Bør Børson
Johan Falkberget
 "Bør Børson Olderstad" is a farmer's son from the fictional valley Olderdalen. Dreaming about money, wealth and a position at the board of the local savings bank, he has changed his last name to Børson, and started a local grocery store. The name Børson is a paraphrase of the Norwegian word , from , in . Via various burlesque episodes he eventually ends up as a millionaire. The story ends with a wedding between Bør and Josefine Torsøien, a girl from a nearby farm. The novel is set in the boom period during World War I. Norway did not participate in the war, but the country's merchant fleet carried goods at increasing freight rates. The sea transport was a risky business that cost the lives of 2,000 Norwegian seamen, while a volatile stock market could multiply investments over short periods of time.