for Connie who, one morning drinking coffee in front of the sea, told me about the Moomins

Your childhood follows you wherever you go.

That morning Bebina Bunny sat on her terrace writing in her diary. A lot was going on in her life and she wanted to remember all of it. She was fully immersed in her writing when a breeze packed with smells hit her face. Bebina stopped writing and started sniffing.

The air was full of memories. Because a smell can transport you to a different place and time. And that day the smells transported Bebina back to Moominvalley.

Two elementary school teachers, Luz and Laura, had been penpals since they were young girls. Being pen pals had been a rewarding experience for them both. First of all, by writing letters to one another, over the years they’d polished their communication skills. These letters had been full of so many curiosities that they traded between themselves. And most importantly, Luz and Laura had built a loving and solid friendship. So why not encourage their students to have pen pals? And that’s how Bebina and Moomintroll had become pen pals, too.

For many years now, Bebina and Moomintroll had been exchanging letters. Charming and childlike, they enjoyed sending one another handwritten notes along with little souvenirs such as pressed flowers, used postage stamps, ticket stubs from movies, and clippings from manga magazines.

Moomintroll lived with his parents, Moominmamma and Moominpapa, in Moominvalley. Now that school was out for summer, Moomintroll thought it would be wonderful if Bebina could come to Moominvalley to visit him and his family. Bebina, who’d never been to Finland before, thought it a great idea mainly because she wanted to see reindeers. Moomintroll told Bebina she could even bring her cat, Puffy, so Puffy wouldn’t have to be alone. With joy and enthusiasm, Bebina and Puffy packed their knapsacks and headed north.

That year it was very hot in Moominvalley. The water in the river had started to dry up. So Moomintroll suggested they all go for a swim before all the water evaporated. There was Bebina and Puffy, of course, but there was also Little My, Snorkmaiden, and Snufkin. They were happily splashing around in the water when Little My saw a wooden crate floating around. She called the others to come and help her take it to shore where they could see what was inside.

The crate was full of tropical fruit seeds. Although doubtful that anything tropical could grow in their valley, the group excitedly planted the seeds anyway. That night there was a huge tropical storm, and it rained all night. But the next morning, they woke up and found themselves in the middle of a lush forest full of tropical fruits. There were mangos and bananas and limes and papaya growing everywhere.

It was wonderful to be surrounded by so much good fruit.  And everyone joyfully ate as much of it as possible. That is, until they found out about the carnivores. Thanks to the seeds, there were bananas, limes, mango, and papaya but there was now an army of man-eating plants ready to devour them, too.

To calm the hungry plants, Snufkin played his harmonica. The plants, mesmerized by the vibes, began to sway back and forth back and forth. Like a Pied Pipper, Snufkin played as the plants followed him around. Snufkin led them to the basement where, once the plants were all inside, Snufkin quickly left closing the door behind him. Left in the dark, the poor plants died.

Moomintroll walked through the tropical forest. There were vines hanging everywhere just waiting to give someone a ride. Seduced, Moomintroll felt the need to swing. Feeling very savage, he changed into an eco-tiger print salopettes. Bebina also changed as she wanted to swing, too. Once she started swinging, she felt just like Jane. Whereas Moomintroll complained to Stinky that it was difficult pretending to be Tarzan when there were no wild animals around. Oh, how lovely it would be to be surrounded by monkeys and chimps, he said. Stinky told him not to worry because he could get some animals to jazz up the jungle. Moomintroll was so excited about the idea of swinging with a Cheetah that he didn’t bother to ask where the animals would come from.

That night Stinky broke into the local zoo and opened all the cages. The animals were elated to get out and immediately started roaming around. But they had nowhere to go. And, having lived in cages for so long, they’d forgotten how to naturally be themselves.

For some reason, the animals thought they were supposed to behave like savages. That’s why the tigers, for example, started chasing the Moomins hoping to eat them. But before Mr. Tiger could even get his jaws opened, Moominpappa pushed him into the river. The tiger couldn’t swim. The Moomins didn’t want to harm anyone, they just didn’t want to be harmed themselves.  So Moominpappa dived into the water and saved the tiger from drowning. Then Moominpappa took his family home.

Mr. and Mrs. Tiger looked at one another and sighed.  Not having been able to freely be themselves for so long, they no longer knew who they were or how they were supposed to act. “I’m just not the tiger I used to be,” said Mr. Tiger.

Once back at the Moominhouse, Bebina reflected on the events of the day. Swaying in her hammock, she lulled her thoughts into place. It seemed to her more and more that people really had no clue as to who they really were. It was, as if from the catalogue of “Who I Wanna Be”, people made choices without really understanding who they were. More than being themselves, thought Bebina, people preferred inventing themselves.

Often, our life evolves but our dreams do not. We insist on keeping obsolete and unrealistic dreams then become frustrated when we can’t actualize them.

And what about those animals living in cages. Whose idea was it that these magnificent creatures should be deprived of a normal life just so some dude could go point his finger at them and say “Look at those beasts!” But who are the real beasts?

The real beasts are those who deprive others of their freedom.

For years the animals had been locked in cages. They’d been deprived of being their real selves. But now, once freed, they no longer knew who their “real” self was. They no longer knew what to do.

Once freed, the animals could never go back to who they once were. Time and their condition of possibility had eternally transformed them. And the realization of this was overwhelming. Seeing their bewilderment, Moominmamma instinctively knew what to do. She gave them all a cup of tea and made them feel as if they belonged. As if they were part of the family.

A sense of belonging is important even for animals. And once the wild animals freed from the zoo were made to feel as if they belonged, they stopped being aggressive. Talk at the table let them better understand one another. By simply sitting down together and talking, they realized that they had more things in common than not.

This post is an ekphrastic celebration of Tove Jansson (1914-2001) and the Moomins she created. Tove, a Swedish speaking Finnish writer and artist, began drawing the Moomins as early as 1935 although the first Moomin book would not be published until 10 years later.

Moomin children’s books brought Tove fame and fortune. But it also brought much stress. Her originally intention had been to be a painter, not a cartoonist. But the Moomins had given her the possibility of reliving certain sensations she’d so enjoyed during her childhood. The Moomins also provided her with economic security. So Tove continued to write Moomin books until the death of her mom. And after her mom’s death, Tove had the Moomin sails into the sunset never to return again.

-30-

(“Bebina’s Moominvalley Summer”  ⓒ 2024)

Related: Watch These Animals Being Freed For The First Time video +

Moominvalley is a British Finnish animated family drama television series. An adaptation of the Moomin books and comics by writer-illustrator Tove Jansson and her brother Lars Jansson, it is created using new techniques in 3D CGI.

This post was inspired by the Moominvalley episode The Wooden Crate & Buried in a Jungle on Moomin Official