Fritiof Nilsson Piraten

Piraten went on to write two more books about Bombi Bitt, one in 1946 and one appeared posthumously in 1974. Most of his books are collections of bucolic anecdotes about eccentric people in Skåne, such as his novel, Bock i örtagård ("Buck in herbal garden", 1933), about an illiterate horse-dealer and squire who bullies his way into a church-wardenship to win a bet. A movie was released 1958 based on this novel. A later novel, Bokhandlaren som slutade bada ("The book-dealer who ceased bathing", 1937) is a deeply tragic story, dotted with occasional comic situations, about a too-sensitive man falling in love with a woman and marrying her before he realizes who she really is, and the disasters that follow. 1969 a movie came out based on this novel. Most of his books are considered to fit well in the tall tale category. • Illustration — Gravestone on Ravlunda cemetery. The inscription roughly translates into: Here below are the ashes of a man who had the habit of putting everything off until tomorrow. But in his last days he improved, and did actually die on 31 January 1972. Nilsson was deliberately non-literary, getting along with sailors, farmers and businessmen, and probably got his nickname for that reason (although he always insisted that it was there to distinguish him from another Nilsson). His humour is based more in understatement than in hyperbole, although the stories may be wild enough. His famous epitaph is representative of his style.

• Notable Works — Bombi Bitt