Snufkin

Snufkin (or Snusmumriken in the original Swedish and Nuuskamuikkunen in Finnish) is a character in the Moomin series of books by Finnish author Tove Jansson.

Moomintroll’s best friend, who goes south every winter and returns in the spring. He is the son of the Mymble and the Joxter, and is half-brother to the Mymble’s daughter and Little My. Snufkin is an adventurer and a vagabond, admired by those who are small and shy.

Snufkin wears old green clothes and a wide brimmed hat he’s had since birth. He lives in a tent, smokes a pipe, and plays the harmonica. Snufkin also has a great dislike for authority figures such as the Park Keeper, and the many regulation signs and fences he puts up, and as such is often thought of as an anarchist. At one point he sabotages The Park Keeper by planting Hattifatteners in his garden, causing them to grow and drive him out.

Snufkin prefers freely-growing foliage to fenced-in lawns. Snufkin keeps as few worldly possessions as possible, seeing them as a burden, and being happier keeping the memory of a thing than the thing itself. This aspect of his personality is contrasted in the character of Sniff.