to get along. |
| Dog findes dem iblandt os, | There are some folks among us |
| som tror det gaar for vidt, | Who think that it is bad |
| at se oss dra paa Smilen | For us to laugh and joke, |
| og kvikne op en "bit", | Instead of looking sad; |
| men de maa faa Lov at leve | But let them live their own way |
| efter egen Sæt og Vis, | In sad and solemn tune, |
| de maa faa Lov at krybe | And then let them crawl back |
| ind i sin egen "Chrysalis". | Into their, own cocoon. |
| Men vi glædes ved den Tanke, | But we are glad to know |
| at der findes hist og her | That living here and there |
| Smaagutter eller Jenter, | Are little boys or girls |
| som venter paa han Per, | Just waiting for our Per, |
| som venter paa han Ola | And for our Ola, too, |
| saa luelaus og tryg, | Without a cap, but snug, |
| og den stakkars Dr. Lars'n | Plus poor old Doctor Lars |
| med sin gamle mugne "Jug". | With his musty, ancient jug. |
| (Trykt i "Decorah-Posten" 8. januar 1926, s. 5.) | (Original printed in Decorah-Posten, January 8, 1926, p. 5, and the translation in Hp 5) |
Comments with a Few Corrections
If you want the meaning and not a rhymed, at times inexact rendition in a fixed metre, mind that our proposed alternatives are in square brackets, while Dr Haugen's choices are at times in round brackets. The Norwegian words and phrases are updated to bokmål ("book language"), one of the two official languages in Norway.Verse 1
Line 1: gamle = old, not older. Norwegian eldre is older.Line 2: nokså = quite, rather, not "very".
Line 3 and 4: heter = is called.
Line 6: det kan jeg ikke si = I cannot tell.
Line 7 and 8: I see them just in dreams, and just in fantasy. ('Night or day' is added by Dr. Haugen)
Verse 2
Line 2: i Vesterheimen her = in (our) Western home (out) here.Line 5: For en ting ved de fleste = For one thing most people know.
Line 6: Når allting går på kant = When everything gets at odds [with us]
Line 7: At livet det blir lettere = That life becomes easier
Line 8: Med litt tull og vås iblant = With a little foolishness [and nonsense] from time to time.
Verse 4
Line 6: så luelaus og trygg = So capless and assuredLine 8: gamle mugne jug = old [not ancient] musty [smelly, fusty, fishy, old-fashioned] jug.
Comments on Verse 2
The four verses by Rosendahl are the cartoonist's manifest. In the first verse he circles in on them and how he conceives them. In the second verse is his total strip program, and there are no signs of his changing it after 1926 either. The third verse is his defence against critics, and the fourth his affirmation in the strip's value, pointing at the readers' welcome of it. It was a popular strip among Norwegian Americans, and still is.The fluent, poetic translation by Einar Haugen is OK, although it could be more exact in some places. His translation has prioritized metre and rhyming above correct translations of terms and phrases at times, and with some minor alterations of meaning. Some who do not master Norwegian may not make out of these finer points unless they get a Norwegian-English dictionary or three to look up in. Mind the differences and nuances in meaning. There are places where one may translate a line or phrase or word a little differently. But Rosendahl's gamle mugne jug in verse 4 (above), does not have to mean musty, ancient jug. For "gamle" in this context means "old" and not "ancient". And Rosendahl's mugne (musty, smelly, fusty, fishy, old-fashioned) may be translated into all of these synonyms.
For example, if you ask, "How fishy is that jug?" a few pictures from the whole series hold some clues (below), but not all of them - and the outcome depends on what we mean by "fishy" too. The word allows for many meanings.
The few strips to follow are to show there may be room for alterative renditions, since some words do carry several meanings, and Rosendahl used that feature to create puns (Norwegian: ordspill) here and there in other places. Elements with added emphasis are unneeded, that is, not in the original poem.
| Tr Tormod Kinnes | Tr Einar Haugen |
| The role they play | The roles [1] they play |
| In [our] Western Home here, | In our Western Home out here |
| Is to ease and lighten | Are meant to ease and lighten |
| the burden that you bear. | The burden that you bear. |
| For there is one thing most people know, | For most of us can see [2], |
| When everything is at odds with us | That when everything goes wrong, [3] |
| Life gets easier | A little fun and foolishness |
| With a little foolishness at times. | Make it easier to get along. |
NOTES
[1] It is not needed to translate "the role" into "the roles"; Rosendahl may refer to their "role in the big game", so to speak. That makes perfectly good sense.
[2] The modal "can" is not in the original, and "see" is equal to "understand" in this connection.
[3] There is a difference between "at odds with" and "goes wrong", in that not everything at odds with us destroys, so "goes wrong" is going further than necessary here.
It is fit to allow some leeway in a poetic translation. However, for understanding the exact program of Rosendahl much care was needed. I think I would translate his central, constructive message into something like: "When life [1] is at odds with us, things [lit. life] gets easier with a little foolishness at times." That is what Ola and Per and the other characters are for.
[1] Using the translation principle of dynamic equivalence (Nida and Taber, Trap), translating Rosendahl's "everything" in this place into "life" makes do.It should be noted that it is the follies of his cartoon characters he talks about; he does not refer to his entertained group of readers and other living beings by it.
Literature
Hp: Rosendahl, Peter J. Han Ola og Han Per. A Norwegian-American Comic Strip. En norsk-amerikansk tegneserie, edited by Joan N. Buckley and Einar Haugen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1984 (Original printed in the Decorah-Posten).
Mop: Rosendahl, Peter J. More han Ola og han Per. A Norwegian-American Comic Strip. En norsk-amerikansk tegneserie. Edited by Joan N. Buckley and Einar Haugen. Bilingual Edition. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1988.
Trap: Nida, Eugene, and Charles Taber. The Theory and Practice of Translation. Leiden: United Bible Societies / Brill, 1974.
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