Taken from Bowman and Bianco's larger collection of Finnish folklore, Tales From a Finnish Tupa, these three stories of the Holmolaiset - the residents of Holmola, a town of fools - are engaging and humorous. It takes a certain kind of skewed inventiveness to think as the Holmolaiset do, something that is evident in each of the selections in Seven Silly Wise Men. Whether harvesting rye in their own unique way, and dealing with the strange sickle that appears in their fields; attempting to build tupas (one-room log huts) to replace their kotas (wigwam-style houses); or jumping into a lake in order to eat the "porridge" they have made; the Holmolaiset are indeed both silly and wise.

Folklore enthusiasts will immediately recognize this tale-type, involving a town of fools. My first thought was of Chelm (sometimes "Helm"), the village of fools to be found in the eastern European Jewish tradition (see collections such as The Fools of Chelm and Their History, or The Wise Men of Helm and Their Merry Tales), but the authors specifically mention the English tradition concerning the men of Gotham, Swiss beliefs about the townspeople of Meireingen, and American tales of the proverbial backwoodsman, in their brief forward. All excellent examples! I enjoyed these tales, as well as the somewhat cartoonish illustrations contributed by John Faulkner, and recommend them to anyone with an interest in Finnish folklore, or tales of fools in general. ( )