Borgny - Escape from the flames

BORGNY

ESCAPE FROM THE FLAMES

Title: ESCAPE FROM THE FLAMES
© Jan Hogne Christiansen & Nina Johansen
Translator english edition: Gerd Johanna Leira and Joanna Bartholomew.
Norwegian title: Flukten fra flammene.
Original print: Norway, november 2015
English Edition: August 2017
Print: Tindetrykk.no
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or otherwise used without the prior
permission of the author or the illustrator.

ISBN 978-82-999425-0-8
Fjord Service
Røysegata 19 – 6003 Ålesund
www.borgnysunivers.no
Author: Jan Hogne Christiansen
Illustrations:Nina Johansen
Graphic layout, picture design: Jan Hogne Christiansen

4

It’s a stormy night in Ålesund over a hundred years ago, to be exact it’s
the 22nd of January 1904. Borgny has just gone to bed.
At that time all the houses were made of wood.

5

Borgny smiles. Her lips don’t move, but she’s smiling inside. It’s so
funny listening to all the noises when you’re in bed. She doesn’t
want to open her eyes. How long can she keep them shut?
Borgny is thinking. Imagine being blind. Never being able to see
again. People who are blind can’t see where they’re going, they can’t
see anything at all. Borgny thinks about Mr Langva. He’s blind and
he walks to the shop every day. How does he manage it, not seeing ?
Borgny tries to go to the shop, not for real of course, because she’s
lying in bed with her eyes shut. She imagines it inside her head.
Borgny begins to feel dizzy. How can she see inside her head with
her eyes shut? How can she see inside her head at all? It’s impossi-
ble!
Borgny tries. She shuts her eyes more tightly, but it doesn’t work.
She squeezes her eyes shut even more. She can see a light and lots of
different colours spinning around. All of a sudden she sees somet-
hing. It’s a shoe. A shoe inside her head, it’s just not possible.
Now she really is smiling. Imagine thoughts being in our feet, and
wearing shoes on our head. Borgny wiggles her toes. She’s trying to
make them think. What does a big toe think about? Borgny touches
her big toe. All of a sudden the toe screams out loud.
Toes don’t scream, they can’t even talk, but it’s owner is yelling.
“Oh! Stop it Borgny!” shouts Ivar.

6



She giggles. Ivar is her older brother. He’s thirteen.
Borgny and Ivar sleep in the same bed. Anna sleeps in
the same bed too. She’s Borgny’s little sister. The three of
them sleep in the same bed. Ivar and Anna have got their
heads on the same pillow. Borgny sleeps in between Ivar
and Anna, but her head is at the opposite end of the bed.
It’s called sleeping head-to-tail.
Borgny listens to the wind and rain. She can hear the
wind talking. Nobody knows but Borgny. She hasn’t told
anybody, they would only laugh if she said that the wind
spoke to her. Now the wind is telling her to go to sleep.
Borgny falls asleep.

8



Borgny wakes up. She’s suddenly wide awake. The wind is
shouting at her. The wind is shouting that she should wake
up. Borgnys’ eyes are so big and round they nearly fall out.
What’s the wind saying?
Borgny hears the windows creaking, as if someone is
screaming for help. The curtains billow and flap like two sca-
ry monsters. She can hear something scratching at the win-
dow. Nobody can get in at the windows on this floor. They
live on the second floor.
Borgny sits up in bed and rubs her eyes, to make sure they’re
still there. That they haven’t fallen out. She can hear Father
snoring.
Borgny listens. The wind is saying something. She tilts her
head to one side and puts her hand to her ear like a horn.
What is the wind shouting about? She thinks she can hear
it shouting “Fish-ball Factory”. Why is it shouting Fish-ball
Factory? That’s the stupidest thing she’s ever heard the wind
say. Fish-ball Factory! “There’s a fire!” She thinks she hears it
shout. Nothing can burn tonight with all the rain outside. She
shakes her head.

10



Borgny quietly tip-
toes to the window.
It’s dark outside and
a little bit red. Why is
it red? Through the
window she sees the
old oak rocking to
and fro. It looks as if
it’s going to fall over.
The branches scrape
against the window
as if to tell her to
come closer.
Borgny looks out
of the window and
then she understands
everything. The Fish-
ball Factory is on
fire.

12



Borgny runs to Father’s bed. She stretches out her
hands to shake him. At the very moment her fingers
touch Father, she hears a loud “Boom”.
The whole house shakes, the windows rattle and a
vase falls off the table. She shakes her father hysteri-
cally. Father wakes up. He’s frightened. She can see it.
His eyes are shining; they’re like two fried eggs, except
that the yolk is black. There’s another bang. Father
sits up, and then he shouts so loud that Borgny’s hair
stands straight up on end.
“The cannon fired! There’s a fire! Wake up everybody!
There’s a fire!”
14



Borgny sits down on the floor. Her parents and brother and
sister are rushing about all around her. Now she under-
stands what life is like in an ant’s nest. They weave in and
out and bang into each other. Everybody is shouting. Then
there’s silence. Borgny has put her fingers in her ears. She
takes one out.
“.. a quarter past two… in the middle of the night.”
Borgny keeps changing fingers. She hears “…put on… Fish-
ball Factory…knock on his door…trousers…”
Borgny closes her eyes and puts her fingers back in her ears.
She tries to keep out all the noise and chaos around her.
Borgny opens her eyes again. She looks straight into her
Mother’s eyes, who’s shouting at the top of her voice, “Hurry
up Borgny, don’t sit there day-dreaming! Father’s gone to
help put out the fire.We must get you dressed, and go down
to the street really quickly.”
Borgny feels fear rising as Mother’s high-pitched voice cries
out. She can feel her tummy getting tied in knots.

16



Borgny and Ivar run downstairs, past the Hjelle’s flat and
the Hessen’s flat and then they suddenly stop. Widow Bug-
ge is standing in the doorway of the last flat. Every time
Borgny’s gone past she’s always been standing there.
Borgny knows her. She’s very old, probably a hundred years
old.
“Why are you up so late my girl? So you won’t answer me
today either? What’s that strange smell?”
Borgny can’t answer her. The old widow’s asking thousands
of questions, and Borgny hasn’t got time to answer the first
one before she asks the next.
“There’s a fire! You should leave,” shouts Ivar.
“What’s that you said my boy? A fire?” the widow asks.
“Yes, the whole street’s on fire. We’ve got to get out of
town.”

18



Borgny panics. We have to leave town? What about
Aurora, she can’t walk? Aurora’s been left behind in
bed. She has to get Aurora. Borgny runs back upstairs
and into their flat. Aurora is lying there. Her eyes are
shut. What is it about her? Is she asleep?
Borgny wants to scream but she can’t. She can smell
smoke, perhaps old Mr Maaseide in the attic is smo-
king one of his cigars, but why would he, in the middle
of the night with the whole street on fire? Then she
suddenly realises. The house is burning!
Borgny turns to stone and just stands there. She can’t
move, she’s like a statue. Her house is on fire, it’s bur-
ning. All of a sudden Mother’s standing behind her.
“Hurry up, Borgny!”
Borgny picks Aurora up from the bed. They run
downstairs, passing widow Bugge and Ivar. Ivar is hel-
ping her down the last steps. Borgny runs out of the
building into the street.

20



22

Borgny looks towards the Fish-ball Factory. She’s never seen a build-
ing on fire before.
It crackles and hisses, windows are shattering and the wind is
howling. Why is the wind howling? Maybe it’s trying to put
the fire out. Borgny holds her breath. She wants to help
the wind. So she blows as hard as she can, until she’s
out of breath. It doesn’t help. It’s burning even more
now.
Borgny squints through the fumes trying to see
down the street. Another house is catching
fire. The wind is howling more strongly, it
sounds frightened. Borgny peers through
the smoke at the burning houses. She can
see something. Borgny gets scared. She
clutches her mother. She clings onto
Aurora. Mother shouts that they must
run. Borgny just stands and stares.
Her heart is hammering, but she
can’t stop staring. Above the hou-
ses she can see something green.
Its eyes are glowing like torches,
and it’s spurting out flames that
spread fire across the whole town.
“Run!” says mother, “Run!”
Borgny runs. She looks at her feet. They’re beating like
drumsticks, but she feels as if she’s running on the spot.
She thinks of Father. She’s worried about him. He’s down
at the Fish-ball Factory, trying to stop the fire. Why
hasn’t Father stopped the fire? Borgny doesn’t like the
fire. It’s naughty.
“Run!” she hears mother shout again, “Run!”

Borgny runs towards Mother. Borgny’s getting hot. She rubs her head
against her mother’s tummy. Mother smells so good, like a red rose in
summer. It’s so hot in the summer. Now it’s winter, but it’s almost as hot.
Borgny can feel the warmth of her mother, and of the flames.
In the distance she hears a sound.
“Clip-clop-clip-clop.”
Borgny listens, “Clip-clop-clip-clop,” what’s that noise? “Clip-clop-clip-
clop.” Maybe it’s Mr Møller running in the wooden clogs he brought
back from Holland. Perhaps he’s running away from the fire as well. Or
perhaps it’s Mrs Wiig beating carpets, but why would she beat carpets in
the middle of the night? Nobody does that.
“Clip-clop-clip-clop!” The sound gets closer.
“CLIP-CLOP-CLIP-CLOP.”
”NEEEIGH”

24



Borgny hears the sound of horses breathing.
Around the corner of Langberggata Street come
two horses pulling a fire-engine with firemen run-
ning alongside. Smoke is coming out of the horses’
nostrils and mouths. Smoke inside the horses? Is
there fire inside the horses? Is it burning, even in
there?
Borgny trembles and holds her breath. She doesn’t
want to be burnt. Neither do the horses. They rear

up and become as tall as the church steeple. Steam
rises from the horses. They have come to a
complete halt and refuse to move on. The
fire and wind are blowing thousands of
sparks around. It’s raining sparks
which fly through the air
like furious fire-flies
biting the horses.

26

Borgny is angry with the sparks. She doesn’t like the sparks raining down.
Tiny burning embers are swirling everywhere, in the air, on the ground
and onto the houses. They bother her, and they’re bothering the horses as
well.
“Ouch!” Ivar cries out in pain. He’s been hurt by one of the burning par-
ticles.
“Come on Borgny, we need to get away from the sparks blowing around,”
Mother shouts.
Borgny can barely hear her mother. The sparks are crackling as they whirl
about, when they touch the water on the ground, they go out. Water puts
them out. Borgny is overjoyed.
The sparks die out in water. From now on she’ll always carry a glass of
water with her.
Borgny heaves a sigh of relief. The horses are not on fire, they will save
the town. The firemen and horses move forward. They won’t be stopped
by storms or flames or sparks. They want to stop the fire. She wants to
follow them but Mother takes her hand saying firmly, “Come on Borgny,
let’s go to Langberggata Street. There’s no fire there.

Borgny hurries to Langberggata Street, it’s packed full of people.
They are rushing everywhere, in and out of the houses. They’re carrying
chairs, beds and clocks. Then she sees Mrs Drabløs. She’s got a big tum-
my.
It’s so big it looks as if it’s going to burst. It’s so big she can hardly walk.
Mr Drabløs has his arm around her. Borgny knows that she’s got a baby in
her tummy.
Borgny lifts her eyes, and sees the rain of sparks above the rooftops. There
are more now. The sparks settle on the roofs, and fly in between the roof-
tiles. Borgny watches a spark fall down onto a roof. Suddenly it explodes.
It’s exploded! The roof starts burning. The roof is on fire! Now this street is
on fire too. Suddenly there’s a wail. Mrs Øie is wailing, “I can’t find Jenny!”
Borgny knows Jenny. She’s only four years old and
she’s all alone and everybody’s running around
like headless chickens. Borgny tries to listen.
She hears people yelling, and the wind
screaming in her ears. Why’s
the wind screaming at
her? The wind
is Borgny’s
friend.

28

Borgny stretches out both her hands towards the wind, as if to tell it to stop.
Everything goes silent. As quiet as a mouse. Not a sound. It’s as if everything
has suddenly stopped.
The flames don’t move, nobody speaks and the wind stops blowing.
Borgny listens. Then she hears it. She hears someone crying. It’s Jenny, she’s
sitting under some stairs. Borgny can see her. She runs over to Jenny, takes
her hand and leads her over to Mrs Øie. Now Mrs Øie is crying too. Why is
she crying? She should be really happy. Borgny looks towards Mother. She’s
also got tears in her eyes.
“You’re the best girl in the world. Now Mrs Øie is happy and I am too. I’m so
proud of you Borgny. To think you saved little Jenny from the fire.”
Borgny smiles.

“We must go and find Father,” says Mother. “I think he’s up by
the church.”
Borgny looks towards the church. It’s so beautiful. It’s the most
beautiful building in the world. When Borgny’s sitting at her
desk at school, she gazes over at the church and dreams about be-
coming a priest. Nobody knows, only the wind. Priests wear such
nice dresses. Borgny knows the priest. He speaks very nicely. He’s
very kind, and he wears a dress. Why does he wear a dress?
Borgny looks at Ivar. He seems a bit strange, he’s pointing at the
church.
“The church has caught fire. The spire is burning! The in-
side of the church is on fire.”
Borgny looks at the church again. It really is
burning. The church where Mother and
Father got married, the church where
she was baptised is on fire. The church
everyone’s so fond of, is completely
ablaze. People are standing around
Borgny crying. Everybody’s so
fond of the church. Borgny gets
really angry and feels she wants
to scream and shout, but she
can’t. The screams stick in her
throat. She wants to save the
church. She runs towards it.
“Borgny! Stop!” Mother sho-
uts after her.

30



Borgny isn’t listening anymore. She wants to stop the flames.
The fire is bad. She wants to hit it. Borgny runs up close to
the church wall. She can feel the glowing heat. It’s stinging
her face. She’s not afraid, just angry. The sparks are whirling
and rushing all around her, the wind is blowing so hard that
she nearly looses balance. A red-hot spark hits her face. It
hurts her. It hurts a lot, she wants to cry.
All of a sudden she is lifted up, she’s lifted so high she can
almost touch the church steeple.
She feels she can see out over the whole town. There are fla-
mes everywhere.
“You must calm down Borgny. You shouldn’t play around
with this fire. It’s dangerous.”
Borgny is delighted. It’s Father, the world’s best father. It’s
him who lifted her up. He holds her tightly to his chest. She
can feel his heart, it’s beating hard. Borgny’s with her father
again, and she’s so, so glad he’s safe.

32



Borgny stares at the burning church, she watches the firemen try-
ing to put the fire out. They unroll the hose-pipe from the fire-
engine and attach it to a water pump.
Two firemen take a firm hold of the hose then the water is turned
on. The hose springs to life, it rises up into the air and becomes
big and thick. It’s like a cannonball rolling out of the pump to the
end of the hose, and being fired out of its nozzle. The water gus-
hes out onto the church. The flames disappear, but then leap up in
another part. Wherever they spurt water, the fire reappears so-
mewhere else. The firemen give up and the church disappears into
a blaze of flames. Then they turn to Borgnys’ school, Aspøyskolen
School. It’s right next to the church. It’s not on fire.
Borgny sighs with relief. The firemen want to save the school.
They aim the stream of water at the school. Borgny waits for the
water to hit the wall, but nothing happens. She turns and sees
the hose has shrunk and the spurt of water is getting smaller
and smaller. The hose goes all flat and slack. It hangs from the
firemen’s hands like a long rope. Not a drop of water is coming
out of it. How can they save the school now?
Borgny looks around. The sparks are flying through the air. It
looks like they’re gathering for a new attack. They whizz around
the school in a huge swarm. They settle on the walls, windowsills
and on the roof. They’re going to set fire to the school.

34



Borgny has an idea. Just next door to the school is the Dairy Shop. Borg-
ny sees its door is open. She hurries in and there on the counter is a glass
of milk. She grabs the glass, runs out and throws the milk at the school
wall. The sparks fizzle and die out. Milk puts them out as well. Now eve-
rybody is rushing into the Dairy Shop, they fill milk buckets and churns.
They throw milk on the walls. The sparks fizzle and howl but in the end
they all go silent. Silent and black. The school is not on fire.
Borgny finds her father. She runs towards him and straight into his good,
strong arms. His face is all black and his eyes are full of tears.
“I think you’ve saved the school. I’m proud of you. Now you must hurry
and go to the other side of town, you’ll be safe there,” says Father firmly.
Borgny is proud. Father said he was proud of her. Father said the school
was probably saved, that it wouldn’t burn down.
Borgny runs.

36



Borgny runs, she runs down the Kirkegata Street. She pays
no attention to the burning houses, or the people screaming,
crying and throwing cups and vases out of the windows. She
doesn’t notice that she’s freezing cold, or that she’s tired.
She pays no attention to the facades of houses crumbling
into the street, the windows exploding and the trees on fire.
She doesn’t notice being hungry. She’s just proud. So proud
that she barely even notices Mrs Volsdal running around in
a petticoat wearing a hat.
Borgny smiles. A petticoat and hat? Poor Mrs Volsdal. She’s
rushing around in her petticoat and hat squawking like an
old crow. She’s saying everything’s on fire.Why is she say-
ing that? Everybody can see it is. Poor Mrs Volsdal, she can’t
have had time to get dressed. She looks a bit strange.
Borgny looks around. She’s in the Apotekertorget Square.
Buildings are burning on every side “We must hurry up.
We’ve got to get over Hellebroa Bridge and out of town,” says
Mother.
Borgny looks at Mother. Mother goes rigid and her face
turns white. She looks up, points and screams. Borgny lifts
her eyes. She sees a house falling towards her. The whole
house is coming towards Borgny. “Run!” says Mother “Run!”

38



Borgny dashes away. So does everyone else. Everybody
runs in different directions. The house is getting closer.
It’s crackling and wheezing. Flames are blazing upwards
from the house and sparks are whizzing around. Borgny
runs faster than she ever has before. Then she hears a
gigantic crash, like a thousand thunder claps all at once.
The whole house is falling to the ground.
Flames are licking the air. Borgny’s heart is hammering.
She’s afraid it will make a hole in her chest. She holds
her heart and breaths. She looks around, but can’t see
Mother. Where’s Mother? Her heart beats even harder,
she can’t see her mother.
40



Borgny looks towards the house which has collapsed into the
road. The flames are reaching high into the air and block-
ing the way. She suddenly sees Ivar, but she can’t see Mother
or Anna. Mother and Anna are gone. She and Ivar are alone.
Where’s Mother? Where’s Anna? Borgny looks into the fla-
mes, she can’t see Mother or Anna.
Borgny shuts her eyes. Now she can see Mother. Mother is
smiling. She’s wearing her summer dress, her white summer
dress. Her hair is blowing in the wind. Mother has got the
most beautiful hair in the world. She’s smiling.
Borgny opens her eyes. The flames have opened up, and
through them she sees Mother and Anna. Mother and Anna
are there. Mother is pointing and shouting. Borgny can’t hear
her. Mother is pointing towards Brosundet Sound, and at the
other side of town. She must want us to go over Hellebroa
Bridge to the other side of town.
Borgny looks at Mother with sad eyes. Mother smiles. Borg-
ny smiles. Ivar smiles. Anna is crying. Borgny knows that the
smiles are not real ones. They are smiles so as not to be sad.
Borgny is sad, but she’s smiling. Ivar takes Borgny’s hand and
they hurry towards Hellebroa Bridge.

42



Borgny looks at Hellebroa Bridge. It stretches over the
beautiful Brosundet Sound. Borgny loves standing on
the bridge. It smells so good there, especially in sum-
mer and there are so many things to watch. She loves to
watch all the boats. It’s dotted with boats, big boats and
small boats. In the summer she and Ivar always go ro-
wing in the bay of the sound. Some boats bring fish in
big barrels and goods from all over the world. Once she
had chocolate from a country called Belgium. It was the
best she’d ever tasted. They don’t have time to stop now.
They must hurry across.
Borgny stops abruptly, she touches Ivar’s shoulder and
points at the bridge. It’s ablaze. The bridge is on fire.
Everything is burning behind them, on either side of
them and in front of them. It’s burning everywhere.
Borgny is frightened. The bridge is the only way to
reach the other side of town. Mother isn’t here, nor is
Father. What would Father do?
Borgny looks down towards the jetty by Apotekertor-
get Square. The boat they go rowing in is moored there.
She takes Ivar’s hand and points at the boat. It’s rocking
up and down on the waves. It’s not very big. They climb
down to the boat and clamber aboard.

44



Borgny loves being in boats, but today she’s scared. Usual-
ly she sticks her head over the edge of the boat and looks
at herself in the water, at how funny she looks. Sometimes
she puts her hand in the water and tastes it. It tastes salty.
Today the sea is wild. It is foaming, there are big waves
and there’s fire all around.
When she looks down into the sea-water at her reflection
she sees flames. Ivar points towards a place on the other
side of the sound, it isn’t burning over there. Ivar starts
rowing.
Borgny watches Ivar. He’s rowing. He grips the oars tight-
ly and with each stroke he makes a heaving noise. The
boat is pitching up and down on the big waves. Borgny
clings onto the side of the boat.
She looks out over Brosundet Sound. All the houses over-
looking the beautiful sound are on fire, lots of boats are
on fire and the oars are on fire. The oars are on fire!

46



Borgny’s eyes open wide, the oars have caught fire. Now even
the oars are burning. Ivar hasn’t noticed. She waves her arms
and points at the oars. Ivar looks at Borgny, then down at the
oars. He plunges the oars into the water. That doesn’t help.
Borgny holds her breath. She can’t do anything. Ivar slams
the oars into the water again. It makes no difference, they’re
still on fire. Ivar starts rowing again. He rows faster than
he’s ever rowed before. The oars are propellers and flames
are dancing up from their blades. The boat surges forward
across the sound, it jumps over the waves. It’s as if they
were flying. Then they stop. The boat hits the wharf.
The oars have stopped burning. They’ve made it.
Ivar made it. He’s managed to row them safely
across the sound. They’re on the other side.
48



Borgny heaves a huge sigh of relief. She stares at the dark red clo-
uds and glowing sky. It’s brighter now, almost like when she goes to
school. Borgny can feel the wind and the rain whipping against her
face. She’s soaked to the skin. She notices that she’s freezing and that
her teeth are chattering. Borgny’s touches her tummy, she’s got terri-
ble tummy ache. She misses Mother. Where is Mother?
“Come on Borgny, we’ll go ashore here,” says Ivar.
Borgny looks at Ivar. He’s the best big brother in the world. He’s so
strong. Borgny feels safe. She misses Mother but she feels safe with
Ivar looking after her. Borgny looks over to the other side of the
sound. All the houses are on fire. Mother, Father and Anna are over
there, on the other side.
“Come on Borgny, let’s go. We’ll go to the hotel and get some help,”
says Ivar.
Borgny has been to the hotel before. It’s so exciting there, people
laugh and sing and dance. When they arrive at the hotel, they dis-
cover that it’s on fire. It’s all ablaze. The streets are crowded
with people, grown ups, old people, youngsters
and little children. They’re carry-
ing lamps and vases. They look
sad. Very sad. They are not
laughing or singing or dan-
cing. They’re just walking.
They’re walking without
saying a word. Borgny un-
derstands. She doesn’t say
anything either.

50