We sneak on tiptoe as we go, so stealthily to steal-o...
"You shall never bother others, you shall be both fair and kind, and whatever else you do I shall not mind."
— Law of Cardamom
When the Robbers Came to Cardamom Town is a 1955 Norwegian children's book written and illustrated by Thorbjørn Egner. It tells the story of the peaceful town of Cardamom and the people who live there. Outside the town three robbers, Casper, Jasper and Jonathan (Kasper, Jesper and Jonatan in the original Norwegian) live with their tame lion. They regularly come to town at night to steal the things they need, but despite repeated demands that they have to be arrested, police chief Constable Bastian isn't very keen on arresting people who have a dangerous lion as a pet.
The book is considered one of the most important works in Norwegian children's literature, and has also seen several adaptations over the years. The story started out as a radio play in 1955, but was quickly published as a book, and 1956 saw the stage musical adaptation which was a tremendous success and is still regularly played in Norwegian theatres. to this day. The story has also been adapted for film twice — one live-action movie 1988, and one stop-motion animated movie in 2022.
In addition, in 1991 the town itself was recreated as a theme park within Kristiansand Zoo, meticulously based on Thorbjørn Egner's illustrations.
This novel provides examples of:
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Kind of with Casper and Aunt Sophie in the animated movie. While the book all but states they end up married after the events of the story, the text itself never implies anything romantic between them. In the movie, Casper is smitten with her the when he first sees her from afar, which gives an entirely new context to his suggestion that the robbers should kidnap her... as well to several of their interactions afterwards.
- Adapted Out: There are two young boys with semi-important parts in the story, Tommy and Remo. Several adaptations, including the audio drama and some versions of the stage play, drop Remo and leave Tommy as the only young boy.
- All Animals Are Domesticated: Kinda zig-zagged with the lion. It clearly views the robbers as its pride and generally gets along with them... though it can get grouchy if they annoy it too much, or it's hungry, or it suspects they're trying to steal its favorite sleeping spot. It's especially clear in the animated movie, where the lion sometimes happily joins in on the robbers' antics (like doing morning exercises with Jasper) and sometimes growls and takes annoyed swipes at them.
- An Aesop: A fairly blatant one about how you have to people decently if you want them to become decent people. Aunt Sophie's attempt at reforming the robbers through bossing and intimidation tactics may get immediate results, but doesn't provide lasting results — sure, the robbers obey her commands in the moment because they're scared, but as soon as she's gone they immediately fall back into their old behavior and celebrate their regained freedom. But when Constable Bastian and wife treat the robbers with kindness and give them a chance to become productive members of society, the robbers end up genuinely reforming and becoming far happier for it.
- Artistic License – Animal Care: You really shouldn't give chocolate to a lion.
- Art Shift: The animated movie is mostly stop-motion, but has a couple of 2D-animated scenes, like during the parrot's song about its past or during Casper's Blatant Lies explanation of why the robbers were in the bakery in the middle of the night.
- Big Eater: Jonathan is always hungry, especially for cookies. When the robbers get arrested, Jonathan's main concern is whether they'll get any food while in prison... and when Constable Bastian assures him that sure, they'll have three meals a day, he's perfectly happy to be locked up.
- Blatant Lies: Casper explains to Constable Bastian that the robbers weren't at all in the bakery in the middle of the night to steal... no, they were just out for a late-night walk, and the air was chilly, so they popped into the bakery to warm themselves. Why he's carrying a sack filled with baked goods? Well.. he happened to collide with a shelf in the dark, and all the baked goods on that shelf just happened to fall right into his sack. Honest!
- Brick Joke: Early in the story, Jasper eagerly suggests that the robbers steal the Talking Camel and use it as a riding animal for their nightly town visits, but is quickly shut down when Casper points out a few flaws in this plan, like how difficult it would be to handle a camel ("How are we even supposed to get it through doors?"). In the book that's where it ends — but in the animated movie, when the robbers are surprised and arrested in the sausage-maker's shop, Jasper manages to escape through the door. He sees the Talking Camel stand in the street nearby, sees his chance at finally getting to steal the camel like he wanted, jumps up on its back and tells it to "giddiyap!" ...and the camel just gives him a deadpan look and remains perfectly still, refusing to go anywhere with him. He ends up getting arrested along with the others.
- Character Signature Song: Several. Most of the major characters have one; the exceptions are the two young boys, Tommy and Remo.
- Constable Bastian – “Constable Bastian's song”
- Aunt Sophie – “Aunt Sophie's angry song”
- The robbers – “The robbers' song”
- Old Tobias – “Song about the weather”
- Kamomilla – “Little Kamomilla playing”
- Simonsson the barber – “The barber song”
- Enoksson the Tram driver – “The tram in Cardemom Town”
- Mrs Bastian – "Mrs Bastian's song"
- Comically Missing the Point: A very common joke in the adaptations is that when the robbers have been captured and are informed they're going down to the police station, one of them (usually Casper, sometimes Jonathan) will ask if there's anything to steal there.
- Cool Old Guy: Tobias is a Friend to All Children and generally regarded as the wisest and cleverest citizen of Cardamom Town.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The baker and the sausage-maker are never given any other names. They even introduce themselves only using their titles.
- Gender Flip: The town baker is a man in the original book and radio play, but in later editions of the stage musical the baker is often depicted as a woman (and it's more than implied that there's a budding romance between her and Jonathan). The animated movie follows suit, and also gives her a bit of a Race Lift, presenting her as Ambiguously Brown.
- Good Feels Good: The robbers are heroes in the end, when they put out a fire in Tobias's tower and save the lives of his pets. In the heat of the moment they don't really seem to think about it, but afterwards when the fire is out and they're hailed as heroes, they marvel at how nice it feels to have done something good.
- Happily Married:
- Constable Bastian and his wife have a happy, loving relationship.
- Hooked Up Afterwards version with Casper and "a lady who's good at keeping things in order." We don't see the marriage, but the narration insists it's happy.
- Hates Baths: The robbers. But once they get arrested and go to prison, they end up learning that it might not be so bad after all.
- Heavy Sleeper: Aunt Sophie, who sleeps through not only her kidnapping, but through her return as well. It gets ridiculous in the animated movie, where the robbers have several clumsy moments while carrying her off in her hammock; at one point they even drop her —- and she sleeps just as soundly.
- Heel–Face Turn: The robbers aren't really bad people, but they are very amoral and self-centered. The final act of the story, after their arrest, sees them slowly reform and become better people, ending up as the heroes of the town when they put out the fire in Tobias's tower.
- Heroic Fire Rescue: The robbers save old Tobias’ parrot and puppy, and help put out the fire in his tower. They are hailed as heroes by the town, and Kasper becomes the town’s fire chief.
- Hooked Up Afterwards:
- Casper ends up happily married. The narrator doesn’t mention any names, but apparently, he married ‘a lady who’s good at keeping things in order …'
- Also implied with Jonathan and the baker in some versions of the stage play, especially when the baker is portrayed as a woman — when she offers him a job as her assistant, there's often a distinct hint that they have a slightly more intimate partnership in mind as well.
- Horrible Housing: The robbers live in a rather shabby house which is always messy, largely because none of them can be bothered to clean.
- "I Hate" Song: “Aunt Sophie's angry song” is mostly Aunt Sophie loudly declaring that everyone and everything in Cardamom Town except her sucks, and would need a lot more order and discipline to become even remotely acceptable.
- Intergenerational Friendship:
- Old Tobias and the young boy Remo don't seem to be related, but they have a close friendship, with Tobias teaching Remo about watching the skies and predicting the weather. Remo is also the one who finds out when Tobias's birthday is and tells the townspeople so they can have a town-wide celebration.
- Tobias on the whole actually seems to be somewhat of a Friend to All Children; he also has a good report with the other young boy, Tommy, who comes to him for advice, and with Little Kamomilla.
- Job Song: “The barber song” is partly this and partly about how the barber would really rather just play the clarinet.
- Kidnapped While Sleeping: Aunt Sophie sleeps in a hammock, so the robbers simply carry the whole hammock away.
- Lovable Rogue: The robbers are criminals, sure, but even if the people of Cardamom insist they're the worst kinds of thieves, the narration quickly proves that they're not actually that bad —- they mainly steal food for themselves and their lion, and they never use violence of any kind. At the climax of the story, they also don't hesitate at all to enter a burning house in order to save Tobias's pets.
- Nice Guy: Constable Bastian is the kindest, friendliest policeman ever. He's not a good or effective policeman, partly because he's a bit of a Lovable Coward and partly because he's just too nice for his job. He never wants to enforce the law and would rather just walk around the town, chatting amicably with everyone he meets, arrange parties and celebrations, and maybe help out with small problems that generally has nothing to do with enforcing the law at all. In any other town than Cardamom he'd probably be a complete joke as a policeman, but since this town mostly has friendly and law-abiding citizens he manages very well, and is one of the most popular and well-liked people in town. He plays absolutely no role in the arrestation of the robbers, but it's his kindness towards them while they're in prison that really kicks off their Heel–Face Turn.
- The Pig-Pen: The robbers boast that they Hate Baths and live in a very dirty and messy house.
- Pity the Kidnapper: The robbers kidnap aunt Sophie so that she can cook and clean for them. She immediately turns this around and makes them wash and clean not only their home, but themselves as well! When constable Bastian, the baker and the sausage-maker show up to save her, she doesn’t want to leave, because she’s determined to make the robbers into decent people. In the end the robbers can’t take her ordering them around anymore, and when she falls asleep, they return her to her home.
- Polly Wants a Microphone: The parrot from America (whose name actually is Polly) doesn't really have a lot of dialogue, though in the animated movie it's somewhat more talkative and definitely understands everything it says. It even gives Tobias the Affectionate Nickname "Beardy."
- Prison Changes People: But in this case, largely thanks to the very gentle and welcoming nature of Cardamom Town's prison, the change is entirely positive. After being arrested, the robbers are treated with kindness throughout, they're given good food and comfortable beds to sleep in, and Constable Bastian and his wife encourage them rather than threaten and punish them. They respond positively to the treatment (and even admit that it's nice to have other people to talk to other than just themselves all the time) and it doesn't take too long for them to change their ways.
- Quirky Town: Cardamom Town takes the "idyllic small town" vibe and exaggerates it to the point of near-parody, especially in some of the adaptations.
- Reformed Criminal: The robbers save the day in the end and get honest jobs.
- Talking Animal: The talking camel, and the parrot from America, though neither of them get much dialogue outside their signature songs. The book also kind of implies that the camel isn't actually talking and that it's just a ventriloquism act for the show, but pretty much all the adaptations drop this implication and makes it clear the camel is talking. The parrot, by contrast, definitely has a Polly Wants a Microphone thing going on.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Jonathan loves gingerbread cookies. The lion loves milk chocolate
- Villain Song: “The robbers' song” is about going into town and stealing. The robbers actually sing three versions of this song — the "default" version, where they mainly sing about stealing food; the "kidnapping Sophie" version, where they sing about all the things they want Sophie to do for them... and the "finally rid of Sophie" version, where they sing about how happy they are to be rid of her.
- Weather Report: Tobias's job is to observe the sky in his tower and predict the weather in Cardamom Town. He doesn't appear on TV with the weather report, he just announces from his tower what the weather is going to be like. The narrative points out that while he's usually very accurate, he does occasionally make mistakes.
- White-and-Grey Morality: Really. nobody is truly bad in this story. Most of the people in Cardamom Town are friendly, honest and helpful Nice Guys, and the ones who aren't inevitably turn out to have many redeeming qualities. The robbers merely needed a chance to change their lives around and Aunt Sophie... is extremely law-abiding and has moments where she can be almost nice.
