Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu
 | |
| Author | Andrus Kivirähk |
|---|---|
| Original title | Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu |
| Illustrator | Andres Rõhu |
| Country |
 |
| Language | Estonian |
| Published | 2007 (Eesti Keele Sihtasutus) |
| Media type | Print, Audio |
| Pages | 381 |
| ISBN | 978-9985-79-178-3 |
The Man Who Spoke Snakish (Estonian: Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu) is a novel by Estonian author Andrus Kivirähk.[1] It was first published in 2007. In 2008 an audiobook was published, read by the Estonian actor Tiit Sukk.[2] It has been translated into English (2015), as well as Czech (2011), Latvian (2011), French (as L'Homme qui savait la langue des serpents, 2013), Russian (2014), Danish (2015), Dutch (2015), Hungarian (2015), Spanish (2017) and German (2017).[3] In 2009 a board game with the same name was released by the game developer Revaler in cooperation with the newspaper Eesti Päevaleht.[4] It is set in an imaginary Estonia during the Middle Ages.
The French translation was awarded the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire for the best foreign-language novel in 2014.
It talks about Leemet an Estonian who is part of a diminishing group of Estonians who live in the forest, holding up ancient traditions and who speak the ancient "snake-tongue" which lets them control animals and speak with snakes.
References