All the pretty little reindeer

We don't often wake up early enough on Sunday to hear On Your Farm, but this morning, for no obvious reason, we turned on the radio to hear a reporter visiting reindeer herders in northern Sweden.

Which was interesting enough in itself, but as it happens I have just finished reading The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher (ursulav). Which I entirely recommend, if you are looking for Hans Christian Andersen fanfic - no, more, Hans Christian Andersen slash. Or even if you aren't, but want to read about reindeer and talking ravens and old women (which of course you do).

After which, obviously, I had to re-read the original, which I think was the right way round to do it: read T. Kingfisher's version against a hazy recollection of the story of Gerda and Kay and the broken mirror, and then read Andersen's version and see how cleverly the details have been followed, but twisted and adapted.

You can go for months on end without seeing a reindeer, and then three of them arrive together.