by Anna Karlskov Skyggebjerg

The boy with the magic flute

We find ourselves in an unknown country in the distant past, where the young lad Silas comes drifting down a river in a primitive boat. Silas's passage seems peaceful enough but on the banks of the river horse trader Bartolin is contemplating stealing the boat. But Bartolin is totally unaware of the strength of the craft's almost invisible passenger. It is the irony of fate that it is Silas who manages to outwit the horse trader, and not the other way round. His encounter with the boy ends up costing Bartolin a black filly. 

190px_Omslaget til Silas og den sorte hoppe er tegnet af Svend Otto Sørensen i 1967 © Svend Otto Sørensen COPY-DAN Billedkunst 20060164Silas has fled from his mother because he refuses to go along with her plans for the future. The sail down the river is the beginning of a dramatic journey, in which among other exploits, he saves the children Maria and Ben Godik from the miserable conditions under which they live. Silas is endowed with a special talent, namely the ability to play on a magic flute, which has the capacity to turn animals and humans mad. The flute is his peaceful weapon against those adults who hit their children and order them around.

Belief in children
The story shows a powerful belief in the child. Silas represents hope in a world in which children are repressed. He is able to revolt against the grown- ups, despite the fact that he is nearly always on the run. The story has a symbolic quality, awakening almost biblical associations. Silas in the boat is reminiscent of Moses, who arrives on the scene sailing in a basket in the Old Testament. Children are regarded as competent readers, who are fully capable of grasping the book's message: The fact is that children are worthy human beings in possession of an intact sense of responsibility.

New children's literature
Silas and the Black Filly marked the début of Cecil Boedker (born 1927) as a children's writer. Before that she had published poems and novels for an adult audience. The book is epoch-making in both her authorship and in Danish children's literature. It won the Danish Academy's children's book competition as well as attaining overwhelming popularity among readers. Today you can buy all the Silas books (12 volumes) in a handsome bound edition.

Silas and the Black Filly appeared in the same year as Ole Lund Kirkegaard's Little Virgil (Lille Virgil) and Benny Andersen's The Snoevs and Eigil and the Cat in the Bag (Snoevsen og Eigil og Katten i saekken). These books show a new orientation in children's literature, in which the author speaks to the child at eye height and in an artistically formulated language.

Anna Karlskov Skyggebjerg, a teacher at the Centre for Children's Literature (Center for Boernelitteratur), has written "Fantastic Tales in Danish Children's Literature 1967-2003" ("Den fantastiske fortaelling i dansk boernelitteratur 1967-2003") (Roskilde University Press 2005)

Cover of the book Silas and the Black Filly by Svend Otto Sørensen, 1967. © Svend Otto Sørensen/ COPY-DAN Billedkunst 20060164.