Tyvarr talar jag inte svenska.

No problem - darkcarnival seems to be AWOL. Is it 'The Last Night of the World'?

Congratulations to you, fjp 451! "The Visitor" is the correct answer. (It is the part where Saul is talking to himself, thinking with great enjoyment of how radically Mr Mark's arrival may change his miserable situation.)

Here's another one, perhaps a bit easier. Or - perhaps not...


Han lyssnade och väntade sig att få höra henne komma springande uppför trappan men hörde endast långsamma avmätta steg. Det är inte min Maria, tänkte han, inte så där långsamt - nej.

Dörrvredet trycktes ner.

"Maria!"

"Du är tidigt hemma!" Hon log glatt mot honom. Gissade hon det? Syntes det i hans ansikte? "Jag har varit därnere", utbrast hon, "och berättat det för allihop!"

"Berättat det för allihop?"

"Doktorn! Jag har varit hos doktorn!"

"Doktorn?" Han såg förvirrad ut. "Och?"

"Och pappa, och..."

"Menar du - pappa?"

"Pappa, pappa, pappa, pappa!"

"Å", sade han milt, "du gick så försiktigt i trappan."

Lesperance, my family hosted a young lady from Stockholm one year and my heritage is Swedish, my grandparents being from Haland.

Anyway I was able to pore over Anna's Swedish/English dictionary and got to know quite a few words. But the marks above the letters were an "o" or two "os" as well as some others. "Brata" and "inte" should have been big red flags for me. I am humbled for my rather quick response and not studying the paragraphs a bit more closely.

quote:

Originally posted by tinkerbell:
Tyvarr talar jag inte svenska.

Hubba hubba!

That's nice, biplane1. I'm from Stockholm too. (BTW, I assume you mean "prata")

quote:

Originally posted by Braling II:

Hubba hubba!

Ah, that's a hard one... Could it be from "The Crowd"?

I think he meant Abba abba!

No, just reacting to a stimulating tinkerbell posting...

Tack Braling, my little Dancing Queen.

Could this extract be from "The Marriage Mender"?

OK, perhaps not very smart to give the name Maria away, but in any case the words "doktorn" and "pappa" might be fairly guessable even for non-polyglots and they are good keywords to this lovely story. Yes, it is indeed The Marriage Mender or "Äktenskapsmedlaren" as the translator has it. Well done, tinkerbell, the winner takes it all.

Lesperance, I'm no polyglot, not even a polygon come to that ('deceased parrot' to you).

No, it was the "springande" that gave the game away. Mr Tinkerbell's always complaining about it.

OK, try this one for size. It came up in discussion with our aktenskapsmedlaren the other day.

"She would not put up with it another minute. She walked over to the other couch, reached down and drew out the gun.
'What's that?' he said, looking at it. 'Oh my God,' he laughed. 'A gun. How dramatic.'
'I've caught on to you,' she said.
'Is there anything to catch on to?' he wanted to know, calmly, his mouth straight, his eyes twinkling.
'You've been lying to me. You haven't been here in eight weeks or more,' she said."

Tink!
"Queen", eh?
Not I! Now, just because I live near Santa Cruz, California....!

Your quote rings a few bells...have to poke around the shelves when I have a moment...

Sundance, right!! But the "other" is fightin' words!

http://timesonline.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/200...the_sundance_kid.jpg

"You just keep thinkin' Butch. That's what you're good at."

Clue: The male character is not far removed from yours, Braling II.

Well, my first thought was "Punishment Without Crime", but I haven't been able to verify that.

Ask Braling I - he should know. After all, he and my protagonist came from the same supplier. (Or is it you who's the fake? I get confused.)