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diff --git a/38112-0.txt b/38112-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8f29ba --- /dev/null +++ b/38112-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7597 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mighty Mikko, by Parker Fillmore + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Mighty Mikko + A Book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales + +Author: Parker Fillmore + +Illustrator: Jay Van Everen + +Release Date: November 23, 2011 [eBook #38112] +[Most recently updated: March 13, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Suzanne Shell, Wendy J., Sam W. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIGHTY MIKKO *** + + + + + MIGHTY MIKKO + + A Book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales + + BY + PARKER FILLMORE + + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND DECORATIONS + BY + JAY VAN EVEREN + + + [Decoration] + + + NEW YORK + HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY + + + + + Copyright, 1922, by + PARKER FILLMORE + + PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY + THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY + RAHWAY, N J + + + + + _BY PARKER FILLMORE_ + + CZECHOSLOVAK FAIRY TALES + THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON + _Both Illustrated by Jan Matulka_ + + THE LAUGHING PRINCE + _Illustrated by Jay Van Everen_ + + THE HICKORY LIMB + _Illustrated by Rose Cecil O'Neill_ + + THE ROSIE WORLD + _Illustrated by Maginal Wright Enright_ + + + + + [Illustration: _Ilona came floating up through the waves. Page 17_] + + + + + To my niece + + Phyllis + + These stories of her mother's native land + + + + +[Decoration] + +NOTE + + +The spirit of nationalism that swept over the small peoples of Europe +in the early nineteenth century touched faraway Finland and started +the Finns on the quest of the Finnish. There as elsewhere scholars who +were also patriots found that the native tongue, lost to the educated +and the well-to-do, had been preserved in the songs and stories which +were current among the peasants. Elias Lönnrot spent a long and busy +life collecting those ancient _runos_ from which he succeeded in +building up a national epic, the _Kalevala_. This is Lönnrot's great +contribution to his own country and to the world. Beside the material +for the _Kalevala_ Lönnrot made important collections of lyrics, +proverbs, and stories. + +During his time and since other patriot scholars have made faithful +records of the songs and tales which the old Finnish minstrels, the +_runolaulajat_, chanted to the strains of the _kantele_. The mass of +such material now gathered together in the archives of the Society of +Finnish Literature at Helsingfors is imposing in bulk and of great +importance to the student of comparative folklore. + +My own excursions into the Finnish have been made possible through the +kindness and endless patience of my friend, Lydia Tulonen (Mrs. Kurt +J. Rahlson). With her as a native guide I have been wandering some +time through the byways of Finnish folklore. The present volume is the +traveler's pack I have brought home with me filled with strange +treasures which will, I hope, seem as lovely to others as they seemed +to me when first I came upon them. + +The stories as I offer them are not translations but my own versions. +Literal translations from the Finnish would make small appeal to the +general reader. To English ears the Finnish is stiff, bald, and +monotonous. One has only to read or attempt to read Kirby's excellent +translation of the _Kalevala_ to realize the truth of this statement. +So I make no apology for retelling these tales in a manner more likely +to prove entertaining to the English reader, whether child or adult. + +In some form or other all the tales in this book may be found in the +various folklore collections made by Eero Salmelainen, one of the +patriotic young scholars who followed in Lönnrot's footsteps. His +books were sponsored by the Society of Finnish Literature and used in +its campaign to bring back the Finnish language to the Finns at a time +when Swedish was the official language of the country. + +Full of local color as these stories are, it would be vain to pretend +that they are not, for the most part, variants of stories told the +world over. All that I can claim for them is that they are dramatic +and picturesque, that they are told with a wealth of charming detail +which is essentially Finnish, and that they are certainly new to the +generality of English readers. _The Three Chests_, so characteristic +in feeling of a country famous for its lakes and marshes, is the +variant of a German story which Grimm gives as _Fitcher's Bird_. Of +_The Forest Bride_ I have found variants in the folklore of many +lands. There are several very beautiful ones in the Russian; in other +books I myself have retold two, one current among the Czechs and one +among the Serbians; Grimm has two different versions in _The Three +Feathers_ and _The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat_; and Madame d'Aulnoy +has used the same story in her elaborate tale, _The White Cat_. There +is a well-known Oriental version of _Mighty Mikko_ in which the part +of the fox is played by a jackal and I am sure that Mikko's faithful +retainer, though neither city-bred nor polished, is after all pretty +closely related to that most debonnaire of Frenchmen, _Puss in Boots_. +Perrault probably and Madame d'Aulnoy certainly are in turn indebted +to Straparola. And so it goes. + +The little cycle of animal stories included under _Mikko the Fox_ will +of course instantly invite comparison with the Beast Epic of _Reynard +the Fox_. The two have many episodes in common and both have episodes +to be found in Æsop and in those books of animal analogues, widely +read in mediæval times, _Physiologus_ and the _Disciplina Clericalis_ +of Petrus Alfonsus. The _Reynard_ as we have it is a finished satire +on church and state and in its present form has been current in Europe +since the twelfth century. It was thought at one time that the animal +stories found in Finland were debased versions of the _Reynard_ +stories, but scholars are now of opinion that they antedate _Reynard_ +and are similar to the earlier simpler stories upon which the +_Reynard_ cycle was originally built. This makes the little Finnish +tales of great interest to the student. Needless to say I do not +present them for this reason but because they seem to me charming +merely as fables. The animals here are not the clerics and the judges +and the nobles that the _Reynard_ animals are, but plain downright +Finnish peasants, sometimes stupid, often dull, frequently amusing, +and always very human. + +I have taken one liberty with spelling. I have transliterated +Syöjätär, the name of the dread Finnish witch, as Suyettar. I have +been unwilling to translate by the insufficient word, _bath-house_ or +_vapor bath_, that very characteristic institution of Finnish family +life, the _sauna_, but have retained the Finnish word, _sauna_, +allowing the context in each case to indicate the meaning. + + P. F. + + _New York_ + _June 19, 1922_ + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + THE TRUE BRIDE: The Story of Ilona and the King's Son 1 + + MIGHTY MIKKO: The Story of a Poor Woodsman and a + Grateful Fox 25 + + THE THREE CHESTS: The Story of the Wicked Old Man + of the Sea 47 + + LOG: The Story of the Hero Who Released the Sun 67 + + THE LITTLE SISTER: The Story of Suyettar and the + Nine Brothers 99 + + THE FOREST BRIDE: The Story of a Little Mouse Who + was a Princess 121 + + THE ENCHANTED GROUSE: The Story of Helli and + the Little Locked Box 141 + + THE TERRIBLE OLLI: The Story of an Honest Finn and + a Wicked Troll 155 + + THE DEVIL'S HIDE: The Story of the Boy Who Wouldn't + Lose His Temper 171 + + THE MYSTERIOUS SERVANT: The Story of a Young Man Who + Respected the Dead 193 + + FAMILIAR FACES: + + I Mary, Mary, So Contrary! 209 + + II Jane, Jane, Don't Complain! 215 + + III Susan Walker, What a Talker! 221 + + MIKKO THE FOX: A Nursery Epic in Sixteen Adventures + + I The Animals Take a Bite 229 + + II The Partners 235 + + III The Fox and the Crow 243 + + IV The Chief Mourner 251 + + V Mirri, the Cat 257 + + VI The Fox's Servant 263 + + VII The Wolf Sings 267 + + VIII The Clever Goat 273 + + IX The Harvest 279 + + X The Porridge 283 + + XI Nurse Mikko 287 + + XII The Bear Says _North_ 293 + + XIII Osmo's Share 297 + + XIV The Reward of Kindness 301 + + XV The Bear and the Mouse 307 + + XVI The Last of Osmo 309 + + + + +[Decoration] + +FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Ilona came floating up through the waves _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + The old king snake has wound himself around Osmo's + arm 15 + + The King thought that if Mikko should see his daughter 33 + + She fitted the key in the lock 57 + + "This last and mightiest battle is for me!" 85 + + Suyettar bewitching Kerttu 111 + + She beckoned to Veikko 135 + + On it flew until it reached the broad Ocean 147 + + Olli and the Troll's horse 161 + + From the bones of the cattle he laid three bridges 183 + + "She is under an evil enchantment and I am delivering + her!" 203 + + When she got to the middle of the stream 208 + + They were so busy eating and drinking 214 + + They carried home the treasure on their backs 220 + + Osmo, the Bear, grunted out: "Huh! That's easy! We'll + eat the smallest of us next!" 228 + + "Wake up, Pekka! Wake up! There's butter running out + of your nose!" 239 + + "I'll teach that Crow to interfere with my affairs!" + the Fox muttered to himself as he trotted off 249 + + And Mikko, beginning with a little whimpering sound, + slowly rose to a high heartrending cry 253 + + He jerked quickly away and fled and the Bear was left + standing with his mouth wide open 259 + + A terrible creature landed on his nose and drove it + full of pins and needles 262 + + The Wolf went staggering around the room howling at + the top of his voice 269 + + In the confusion that followed the Wolves stampeded, + running helter-skelter in all directions 272 + + "Here are three of us and, see, here on the floor is + our harvest already divided into three heaps" 278 + + He dropped it in the water and of course it spread out + far and wide and the current carried it off 282 + + He ran after Mikko and was about to overtake him when + Mikko slipped into a crevice in the rocks. Only one + paw stuck out 289 + + Of course the instant he opened his mouth, the Grouse + flew away 292 + + "Why, do you know," he said, "my turnips and my bread + don't taste a bit like this!" 296 + + The first person they met was an old Horse. They put + their case to him 300 + + With that the Bear lifted his paw and the little Mouse + scampered off 306 + + So that was the End 315 + + + + +THE TRUE BRIDE + +[Decoration] + +_The Story of Ilona and the King's Son_ + + +THE TRUE BRIDE + +[Decoration] + +There were once two orphans, a brother and a sister, who lived alone +in the old farmhouse where their fathers before them had lived for +many generations. The brother's name was Osmo, the sister's Ilona. +Osmo was an industrious youth, but the farm was small and barren and +he was hard put to it to make a livelihood. + +"Sister," he said one day, "I think it might be well if I went out +into the world and found work." + +"Do as you think best, brother," Ilona said. "I'm sure I can manage on +here alone." + +So Osmo started off, promising to come back for his sister as soon as +he could give her a new home. He wandered far and wide and at last got +employment from the King's Son as a shepherd. + +The King's Son was about Osmo's age, and often when he met Osmo +tending his flocks he would stop and talk to him. + +One day Osmo told the King's Son about his sister, Ilona. + +"I have wandered far over the face of the earth," he said, "and never +have I seen so beautiful a maiden as Ilona." + +"What does she look like?" the King's Son asked. + +Osmo drew a picture of her and she seemed to the King's Son so +beautiful that at once he fell in love with her. + +"Osmo," he said, "if you will go home and get your sister, I will +marry her." + +So Osmo hurried home not by the long land route by which he had come +but straight over the water in a boat. + +"Sister," he cried, as soon as he saw Ilona, "you must come with me at +once for the King's Son wishes to marry you!" + +He thought Ilona would be overjoyed, but she sighed and shook her +head. + +"What is it, sister? Why do you sigh?" + +"Because it grieves me to leave this old house where our fathers have +lived for so many generations." + +"Nonsense, Ilona! What is this little old house compared to the King's +castle where you will live once you marry the King's Son!" + +But Ilona only shook her head. + +"It's no use, brother! I can't bear to leave this old house until the +grindstone with which our fathers for generations ground their meal is +worn out." + +When Osmo found she was firm, he went secretly and broke the old +grindstone into small pieces. He then put the pieces together so that +the stone looked the same as before. But of course the next time Ilona +touched it, it fell apart. + +"Now, sister, you'll come, will you not?" Osmo asked. + +But again Ilona shook her head. + +"It's no use, brother. I can't bear to go until the old stool where +our mothers have sat spinning these many generations is worn through." + +So again Osmo took things into his own hands and going secretly to the +old spinning stool he broke it and when Ilona sat on it again it fell +to pieces. + +Then Ilona said she couldn't go until the old mortar which had been in +use for generations should fall to bits at a blow from the pestle. +Osmo cracked the mortar and the next time Ilona struck it with the +pestle it broke. + +Then Ilona said she couldn't go until the old worn doorsill over which +so many of their forefathers had walked should fall to splinters at +the brush of her skirts. So Osmo secretly split the old doorsill into +thin slivers and, when next Ilona stepped over it, the brush of her +skirts sent the splinters flying. + +"I see now I must go," Ilona said, "for the house of our forefathers +no longer holds me." + +So she packed all her ribbons and her bodices and skirts in a bright +wooden box and, calling her little dog Pilka, she stepped into the +boat and Osmo rowed her off in the direction of the King's castle. + +Soon they passed a long narrow spit of land at the end of which stood +a woman waving her arms. That is she looked like a woman. Really she +was Suyettar but they, of course, did not know this. + +"Take me in your boat!" she cried. + +"Shall we?" Osmo asked his sister. + +"I don't think we ought to," Ilona said. "We don't know who she is or +what she wants and she may be evil." + +So Osmo rowed on. But the woman kept shouting: + +"Hi, there! Take me in your boat! Take me!" + +A second time Osmo paused and asked his sister: + +"Don't you think we ought to take her?" + +"No," Ilona said. + +So Osmo rowed on again. At this the creature raised such a pitiful +outcry demanding what they meant denying assistance to a poor woman +that Osmo was unable longer to refuse and in spite of Ilona's warning +he rowed to land. + +Suyettar instantly jumped into the boat and seated herself in the +middle with her face towards Osmo and her back towards Ilona. + +"What a fine young man!" Suyettar said in whining flattering tones. +"See how strong he is at the oars! And what a beautiful girl, too! I +daresay the King's Son would fall in love with her if ever he saw +her!" + +Thereupon Osmo very foolishly told Suyettar that the King's Son had +already promised to marry Ilona. At that an evil look came into +Suyettar's face and she sat silent for a time biting her fingers. Then +she began mumbling a spell that made Osmo deaf to what Ilona was +saying and Ilona deaf to what Osmo was saying. + +At last in the distance the towers of the King's castle appeared. + +"Stand up, sister!" Osmo said. "Shake out your skirts and arrange your +pretty ribbons! We'll soon be landing now!" + +Ilona could see her brother's lips moving but of course she could not +hear what he was saying. + +"What is it, brother?" she asked. + +Suyettar answered for him: + +"Osmo orders you to jump headlong into the water!" + +"No! No!" Ilona cried. "He couldn't order anything so cruel as that!" + +Presently Osmo said: + +"Sister, what ails you? Don't you hear me? Shake out your skirts and +arrange your pretty ribbons for we'll soon be landing now." + +"What is it, brother?" Ilona asked. + +As before Suyettar answered for him: + +"Osmo orders you to jump headlong into the water!" + +"Brother, how can you order so cruel a thing!" Ilona cried, bursting +into tears. "Is it for this you made me leave the home of my fathers?" + +A third time Osmo said: + +"Stand up, sister, and shake out your skirts and arrange your ribbons! +We'll soon be landing now!" + +"I can't hear you, brother! What is it you say?" + +Suyettar turned on her fiercely and screamed: + +"Osmo orders you to jump headlong into the water!" + +"If he says I must, I must!" poor Ilona sobbed, and with that she +leapt overboard. + +Osmo tried to save her but Suyettar held him back and with her own +arms rowed off and Ilona was left to sink. + +"What will become of me now!" Osmo cried. "When the King's Son finds I +have not brought him my sister he will surely order my death!" + +"Not at all!" Suyettar said. "Do as I say and no harm will come to +you. Offer me to the King's Son and tell him I am your sister. He +won't know the difference and anyway I'm sure I'm just as beautiful as +Ilona ever was!" + +With that Suyettar opened the wooden box that held Ilona's clothes and +helped herself to skirt and bodice and gay colored ribbons. She decked +herself out in these and for a little while she really did succeed in +looking like a pretty young girl. + +So Osmo presented Suyettar to the King's Son as Ilona, and the King's +Son because he had given his word married her. But before one day was +past, he called Osmo to him and asked him angrily: + +"What did you mean by telling me your sister was beautiful?" + +"Isn't she beautiful?" Osmo faltered. + +"No! I thought she was at first but she isn't! She is ugly and evil +and you shall pay the penalty for having deceived me!" + +Thereupon he ordered that Osmo be shut up in a place filled with +serpents. + +"If you are innocent," the King's Son said, "the serpents will not +harm you. If you are guilty they will devour you!" + +Meanwhile poor Ilona when she jumped into the water sank down, down, +down, until she reached the Sea King's palace. They received her +kindly there and comforted her and the Sea King's Son, touched by her +grief and beauty, offered to marry her. But Ilona was homesick for the +upper world and would not listen to him. + +"I want to see my brother again!" she wept. + +They told her that the King's Son had thrown her brother to the +serpents and had married Suyettar in her stead, but Ilona still begged +so pitifully to be allowed to return to earth that at last the Sea +King said: + +"Very well, then! For three successive nights I will allow you to +return to the upper world. But after that never again!" + +So they decked Ilona in the lovely jewels of the sea with great +strands of pearls about her neck and to each of her ankles they +attached long silver chains. As she rose in the water the sound of the +chains was like the chiming of silver bells and could be heard for +five miles. + +Ilona came to the surface of the water just where Osmo had landed. The +first thing she saw was his boat at the water's edge and curled up +asleep in the bottom of the boat her own little dog, Pilka. + +"Pilka!" Ilona cried, and the little dog woke with a bark of joy and +licked Ilona's hand and yelped and frisked. + +Then Ilona sang this magic song to Pilka: + + "Peely, peely, Pilka, pide, + Lift the latch and slip inside! + Past the watchdog in the yard, + Past the sleeping men on guard! + Creep in softly as a snake, + Then creep out before they wake! + Peely, peely, Pilka, pide, + Peely, peely, Pilka!" + +Pilka barked and frisked and said: + +"Yes, mistress, yes! I'll do whatever you bid me!" + +Ilona gave the little dog an embroidered square of gold and silver +which she herself had worked down in the Sea King's palace. + +"Take this," she said to Pilka, "and put it on the pillow where the +King's Son lies asleep. Perhaps when he sees it he will know that it +comes from Osmo's true sister and that the frightful creature he has +married is Suyettar. Then perhaps he will release Osmo before the +serpents devour him. Go now, my faithful Pilka, and come back to me +before the dawn." + +So Pilka raced off to the King's palace carrying the square of +embroidery in her teeth. Ilona waited and half an hour before sunrise +the little dog came panting back. + +"What news, Pilka? How fares my brother and how is my poor love, the +King's Son?" + +"Osmo is still with the serpents," Pilka answered, "but they haven't +eaten him yet. I left the embroidered square on the pillow where the +King's Son's head was lying. Suyettar was asleep on the bed beside him +where you should be, dear mistress. Suyettar's awful mouth was open +and she was snoring horribly. The King's Son moved uneasily for he was +troubled even in his sleep." + +"And did you go through the castle, Pilka?" + +"Yes, dear mistress." + +"And did you see the remains of the wedding feast?" + +"Yes, dear mistress, the remains of a feast that shamed the King's +Son, for Suyettar served bones instead of meat, fish heads, turnip +tops, and bread burned to a cinder." + +"Good Pilka!" Ilona said. "Good little dog! You have done well! Now +the dawn is coming and I must go back to the Sea King's palace. But I +shall come again to-night and also to-morrow night and do you be here +waiting for me." + +Pilka promised and Ilona sank down into the sea to a clanking of +chains that sounded like silver bells. The King's Son heard them in +his sleep and for a moment woke and said: + +"What's that?" + +"What's what?" snarled Suyettar. "You're dreaming! Go back to sleep!" + +A few hours later when he woke again, he found the lovely square of +embroidery on his pillow. + +"Who made this?" he cried. + +Suyettar was busy combing her snaky locks. She turned on him quickly. + +"Who made what?" + +When she saw the embroidery she tried to snatch it from him, but he +held it tight. + +"I made it, of course!" she declared. "Who but me would sit up all +night and work while you lay snoring!" + +But the King's Son, as he folded the embroidery, muttered to himself: + +"It doesn't look to me much like your work!" + +After he had breakfasted, the King's Son asked for news of Osmo. A +slave was sent to the place of the serpents and when he returned he +reported that Osmo was sitting amongst them uninjured. + +"The old king snake has made friends with him," he added, "and has +wound himself around Osmo's arm." + +The King's Son was amazed at this news and also relieved, for the +whole affair troubled him sorely and he was beginning to suspect a +mystery. + +He knew an old wise woman who lived alone in a little hut on the +seashore and he decided he would go and consult her. So he went to her +and told her about Osmo and how Osmo had deceived him in regard to his +sister. Then he told her how the serpents instead of devouring Osmo +had made friends with him and last he showed her the square of lovely +embroidery he had found on his pillow that morning. + +"There is a mystery somewhere, granny," he said in conclusion, "and I +know not how to solve it." + +The old woman looked at him thoughtfully. + +"My son," she said at last, "that is never Osmo's sister that you have +married. Take an old woman's word--it is Suyettar! Yet Osmo's sister +must be alive and the embroidery must be a token from her. It +probably means that she begs you to release her brother." + + [Illustration: _The old king snake has wound himself around Osmo's + arm_] + +"Suyettar!" repeated the King's Son, aghast. + +At first he couldn't believe such a horrible thing possible and yet +that, if it were so, would explain much. + +"I wonder if you're right," he said. "I must be on my guard!" + +That night on the stroke of midnight to the sound of silver chimes +Ilona came floating up through the waves and little Pilka, as she +appeared, greeted her with barks of joy. + +As before Ilona sang: + + "Peely, peely, Pilka, pide, + Lift the latch and slip inside! + Past the watchdog in the yard, + Past the sleeping men on guard! + Creep in softly as a snake, + Then creep out before they wake! + Peely, peely, Pilka, pide, + Peely, peely, Pilka!" + +This time Ilona gave Pilka a shirt for the King's Son. Beautifully +embroidered it was in gold and silver and Ilona herself had worked it +in the Sea King's palace. + +Pilka carried it safely to the castle and left it on the pillow where +the King's Son could see it as soon as he woke. Then Pilka visited the +place of the serpents and before the first ray of dawn was back at the +seashore to reassure Ilona of Osmo's safety. + +Then dawn came and Ilona, as she sank in the waves to the chime of +silver bells, called out to Pilka: + +"Meet me here to-night at the same hour! Fail me not, dear Pilka, for +to-night is the last night that the Sea King will allow me to come to +the upper world!" + +Pilka, howling with grief, made promise: + +"I'll be here, dear mistress, that I will!" + +The King's Son that morning, as he opened his eyes, saw the +embroidered shirt lying on the pillow at his head. He thought at first +he must be dreaming for it was more beautiful than any shirt that had +ever been worked by human fingers. + +"Ah!" he sighed at last, "who made this?" + +"Who made what?" Suyettar demanded rudely. + +When she saw the shirt she tried to snatch it, but the King's Son held +it from her. Then she pretended to laugh and said: + +"Oh, that! I made it, of course! Do you think any one else in the +world would sit up all night and work for you while you lie there +snoring! And small thanks I get for it, too!" + +"It doesn't look to me like your work!" said the King's Son +significantly. + +Again the slave reported to him that Osmo was alive and unhurt by the +serpents. + +"Strange!" thought the King's Son. + +He took the embroidered shirt and made the old wise woman another +visit. + +"Ah!" she said, when she saw the shirt, "now I understand! Listen, my +Prince: last night at midnight I was awakened by the chime of silver +bells and I got up and looked out the door. Just there at the water's +edge, close to that little boat, I saw a strange sight. A lovely +maiden rose from the waves holding in her hands the very shirt that +you now have. A little dog that was lying in the boat greeted her with +barks of joy. She sang a magic rime to the dog and gave it the shirt +and off it ran. That maid, my Prince, must be Ilona. She must be in +the Sea King's power and I think she is begging you to rescue her and +to release her brother." + +The King's Son slowly nodded his head. + +"Granny, I'm sure what you say is true! Help me to rescue Ilona and I +shall reward you richly." + +"Then, my son, you must act at once, for to-night, I heard Ilona say, +is the last night that the Sea King will allow her to come to the +upper world. Go now to the smith and have him forge you a strong iron +chain and a great strong scythe. Then to-night hide you down yonder in +the shadow of the boat. At midnight when you hear the silver chimes +and the maiden slowly rises from the waves, throw the iron chain about +her and quickly draw her to you. Then, with one sweep of your scythe, +cut the silver chains that are fastened to her ankles. But remember, +my son, that is not all. She is under enchantment and as you try to +grasp her the Sea King will change her to many things--a fish, a bird, +a fly, and I know not what, and if in any form she escape you, then +all is lost." + +At once the King's Son hurried away to the smithy and had the smith +forge him a strong iron chain and a heavy sharp scythe. Then when +night fell he hid in the shadow of the boat and waited. Pilka snuggled +up beside him. Midnight came and to the sweet chiming as of silver +bells Ilona slowly rose from the waves. As she came she began singing: + + "Peely, peely, Pilka, pide----" + +Instantly the King's Son threw the strong iron chain about her and +drew her to him. Then with one mighty sweep of the scythe he severed +the silver chains that were attached to her ankles and the silver +chains fell chiming into the depths. Another instant and the maiden in +his arms was no maiden but a slimy fish that squirmed and wriggled and +almost slipped through his fingers. He killed the fish and, lo! it was +not a fish but a frightened bird that struggled to escape. He killed +the bird and, lo! it was not a bird but a writhing lizard. And so on +through many transformations, growing finally small and weak until at +last there was only a mosquito. He crushed this and in his arms he +found again the lovely Ilona. + +"Ah, dear one," he said, "you are my true bride and not Suyettar who +pretended she was you! Come, we will go at once to the castle and +confront her!" + +But Ilona cried out at this: + +"Not there, my Prince, not there! Suyettar if she saw me would kill me +and devour me! Keep me from her!" + +"Very well, my dear one," the King's Son said. "We'll wait until +to-morrow and after to-morrow there will be no Suyettar to fear." + +So for that night they took shelter in the old wise woman's hut, Ilona +and the King's Son and faithful little Pilka. + +The next morning early the King's Son returned to the castle and had +the _sauna_ heated. Just inside the door he had a deep hole dug and +filled it with burning tar. Then over the top of the hole he stretched +a brown mat and on the brown mat a blue mat. When all was ready he +went indoors and roused Suyettar. + +"Where have you been all night?" she demanded angrily. + +"Forgive me this time," he begged in pretended humility, "and I +promise never again to be parted from my own true bride. Come now, my +dear, and bathe for the _sauna_ is ready." + +Then Suyettar, who loved to have people see her go to the _sauna_ just +as if she were a real human being, put on a long bathrobe and clapped +her hands. Four slaves appeared. Two took up the train of her bathrobe +and the two others supported her on either side. Slowly she marched +out of the castle, across the courtyard, and over to the _sauna_. + +"They all really think I'm a human princess!" she said to herself, and +she was so sure she was beautiful and admired that she tossed her head +and smirked from side to side and took little mincing steps. + +When she reached the _sauna_ she was ready to drop the bathrobe and +jump over the doorsill to the steaming shelf, but the King's Son +whispered: + +"Nay! Nay! Remember your dignity as a beautiful princess and walk +over the blue mat!" + +So with one more toss of her head, one more smirk of her ugly face, +Suyettar stepped on the blue mat and sank into the hole of burning +tar. Then the King's Son quickly locked the door of the _sauna_ and +left her there to burn in the tar, for burning, you know, is the only +way to destroy Suyettar. As she burned the last hateful thing Suyettar +did was to tear out handfuls of her hair and scatter them broadcast in +the air. + +"Let these," she cried, yelling and cursing, "turn into mosquitos and +worms and moths and trouble mankind forever!" + +Then her yells grew fainter and at last ceased altogether and the +King's Son knew that it was now safe to bring Ilona home. First, +however, he had Osmo released from the place of the serpents and asked +his forgiveness for the unjust punishment. + +Then he and Osmo together went to the hut of the old wise woman and +there with tears of happiness the brother and sister were reunited. +The King's Son to show his gratitude to the old wise woman begged her +to accompany them to the castle and presently they all set forth with +Pilka frisking ahead and barking for joy. + +That day there was a new wedding feast spread at the castle and this +time it was not bones and fish heads and burnt crusts but such food as +the King's Son had not tasted for many a day. + +To celebrate his happy marriage the King's Son made Osmo his +chamberlain and gave Pilka a beautiful new collar. + +"Now at last," Ilona said, "I am glad I left the house of my +forefathers." + + + + +MIGHTY MIKKO + +[Decoration] + +_The Story of a Poor Woodsman and a Grateful Fox_ + + +MIGHTY MIKKO + +[Decoration] + +There was once an old woodsman and his wife who had an only son named +Mikko. As the mother lay dying the young man wept bitterly. + +"When you are gone, my dear mother," he said, "there will be no one +left to think of me." + +The poor woman comforted him as best she could and said to him: + +"You will still have your father." + +Shortly after the woman's death, the old man, too, was taken ill. + +"Now, indeed, I shall be left desolate and alone," Mikko thought, as +he sat beside his father's bedside and saw him grow weaker and weaker. + +"My boy," the old man said just before he died, "I have nothing to +leave you but the three snares with which these many years I have +caught wild animals. Those snares now belong to you. When I am dead, +go into the woods and if you find a wild creature caught in any of +them, free it gently and bring it home alive." + +After his father's death, Mikko remembered the snares and went out to +the woods to see them. The first was empty and also the second, but in +the third he found a little red Fox. He carefully lifted the spring +that had shut down on one of the Fox's feet and then carried the +little creature home in his arms. He shared his supper with it and +when he lay down to sleep the Fox curled up at his feet. They lived +together some time until they became close friends. + +"Mikko," said the Fox one day, "why are you so sad?" + +"Because I'm lonely." + +"Pooh!" said the Fox. "That's no way for a young man to talk! You +ought to get married! Then you wouldn't feel lonely!" + +"Married!" Mikko repeated. "How can I get married? I can't marry a +poor girl because I'm too poor myself and a rich girl wouldn't marry +me." + +"Nonsense!" said the Fox. "You're a fine well set up young man and +you're kind and gentle. What more could a princess ask?" + +Mikko laughed to think of a princess wanting him for a husband. + +"I mean what I say!" the Fox insisted. "Take our own Princess now. +What would you think of marrying her?" + +Mikko laughed louder than before. + +"I have heard," he said, "that she is the most beautiful princess in +the world! Any man would be happy to marry her!" + +"Very well," the Fox said, "if you feel that way about her then I'll +arrange the wedding for you." + +With that the little Fox actually did trot off to the royal castle and +gain audience with the King. + +"My master sends you greetings," the Fox said, "and he begs you to +loan him your bushel measure." + +"My bushel measure!" the King repeated in surprise. "Who is your +master and why does he want my bushel measure?" + +"Ssh!" the Fox whispered as though he didn't want the courtiers to +hear what he was saying. Then slipping up quite close to the King he +murmured in his ear: + +"Surely you have heard of Mikko, haven't you?--Mighty Mikko as he's +called." + +The King had never heard of any Mikko who was known as Mighty Mikko +but, thinking that perhaps he should have heard of him, he shook his +head and murmured: + +"H'm! Mikko! Mighty Mikko! Oh, to be sure! Yes, yes, of course!" + +"My master is about to start off on a journey and he needs a bushel +measure for a very particular reason." + +"I understand! I understand!" the King said, although he didn't +understand at all, and he gave orders that the bushel measure which +they used in the storeroom of the castle be brought in and given to +the Fox. + +The Fox carried off the measure and hid it in the woods. Then he +scurried about to all sorts of little out of the way nooks and +crannies where people had hidden their savings and he dug up a gold +piece here and a silver piece there until he had a handful. Then he +went back to the woods and stuck the various coins in the cracks of +the measure. The next day he returned to the King. + +"My master, Mighty Mikko," he said, "sends you thanks, O King, for the +use of your bushel measure." + +The King held out his hand and when the Fox gave him the measure he +peeped inside to see if by chance it contained any trace of what had +recently been measured. His eye of course at once caught the glint of +the gold and silver coins lodged in the cracks. + +"Ah!" he said, thinking Mikko must be a very mighty lord indeed to be +so careless of his wealth; "I should like to meet your master. Won't +you and he come and visit me?" + +This was what the Fox wanted the King to say but he pretended to +hesitate. + +"I thank your Majesty for the kind invitation," he said, "but I fear +my master can't accept it just now. He wants to get married soon and +we are about to start off on a long journey to inspect a number of +foreign princesses." + +This made the King all the more anxious to have Mikko visit him at +once for he thought that if Mikko should see his daughter before he +saw those foreign princesses he might fall in love with her and marry +her. So he said to the Fox: + +"My dear fellow, you must prevail on your master to make me a visit +before he starts out on his travels! You will, won't you?" + +The Fox looked this way and that as if he were too embarrassed to +speak. + +"Your Majesty," he said at last, "I pray you pardon my frankness. The +truth is you are not rich enough to entertain my master and your +castle isn't big enough to house the immense retinue that always +attends him." + +The King, who by this time was frantic to see Mikko, lost his head +completely. + +"My dear Fox," he said, "I'll give you anything in the world if you +prevail upon your master to visit me at once! Couldn't you suggest to +him to travel with a modest retinue this time?" + +The Fox shook his head. + +"No. His rule is either to travel with a great retinue or to go on +foot disguised as a poor woodsman attended only by me." + +"Couldn't you prevail on him to come to me disguised as a poor +woodsman?" the King begged. "Once he was here, I could place gorgeous +clothes at his disposal." + +But still the Fox shook his head. + +"I fear Your Majesty's wardrobe doesn't contain the kind of clothes my +master is accustomed to." + +"I assure you I've got some very good clothes," the King said. "Come +along this minute and we'll go through them and I'm sure you'll find +some that your master would wear." + +So they went to a room which was like a big wardrobe with hundreds and +hundreds of hooks upon which were hung hundreds of coats and breeches +and embroidered shirts. The King ordered his attendants to bring the +costumes down one by one and place them before the Fox. + + [Illustration: _The King thought that if Mikko should see his + daughter_] + +They began with the plainer clothes. + +"Good enough for most people," the Fox said, "but not for my master." + +Then they took down garments of a finer grade. + +"I'm afraid you're going to all this trouble for nothing," the Fox +said. "Frankly now, don't you realize that my master couldn't possibly +put on any of these things!" + +The King, who had hoped to keep for his own use his most gorgeous +clothes of all, now ordered these to be shown. + +The Fox looked at them sideways, sniffed them critically, and at last +said: + +"Well, perhaps my master would consent to wear these for a few days. +They are not what he is accustomed to wear but I will say this for +him: he is not proud." + +The King was overjoyed. + +"Very well, my dear Fox, I'll have the guest chambers put in readiness +for your master's visit and I'll have all these, my finest clothes, +laid out for him. You won't disappoint me, will you?" + +"I'll do my best," the Fox promised. + +With that he bade the King a civil good day and ran home to Mikko. + +The next day as the Princess was peeping out of an upper window of +the castle, she saw a young woodsman approaching accompanied by a Fox. +He was a fine stalwart youth and the Princess, who knew from the +presence of the Fox that he must be Mikko, gave a long sigh and +confided to her serving maid: + +"I think I could fall in love with that young man if he really were +only a woodsman!" + +Later when she saw him arrayed in her father's finest clothes--which +looked so well on Mikko that no one even recognized them as the +King's--she lost her heart completely and when Mikko was presented to +her she blushed and trembled just as any ordinary girl might before a +handsome young man. + +All the Court was equally delighted with Mikko. The ladies went into +ecstasies over his modest manners, his fine figure, and the +gorgeousness of his clothes, and the old graybeard Councilors, nodding +their heads in approval, said to each other: + +"Nothing of the coxcomb about this young fellow! In spite of his great +wealth see how politely he listens to us when we talk!" + +The next day the Fox went privately to the King, and said: + +"My master is a man of few words and quick judgment. He bids me tell +you that your daughter, the Princess, pleases him mightily and that, +with your approval, he will make his addresses to her at once." + +The King was greatly agitated and began: + +"My dear Fox--" + +But the Fox interrupted him to say: + +"Think the matter over carefully and give me your decision to-morrow." + +So the King consulted with the Princess and with his Councilors and in +a short time the marriage was arranged and the wedding ceremony +actually performed! + +"Didn't I tell you?" the Fox said, when he and Mikko were alone after +the wedding. + +"Yes," Mikko acknowledged, "you did promise that I should marry the +Princess. But, tell me, now that I am married what am I to do? I can't +live on here forever with my wife." + +"Put your mind at rest," the Fox said. "I've thought of everything. +Just do as I tell you and you'll have nothing to regret. To-night say +to the King: 'It is now only fitting that you should visit me and see +for yourself the sort of castle over which your daughter is hereafter +to be mistress!'" + +When Mikko said this to the King, the King was overjoyed for now that +the marriage had actually taken place he was wondering whether he +hadn't perhaps been a little hasty. Mikko's words reassured him and he +eagerly accepted the invitation. + +On the morrow the Fox said to Mikko: + +"Now I'll run on ahead and get things ready for you." + +"But where are you going?" Mikko said, frightened at the thought of +being deserted by his little friend. + +The Fox drew Mikko aside and whispered softly: + +"A few days' march from here there is a very gorgeous castle belonging +to a wicked old dragon who is known as the Worm. I think the Worm's +castle would just about suit you." + +"I'm sure it would," Mikko agreed. "But how are we to get it away from +the Worm?" + +"Trust me," the Fox said. "All you need do is this: lead the King and +his courtiers along the main highway until by noon to-morrow you reach +a crossroads. Turn there to the left and go straight on until you see +the tower of the Worm's castle. If you meet any men by the wayside, +shepherds or the like, ask them whose men they are and show no +surprise at their answer. So now, dear master, farewell until we meet +again at your beautiful castle." + +The little Fox trotted off at a smart pace and Mikko and the Princess +and the King attended by the whole Court followed in more leisurely +fashion. + +The little Fox, when he had left the main highway at the crossroads, +soon met ten woodsmen with axes over their shoulders. They were all +dressed in blue smocks of the same cut. + +"Good day," the Fox said politely. "Whose men are you?" + +"Our master is known as the Worm," the woodsmen told him. + +"My poor, poor lads!" the Fox said, shaking his head sadly. + +"What's the matter?" the woodsmen asked. + +For a few moments the Fox pretended to be too overcome with emotion to +speak. Then he said: + +"My poor lads, don't you know that the King is coming with a great +force to destroy the Worm and all his people?" + +The woodsmen were simple fellows and this news threw them into great +consternation. + +"Is there no way for us to escape?" they asked. + +The Fox put his paw to his head and thought. + +"Well," he said at last, "there is one way you might escape and that +is by telling every one who asks you that you are the Mighty Mikko's +men. But if you value your lives never again say that your master is +the Worm." + +"We are Mighty Mikko's men!" the woodsmen at once began repeating over +and over. "We are Mighty Mikko's men!" + +A little farther on the road the Fox met twenty grooms, dressed in the +same blue smocks, who were tending a hundred beautiful horses. The Fox +talked to the twenty grooms as he had talked to the woodsmen and +before he left them they, too, were shouting: + +"We are Mighty Mikko's men!" + +Next the Fox came to a huge flock of a thousand sheep tended by thirty +shepherds all dressed in the Worm's blue smocks. He stopped and talked +to them until he had them roaring out: + +"We are Mighty Mikko's men!" + +Then the Fox trotted on until he reached the castle of the Worm. He +found the Worm himself inside lolling lazily about. He was a huge +dragon and had been a great warrior in his day. In fact his castle and +his lands and his servants and his possessions had all been won in +battle. But now for many years no one had cared to fight him and he +had grown fat and lazy. + +"Good day," the Fox said, pretending to be very breathless and +frightened. "You're the Worm, aren't you?" + +"Yes," the dragon said, boastfully, "I am the great Worm!" + +The Fox pretended to grow more agitated. + +"My poor fellow, I am sorry for you! But of course none of us can +expect to live forever. Well, I must hurry along. I thought I would +just stop and say good-by." + +Made uneasy by the Fox's words, the Worm cried out: + +"Wait just a minute! What's the matter?" + +The Fox was already at the door but at the Worm's entreaty he paused +and said over his shoulder: + +"Why, my poor fellow, you surely know, don't you? that the King with a +great force is coming to destroy you and all your people!" + +"What!" the Worm gasped, turning a sickly green with fright. He knew +he was fat and helpless and could never again fight as in the years +gone by. + +"Don't go just yet!" he begged the Fox. "When is the King coming?" + +"He's on the highway now! That's why I must be going! Good-by!" + +"My dear Fox, stay just a moment and I'll reward you richly! Help me +to hide so that the King won't find me! What about the shed where the +linen is stored? I could crawl under the linen and then if you locked +the door from the outside the King could never find me." + +"Very well," the Fox agreed, "but we must hurry!" + +So they ran outside to the shed where the linen was kept and the Worm +hid himself under the linen. The Fox locked the door, then set fire to +the shed, and soon there was nothing left of that wicked old dragon, +the Worm, but a handful of ashes. + +The Fox now called together the dragon's household and talked them +over to Mikko as he had the woodsmen and the grooms and the shepherds. + +Meanwhile the King and his party were slowly covering the ground over +which the Fox had sped so quickly. When they came to the ten woodsmen +in blue smocks, the King said: + +"I wonder whose woodsmen those are." + +One of his attendants asked the woodsmen and the ten of them shouted +out at the top of their voices: + +"We are Mighty Mikko's men!" + +Mikko said nothing and the King and all the Court were impressed anew +with his modesty. + +A little farther on they met the twenty grooms with their hundred +prancing horses. When the grooms were questioned, they answered with a +shout: + +"We are Mighty Mikko's men!" + +"The Fox certainly spoke the truth," the King thought to himself, +"when he told me of Mikko's riches!" + +A little later the thirty shepherds when they were questioned made +answer in a chorus that was deafening to hear: + +"We are Mighty Mikko's men!" + +The sight of the thousand sheep that belonged to his son-in-law made +the King feel poor and humble in comparison and the courtiers +whispered among themselves: + +"For all his simple manner, Mighty Mikko must be a richer, more +powerful lord than the King himself! In fact it is only a very great +lord indeed who could be so simple!" + +At last they reached the castle which from the blue smocked soldiers +that guarded the gateway they knew to be Mikko's. The Fox came out to +welcome the King's party and behind him in two rows all the household +servants. These, at a signal from the Fox, cried out in one voice: + +"We are Mighty Mikko's men!" + +Then Mikko in the same simple manner that he would have used in his +father's mean little hut in the woods bade the King and his followers +welcome and they all entered the castle where they found a great feast +already prepared and waiting. + +The King stayed on for several days and the more he saw of Mikko the +better pleased he was that he had him for a son-in-law. + +When he was leaving he said to Mikko: + +"Your castle is so much grander than mine that I hesitate ever asking +you back for a visit." + +But Mikko reassured the King by saying earnestly: + +"My dear father-in-law, when first I entered your castle I thought it +was the most beautiful castle in the world!" + +The King was flattered and the courtiers whispered among themselves: + +"How affable of him to say that when he knows very well how much +grander his own castle is!" + +When the King and his followers were safely gone, the little red Fox +came to Mikko and said: + +"Now, my master, you have no reason to feel sad and lonely. You are +lord of the most beautiful castle in the world and you have for wife a +sweet and lovely Princess. You have no longer any need of me, so I am +going to bid you farewell." + +Mikko thanked the little Fox for all he had done and the little Fox +trotted off to the woods. + +So you see that Mikko's poor old father, although he had no wealth to +leave his son, was really the cause of all Mikko's good fortune, for +it was he who told Mikko in the first place to carry home alive +anything he might find caught in the snares. + +[Decoration] + + + + +THE THREE CHESTS + +[Decoration] + +_The Story of the Wicked Old Man of the Sea_ + + +THE THREE CHESTS + +[Decoration] + +There was once an honest old farmer who had three daughters. His farm +ran down to the shores of a deep lake. One day as he leaned over the +water to take a drink, wicked old Wetehinen reached up from the bottom +of the lake and clutched him by the beard. + +"Ouch! Ouch!" the farmer cried. "Let me go!" + +Wetehinen only held on more tightly. + +"Yes, I'll let you go," he said, "but only on this condition: that you +give me one of your daughters for wife!" + +"Give you one of my daughters? Never!" + +"Very well, then I'll never let go!" wicked old Wetehinen declared and +with that he began jerking at the beard as if it were a bellrope. + +"Wait! Wait!" the farmer spluttered. + +Now he didn't want to give one of his daughters to wicked old +Wetehinen--of course not! But at the same time he was in Wetehinen's +power and he realized that if he didn't do what the old reprobate +demanded he might lose his life and so leave all three of his +daughters orphans. Perhaps for the good of all he had better sacrifice +one of them. + +"All right," he said, "let me go and I'll send you my oldest daughter. +I promise." + +So Wetehinen let go his beard and the farmer scrambled to his feet and +hurried home. + +"My dear," he said to his oldest daughter, "I left a bit of the +harness down at the lake. Like a good girl will you run down and get +it for me." + +The eldest daughter went at once and when she reached the water's +edge, old Wetehinen reached up and caught her about the waist and +carried her down to the bottom of the lake where he lived in a big +house. + +At first he was kind to her. He made her mistress of the house and +gave her the keys to all the rooms and closets. He went very carefully +over the keys and pointing to one he said: + +"That key you must never use for it opens the door to a room which I +forbid you to enter." + +The eldest daughter began keeping house for old Wetehinen and spent +her time cooking and cleaning and spinning much as she used to at home +with her father. The days went by and she grew familiar with the +house and began to know what was in every room and every closet. + +At first she felt no temptation to open the forbidden door. If old +Wetehinen wanted to have a secret room, well and good. But why in the +world had he given her the key if he really didn't want her to open +the door? The more she thought about it the more she wondered. Every +time she passed the room she stopped a moment and stared at the door. +It looked just exactly like the doors that led into all the other +rooms. + +"I wonder why he doesn't want me to open just that door?" she kept +asking herself. + +Finally one day when old Wetehinen was away she thought: + +"I don't believe it would matter if I opened that door just a little +crack and peeped in once! No one would know the difference!" + +For a few moments she hesitated, then mustered up courage enough to +turn the key in the forbidden lock and throw open the door. + +The room was a storeroom with boxes and chests and old jars piled up +around the wall. That was unexciting enough, but in the middle of the +floor was something that made her start when she saw what it was. It +was blood--that's what it was, a pool of dark red blood! She was about +to slam the door shut when she saw something else that made her pause. +This was a lovely shining ring that lay in the midst of the pool. + +"Oh!" she thought to herself, "what a beautiful ring! If I had it I'd +wear it on my finger!" + +The longer she looked at it, the more she wanted it. + +"If I'm very careful," she said, "I know I could reach over and pick +it up without touching the blood." + +She tiptoed cautiously into the room, wrapped her skirts tightly about +her legs, knelt down on the floor, and stretched her arm over the +pool. She picked up the ring very carefully but even so she got a few +drops of blood on her fingers. + +"No matter!" she thought, "I can wash that off! And see the lovely +ring!" + +But later, after she had the door again locked, when she tried to wash +the blood off, she found she couldn't. She tried soap, she tried sand, +she tried everything she could think of, but without success. + +"I don't care!" she thought to herself. "If Wetehinen sees the blood, +I'll just tell him I cut my finger by accident." + +So when Wetehinen came home, she hid the ring and pretended nothing +was the matter. + +After supper Wetehinen put his head in her lap and said: + +"Now, my dear, scratch my head and make me drowsy for bed." + +She began scratching his head as she had many nights before but, at +the first touch of her fingers, he cried out: + +"Stop! You're burning my ear! There must be some blood on your +fingers! Let me see!" + +He reached up and caught her hand and, when he saw the blood stains, +he flew into a towering rage. + +"I thought so! You've been in the forbidden room!" + +He jumped up and without allowing her time to say a word he just cut +off her head then and there with no more concern than if she had been +a mosquito! After that he took the body and the severed head and threw +them into the forbidden room and locked the door. + +"Now then," he growled, "_she_ won't disobey me again!" + +This was all very well but now he had no one to keep house for him and +cook and scratch his head in the evening and soon he decided he'd have +to get another wife. He remembered that the farmer had two more +daughters, so he thought to himself that now he'd marry the second +sister. + +He waited his chance and one day when the farmer was out in his boat +fishing, old Wetehinen came up from the bottom of the lake and +clutched the boat. When the poor old farmer tried to row back to shore +he couldn't make the boat move an inch. He worked and worked at the +oars and wicked old Wetehinen let him struggle until he was exhausted. +Then he put his head up out of the water and over the side of the boat +and as though nothing were the matter he said: + +"Hullo!" + +"Oh!" the farmer cried, wishing he were safe on shore, "it's you, is +it? I wondered what was holding my boat." + +"Yes," wicked old Wetehinen said, "it's me and I'm going to hold your +boat right here on this spot until you promise to give me another of +your daughters." + +What could the farmer do? He pleaded with Wetehinen but Wetehinen was +firm and the upshot was that before the farmer again walked dry land +he had promised Wetehinen his second daughter. + +Well, when he got home, he pretended he had forgotten his ax in the +boat and sent his second daughter down to the lake to get it. Wicked +old Wetehinen caught her as he had caught her sister and carried her +home with him to his house at the bottom of the lake. + +Wetehinen treated the second sister just exactly as he had the first, +making her mistress of the house and telling her she might use every +key but one. Like her sister she, too, after a time gave way to the +temptation of looking into the forbidden room and when she saw the +shining ring lying in the pool of blood of course she wanted it and of +course when she reached to get it she dabbled her fingers in the +blood. So that was the end of her, too, for wicked old Wetehinen when +he saw the blood stains just cut her head right off and threw her body +and the severed head into the forbidden room beside the body and head +of her sister and locked the door. + +Time went by and the farmer was living happily with his youngest +daughter when one day while he was out chopping wood he found a pair +of fine birch bark brogues. He put them on and instantly found himself +walking away from the woods and down to the lake. He tried to stop but +he couldn't. He tried to walk in another direction but the brogues +carried him straight down to the water's edge and out into the lake +until he was in waist deep. + +Then he heard a gruff voice saying: + +"Hullo, there! What are you doing with my brogues?" + +Of course it was wicked old Wetehinen who had played that trick to get +the farmer into his power again. + +"What do you want this time?" the poor farmer cried. + +"I want your youngest daughter," Wetehinen said. + +"What! My youngest daughter!" + +"Yes." + +"I won't give her up!" the farmer declared. "I don't care what you do +to me. I won't give her up!" + +"Oh, very well!" Wetehinen said, and immediately the brogues which had +been standing still while they talked started walking again. They +carried the farmer out into the lake farther and farther until the +water was up to his chin. + +"Wait--wait a minute!" he cried. + +The brogues stopped walking and Wetehinen said: + +"Well, do you promise to give her to me?" + +"No!" the farmer began. "She's my last daughter and--" + +Before he could say more, the brogues walked on and the water rose to +his nose. In desperation he threw up his hands and shouted: + +"I promise! I promise!" + + [Illustration: _She fitted the key in the lock_] + +So when he got home that day he said to his youngest daughter whose +name was Lisa: + +"Lisa, my dear, I forgot my brogues at the lake. Like a good girl +won't you run and get them for me?" + +So Lisa went to the lake and Wetehinen of course caught her and +carried her down to his house as he had her two sisters. + +Then the same old story was repeated. Wetehinen made Lisa mistress of +the house and gave her keys to all the doors and closets with the same +prohibition against opening the door of the forbidden room. + +"If I am mistress of the house," Lisa said to herself, "why should I +not unlock every door?" + +She waited until one day when Wetehinen was away from home, then went +boldly to the forbidden room, fitted the key in the lock, and flung +open the door. + +There lay her two poor sisters with their heads cut off. There in the +pool of blood sparkled the lovely ring, but Lisa paid no heed to it. + +"Wicked old Wetehinen!" Lisa cried. "I suppose he thinks that ring +will tempt me but nothing will tempt me to touch that awful blood!" + +Then she rummaged about, opening boxes and chests, and turning things +over. In a dark corner she found two pitchers, one marked _Water of +Life_, the other _Water of Death_. + +"Ha! This is what I want!" she cried, taking the pitcher of the _Water +of Life_. + +She set the severed heads of her sisters in place and then with the +magic water brought them back to life. She used up all the _Water of +Life_, so she filled the pitcher marked _Water of Life_ with the water +from the other pitcher, the _Water of Death_. She hid her sisters each +in a big wooden chest, she shut and locked the door of the forbidden +room, and Wetehinen when he came home found her working at her +spinning wheel as though nothing unusual had happened. + +After supper Wetehinen said: + +"Now scratch my head and make me drowsy for bed." + +So Lisa scratched his wicked old head and she did it so well that he +grunted with satisfaction. + +"Uh! Uh!" he said. "That's good! Now just behind my right ear! That's +it! That's it! You're a good girl, you are! You're not like some of +them who do what they're told not to do! Now behind the other ear! Oh, +that's fine! Yes, you're a good girl and if there's anything you want +me to do just tell me what it is." + +"I want to send a chest of things to my poor old father," Lisa said. +"Just a lot of little nothings--odds and ends that I've picked up +about the house. I'd be ashamed to have you open the chest and see +them. I do wish you'd carry the chest ashore to-morrow and leave it +where my father will find it." + +"All right, I will," Wetehinen promised. + +He was true to his word. The next morning he hoisted one of the chests +on his shoulder, the one that had in it the eldest sister, he trudged +off with it, and tossed it up on shore at a place where he was sure +the farmer would find it. + +Lisa then wheedled him into carrying up the second chest that had in +it the second sister. This time Wetehinen wasn't so good-natured. + +"I don't know what she can always be sending her father!" he grumbled. +"If she sends another chest I'll have to look inside and see." + +Now Lisa, when the second sister was safely delivered, began to plan +her own escape. She pulled out another empty chest and then one +evening after she had succeeded in making old Wetehinen comfortable +and drowsy she begged him to carry this also to her father. He +grumbled and protested but finally promised. + +"And you won't look inside, will you? Promise me you won't!" Lisa +begged. + +Wetehinen said he wouldn't, but he intended to just the same. + +Well, the next morning as soon as Wetehinen went out, Lisa took the +churn and dressed it up in some of her own clothes. She carried it to +the top of the house and perched it on the ridge of the roof before a +spinning wheel. Then she herself crept inside the third chest and +waited. + +When Wetehinen came home he looked up and saw what he thought was Lisa +spinning on the roof. + +"Hullo!" he shouted. "What are you doing up there?" + +Lisa, in the chest, answered in a voice that sounded as if it came +from the roof: + +"I'm spinning. And you, Wetehinen, my dear, don't forget the chest +that you promised to carry to my poor old father. It's standing in the +kitchen." + +Wetehinen grumbled but because of his promise he hoisted the chest on +his shoulder and started off. When he had gone a little way he thought +to put it down and take a peep inside. Instantly Lisa's voice, +sounding as if it came from the roof, cried out: + +"No! No! You promised not to look inside!" + +"I'm not looking inside!" Wetehinen called back. "I'm only resting a +minute!" + +Then he thought to himself: + +"I suppose she's sitting up there so she can watch me!" + +When he had gone some distance farther, he thought again to set down +the chest and open the lid but instantly Lisa's voice, as from a long +way off, called out: + +"No! No! You promised not to look inside!" + +"Who's looking inside?" he called back, pretending again he was only +resting. + +Every time he thought it would be safe to put down the chest and open +the lid, Lisa's voice cried out: + +"No! No! You promised not to!" + +"Mercy on us!" old Wetehinen fumed to himself, "who would have thought +she could see so far!" + +On the shore of the lake when he threw down the chest in disgust he +tried one last time to raise the lid. Instantly Lisa's voice cried +out: + +"No! No! You promised not to!" + +"I'm not looking inside!" Wetehinen roared, and in a fury he left the +chest and started back into the water. + +All the way home he grumbled and growled: + +"A nice way to treat a man, always making him carry chests! I won't +carry another one no matter how much she begs me!" + +When he came near home he saw the spinning wheel still on the roof and +the figure still seated before it. + +"Why haven't you got my dinner ready?" he called out angrily. + +The figure at the spinning wheel made no answer. + +"What's the matter with you?" Wetehinen cried. "Why are you sitting +there like a wooden image instead of cooking my dinner?" + +Still the figure made no answer and in a rage Wetehinen began climbing +up the roof. He reached out blindly and clutched at Lisa's skirt and +jerked it so hard that the churn came clattering down on his head. It +knocked him off the roof and he fell all the way to the ground and +cracked his wicked old head wide open. + +"Ouch! Ouch!" he roared in pain. "Just wait till I get hold of that +Lisa!" + +He crawled to the forbidden room and poured over himself the water +that was in the pitcher marked _Water of Life_. But it wasn't the +_Water of Life_ at all, it was the _Water of Death_, and so it didn't +help his wicked old cracked head at all. In fact it just made it worse +and worse _and_ worse. + +Lisa and her sisters were never again troubled by him nor was any one +else that lived on the shores of that lake. + +"Wonder what's become of wicked old Wetehinen?" people began saying. + +Lisa thought she knew but she didn't tell. + +[Decoration] + + + + +LOG + +[Decoration] + +_The Story of the Hero Who Released the Sun_ + + +LOG + +[Decoration] + +There was once a poor couple who had no children. Their neighbors all +had boys and girls in plenty but for some reason God didn't send them +even one. + +"If I can't have a flesh and blood baby," the woman said one day, "I'm +going to have a wooden baby." + +She went to the woods and cut a log of alder just the size of a nice +fat baby. She dressed the log in baby clothes and put it in a cradle. +Then for three whole years she and her husband rocked the cradle and +sang lullabies to the log baby. + +At the end of three years one afternoon, when the man was out chopping +wood and the woman was driving the cows home from pasture, the log +baby turned into a real baby! It was so strong and hearty that by the +time its parents got home it had crawled out of the cradle and was +sitting on the floor yelling lustily for food. It ate and ate and ate +and the more it ate the faster it grew. It wasn't any time at all in +passing from babyhood to childhood, from childhood to youth, and from +youth to manhood. From its beginnings it was known in the village as +Log and never received any other name. + +Log's parents knew from the first that Log was destined to be a great +hero. That was why he was so strong and so good. There was no one in +the village as strong as he nor any one as kind and gentle. + +Now just at this time a great calamity overtook the world. The Sun and +the Moon and the Dawn disappeared from the sky and as a result the +earth was left in darkness. + +"Who have taken from us the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn?" the people +cried in terror. + +"Whoever they are," the King said, "they shall have to restore them! +Where, O where are the heroes who will undertake to find the Sun and +the Moon and the Dawn and return them to their places in the sky?" + +There were many men willing to offer themselves for the great +adventure but the King realized that something more was needed than +willingness. + +"It is only heroes of exceptional strength and endurance," he said, +"who should risk the dangers of so perilous an undertaking." + +So he called together all the valiant youths of the kingdom and +tested them one by one. He had some waters of great strength and it +was his hope to find three heroes the first of whom could drink three +bottles of the strong waters, the second six bottles, and the third +nine bottles. + +Hundreds of youths presented themselves and out of them all the King +found at last two, one of whom was able to take three bottles of the +strong waters, the other six bottles. + +"But we need three heroes!" the King cried. "Is there no one in all +this kingdom strong enough to drink nine bottles?" + +"Try Log!" some one shouted. + +All the youths present instantly took up the cry: + +"Log! Log! Send for Log!" + +So the King sent for Log and sure enough when Log came he was able to +drink down nine bottles of the strong waters without any trouble at +all. + +"Here now," the King proclaimed, "are the three heroes who are to +release the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn from whoever are holding +them in captivity and restore them to their places in the sky!" + +He equipped the three heroes for a long journey furnishing them money +and food and drink of the strong waters, each according to his +strength. He mounted them each on a mighty horse with sword and arrow +and dog. + +So the three heroes rode off in the dark and the women of the kingdom +wept to see them go and the men cheered and wished that they, too, +were going. + +They rode on and on for many days that seemed like nights until they +had crossed the confines of their own country and entered the +boundaries of an unknown kingdom beyond. Here the darkness was less +dense. There was no actual daylight but a faint grayness as of +approaching dawn. + +They rode on until they saw looming up before them the towers of a +mighty castle. They dismounted near the castle at the door of a little +hut where they found an old woman. + +"Good day to you, granny!" Log called out. + +"Good day, indeed!" the old woman said. "It's little enough we see of +the day since the Evil One cursed the Sun and handed it over to +Suyettar's wicked offspring, the Nine-Headed Serpent!" + +"The Evil One!" Log exclaimed. "Tell me, granny, why did the Evil One +curse the Sun?" + +"Because he's evil, my son, that's why! He said the Sun's rays +blistered him, so he cursed the Sun and gave him over to the +Nine-Headed Serpent. And he cursed the Moon, too, because at night +when the Moon shone he could not steal. Yes, my son, he cursed the +Moon and handed her over to Suyettar's second offspring, the +Six-Headed Serpent. Then he cursed the Dawn because he said he +couldn't sleep in the morning because of the Dawn. So he cursed the +Dawn and gave her over to Suyettar's third offspring, the Three-Headed +Serpent." + +"Tell me, granny," Log said, "where do the three Serpents keep +prisoner the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn?" + +"Listen, my son, and I will tell you: When they go far out in the +Ocean they carry with them the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn. The +Three-Headed Serpent stays out there one day and then returns at +night. The Six-Headed Serpent stays two days and then returns, and the +mighty Nine-Headed Monster does not return until the third night. As +each returns a faint glow spreads over the land. That is why we are +not in utter darkness." + +Log thanked the old woman and then he and his companions pushed on +towards the castle. As they neared it they saw a strange sight which +they could not understand. One half of the great castle was laughing +and rocking as if in merriment and the other half was weeping as if in +grief. + +"What can this mean?" Log cried out. "We had better ask the old woman +before we go on." + +So they went back to the hut and the old woman told them all she knew. + +"It is on account of the dreadful fate that is hanging over the King's +three daughters," she said. "Those three evil Monsters are demanding +them one by one. To-night when the Three-Headed Serpent comes back +from the Ocean he expects to devour the eldest. If the King refuses to +give her up, then Suyettar's evil son will devour half the kingdom, +half of the castle itself, and half the shining stones. O that some +hero would kill the monster and save the princess and at the same time +release the Dawn that it might again steal over the world!" + +Log and his fellows conferred together and the one they called Three +Bottles, because his strength was equal to three bottles of the strong +waters, declared that it was his task to fight and conquer the +Three-Headed Serpent. + +In the castle meanwhile preparations for the sacrifice of the oldest +princess were going forward. As the King sewed the poor girl into a +great leather sack, his tears fell so fast that he could scarcely see +what he was doing. + +"My dear child," he said, "it should comfort you greatly to think that +the Monster is going to eat you instead of half the kingdom! Not many +princesses are considered as important as half the kingdom!" + +The princess knew that what her father said must be true and she did +her best to look cheerful as they slipped the sack over her head. Once +inside, however, she allowed herself to cry for she knew that no one +could see her. + +The sack with the princess inside was carried down to the beach and +put on a high rock near the place where Suyettar's sons were wont to +come up out of the water. + +"Don't be frightened, my daughter!" the King called out as he and all +the Court started back to the castle. "You won't have long to wait, +for it will soon be evening." + +Log and his companions watched the King's party disappear and then +Three Bottles solemnly drank down the three bottles of strong waters +with which his own King had equipped him. As he was ready to mount his +horse, he handed Log the leash to which his dog was attached. + +"If I need help," he said, "I'll throw back my shoe and do you then +release my dog." + +With that he rode boldly down to the beach, dismounted, and climbed up +the rock where the unfortunate princess lay in a sack. With one slash +of the sword he ripped open the sack and dragged the princess out. She +supposed of course that he was the Three-Headed Serpent and at first +was so frightened that she kept her eyes tightly shut not daring to +look at him. She expected every minute to have him take a first bite +and, when minutes and more minutes and more minutes still went by and +he didn't, she opened her eyes a little crack to see what was the +matter. + +"Oh!" the princess said. + +She was so surprised that for a long time she didn't dare to take +another peep. + +"You thought I was the Three-Headed Serpent, didn't you?" a pleasant +voice asked. "But I'm not. I'm only a young man who has come to rescue +you." + +The princess murmured, "Oh!" again, but this time the "Oh!" expressed +happy relief. + +"Yes," repeated the young man, "I am the hero who has come to rescue +you. My comrades call me Three Bottles and you, too, may call me that. +And while we are waiting for the Serpent to come in from the Ocean I +wish you would scratch my head." + +The princess wasn't in the least surprised at this request. Heroes and +monsters and fathers alike seemed always to want their heads +scratched. + +So Three Bottles stretched himself at the princess' feet and put his +head in her lap. He settled himself comfortably and she scratched his +head while he gazed out over the dark Ocean waiting for the Serpent to +appear. + +At first there was nothing to break the glassy surface of the water. +They waited and at last far out they saw three swirling masses rolling +landward. + +"Quick, my princess!" Three Bottles cried. "There comes the Monster +now! Get you down behind the rock and hide there while I go meet the +creature and chop off his ugly heads!" + +The princess, quivering with fright, crouched down behind the rock and +Three Bottles, mounting his horse, rode boldly down to the water's +edge awaiting the Serpent's coming. + +It came nearer and nearer in long easy swirls, slowly lifting its +three scaly heads one after another. + +As it approached shore it sniffed the air hungrily. + +"Fee, fi, fo, fum!" it muttered in a deep voice, repeating the magic +rime it had learned from its evil mother, Suyettar: + + "Fee, fi, fo, fum! + I smell a Finn! Yum! Yum! + I'll fall upon him with a thud! + I'll pick his bones and drink his blood! + Fee, fi, fo, fum! + Yum! Yum!" + +"Stop boasting, son of Suyettar!" Three Bottles cried. "You'll have +time enough to boast after you fight!" + +"Fight?" repeated the Serpent as if in surprise. "Shall we fight, +pretty boy, you and I? Very well! Blow then with your sweet breath, +blow out a long level platform of red copper whereon we can meet and +try our strength each with the other!" + +"Nay," answered Three Bottles. "Do you blow with your evil breath and +instead of red copper we shall have a platform of black iron." + +So the Serpent blew and on the iron platform that came of his breath +Three Bottles met him in combat. Back and forth they raged, Three +Bottles striking right and left with his mighty sword, the Serpent +hitting at Three Bottles with all his scaly heads and belching forth +fire and smoke from all his mouths. Three Bottles whacked off one +scaly head and at last a second one, but he was unable to touch the +third. + +"I shall have to have help," he acknowledged to himself finally, and +reaching down he took one of his shoes and threw it over his shoulder +back to his comrades who were awaiting the outcome of the struggle. +Instantly they loosed the dog which bounded forward to its master's +assistance and soon with the dog's help Three Bottles was able to +dispatch the last head. + +He was faint now with weariness and his comrades had to help him back +to the old woman's hut where he soon fell asleep. + +Night passed and Dawn appeared. A great cry of relief and thanksgiving +went up from all the earth. + +"The Dawn! The Dawn!" people cried. "God bless the man who has +released the Dawn!" + +Only at the castle was there sorrow still. + +"My poor oldest daughter!" the King cried with tears in his eyes. "It +was my sacrifice of her that has released the Dawn!" + +Then he called his slaves and gave them orders to gather up his +daughter's bones and to bring back the leather sack. + +"We shall need it again to-night," he said. He wiped his eyes and for +a moment could say no more. "Yes, to-night we shall have to sew up my +second daughter and offer her to the Six-Headed Serpent, him that +holds captive the Moon. Otherwise the monster will devour half my +kingdom, half the castle, and half the shining stones. Ai! Ai! Ai!" + +But the slaves when they went to the high rock on the seashore found, +not the princess' bones, but the princess herself, sitting there with +her chin in her hand, gazing down on the beach which was strewn with +the fragments of the Three-Headed Serpent. + +They led her back to her father and reported the marvel they had seen. + +"There, O King, lies the monster on the sand with all his heads +severed! So huge are the heads that it would need three men with +derricks to move one of them!" + +"Some unknown hero has rescued my oldest daughter!" the King cried. +"Would that another might come to-night to rescue my second child +likewise! But, alas! what hero is strong enough to destroy the +Six-Headed Monster!" + +So when evening came they sewed the second princess in the sack and +carried her out to the rock. + +Log and his companions saw the procession move down from the castle +and they saw that the castle was again disturbed, one half of it +laughing and one half weeping. + +"It's the second princess to-night," the old woman told them. "Unless +her father, the King, gives her to the Six-Headed Serpent, the Monster +will come and devour half the kingdom, half the castle, and half the +shining stones. He it is that holds the Moon captive and the hero that +slays him will release the Moon." + +Then he whom his comrades called Six Bottles cried out: + +"Here is work for me!" + +He drank bottle after bottle of the strong waters until he had emptied +six. + +"Now I am ready!" he shouted. + +He mounted his mighty horse and as he rode off he called to his +comrades: + +"If I need help I'll throw back a shoe and do you then unleash my +dog!" + +He rode to the rock on the shore and dismounted. Then he climbed the +rock and released the second princess. He told her who he was and as +they awaited the arrival of the Six-Headed Serpent he lay at the +princess' feet and she scratched his head. + +This time the Serpent came in six mighty swirls with six awful heads +that reared up one after another. In terror the second princess hid +behind the rock while Six Bottles, mounting his horse, rode boldly +down to the water's edge. + +Like his brother Serpent this one, too, came sniffing the air +hungrily, muttering the magic rime he had learned from his mother, +wicked Suyettar: + + "Fee, fi, fo, fum! + I smell a Finn! Yum! Yum! + I'll fall upon him with a thud! + I'll pick his bones and drink his blood! + Fee, fi, fo, fum! + Yum! Yum!" + +"Stop boasting, son of an evil mother!" Six Bottles cried. "You will +have time enough to boast after you fight!" + +"Fight?" repeated the Serpent scornfully. "Shall we fight, little one, +you and I? Very well! Blow then with your sweet breath, blow out a +long level platform of white silver whereon we can meet and try our +strength one with the other." + +"Nay!" answered Six Bottles. "Do you blow, blow with your evil breath, +and instead of white silver we shall have a platform of red copper." + +So the Serpent blew and on the copper platform that came of his +breath Six Bottles met him in combat. Back and forth they raged, Six +Bottles striking left and right with his mighty sword, the Serpent +hitting at Six Bottles with every one of his six scaly heads and +belching forth fire and smoke from all his mouths. Six Bottles whacked +off one head, then another, then another. At last he had disposed of +five heads. He tried hard to strike the last, but by this time the +Serpent had grown wary and Six Bottles' own strength was waning. So he +reached down and took one of his shoes and threw it over his shoulder +back to his comrades who were awaiting the outcome of the struggle. +Instantly they loosed the dog which bounded forward to its master's +assistance and soon with the dog's help Six Bottles was able to +dispatch the last head. + +Then his comrades led him, weary from the fight, to the old woman's +hut and soon he fell asleep. + +While he slept the Moon appeared in the sky and a great cry of relief +and thanksgiving went up from all the world: + +"The Moon! The Moon! God bless the man who has released the Moon!" + +The King who was awakened by the sound looked out the castle window +and when he saw the Moon, returned to its place in the sky, his eyes +overflowed with grief. + +"My poor second daughter!" he cried. "It was my sacrifice of her that +has released the Moon! To-morrow morning I will send the slaves to +gather up her bones and to bring back the leather sack into which, +alas! I must then sew my youngest daughter for evil Suyettar's third +son, the Nine-Headed Serpent. Ai! Ai! Ai! How sad it is to be a +father!" + +But on the morrow when the slaves went to the rock they found the +second princess sitting there alone gazing down upon the scattered +fragments of the Six-Headed Serpent. + +"Here she is, safe and sound!" they reported to the King as they led +the second princess into his presence, "and, marvel of marvels! on the +beach below the rock lies the body of the Six-Headed Serpent torn to +pieces! Its heads, O King, are so monstrous that six men with derricks +could scarcely move one of them!" + +"God be praised!" the King cried. "Another unknown hero has come and +saved the life of my second child! Would that a third might come +to-night and rescue the life of my youngest child! Alas, she is dearer +to me than both the others, but I fear me that even if there be heroes +who could dispatch the first two Serpents, there is never one who can +touch him of the Nine Heads that holds the mighty Sun a captive!" + + [Illustration: _"This last and mightiest battle is for me!"_] + +And the poor King wept, so sure was he that nothing could save the +life of his youngest child. + +When Log and his companions heard of the King's grief, Log at once +stood forth and said: + +"This last and mightiest battle is for me!" + +He opened the strong waters and drank bottle after bottle until he had +emptied nine. + +"Now let night come as soon as it will!" he cried. "I am ready for the +Monster!" + +He started forth telling his comrades he would throw back a shoe if he +needed help from his dog. + +So it was Log himself who slashed open the sack for the third time and +released the Youngest Princess who was much more beautiful than her +sisters. She fell in love with the mighty hero on sight and was so +thrilled with his godlike beauty that when he put his head in her lap +she hardly knew what to do although her father always declared that +she scratched his head much better than either of her sisters. + +They had not long to wait for soon all the Ocean was a glitter with +the swirls of the ninefold Monster who was coming to shore with the +captive Sun in his keeping. + +"Await me behind the rock!" Log cried to the Princess as he leapt upon +his horse and started forward. + +"Oh, Log, my hero, be careful!" the Princess cried after him. + +Nearer and nearer came the swirls of the nine-coiled Monster. One +after another of his nine heads rose and fell as he approached, and +every head sniffed more hungrily as it came nearer, and each head +rumbled as it sniffed: + + "Fee, fi, fo, fum! + I smell a Finn! Yum! Yum! + I'll fall upon him with a thud! + I'll pick his bones and drink his blood! + Fee, fi, fo, fum! + Yum! Yum!" + +"Stop boasting, evil son of an evil mother!" Log cried. "You will have +time enough to boast after you fight!" + +"Fight?" roared the awful Monster. "Shall we fight, poor infant, you +and I? Very well! Blow then with your sweet breath, blow out a long +level platform of shining gold whereon we can meet and try our +strength each with the other!" + +"Nay!" Log answered boldly. "Do you blow, blow with your evil breath +and instead of shining gold we shall have a platform of white silver." + +So the Monster blew and on the silver platform that came of his +breath Log met him in combat. Back and forth they raged, Log striking +right and left with his mighty sword, the Serpent hitting at Log with +all his nine scaly heads and belching forth fire and smoke from all +his nine mouths. Log whacked off head after head until six lay gaping +on the sand. But the last three he could not get. + +Suddenly he pointed behind the Serpent and cried: + +"Quick! Quick! The Sun! It is escaping!" + +The Serpent looked around and Log whacked off a head. Now only two +remained, but try as he would Log could get neither of them. + +Again he tried a subterfuge. + +"Your wife, O Son of Suyettar! See, yonder, they're abusing her!" + +The Monster looked and Log whacked off another head. But one now +remained and as usual it was the hardest of them all to get. Log felt +his strength waning while the Monster seemed more nimble than ever. + +"I shall have to have help," Log thought. + +He threw back his shoe to his comrades and they at once loosed his +dog. With the dog's help Log was soon able to dispatch the last head. +Then Three Bottles and Six Bottles helped him off his horse and +supported him to the old woman's hut where he soon fell into a deep +sleep. + +The next morning the blessed Sun rose at his proper time and people +all over the world, falling on their knees with thanksgiving and +weeping with joy, cried out: + +"The Sun! The Sun! God bless the man who has released the Sun!" + +At the castle they waked the King with the good news but the King only +shook his head and murmured in grief: + +"Yes, the Sun is released but what care I since my favorite child, my +youngest daughter, has been sacrificed!" + +He dispatched the slaves to gather up her bones and presently these +returned bringing the Princess herself and telling a marvelous tale of +the beach littered with nine severed heads so huge that it would need +nine men with derricks to move one of them. + +"What manner of heroes are these who have rescued my daughters!" cried +the King. "Let them come forth and I will give them my daughters for +wives and half my riches for dowry! But they will have to prove +themselves the actual heroes by bringing to the castle the heavy heads +of the Monsters they have slain." + +When Log and his fellows heard this they laughed with happiness and, +strengthening themselves with deep draughts of the strong waters, they +gathered together the many heads of the mighty Serpents, bore them to +the castle, and piled them up at the King's feet. + +Then Log stepped forward and said: + +"Here we are, O King, come to claim our reward!" + +The King, true to his promise, gave them his daughters in marriage, +the oldest to Three Bottles, the second to Six Bottles, and the lovely +Youngest to Log. Then he apportioned them the half of his riches and, +after much feasting and merrymaking, the heroes took their brides and +their riches and bidding the King farewell started homewards. + +As they rode through a great forest they sighted a tiny hut and Log, +motioning his comrades to wait for him quietly, crept forward to see +who was in the hut. It was well he was cautious for inside the hut was +Suyettar herself talking to two other old hags. + +"Ay," she was saying, "they have slain my three beautiful sons, my +mighty offspring that held captive the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn! +But I tell you, sisters, they will pay the penalty...." + +To hear better Log changed himself into a piece of firewood and +slipping inside the hut hid himself in the woodpile near the stove. + +"Ay, they will pay the penalty!" Suyettar repeated. "I shall have my +revenge on them! A fine supper Suyettar shall soon have, yum, yum! + + I'll fall upon them with a thud! + I'll pick their bones and drink their blood! + +Fools, fools, to think they can escape Suyettar's anger!" + +"But sister, sister," the two old hags asked, "how will you get them?" + +Suyettar looked this way and that to make sure that no one was +listening. Then she whispered: + +"This is how I shall get them: As they come through this forest, the +three men with their brides, I shall send upon them a terrible hunger. +Then they shall come suddenly upon a table spread with tempting food. +One bite of that food and they are in my power, he-he! Ay, sisters, +to-night Suyettar will have a fine supper! Nothing can save them +unless, before they touch the food, some one make the sign of the +cross three times over the table. Then table and food would disappear +and also the ravening hunger. But even if that happens Suyettar shall +still get them!" + +"How, sister, how?" the other two asked. + +"Presently I should send upon them consuming thirst, and then put in +their pathway a spring of cold sparkling water. One drop of that +water and they are in my power, he-he! Nothing can save them from me +unless, before their lips touch the water, some one make the sign of +the cross three times over the spring. At that the spring would +disappear and also their thirst. But even if they escape the spring, I +shall still get them. I shall send great heaviness on them and a +longing for sleep, then let them come upon a row of soft inviting +feather beds. If they cast themselves upon the beds, they are mine, +he-he! to feast upon as I will! Nothing can save but that some one +make the sign of the cross three times over the beds before they touch +them. Oh, sisters, I shall get them one way or another for there is no +one to warn them. If there was any one to warn them, he wouldn't dare +tell them what he knows for he would also know that if he told them he +would himself be turned into a blue cross and have to stand forever in +the cemetery." + +As Log knew now all the dangers that threatened, he slipped away from +the woodpile and, when he was outside, took his own shape and hurried +back to his comrades. + +"Away!" he cried. "We are in great danger!" + +They all spurred their horses and rode swiftly on until Three Bottles +suddenly cried: + +"Hold, comrades, hold! I am faint with hunger!" + +"Me, too!" cried Six Bottles. + +At that instant a great table, laden with delicious food, appeared +before them. + +"Look!" cried the one of them. + +"Food!" cried the other. + +They flung themselves from their horses and ran towards the table. But +quick as they were, Log was quicker. He reached the table first and, +raising his hand, made the sign of the cross three times. The table +disappeared as suddenly as it had come and with it the strange hunger +that had but now consumed them. + +"Strange!" Three Bottles exclaimed. "I thought I was hungry, but I'm +not!" + +"I thought I saw food just now," Six Bottles said. "I must have been +dreaming." + +So they mounted again and pushed on. + +"Danger threatens us," said Log. "We must hurry and not dismount no +matter what the temptation." + +They agreed but presently one of them cried out and then the other: + +"Water! Water! We shall soon perish unless we have water!" + +Instantly by the wayside appeared a spring of cool sparkling water and +it was all Log could do to reach it before his fellows. He did get +there first and make the sign of the cross three times whereat the +spring disappeared and with it the thirst which had but now consumed +them all. + +"I thought I was thirsty," Three Bottles said, "but I'm not!" + +"Why did we dismount?" Six Bottles asked. "There's no water here." + +So again they mounted and went forward and Log, warning them again +that danger threatened, begged them not to dismount a third time no +matter what the temptation. + +They promised they would not but presently, complaining of fatigue, +they wanted to. Their brides, too, swayed in the saddle, overcome with +weariness and sleep. + +"Dear Log," they said, "let us rest for an hour. See, our brides are +drooping with fatigue! One hour's sleep and we shall all be +refreshed!" + +Instantly beside them on the forest floor they saw three soft white +feather beds. Log leaped to the ground but before he was able to make +the sign of the cross over more than one of the beds, his comrades and +their brides had fallen headlong on the other two. + +And that was the end of poor Three Bottles and Six Bottles and their +two lovely brides. There was no way now of saving them from Suyettar. +She had them in her power and nothing would induce her to give them +up. + +As Log and his bride sadly mounted their horse and rode on they heard +an evil voice chanting out in triumph: + + "I'll fall upon them with a thud, he-he! + I'll pick their bones and drink their blood, he-he!" + +"Poor fellows! Poor fellows!" Log said, and the Princess wept to think +of the awful fate that had overtaken her two sisters. + +Well, Log and his bride reached home without further adventure and +were received by the King with great honors. + +"I knew my heroes were succeeding," the King said, "when first the +Dawn appeared again, and then the Moon, and last the mighty Sun. All +hail to you, Log, and to your two comrades! But, by the way, where are +Three Bottles and Six Bottles?" + +"Your Majesty," Log said, "Three Bottles and Six Bottles were brave +men both. By their prowess they released the one the Dawn, the other +the Moon. Then in an evil adventure on the way home they perished. I +can tell you no more." + +"You can tell me no more?" the King said. "Why can you tell me no +more? What was the evil adventure in which they perished?" + +"If I told you, O King, then I, too, should perish, for I should be +turned into a blue cross and stood forever in the cemetery!" + +"What nonsense!" the King exclaimed. "Who would turn you into a blue +cross and stand you forever in the cemetery?" + +"That is what I cannot tell you," Log said. + +The King laughed and pressed Log no further, but the people of the +kingdom, scenting a mystery, insisted on knowing in detail what had +happened the other two heroes. Presently the rumor began to spread +that Log himself had done away with them in order that he might gather +to himself all the glory of the undertaking. + +The King was forced at last to send for him again and to demand a full +account of everything. + +Log realized that his end was near. He met it bravely. Commending to +the King's protection his lovely bride, the Youngest Princess, Log +related how the three mighty Serpents whom they had killed were sons +of Suyettar, and how in revenge Suyettar had succeeded in destroying +Three Bottles and Six Bottles together with their brides. Then he told +the fate about to overtake himself. + +He finished speaking and as the King and the Court looked at him, to +their amazement he disappeared. + +"To the cemetery!" some one cried. + +They all went to the cemetery where at once they found a fresh blue +cross that had come there nobody knew how. There it stands to this +day, a reminder of the life and deeds of the mighty hero, Log. + +The King was overcome with sorrow at losing such a hero. He took Log's +bride under his protection and he found her so beautiful and so gentle +that soon he fell in love with her and married her. + + + + +THE LITTLE SISTER + +[Decoration] + +_The Story of Suyettar and the Nine Brothers_ + + +THE LITTLE SISTER + +[Decoration] + +There was once a woman who had nine sons. They were good boys and +loved her dearly but there was one thing about which they were always +complaining. + +"Why haven't we a little sister?" they kept asking. "Do give us a +little sister!" + +When the time came that another child was to be born, they said to +their mother: + +"If the baby is a boy we are going away and you will never see us +again, but if it is a little girl then we shall stay home and take +care of it." + +The mother agreed that if the child were a girl she would have her +husband put a spindle outside on the gatepost and, if it were a boy, +an ax. + +"Just wait," she said, "and see what your father puts on the gatepost +and then you will know whether it is another brother God has sent you +or a little sister." + +The baby turned out to be a girl and the mother was overjoyed. + +"Hurry, husband!" she cried, "and put a spindle on the gatepost so +that our nine sons may know the good news!" + +The man did so and then quickly returned to the mother and baby. The +moment he was gone Suyettar slipped up and changed the tokens. She +took away the spindle and put in its place an ax. Then with an evil +grin she hurried off mumbling to herself: + +"Now we'll see what we'll see!" + +She hoped to bring trouble and grief and she succeeded. As soon as the +nine sons saw the ax on the gatepost they thought their mother had +given birth to another son and at once they left home vowing never to +return. + +The poor mother waited for them and waited. + +"What is keeping my sons?" she cried at last. "Go out to the gate, +husband, and see if they are coming." + +The man went out and soon returned bringing back word that some one +had changed the tokens. + +"The spindle that I put on the gatepost is gone," he said, "and in its +place is an ax." + +"Alas!" cried the poor mother, "some evil creature has done this to +spite us! Oh, if we could only get word to our sons of the little +sister they were so eager to have!" + +But there was no way to reach them for no one knew the way they had +gone. + +In a short time the husband died and the poor woman, abandoned by her +nine sons, had only her little daughter left. She named the child +Kerttu. Kerttu was a dear little girl and her face was as beautiful as +her heart was good. Whenever she found her mother weeping alone she +tried to comfort her and, as she grew older, she wanted to know the +cause of her mother's grief. At last the mother told her about her +nine brothers and how they had gone away never to return owing to the +trick of some evil creature. + +"My poor mother!" she cried, "how sorry I am that I am the innocent +cause of your loss! Let me go out into the world and find my brothers! +When once they hear the truth they will gladly come home to you to +care for you in your old age!" + +At first the mother would not consent to this. + +"You are all I have," she said, "and I should indeed be miserable and +lonely if anything happened you!" + +But Kerttu continued to weep every time she thought of her poor +brothers driven unnecessarily from home and at last the mother, +realizing that she would nevermore be happy unless she were allowed to +go in search of them, gave up opposing her. + +"Very well, my daughter, you may go and may God go with you and bring +you safely back to me. But before you go I must prepare you a bag of +food for the journey and bake you a magic cake that will show you the +way." + +So she baked a batch of bread and at the same time mixed a little +round cake with Kerttu's own tears and baked it, too. Then she said: + +"Here now, my child, are provisions for the journey and here is a +magic cake that will lead you to your brothers. All you have to do is +throw it down in front of you and say: + + 'Roll, roll, my little cake! + Show me the way that I must take + To find at last the brothers nine + Whose own true mother is also mine!' + +Then the little cake will start rolling and do you follow wherever it +rolls. But, Kerttu, my child, you must not start out alone. You must +have some friend or companion to go with you." + +Now it happened that Kerttu had a little dog, Musti, that she loved +dearly. + +"I'll take Musti with me!" she said. "Musti will protect me!" + +So she called Musti and Musti wagged his tail and barked with joy at +the prospect of going out into the world with his mistress. + +Then Kerttu threw down the magic cake in front of her and sang: + + "Roll, roll, my little cake! + Show me the way that I must take + To find at last the brothers nine + Whose own true mother is also mine!" + +At once the cake rolled off like a little wheel and Kerttu and Musti +followed it. They walked until they were tired. Then Kerttu picked up +the little cake and they rested by the wayside. When they were ready +again to start the cake a-rolling, all Kerttu had to do was throw it +down in front of her and say the magic rime. + +Their first day was without adventure. When night came they ate their +supper and went to sleep in a field under a tree. + +The second day they overtook an ugly old woman whom Kerttu disliked on +sight. But she said to herself: + +"Shame on you, Kerttu, not liking this woman just because she's old +and ugly!" and she made herself answer the old woman's greetings +politely and she made Musti stop snarling and growling. + +The old hag asked Kerttu who she was and where she was going and +Kerttu told her. + +"Ah!" said the old woman, "how fortunate that we have met each other +for our ways lie together!" + +She smiled and petted Kerttu's arm and Kerttu felt like shuddering. +But she restrained herself and told herself severely: + +"You're a wicked girl not to feel more friendly to the poor old +thing!" + +Musti felt much as Kerttu did. He no longer growled for Kerttu had +told him not to, but he drooped his tail between his legs and, +pressing up close to Kerttu, he trembled with fright. And well he +might, too, for the old hag was none other than Suyettar who had been +waiting all these years just for this very chance to do further injury +to Kerttu and her brothers. + +Kerttu, poor child, was, alas! too good and innocent to suspect evil +in others. She said to Suyettar: + +"Very well, if our ways lie together then we can be companions." + +So Suyettar joined Kerttu and Musti and the three of them walked on +following the little cake. As the day advanced the sun grew hotter +and hotter and at last when they reached a lake Suyettar said: + +"My dear, let us sit down here for a few moments and rest." + +They all sat down and presently Suyettar said: + +"Let us go bathing in the lake. That will refresh us." + +Kerttu would have agreed if Musti had not tugged at her skirts and +warned her not to. + +"Don't do it, dear mistress!" Musti growled softly. "Don't go in +bathing with her! She'll bewitch you!" + +So Kerttu said: + +"No, I don't want to go in bathing." + +Suyettar waited until they were again journeying on and then when +Kerttu wasn't looking she turned around and kicked Musti and broke one +of the poor little dog's legs. Thereafter Musti had to hop along on +three legs. + +The next afternoon when they passed another lake, Suyettar tried again +to tempt Kerttu into the water. + +"The sun is very hot," she said, "and it would refresh us both to +bathe. Come, Kerttu, my dear, don't refuse me this time!" + +But again Musti tugged at Kerttu's skirts and, licking her hand, +whispered the warning: + +"Don't do it, dear mistress! Don't go in bathing with her or she will +bewitch you!" + +So again Kerttu said politely: + +"No, I don't feel like going in bathing. You go in alone and I'll wait +for you here." + +But this was not what Suyettar wanted and she said, no, she didn't +care to go in alone. She was furious, too, with Musti and later when +Kerttu wasn't looking she gave the poor little dog a kick that broke +another leg. Thereafter Musti had to hop along on two legs. + +They slept the third night by the wayside and the next day they went +on again always following the magic cake. In midafternoon they passed +a lake and Suyettar said: + +"Surely, my dear, you must be tired and hot. Let us both bathe in this +cool lake." + +But Musti, hopping painfully along on two legs, yelped weakly and said +to Kerttu: + +"Don't do it, dear mistress! Don't go in bathing with her or she'll +bewitch you!" + +So for a third time Kerttu refused and later, when she wasn't looking, +Suyettar kicked Musti and broke the third of the poor little dog's +legs. Thereafter Musti hopped on as best he could on only one leg. + +Well, they went on and on. When night came they slept by the roadside +and then next morning they started on again. The sun grew hot and by +midafternoon Kerttu was tired and ready to rest. When they reached a +lake Suyettar again begged that they both go in bathing. Kerttu was +tempted to agree when poor Musti threw himself panting at her feet and +whimpered: + +"Don't do it, dear mistress! Don't go in bathing with her or she will +bewitch you!" + +So Kerttu again refused. + +"That's right, dear mistress!" Musti panted, "don't do it! I shall +soon be dead, I know, for she hates me, but before I die I want to +warn you one last time never to go in bathing with her or she will +bewitch you!" + +"What's that dog saying?" Suyettar demanded angrily, and without +waiting for an answer she picked up a heavy piece of wood and struck +poor Musti such a blow on the head that it killed him. + +"What have you done to my poor little dog?" Kerttu cried. + +"Don't mind him, my dear," Suyettar said. "He was sick and lame and it +was better to put him out of his misery." + +Suyettar tried to soothe Kerttu and make her forget Musti but all +afternoon Kerttu wept to think that she would never again see her +faithful little friend. + +The next afternoon when Suyettar begged her to go in bathing there +was no Musti to warn her against it and at last Kerttu allowed herself +to be persuaded. She was tired from her many days' wandering and it +was true that the first touch of the cool water refreshed her. + +"Now splash water in my face!" Suyettar cried. + +But Kerttu didn't want to splash water into Suyettar's face for she +supposed Suyettar was an old woman and she thought it would be +disrespectful to splash water into the face of an old woman. + +"Do you hear me!" screamed Suyettar. + +When Kerttu still hesitated, Suyettar looked at her with such a +terrible, threatening expression that Kerttu did as she was bidden. +She splashed water into Suyettar's face and, as the water touched +Suyettar's eyes, Suyettar cried out: + + "Your bonny looks give up to me + And you take mine for all to see!" + +Instantly they two changed appearance: Suyettar looked young and +beautiful like Kerttu, and Kerttu was changed to a hideous old hag. +Then too late she realized that the awful old woman to whom she had +been so polite was Suyettar. + + [Illustration: _Suyettar bewitching Kerttu_] + +"Oh, why," Kerttu cried, "why didn't I heed poor Musti's warning!" + +Suyettar dragged her roughly out of the water. + +"Come along!" she said. "Dress yourself in those rags of mine and +start that cake a-rolling! We ought to reach your brothers' house by +to-night." + +So poor Kerttu had to dress herself in Suyettar's filthy old garments +while Suyettar, looking like a fresh young girl, decked herself out in +Kerttu's pretty bodice and skirt. + +Unwillingly now and with a heavy heart Kerttu threw down the cake and +said: + + "Roll, roll, my little cake! + Show me the way that I must take + To find at last the brothers nine + Whose own true mother is also mine!" + +Off rolled the little cake and they two followed it, Kerttu weeping +bitterly and Suyettar taunting her with ugly laughs. Then suddenly +Kerttu forgot to weep for Suyettar took from her her memory and her +tongue. + +The little cake led them at last to a farmhouse before which it +stopped. This was where the nine brothers were living. Eight of them +were out working in the fields but the youngest was at home. He opened +the door and when Suyettar told him that she was Kerttu, his sister, +he kissed her tenderly and made her welcome. Then he invited her +inside and they sat side by side on the bench and talked and Suyettar +told him all she had heard from Kerttu about his mother and about the +tokens which had been changed at Kerttu's birth. The youngest brother +listened eagerly and Suyettar told her story so glibly that of course +he supposed that she was his own true sister. + +"And who is the awful looking old hag that has come with you?" he +asked pointing at Kerttu. + +"That? Oh, that's an old serving woman whom our mother sent with me to +bear me company. She's dumb and foolish but she's a good herd and we +can let her drive the cow out to pasture every day." + +The older brothers when they came home were greatly pleased to find +what they thought was their sister. They began to love her at once and +to pet her and they said that now she must stay with them and keep +house for them. She told them that was what she wanted to do and she +said that now she was here the youngest brother need no longer stay at +home but could go out every morning with the rest of them to work in +the fields. + +So now began a new life for poor Kerttu. In the morning after the +brothers were gone Suyettar would scold and abuse her. She would bake +a cake for her dinner to be eaten in the fields and she would fill the +cake with stones and sticks and filth. Then she would take Kerttu as +far as the gate where she would give her back her tongue and her +memory and order her roughly to drive the cow to pasture and look +after it all day long. In the late afternoon when Kerttu drove home +the cow, Suyettar would meet her at the gate and take from her her +tongue and her memory and then in the evening the brothers would see +her as a foolish old woman who couldn't talk. Every morning and every +evening Kerttu begged Suyettar to show her a little mercy, but far +from showing her any mercy Suyettar grew more cruel from day to day. + +Suyettar was very proud to think that nine handsome young men took her +for a beautiful girl and she felt sure they would never find out their +mistake for only Kerttu knew who she really was and Kerttu was +entirely in her power. + +At night seated in the shadow in a far corner of the kitchen with her +nine brothers laughing and talking Kerttu felt no sorrow for at such +times of course she had no memory. But during the day it was +different. Then when she was alone in the meadow she had her memory +and her tongue and she thought about her poor mother at home anxiously +awaiting her return and she thought of her nine sturdy brothers all of +whom might now through her mistake fall victims to Suyettar. These +thoughts made her weep with grief and as the days went by she put this +grief into a song which she sang constantly: + + "I've found at last the brothers nine + Whose own true mother is also mine, + But they know me not from stick or stone! + They leave me here to weep alone, + While Suyettar sits in my place + With stolen looks and stolen face! + She snared me first with evil guile + And now she mocks me all the while: + By night she takes my tongue away, + She feeds me sticks and stones by day!... + Oh, little they guess, the brothers nine, + That their own true mother is also mine!" + +The brothers as they worked in nearby fields used to hear the song and +they wondered about it. + +"Strange!" they said to one another. "Can that be the old woman +singing? In the evening at home she never opens her mouth and our dear +sister always says that she's dumb and foolish." + +One afternoon when Kerttu's song sounded particularly sad, the +youngest brother crept close to the meadow where Kerttu was sitting in +order to hear the words. He listened carefully and then hurried back +to the others and with frightened face told them what he had heard. + +"Nonsense!" the older brothers said. "It can't be so!" + +However, they, too, wanted to hear for themselves the words of the +strange song, so they all crept near to listen. + +It looked like an old hag who was singing but the voice that came out +of the withered mouth was the voice of a young girl. As they listened +they, too, grew pale: + + "I've found at last the brothers nine + Whose own true mother is also mine, + But they know me not from stick or stone! + They leave me here to weep alone, + While Suyettar sits in my place + With stolen looks and stolen face! + She snared me first with evil guile + And now she mocks me all the while: + By night she takes my tongue away, + She feeds me sticks and stones by day!... + Oh, little they guess, the brothers nine, + That their own true mother is also mine!" + +"Can it be true?" they said, whispering together. + +They sent the youngest brother to question Kerttu and he, when he had +heard her story, believed it true. Then the other brothers went to her +one by one and questioned her and finally they were all convinced of +the truth of her story. + +"It is well for us," they said, "if we do not all fall into the power +of that awful creature! How, O how can we rescue our poor little +sister!" + +"I can never get back my own looks," Kerttu said, "unless Suyettar +splashes water into my eyes and unless I cry out a magic rime as she +does it." + +The brothers discussed one plan after another and at last agreed on +one that they thought might deceive Suyettar. + +They had Kerttu inflame her eyes with dust and come groping home one +midday. The brothers, too, were at home and as Kerttu came stumbling +into the kitchen they said to Suyettar: + +"Oh, sister, sister, see the poor old woman! Something ails her! Her +eyes--they're all red and swollen! Get some water and bathe them!" + +"Nonsense!" Suyettar said. "The old hag's well enough! Let her be! She +doesn't need any attention!" + +"Oh, sister!" the youngest brother said, reproachfully, "is that any +way for a human, kindhearted girl like you to talk? If you won't +bathe the old creature's eyes, I will myself!" + +Then Suyettar who of course wanted them to think that she was a human, +kindhearted girl said, no, she would bathe them. So she took a basin +of water over to Kerttu and told her to lean down her head. As she +splashed the first drop of water into Kerttu's eyes, Kerttu cried out: + + "My own true looks give back to me + And take your own for all to see!" + +Instantly Suyettar was again a hideous old hag though still dressed in +Kerttu's pretty bodice and skirt, and Kerttu was herself again, young +and fresh and sweet, though still incased in Suyettar's rags. But the +brothers pretended that they saw no difference and kept on talking to +Suyettar as though they still thought her Kerttu. And Suyettar because +her eyes were blinded with the dust supposed that they were still +deceived. + +Then one of the brothers said to Suyettar: + +"Sister dear, the _sauna_ is all heated and ready. Don't you want to +bathe?" + +Suyettar thought that this would be a fine chance to wash the dust +from her eyes, so she let them lead her to the _sauna_. Once they got +her inside they locked the door and set the _sauna_ a-fire. Oh, the +noise she made then when she found she had been trapped! She kicked +and screamed and cursed and threatened! But Kerttu and the brothers +paid no heed to her. They left her burning in the _sauna_ while they +hurried homewards. + +They found their poor old mother seated at the window weeping, for she +thought that now Kerttu as well as her sons was lost forever. As +Kerttu and the nine handsome young men came in the gate she didn't +recognize them until Kerttu sang out: + + "I bring at last the brothers nine + Whose own true mother is also mine!" + +Then she knew who they were and with thanks to God she welcomed them +home. + + + + +THE FOREST BRIDE + +[Decoration] + +_The Story of a Little Mouse Who Was a Princess_ + + +THE FOREST BRIDE + +[Decoration] + +There was once a farmer who had three sons. One day when the boys were +grown to manhood he said to them: + +"My sons, it is high time that you were all married. To-morrow I wish +you to go out in search of brides." + +"But where shall we go?" the oldest son asked. + +"I have thought of that, too," the father said. "Do each of you chop +down a tree and then take the direction in which the fallen tree +points. I'm sure that each of you if you go far enough in that +direction will find a suitable bride." + +So the next day the three sons chopped down trees. The oldest son's +tree fell pointing north. + +"That suits me!" he said, for he knew that to the north lay a farm +where a very pretty girl lived. + +The tree of the second son when it fell pointed south. + +"That suits me!" the second son declared thinking of a girl that he +had often danced with who lived on a farm to the south. + +The youngest son's tree--the youngest son's name was Veikko--when it +fell pointed straight to the forest. + +"Ha! Ha!" the older brothers laughed. "Veikko will have to go courting +one of the Wolf girls or one of the Foxes!" + +They meant by this that only animals lived in the forest and they +thought they were making a good joke at Veikko's expense. But Veikko +said he was perfectly willing to take his chances and go where his +tree pointed. + +The older brothers went gaily off and presented their suits to the two +farmers whose daughters they admired. Veikko, too, started off with +brave front but after he had gone some distance in the forest his +courage began to ebb. + +"How can I find a bride," he asked himself, "in a place where there +are no human creatures at all!" + +Just then he came to a little hut. He pushed open the door and went +in. It was empty. To be sure there was a little mouse sitting on the +table, daintily combing her whiskers, but a mouse of course doesn't +count. + +"There's nobody here!" Veikko said aloud. + +The little mouse paused in her toilet and turning towards him said +reproachfully: + +"Why, Veikko, I'm here!" + +"But you don't count. You're only a mouse!" + +"Of course I count!" the little mouse declared. "But tell me, what +were you hoping to find?" + +"I was hoping to find a sweetheart." + +The little mouse questioned him further and Veikko told her the whole +story of his brothers and the trees. + +"The two older ones are finding sweethearts easily enough," Veikko +said, "but I don't see how I can off here in the forest. And it will +shame me to have to go home and confess that I alone have failed." + +"See here, Veikko," the little mouse said, "why don't you take me for +your sweetheart?" + +Veikko laughed heartily. + +"But you're only a mouse! Whoever heard of a man having a mouse for a +sweetheart!" + +The mouse shook her little head solemnly. + +"Take my word for it, Veikko, you could do much worse than have me for +a sweetheart! Even if I am only a mouse I can love you and be true to +you." + +She was a dear dainty little mouse and as she sat looking up at Veikko +with her little paws under her chin and her bright little eyes +sparkling Veikko liked her more and more. + +Then she sang Veikko a pretty little song and the song cheered him so +much that he forgot his disappointment at not finding a human +sweetheart and as he left her to go home he said: + +"Very well, little mouse, I'll take you for my sweetheart!" + +At that the mouse made little squeaks of delight and she told him that +she'd be true to him and wait for him no matter how long he was in +returning. + +Well, the older brothers when they got home boasted loudly about their +sweethearts. + +"Mine," said the oldest, "has the rosiest reddest cheeks you ever +saw!" + +"And mine," the second announced, "has long yellow hair!" + +Veikko said nothing. + +"What's the matter, Veikko?" the older brothers asked him, laughing. +"Has your sweetheart pretty pointed ears or sharp white teeth?" + +You see they were still having their little joke about foxes and +wolves. + +"You needn't laugh," Veikko said. "I've found a sweetheart. She's a +gentle dainty little thing gowned in velvet." + +"Gowned in velvet!" echoed the oldest brother with a frown. + +"Just like a princess!" the second brother sneered. + +"Yes," Veikko repeated, "gowned in velvet like a princess. And when +she sits up and sings to me I'm perfectly happy." + +"Huh!" grunted the older brothers not at all pleased that Veikko +should have so grand a sweetheart. + +"Well," said the old farmer after a few days, "now I should like to +know what those sweethearts of yours are able to do. Have them each +bake me a loaf of bread so that I can see whether they're good +housewives." + +"Mine will be able to bake bread--I'm sure of that!" the oldest +brother declared boastfully. + +"So will mine!" chorused the second brother. + +Veikko was silent. + +"What about the Princess?" they said with a laugh. "Do you think the +Princess can bake bread?" + +"I don't know," Veikko answered truthfully. "I'll have to ask her." + +Of course he had no reason for supposing that the little mouse could +bake bread and by the time he reached the hut in the forest he was +feeling sad and discouraged. + +When he pushed open the door he found the little mouse as before +seated on the table daintily combing her whiskers. At sight of Veikko +she danced about with delight. + +"I'm so glad to see you!" she squeaked. "I knew you would come back!" + +Then when she noticed that he was silent she asked him what was the +matter. Veikko told her: + +"My father wants each of our sweethearts to bake him a loaf of bread. +If I come home without a loaf my brothers will laugh at me." + +"You won't have to go home without a loaf!" the little mouse said. "I +can bake bread." + +Veikko was much surprised at this. + +"I never heard of a mouse that could bake bread!" + +"Well, I can!" the little mouse insisted. + +With that she began ringing a small silver bell, _tinkle_, _tinkle_, +_tinkle_. Instantly there was the sound of hurrying footsteps, tiny +scratchy footsteps, and hundreds of mice came running into the hut. + +The little Princess mouse sitting up very straight and dignified said +to them: + +"Each of you go fetch me a grain of the finest wheat." + +All the mice scampered quickly away and soon returned one by one, each +carrying a grain of the finest wheat. After that it was no trick at +all for the Princess mouse to bake a beautiful loaf of wheaten bread. + +The next day the three brothers presented their father the loaves of +their sweethearts' baking. The oldest one had a loaf of rye bread. + +"Very good," the farmer said. "For hardworking people like us rye +bread is good." + +The loaf the second son had was made of barley. + +"Barley bread is also good," the farmer said. + +But when Veikko presented his loaf of beautiful wheaten bread, his +father cried out: + +"What! White bread! Ah, Veikko now must have a sweetheart of wealth!" + +"Of course!" the older brothers sneered. "Didn't he tell us she was a +Princess? Say, Veikko, when a Princess wants fine white flour, how +does she get it?" + +Veikko answered simply: + +"She rings a little silver bell and when her servants come in she +tells them to bring her grains of the finest wheat." + +At this the older brothers nearly exploded with envy until their +father had to reprove them. + +"There! There!" he said. "Don't grudge the boy his good luck! Each +girl has baked the loaf she knows how to make and each in her own way +will probably make a good wife. But before you bring them home to me +I want one further test of their skill in housewifery. Let them each +send me a sample of their weaving." + +The older brothers were delighted at this for they knew that their +sweethearts were skilful weavers. + +"We'll see how her ladyship fares this time!" they said, sure in their +hearts that Veikko's sweetheart, whoever she was, would not put them +to shame with her weaving. + +Veikko, too, had serious doubts of the little mouse's ability at the +loom. + +"Whoever heard of a mouse that could weave?" he said to himself as he +pushed open the door of the forest hut. + +"Oh, there you are at last!" the little mouse squeaked joyfully. + +She reached out her little paws in welcome and then in her excitement +she began dancing about on the table. + +"Are you really glad to see me, little mouse?" Veikko asked. + +"Indeed I am!" the mouse declared. "Am I not your sweetheart? I've +been waiting for you and waiting, just wishing that you would return! +Does your father want something more this time, Veikko?" + +"Yes, and it's something I'm afraid you can't give me, little mouse." + +"Perhaps I can. Tell me what it is." + +"It's a sample of your weaving. I don't believe you can weave. I never +heard of a mouse that could weave." + +"Tut! Tut!" said the mouse. "Of course I can weave! It would be a +strange thing if Veikko's sweetheart couldn't weave!" + +She rang the little silver bell, _tinkle_, _tinkle_, _tinkle_, and +instantly there was the faint _scratch-scratch_ of a hundred little +feet as mice came running in from all directions and sat up on their +haunches awaiting their Princess' orders. + +"Go each of you," she said, "and get me a fiber of flax, the finest +there is." + +The mice went scurrying off and soon they began returning one by one +each bringing a fiber of flax. When they had spun the flax and carded +it, the little mouse wove a beautiful piece of fine linen. It was so +sheer that she was able when she folded it to put it into an empty +nutshell. + +"Here, Veikko," she said, "here in this little box is a sample of my +weaving. I hope your father will like it." + +Veikko when he got home felt almost embarrassed for he was sure that +his sweetheart's weaving would shame his brothers. So at first he kept +the nutshell hidden in his pocket. + +The sweetheart of the oldest brother had sent as a sample of her +weaving a square of coarse cotton. + +"Not very fine," the farmer said, "but good enough." + +The second brother's sample was a square of cotton and linen mixed. + +"A little better," the farmer said, nodding his head. + +Then he turned to Veikko. + +"And you, Veikko, has your sweetheart not given you a sample of her +weaving?" + +Veikko handed his father a nutshell at sight of which his brothers +burst out laughing. + +"Ha! Ha! Ha!" they laughed. "Veikko's sweetheart gives him a nut when +he asks for a sample of her weaving." + +But their laughter died as the farmer opened the nutshell and began +shaking out a great web of the finest linen. + +"Why, Veikko, my boy!" he cried, "however did your sweetheart get +threads for so fine a web?" + +Veikko answered modestly: + +"She rang a little silver bell and ordered her servants to bring her +in fibers of finest flax. They did so and after they had spun the flax +and carded it, my sweetheart wove the web you see." + +"Wonderful!" gasped the farmer. "I have never known such a weaver! The +other girls will be all right for farmers' wives but Veikko's +sweetheart might be a Princess! Well," concluded the farmer, "it's +time that you all brought your sweethearts home. I want to see them +with my own eyes. Suppose you bring them to-morrow." + +"She's a good little mouse and I'm very fond of her," Veikko thought +to himself as he went out to the forest, "but my brothers will +certainly laugh when they find she is only a mouse! Well, I don't care +if they do laugh! She's been a good little sweetheart to me and I'm +not going to be ashamed of her!" + +So when he got to the hut he told the little mouse at once that his +father wanted to see her. + +The little mouse was greatly excited. + +"I must go in proper style!" she said. + +She rang the little silver bell and ordered her coach and five. The +coach when it came turned out to be an empty nutshell and the five +prancing steeds that were drawing it were five black mice. The little +mouse seated herself in the coach with a coachman mouse on the box in +front of her and a footman mouse on the box behind her. + +"Oh, how my brothers will laugh!" thought Veikko. + +But he didn't laugh. He walked beside the coach and told the little +mouse not to be frightened, that he would take good care of her. His +father, he told her, was a gentle old man and would be kind to her. + +When they left the forest they came to a river which was spanned by a +foot bridge. Just as Veikko and the nutshell coach had reached the +middle of the bridge, a man met them coming from the opposite +direction. + +"Mercy me!" the man exclaimed as he caught sight of the strange little +coach that was rolling along beside Veikko. "What's that?" + +He stooped down and looked and then with a loud laugh he put out his +foot and pushed the coach, the little mouse, her servants, and her +five prancing steeds--all off the bridge and into the water below. + +"What have you done! What have you done!" Veikko cried. "You've +drowned my poor little sweetheart!" + +The man thinking Veikko was crazy hurried away. + +Veikko with tears in his eyes looked down into the water. + + [Illustration: _She beckoned to Veikko_] + +"You poor little mouse!" he said. "How sorry I am that you are +drowned! You were a faithful loving sweetheart and now that you are +gone I know how much I loved you!" + +As he spoke he saw a beautiful coach of gold drawn by five glossy +horses go up the far bank of the river. A coachman in gold lace held +the reins and a footman in pointed cap sat up stiffly behind. The most +beautiful girl in the world was seated in the coach. Her skin was as +red as a berry and as white as snow, her long golden hair gleamed with +jewels, and she was dressed in pearly velvet. She beckoned to Veikko +and when he came close she said: + +"Won't you come sit beside me?" + +"Me? Me?" Veikko stammered, too dazed to think. + +The beautiful creature smiled. + +"You were not ashamed to have me for a sweetheart when I was a mouse," +she said, "and surely now that I am a Princess again you won't desert +me!" + +"A mouse!" Veikko gasped. "Were you the little mouse?" + +The Princess nodded. + +"Yes, I was the little mouse under an evil enchantment which could +never have been broken if you had not taken me for a sweetheart and if +another human being had not drowned me. Now the enchantment is broken +forever. So come, we will go to your father and after he has given us +his blessing we will get married and go home to my kingdom." + +And that's exactly what they did. They drove at once to the farmer's +house and when Veikko's father and his brothers and his brothers' +sweethearts saw the Princess' coach stopping at their gate they all +came out bowing and scraping to see what such grand folk could want of +them. + +"Father!" Veikko cried, "don't you know me?" + +The farmer stopped bowing long enough to look up. + +"Why, bless my soul!" he cried, "it's our Veikko!" + +"Yes, father, I'm Veikko and this is the Princess that I'm going to +marry!" + +"A Princess, did you say, Veikko? Mercy me, where did my boy find a +Princess?" + +"Out in the forest where my tree pointed." + +"Well, well, well," the farmer said, "where your tree pointed! I've +always heard that was a good way to find a bride." + +The older brothers shook their heads gloomily and muttered: + +"Just our luck! If only our trees had pointed to the forest we, too, +should have found princesses instead of plain country wenches!" + +But they were wrong: it wasn't because his tree pointed to the forest +that Veikko got the Princess, it was because he was so simple and good +that he was kind even to a little mouse. + +Well, after they had got the farmer's blessing they rode home to the +Princess' kingdom and were married. And they were happy as they should +have been for they were good and true to each other and they loved +each other dearly. + +[Decoration] + + + + +THE ENCHANTED GROUSE + +[Decoration] + +_The Story of Helli and the Little Locked Box_ + + +THE ENCHANTED GROUSE + +[Decoration] + +There was once an old couple who lived with their married son and his +wife. The son's name was Helli. He was a dutiful son but his wife was +a scold. She was always finding fault with the old people and with her +husband and for that matter with everybody else as well. + +One morning when she saw her husband taking out his bow and arrows she +said: + +"Where are you going now?" + +"I'm going hunting," he told her. + +"Isn't that just like you!" she cried. "You're going off to have a +good time hunting and you don't give a thought to me who have to stay +home alone with two stupid old people!" + +"If I didn't go hunting," Helli said, "and shoot something, we'd have +nothing to put in the pot for dinner and then you would have reason to +scold." + +At that the woman burst into tears. + +"Of course, as usual blame me! Whatever happens it's my fault!" + +Poor Helli hurried off, hoping that by the time he returned his wife +would be in a calmer state of mind. He had small success with his +hunting. He shot arrow after arrow but always missed his mark. Then +when he had only one arrow left he saw a Grouse standing in some +brushwood so near that there was little likelihood of his missing it. + +He took good aim but before he could fire the Grouse said: + +"Don't shoot me, brother! Take me home alive." + +Helli paused, then he shook his head. + +"I've got to shoot you for we've nothing to put in the pot for +dinner." + +Again he aimed his arrow and again the Grouse said: + +"Don't shoot me, brother! Take me home alive." + +For the second time Helli paused. + +"I'd like to spare you," he said, "but what would my wife say if I +came home empty-handed?" + +He took aim again and a third time the Grouse said: + +"Don't shoot me, brother! Take me home alive." + +At that Helli dropped his arrow. + +"I don't care what she says! I can't shoot a creature that begs so +pitifully for its life! Very well, Mr. Grouse, I'll do as you say: +I'll take you home alive. But don't blame me if my wife wrings your +neck." + +He took the Grouse up in his arms and started homewards. + +"Feed me for a year," the Grouse said, "and I'll reward you." + +When they reached home and Helli's wife saw the Grouse, she cried out +petulantly: + +"Is that all you've got and out hunting all morning! That won't be +dinner enough for four!" + +"This Grouse isn't to be killed," Helli announced. "I'm going to keep +it for a year and feed it." + +"It won't take much to feed a Grouse," the old man remarked. + +But the wife flew into a passion. + +"What! Feed a useless bird when there isn't enough to feed your own +flesh and blood!" + +But Helli was firm and despite her threats his wife did not dare to +maltreat the Grouse. + +At the end of a year the Grouse grew a copper feather in its tail +which it dropped in the dooryard. Then it disappeared. + +"Ha!" laughed Helli's wife. "A copper feather! That's your reward for +feeding that thankless bird a whole year! And now it's escaped!" + +But the next day the Grouse returned. + +"Feed me for another year," it said to Helli, "and I'll reward you." + +His wife raised an awful to-do over this, but Helli was firm and for +another year he fed and petted the Grouse. + +At the end of the second year the Grouse grew a silver feather in its +tail which it dropped in the dooryard. Then it disappeared. + +"One silver feather!" Helli's wife cried. "So that's all you get for +feeding that thankless bird a whole year! And now it's escaped!" + +But it hadn't. It returned the very next day. + +"Feed me for another year," it said to Helli, "and I'll reward you." + +At the end of the third year the Grouse grew a golden feather in its +tail and when it dropped that in the dooryard the scolding wife hadn't +so much to say, for a golden feather was after all pretty good pay for +a few handfuls of grain. + +For a day the Grouse disappeared and then when it returned it said to +Helli: + +"Get on my back and I'll reward you." + +Helli did so and the Grouse, rising high in the air, flew far away. +On, on it flew until it reached the broad Ocean. Over the Ocean it +flew until Helli could see nothing but water in whatever direction he +looked. + + [Illustration: _On it flew until it reached the broad Ocean_] + +"Ha!" he said to himself with a shudder, "I hope I can hold on!" + +As he spoke, the Grouse slipped from beneath him and he fell down, +down, down. However, before he touched water the Grouse swooped under +him and caught him up again high into the air. He had this same +terrible experience a second time and a third time and each time he +thought his last moment had arrived. + +"Now," the Grouse told him, "you know what my feelings were when you +threatened three times to shoot me with your arrow." + +"You have taught me a lesson," Helli said. + +After that the Grouse flew on and on. At last it said: + +"Look straight ahead, master, and tell me what you see." + +Helli shaded his eyes and looked. + +"Far, far ahead I see what looks like a copper column." + +"Good!" the Grouse said. "That is the home of my oldest sister. She +will be overjoyed to see us and when she hears how you have spared my +life she will want to make you a present and will offer you various +things. Take my advice and tell her that the only thing you want is +her little locked box the key to which is lost. If she won't give you +that, accept nothing." + +The Grouse's oldest sister received them most hospitably and when she +had heard their story at once offered Helli anything he might like +from among her treasures. + +"Then give me your little locked box the key to which is lost," Helli +said. + +The oldest sister shook her head. + +"My little locked box! Who told you about that? I'm sorry, but I +cannot give you that! Take anything else!" + +"No," Helli said, "that or nothing!" + +When the oldest sister could not be prevailed upon to give away her +little locked box, the Grouse had Helli mount his back once more and +off they flew. + +"We'll visit my second sister now," he said. "If she offers you a +present, ask her for her little locked box without a key and accept +nothing else." + +On, on they flew until the oldest sister's castle was far behind. + +"Look, master," the Grouse said, "look straight ahead and tell me what +you see." + +Helli shaded his eyes and looked. + +"Far ahead I see something that is like a silver cloud." + +"That," said the Grouse, "is the silver castle of my second sister." + +At the silver castle the second sister received them with joy and when +she heard who Helli was at once declared that she wanted to show him +her gratitude by making him a gift. + +"Ask from me what you will," she said, "and you shall have it." + +But when he asked for her little locked box without a key, she cried +out: + +"No! No! Not that! Anything else!" + +"But I don't want anything else!" Helli said. + +When the Grouse saw that his second sister was not to be parted from +her little locked box, he bade Helli mount his back and off they flew +again. + +"We'll go to my youngest sister this time," he said. "If she offers +you a present, ask for the same thing." + +On, on they flew until the silver castle was lost to view. + +"Now, master, look ahead and tell me what you see." + +Helli shaded his eyes and looked. + +"I seem to see a golden haze like the sun behind a cloud." + +"That is the golden castle of my youngest sister." + +They arrived and the youngest sister threw her arms about the Grouse +for she loved him dearly and had not seen him for a long time. + +"Welcome, brother!" she said. "And welcome also to you, Helli!" + +Then she offered Helli a present and when he asked for her little +locked box without a key she gave it to him at once. + +"It is my most precious possession," she said, "but you may have it +for you spared my dear brother's life when you might have taken it." + +After they had rested and feasted they bade the youngest sister +farewell and Helli with his precious box held tightly in one hand +mounted the Grouse's back and off they flew towards home. + +"Be careful of the box," the Grouse said, "and don't let it out of +your hands until we reach some beautiful spot where you'd like always +to live." + +They passed high mountains and wooded lakes and fertile valleys. + +"Shall we stop here?" the Grouse asked. "Or here? Or here?" + +But always Helli said: + +"No, not here." + +At last they reached home and the Grouse told Helli that now they must +part forever. + +"By sparing my life three times," the Grouse said, "and then feeding +me for three years you have broken the enchantment that bound me and +now I shall not have to go about any longer as a grouse but shall be +able to resume my natural shape. Farewell, Helli, and when you find +the spot where you think you would like always to live, drop the box +and you will find you have a treasure that will more than reward you +for your kindness to me." + +The Grouse disappeared and Helli said to himself: + +"Where do I want to live always but right here at home with my dear +old father and mother and my wife who is my wife even if she does +scold me sometimes!" + +So there at home after they all had supper together, he dropped the +box on the floor. It broke and out of it arose a beautiful castle with +servants and riches and everything that Helli had always wanted and +never had. And Helli and his old father and mother and his wife lived +in it and were happy. And gradually his wife got over her habit of +scolding for when you're happy you haven't anything to scold about. + + + + +THE TERRIBLE OLLI + +[Decoration] + +_The Story of an Honest Finn and a Wicked Troll_ + + +THE TERRIBLE OLLI + +[Decoration] + +There was once a wicked rich old Troll who lived on a Mountain that +sloped down to a Bay. A decent Finn, a farmer, lived on the opposite +side of the Bay. The farmer had three sons. When the boys had reached +manhood he said to them one day: + +"I should think it would shame you three strong youths that that +wicked old Troll over there should live on year after year and no one +trouble him. We work hard like honest Finns and are as poor at the end +of the year as at the beginning. That old Troll with all his +wickedness grows richer and richer. I tell you, if you boys had any +real spirit you'd take his riches from him and drive him away!" + +His youngest son, whose name was Olli, at once cried out: + +"Very well, father, I will!" + +But the two older sons, offended at Olli's promptness, declared: + +"You'll do no such thing! Don't forget your place in the family! +You're the youngest and we're not going to let you push us aside. Now, +father, we two will go across the Bay and rout out that old Troll. +Olli may come with us if he likes and watch us while we do it." + +Olli laughed and said: "All right!" for he was used to his brothers +treating him like a baby. + +So in a few days the three brothers walked around the Bay and up the +Mountain and presented themselves at the Troll's house. The Troll and +his old wife were both at home. They received the brothers with great +civility. + +"You're the sons of the Finn who lives across the Bay, aren't you?" +the Troll said. "I've watched you boys grow up. I am certainly glad to +see you for I have three daughters who need husbands. Marry my +daughters and you'll inherit my riches." + +The old Troll made this offer in order to get the young men into his +power. + +"Be careful!" Olli whispered. + +But the brothers were too delighted at the prospect of inheriting the +Troll's riches so easily to pay any heed to Olli's warning. Instead +they accepted the Troll's offer at once. + +Well, the old Troll's wife made them a fine supper and after supper +the Troll sent them to bed with his three daughters. But first he put +red caps on the three youths and white caps on the three Troll girls. +He made a joke about the caps. + +"A red cap and a white cap in each bed!" he said. + +The older brothers suspected nothing and soon fell asleep. Olli, too, +pretended to fall asleep and when he was sure that none of the Troll +girls were still awake he got up and quietly changed the caps. He put +the white caps on himself and his brothers and the red caps on the +Troll girls. Then he crept back to bed and waited. + +Presently the old Troll came over to the beds with a long knife in his +hand. There was so little light in the room that he couldn't see the +faces of the sleepers, but it was easy enough to distinguish the white +caps from the red caps. With three swift blows he cut off the heads +under the red caps, thinking of course they were the heads of the +three Finnish youths. Then he went back to bed with the old Troll wife +and Olli could hear them both chuckling and laughing. After a time +they went soundly to sleep as Olli could tell from their deep regular +breathing and their loud snores. + +Olli now roused his brothers and told them what had happened and the +three of them slipped quietly out of the Troll house and hurried home +to their father on the other side of the Bay. + +After that the older brothers no longer talked of despoiling the +Troll. They didn't care to try another encounter with him. + +"He might have cut our heads off!" they said, shuddering to think of +the awful risk they had run. + +Olli laughed at them. + +"Come on!" he kept saying to them day after day. "Let's go across the +Bay to the Troll's!" + +"We'll do no such thing!" they told him. "And you wouldn't suggest it +either if you weren't so young and foolish!" + +"Well," Olli announced at last, "if you won't come with me I'm going +alone. I've heard that the Troll has a horse with hairs of gold and +silver. I've decided I want that horse." + +"Olli," his father said, "I don't believe you ought to go. You know +what your brothers say. That old Troll is an awfully sly one!" + +But Olli only laughed. + +"Good-by!" he called back as he waved his hand. "When you see me again +I'll be riding the Troll's horse!" + + [Illustration: _Olli and the Troll's horse_] + +The Troll wasn't at home but the old Troll wife was there. When she +saw Olli she thought to herself: + +"Mercy me, here's that Finnish boy again, the one that changed the +caps! What shall I do? I must keep him here on some pretext or other +until the Troll comes home!" + +So she pretended to be very glad to see him. + +"Why, Olli," she said, "is that you? Come right in!" + +She talked to him as long as she could and when she could think of +nothing more to say she asked him would he take the horse and water it +at the Lake. + +"That will keep him busy," she thought to herself, "and long before he +gets back from the Lake the Troll will be here." + +But Olli, instead of leading the horse down to the Lake, jumped on its +back and galloped away. By the time the Troll reached home, he was +safely on the other side of the Bay. + +When the Troll heard from the old Troll wife what had happened, he +went down to the shore and hallooed across the Bay: + +"Olli! Oh, Olli, are you there?" + +Olli made a trumpet of his hands and called back: + +"Yes, I'm here! What do you want?" + +"Olli, have you got my horse?" + +"Yes, I've got your horse but it's my horse now!" + +"Olli! Olli!" his father cried. "You mustn't talk that way to the +Troll! You'll make him angry!" + +And his brothers looking with envy at the horse with gold and silver +hairs warned him sourly: + +"You better be careful, young man, or the Troll will get you yet!" + +A few days later Olli announced: + +"I think I'll go over and get the Troll's money-bag." + +His father tried to dissuade him. + +"Don't be foolhardy, Olli! Your brothers say you had better not go to +the Troll's house again." + +But Olli only laughed and started gaily off as though he hadn't a fear +in the world. + +Again he found the old Troll wife alone. + +"Mercy me!" she thought to herself as she saw him coming, "here is +that terrible Olli again! Whatever shall I do? I mustn't let him off +this time before the Troll gets back! I must keep him right here with +me in the house." + +So when he came in she pretended that she was tired and that her back +ached and she asked him would he watch the bread in the oven while she +rested a few moments on the bed. + +"Certainly I will," Olli said. + +So the old Troll wife lay down on the bed and Olli sat quietly in +front of the oven. The Troll wife really was tired and before she knew +it she fell asleep. + +"Ha!" thought Olli, "here's my chance!" + +Without disturbing the Troll wife he reached under the bed, pulled out +the big money-bag full of silver pieces, threw it over his shoulder, +and hurried home. + +He was measuring the money when he heard the Troll hallooing across to +him: + +"Olli! Oh, Olli, are you there?" + +"Yes," Olli shouted back, "I'm here! What do you want?" + +"Olli, have you got my money-bag?" + +"Yes, I've got your money-bag but it's my money-bag now!" + +A few days later Olli said: + +"Do you know, the Troll has a beautiful coverlet woven of silk and +gold. I think I'll go over and get it." + +His father as usual protested but Olli laughed at him merrily and +went. He took with him an auger and a can of water. He hid until it +was dark, then climbed the roof of the Troll's house and bored a hole +right over the bed. When the Troll and his wife went to sleep he +sprinkled some water on the coverlet and on their faces. + +The Troll woke with a start. + +"I'm wet!" he said, "and the bed's wet, too!" + +The old Troll wife got up to change the covers. + +"The roof must be leaking," she said. "It never leaked before. I +suppose it was that last wind." + +She threw the wet coverlet up over the rafters to dry and put other +covers on the bed. + +When she and the Troll were again asleep, Olli made the hole a little +bigger, reached in his hand, and got the coverlet from the rafters. + +The next morning the Troll hallooed across the Bay: + +"Olli! Oh, Olli, are you there?" + +"Yes," Olli shouted back, "I'm here! What do you want?" + +"Have you got my coverlet woven of silk and gold?" + +"Yes," Olli told him, "I've got your coverlet but it's my coverlet +now!" + +A few days later Olli said: + +"There's still one thing in the Troll's house that I think I ought to +get. It's a golden bell. If I get that golden bell then there will be +nothing left that had better belong to an honest Finn." + +So he went again to the Troll's house taking with him a saw and an +auger. He hid until night and, when the Troll and his wife were +asleep, he cut a hole through the side of the house through which he +reached in his hand to get the bell. At the touch of his hand the bell +tinkled and woke the Troll. The Troll jumped out of bed and grabbed +Olli's hand. + +"Ha! Ha!" he cried. "I've got you now and this time you won't get +away!" + +Olli didn't try to get away. He made no resistance while the Troll +dragged him into the house. + +"We'll eat him--that's what we'll do!" the Troll said to his wife. +"Heat the oven at once and we'll roast him!" + +So the Troll wife built a roaring fire in the oven. + +"He'll make a fine roast!" the Troll said, pinching Olli's arms and +legs. "I think we ought to invite the other Troll folk to come and +help us eat him up. Suppose I just go over the Mountain and gather +them in. You can manage here without me. As soon as the oven is well +heated just take Olli and slip him in and close the door and by the +time we come he'll be done." + +"Very well," the Troll wife said, "but don't be too long! He's young +and tender and will roast quickly!" + +So the Troll went out to invite to the feast the Troll folk who lived +on the other side of the Mountain and Olli was left alone with the +Troll wife. + +When the oven was well heated she raked out the coals and said to +Olli: + +"Now then, my boy, sit down in front of the oven with your back to the +opening and I'll push you in nicely." + +Olli pretended he didn't quite understand. He sat down first one way +and then another, spreading himself out so large that he was too big +for the oven door. + +"Not that way!" the Troll wife kept saying. "Hunch up little, straight +in front of the door!" + +"You show me how," Olli begged. + +So the old Troll wife sat down before the oven directly in front of +the opening, and she hunched herself up very compactly with her chin +on her knees and her arms around her legs. + +"Oh, that way!" Olli said, "so that you can just take hold of me and +push me in and shut the door!" + +And as he spoke he took hold of her and pushed her in and slammed the +door! And that was the end of the old Troll wife! + +Olli let her roast in the oven until she was done to a turn. Then he +took her out and put her on the table all ready for the feast. + +Then he filled a sack with straw and dressed the sack up in some of +the old Troll wife's clothes. He threw the dressed up sack on the bed +and, just to glance at it, you'd suppose it was the Troll wife asleep. + +Then Olli took the golden bell and went home. + +Well, presently the Troll and all the Troll folk from over the +Mountain came trooping in. + +"Yum! Yum! It certainly smells good!" they said as they got the first +whiff from the big roast on the table. + +"See!" the Troll said, pointing to the bed. "The old woman's asleep! +Well, let her sleep! She's tired! We'll just sit down without her!" + +So they set to and feasted and feasted. + +"Ha! Ha!" said the Troll. "This is the way to serve a troublesome +young Finn!" + +Just then his knife struck something hard and he looked down to see +what it was. + +"Mercy me!" he cried, "if here isn't one of the old woman's beads! +What can that mean? You don't suppose the roast is not Olli after all +but the old woman! No! No! It can't be!" + +He got up and went over to the bed. Then he came back shaking his head +sadly. + +"My friends," he said, "we've been eating the old woman! However, +we've eaten so much of her that I suppose we might as well finish +her!" + +So the Troll folk sat all night feasting and drinking. + +At dawn the Troll went down to the water and hallooed across: + +"Olli! Oh, Olli, are you there?" + +Olli who was safely home shouted back: + +"Yes, I'm here! What do you want?" + +"Have you got my golden bell?" + +"Yes, I've got your golden bell but it's my golden bell now!" + +"One thing more, Olli: did you roast my old woman?" + +"Your old woman?" Olli echoed. "Look! Is that she?" + +Olli pointed at the rising sun which was coming up behind the Troll. + +The Troll turned and looked. He looked straight at the sun and then, +of course, he burst! + +So that was the end of him! + +Well, after that no other Troll ever dared settle on that side of the +Mountain. They were all too afraid of the Terrible Olli! + + + + +THE DEVIL'S HIDE + +[Decoration] + +_The Story of the Boy Who Wouldn't Lose His Temper_ + + +THE DEVIL'S HIDE + +[Decoration] + +There was once a Finnish boy who got the best of the Devil. His name +was Erkki. Erkki had two brothers who were, of course, older than he. +They both tried their luck with the Devil and got the worst of it. +Then Erkki tried his luck. They were sure Erkki, too, would be +worsted, but he wasn't. Here is the whole story: + +One day the oldest brother said: + +"It's time for me to go out into the world and earn my living. Do you +two younger ones wait here at home until you hear how I get on." + +The younger boys agreed to this and the oldest brother started out. He +was unable to get employment until by chance he met the Devil. The +Devil at once offered him a place but on very strange terms. + +"Come work for me," the Devil said, "and I promise that you'll be +comfortably housed and well fed. We'll make this bargain: the first of +us who loses his temper will forfeit to the other enough of his own +hide to sole a pair of boots. If I lose my temper first, you may exact +from me a big patch of my hide. If you lose your temper first, I'll +exact the same from you." + +The oldest brother agreed to this and the Devil at once took him home +and set him to work. + +"Take this ax," he said, "and go out behind the house and chop me some +firewood." + +The oldest brother took the ax and went out to the woodpile. + +"Chopping wood is easy enough," he thought to himself. + +But at the first blow he found that the ax had no edge. Try as he +would he couldn't cut a single log. + +"I'd be a fool to stay here and waste my time with such an ax!" he +cried. + +So he threw down the ax and ran away thinking to escape the Devil and +get work somewhere else. But the Devil had no intention of letting him +escape. He ran after him, overtook him, and asked him what he meant +leaving thus without notice. + +"I don't want to work for you!" the oldest brother cried, petulantly. + +"Very well," the Devil said, "but don't lose your temper about it." + +"I will so lose my temper!" the oldest brother declared. "The +idea--expecting me to cut wood with such an ax!" + +"Well," the Devil remarked, "since you insist on losing your temper, +you'll have to forfeit me enough of your hide to sole a pair of boots! +That was our bargain." + +The oldest brother howled and protested but to no purpose. The Devil +was firm. He took out a long knife and slit off enough of the oldest +brother's hide to sole a pair of big boots. + +"Now then, my boy," he said, "now you may go." + +The oldest brother went limping home complaining bitterly at the hard +fate that had befallen him. + +"I'm tired and sick," he told his brothers, "and I'm going to stay +home and rest. One of you will have to go out and get work." + +The second brother at once said that he'd be delighted to try his luck +in the world. So he started out and he had exactly the same +experience. At first he could get no work, then he met the Devil and +the Devil made exactly the same bargain with him that he had made with +the oldest brother. He took the second brother home with him, gave him +the same dull ax, and sent him out to the woodpile. After the first +stroke the second brother threw down the ax in disgust and tried to +run off and the Devil, of course, wouldn't let him go until he, too, +had submitted to the loss of a great patch of hide. So it was no time +at all before the second brother came limping home complaining +bitterly at fate. + +"What ails you two?" Erkki said. + +"You go out into the cruel world and hunt work," they told him, "and +you'll find out soon enough what ails us! And when you do find out you +needn't come limping home expecting sympathy from us for you won't get +it!" + +So the very next day Erkki started out, leaving his brothers at home +nursing their sore backs and their injured feelings. + +Well, Erkki had exactly the same experience. At first he could get +work nowhere, then later he met the Devil and went into his employ on +exactly the same terms as his brothers. + +The Devil handed him the same dull ax and sent him out to the +woodpile. At the first blow Erkki knew that the ax had lost its edge +and would never cut a single log. But instead of being discouraged and +losing his temper, he only laughed. + +"I suppose the Devil thinks I'll lose my hide over a trifle like +this!" he said. "Well, I just won't!" + +He dropped the ax and, going over to the woodpile, began pulling it +down. Under all the logs he found the Devil's cat. It was an evil +looking creature with a gray head. + +"Ha!" thought Erkki, "I bet anything you've got something to do with +this!" + +He raised the dull ax and with one blow cut off the evil creature's +head. Sure enough the ax instantly recovered its edge and after that +Erkki had no trouble at all in chopping as much firewood as the Devil +wanted. + +That night at supper the Devil said: + +"Well, Erkki, did you finish the work I gave you?" + +"Yes, master, I've chopped all that wood." + +The Devil was surprised. + +"Really?" + +"Yes, master. You can go out and see for yourself." + +"Then you found something in the woodpile, didn't you?" + +"Nothing but an awful looking old cat." + +The Devil started. + +"Did you do anything to that cat?" + +"I only chopped its head off and threw it away." + +"What!" the Devil cried angrily. "Didn't you know that was my cat!" + +"There now, master," Erkki said soothingly, "you're not going to lose +your temper over a little thing like a dead cat, are you? Don't forget +our bargain!" + +The Devil swallowed his anger and murmured: + +"No, I'm not going to lose my temper but I must say that was no way to +treat my cat." + +The next day the Devil ordered Erkki to go out to the forest and bring +home some logs on the ox sledge. + +"My black dog will go with you," he said, "and as you come home you're +to take exactly the same course the dog takes." + +Well, Erkki went out to the forest and loaded the ox sledge with logs +and then drove the oxen home following the Devil's black dog. As they +reached the Devil's house the black dog jumped through a hole in the +gate. + +"I must follow master's orders," Erkki said to himself. + +So he cut up the oxen into small pieces and put them through the same +hole in the gate; he chopped up the logs and pitched them through the +hole; and he broke up the sledge into pieces small enough to follow +the oxen and the logs. Then he crept through the hole himself. + +That night at supper the Devil said: + +"Well, Erkki, did you come home the way I told you?" + +"Yes, master, I followed the black dog." + +"What!" the Devil cried. "Do you mean to say you brought the oxen and +the sledge and the logs through the hole in the gate?" + +"Yes, master, that's what I did." + +"But you couldn't!" the Devil declared. + +"Well, master," Erkki said, "just go out and see." + +The Devil went outside and when he saw the method by which Erkki had +carried out his orders he was furious. But Erkki quieted him by +saying: + +"There now, master, you're not going to lose your temper over a +trifling matter like this, are you? Remember our bargain!" + +"N-n-no," the Devil said, again swallowing his anger, "I'm not going +to lose my temper, but I want you to understand, Erkki, that I think +you've acted very badly in this!" + +All that evening the Devil fumed and fussed about Erkki. + +"We've got to get rid of that boy! That's all there is about it!" he +said to his wife. + +Of course whenever Erkki was in sight the Devil tried to smile and +look pleasant, but as soon as Erkki was gone he went back at once to +his grievance. He declared emphatically: + +"There's no living in peace and comfort with such a boy around!" + +"Well," his wife said, "if you feel that way about it, why don't you +kill him to-night when he's asleep? We could throw his body into the +lake and no one be the wiser." + +"That's a fine idea!" the Devil said. "Wake me up some time after +midnight and I'll do it!" + +Now Erkki overheard this little plan, so that night he kept awake. +When he knew from their snoring that the Devil and his wife were sound +asleep, he slipped over to their bed, quietly lifted the Devil's wife +in his arms, and without awakening her placed her gently in his own +bed. Then he put on some of her clothes and laid himself down beside +the Devil in the wife's place. + +Presently he nudged the Devil awake. + +"What do you want?" the Devil mumbled. + +"Sst!" Erkki whispered. "Isn't it time we got up and killed Erkki?" + +"Yes," the Devil answered, "it is. Come along." + +They got up quietly and the Devil reached down a great sword from the +wall. Then they crept over to Erkki's bed and the Devil with one blow +cut off the head of the person who was lying there asleep. + +"Now," he said, "we'll just carry out the bed and all and dump it in +the lake." + +So Erkki took one end of the bed and the Devil the other and, +stumbling and slipping in the darkness, they carried it down to the +lake and pitched it in. + +"That's a good job done!" the Devil said with a laugh. + +Then they went back to bed together and the Devil fell instantly +asleep. + +The next morning when he got up for breakfast, there was Erkki +stirring the porridge. + +"How--did you get here?" the Devil asked. "I mean--I mean where is my +wife?" + +"Your wife? Don't you remember," Erkki said, "you cut off her head +last night and then we threw her into the lake, bed and all! But no +one will be the wiser!" + +"W-wh-what!" the Devil cried, and he was about to fly into an awful +rage when Erkki restrained him by saying: + +"There now, master, you're not going to lose your temper over a little +thing like a wife, are you? Remember our bargain!" + +So the Devil was forced again to swallow his anger. + +"No, I'm not going to lose my temper," he said, "but I tell you +frankly, Erkki, I don't think that was a nice trick for you to play on +me!" + +Well, the Devil felt lonely not having a wife about the house, so in a +few days he decided to go off wooing for a new one. + +"And, Erkki," he said, "I expect you to keep busy while I'm gone. +Here's a keg of red paint. Now get to work and have the house all +blazing red by the time I get back." + +"All blazing red," Erkki repeated. "Very well, master, trust me to +have it all blazing red by the time you get back!" + +As soon as the Devil was gone, Erkki set the house a-fire and in a +short time the whole sky was lighted up with the red glow of the +flames. In great fright the Devil hurried back and got there in time +to see the house one mass of fire. + +"You see, master," Erkki said, "I've done as you told me. It looks +very pretty, doesn't it? all blazing red!" + +The Devil almost choked with rage. + +"You--you--" he began, but Erkki restrained him by saying: + +"There now, master, you're not going to lose your temper over a +little thing like a house a-fire, are you? Remember our bargain!" + + [Illustration: _From the bones of the cattle he laid three bridges_] + +The Devil swallowed hard and said: + +"N--no, I'm not going to lose my temper, but I must say, Erkki, that +I'm very much annoyed with you!" + +The next day the Devil wanted to go a-wooing again and before he +started he said to Erkki: + +"Now, no nonsense this time! While I'm gone you're to build three +bridges over the lake, but they're not to be built of wood or stone or +iron or earth. Do you understand?" + +Erkki pretended to be frightened. + +"That's a pretty hard task you've given me, master!" + +"Hard or easy, see that you get it done!" the Devil said. + +Erkki waited until the Devil was gone, then he went out to the field +and slaughtered all the Devil's cattle. From the bones of the cattle +he laid three bridges across the lake, using the skulls for one +bridge, the ribs for another, and the legs and the hoofs for the +third. Then when the Devil got back, Erkki met him and pointing to the +bridges said: + +"See, master, there they are, three bridges put together without +stick, stone, iron, or bit of earth!" + +When the Devil found out that all his cattle had been slaughtered to +give bones for the bridges, he was ready to kill Erkki, but Erkki +quieted him by saying: + +"There now, master, you're not going to lose your temper over a little +thing like the slaughter of a few cattle, are you? Remember our +bargain!" + +So again the Devil had to swallow his anger. + +"No," he said, "I'm not going to lose my temper exactly but I just +want to tell you, Erkki, that I don't think you're behaving well!" + +The Devil's wooing was successful and pretty soon he brought home a +new wife. The new wife didn't like having Erkki about, so the Devil +promised her he'd kill the boy. + +"I'll do it to-night," he said, "when he's asleep." + +Erkki overheard this and that night he put the churn in his bed under +the covers, and where his head ordinarily would be he put a big round +stone. Then he himself curled up on the stove and went comfortably to +sleep. + +During the night the Devil took his great sword from the wall and went +over to Erkki's bed. His first blow hit the round stone and nicked the +sword. His second blow struck sparks. + +"Mercy me!" the Devil thought, "he's got a mighty hard head! I better +strike lower!" + +With the third stroke he hit the churn a mighty blow. The hoops flew +apart and the churn collapsed. + +The Devil went chuckling back to bed. + +"Ha!" he said boastfully to his wife, "I got him that time!" + +But the next morning when he woke up he didn't feel like laughing for +there was Erkki as lively as ever and pretending that nothing had +happened. + +"What!" cried the Devil in amazement, "didn't you feel anything strike +you last night while you were asleep?" + +"Oh, I did feel a few mosquitoes brushing my cheek," Erkki said. +"Nothing else." + +"Steel doesn't touch him!" the Devil said to his wife. "I think I'll +try fire on him." + +So that night the Devil told Erkki to sleep in the threshing barn. +Erkki carried his cot down to the threshing floor and then when it was +dark he shifted it into the hay barn where he slept comfortably all +night. + +During the night the Devil set fire to the threshing barn. In the +early dawn Erkki carried his cot back to the place of the threshing +barn and in the morning when the Devil came out the first thing he +saw was Erkki unharmed and peacefully sleeping among the smoking +ruins. + +"Mercy me, Erkki!" he shouted, shaking him awake, "have you been +asleep all night?" + +Erkki sat up and yawned. + +"Yes, I've had a fine night's sleep. But I did feel a little chilly." + +"Chilly!" the Devil gasped. + +After that the Devil's one thought was to get rid of Erkki. + +"That boy's getting on my nerves!" he told his wife. "I just can't +stand him much longer! What are we going to do about him?" + +They discussed one plan after another and at last decided that the +only way they'd ever get rid of him would be to move away and leave +him behind. + +"I'll send him out to the forest to chop wood all day," the Devil +said, "and while he's gone we'll row ourselves and all our belongings +out to an island and when he comes back he won't know where we've +gone." + +Erkki overheard this plan and the next day when they were sure he was +safely at work in the forest he slipped back and hid himself in the +bedclothes. + +Well, when they got to the island and began unpacking their things +there was Erkki in the bedclothes! + +The Devil's new wife complained bitterly. + +"If you really loved me," she said, "you'd cut off that boy's head!" + +"But I've tried to cut it off!" the Devil declared, "and I never can +do it! Plague take such a boy! I've always known the Finns were an +obstinate lot but I must say I've never met one as bad as Erkki! He's +too much for me!" + +But the Devil's wife kept on complaining until at last the Devil +promised that he would try once again to cut off Erkki's head. + +"Very well," his wife said, "to-night when he's asleep I'll wake you." + +Well, what with the moving and everything the wife herself was tired +and as soon as she went to bed she fell asleep. That gave Erkki just +the very chance he needed to try on the new wife the trick he had +played on the old one. Without waking her he carried her to his bed +and then laid himself down in her place beside the Devil. Then he +waked up the Devil and reminded him that he had promised to cut off +Erkki's head. + +The poor old Devil got up and went over to Erkki's bed and of course +cut off the head of his new wife. + +The next morning when he had found out what he had done, he was +perfectly furious. + +"You get right out of here, Erkki!" he roared. "I never want to see +you again!" + +"There now, master," Erkki said, "you're not going to lose your temper +over a little thing like a dead wife, are you?" + +"I am so going to lose my temper!" the Devil shouted. "And what's more +it isn't a little thing! I liked this wife, I did, and I don't know +where I'll get another one I like as well! So you just clear out of +here and be quick about it, too!" + +"Very well, master," Erkki said, "I'll go but not until you pay me +what you owe me." + +"What I owe you!" bellowed the Devil. "What about all you owe me for +my house and my cattle and my old wife and my dear new wife and +everything!" + +"You've lost your temper," Erkki said, "and now you've got to pay me a +patch of your hide big enough to sole a pair of boots. That was our +bargain!" + +The Devil roared and blustered but Erkki was firm. He wouldn't budge a +step until the Devil had allowed him to slit a great patch of hide off +his back. + +That piece of the Devil's hide made the finest soles that a pair of +boots ever had. It wore for years and years and years. In fact Erkki +is still tramping around on those same soles. The fame of them has +spread over all the land and it has got so that now people stop Erkki +on the highway to look at his wonderful boots soled with the Devil's +hide. Travelers from foreign countries are deeply interested when they +hear about the boots and when they meet Erkki they question him +closely. + +"Tell us," they beg him, "how did you get the Devil's hide in the +first place?" + +Erkki always laughs and makes the same answer: + +"I got it by not losing my temper!" + +As for the Devil, he's never again made a bargain like that with a +Finn! + +[Decoration] + + + + +THE MYSTERIOUS SERVANT + +[Decoration] + +_The Story of a Young Man Who Respected the Dead_ + + +THE MYSTERIOUS SERVANT + +[Decoration] + +There was once a rich merchant who had an only son. As he lay dying, +he said: + +"Matti, my boy, my end is approaching and there are two things I want +to say to you: The first is that I am leaving you all my wealth. If +you are careful you will have enough to suffice you for life. The +second thing I have to say is to beg you never to leave this, your +native village. At your birth there was a prophecy which declared that +if ever you left this village you would have to marry a woman with +horns. Now that I have warned you in time it will be your own fault if +ever you have to meet this fate." + +The merchant died and Matti was left alone. He had never before wanted +to travel but now that he knew of the fate which would overtake him if +he did, he couldn't bear the thought of remaining forever a prisoner +in his native village. + +"What is the use of riches," he asked himself, "if one can't travel +over the broad world and see wonderful sights? Besides, if it's my +fate to marry a horned woman, I don't see why sitting quietly at home +is going to save me. No! I'm going to take my chances like a man and +come and go as I like!" + +So he gathered his riches together, closed the old house where he had +been born, and started out into the bright world. He traveled many +days, meeting strange peoples and seeing strange sights. At last he +settled down in a large city and became a merchant like his father. + +One afternoon as he was out walking, he saw a crowd of men dragging +the body of a dead man in the gutter. They were kicking and abusing +the dead body and calling it evil names. + +Matti stopped them. + +"What is this you are doing?" he demanded. "Don't you know that +disrespect to the dead is disrespect to God? Give over abusing this +poor dead body and bury it decently or God will punish you!" + +"Let us alone!" the men cried. "He deserves the abuse we are giving +him! When he was alive he borrowed money from us all and then he died +without repaying us. Are we to have no satisfaction at all?" + +With that they resumed their abuse of the dead body. + +"Wait!" Matti cried. "Tell me what the dead man owed you and I will +pay it!" + +"He owed me ten ducats!" said one. + +"And me a hundred!" shouted another. + +"And me five hundred!" + +"And me a thousand!" + +"Come all of you to my house," Matti said, "and I will pay you, but +only on condition that first you hand over the body to me and help me +give it a decent burial." + +The men agreed. They helped Matti bury the dead man and then went home +with him. + +Each told Matti the amount the dead man owed him and, true to his +promise, Matti paid them all. + +When he had paid the last man he found that he had nothing left for +himself but nine silver kopeks. The dead man's debts had exhausted all +the wealth his father had left him. + +"No matter!" Matti thought to himself. "My riches would have done me +no good if I had stood by and allowed a poor dead man to be abused. +What if I have nothing left? I'm young and strong and I can go out +into the world and make my livelihood somehow. I'll go home and have +one last look at my native village and then begin life anew." + +So, dressed in shabby old clothes with nothing in his pockets but the +nine silver kopeks, Matti left the city where people were beginning to +know him as a merchant and started back to his native village. He was +soon met by a man who addressed him respectfully and asked to be +engaged as his servant. + +"My servant!" Matti repeated with a laugh. "My dear fellow, I'm too +poor to have a servant! All I have in the world are nine silver +kopeks!" + +"No matter, master," the man said. "Take me anyhow. I will serve you +well and I promise you will not regret our bargain." + +So Matti agreed and they walked on together. The sun was hot and by +midafternoon Matti was feeling faint with hunger and fatigue. + +"Master," the Servant said, "I will run ahead to the next village and +order the landlord at the inn to prepare you a fine dinner. Do you +come along slowly and by the time you arrive the dinner will be +ready." + +"But remember," Matti warned him, "I have no money to pay for a fine +dinner!" + +"Trust me!" the Servant said and off he hurried. + +At the next village he hunted out the best inn and ordered the +landlord to prepare his finest dinner without delay. He was so +particular that everything should be the best that the landlord +supposed his master must be some great lord. + +When Matti arrived on foot, tired and travel-stained and shabby, the +landlord was amazed. + +"It's fine lords we have nowadays!" he muttered scornfully, and he +wished he had not been in such haste to cook the best food in the +house. But it was cooked and ready to serve and so, with an ill grace, +he served it. + +Matti and his man ate their fill of good cabbage soup and fish and +fowl tender and juicy. + +It quite enraged the landlord to see poor men with such good +appetites. + +"They eat as if their pockets were lined with gold!" he muttered +angrily. "Well, let them eat while they can for they'll lose their +appetites once they see the reckoning!" + +When they finished eating, they rested and then called for the +reckoning. It was much more than it should have been but neither Matti +nor the Servant objected. + +"Like a good fellow," the Servant said, "will you please to lend me +your half peck measure." + +"Like a good fellow, indeed!" the landlord muttered to himself. "Who +are you to call me a good fellow I'd like to know!" + +Nevertheless he went out and got the measure. + +"Now, master," the Servant said, "give me three of your nine silver +kopeks." + +The Servant threw the three silver kopeks into the measure, shook the +measure three times and lo! it was filled to the brim with silver +kopeks! The Servant counted out the amount of the reckoning and handed +the rest of the money to his master. Then he and Matti went on their +way leaving the landlord gaping after them with open mouth. + +Day after day the Servant paid the reckoning in the same way at the +various inns where they stopped until they reached at last Matti's +native village and the old house that still belonged to him. + +They settled themselves there and one day the Servant said to Matti: + +"Now, master, you know your fate: for having left your native village +you know you are destined to marry a horned woman. You might as well +do it at once for you'll have to do it sooner or later." + +"That is true," Matti said, "and if I knew the whereabouts of the +horned woman who is my fate I should marry her at once." + +"In that case we'll lose no more time," the Servant said. "The King +has three daughters all of whom are horned. This isn't generally +known but it is true. Let us go to the palace and present your suit. +The King will give friendly ear for there are not many suitors for +daughters with horns. He will try to make you take the oldest who has +big horns and a hoarse voice. When she sees you, she'll whisper: 'Take +me! Take me!' But do you shake your head and answer: 'No! Not this +one!' Then the King will send for his second daughter. Her horns are +not so big nor is her voice so hoarse. She, too, will whisper you: +'Take me! Take me!' But do you again shake your head and answer: 'No! +Not this one!' Be firm and the King will finally have to send for his +youngest daughter. Her horns are just soft little baby horns and her +voice is just a little husky. Take her and soon all will be well." + +So Matti and the Servant went to the palace and got audience with the +King. + +"My master, Matti," the Servant said, addressing the King, "is +desirous of marrying a wife with horns." + +The King was interested at once. + +"As it happens I have a daughter with horns," he said. "I'll have her +come in." + +He sent for his oldest daughter and presently she appeared. Her horns +were long and thick. + +"Take me! Take me!" she whispered hoarsely as she passed Matti. + +"See what a fine girl she is!" the King said, "and what well grown +horns she has!" + +But Matti shook his head. + +"No, Your Majesty, I don't think I want to marry this one." + +"Of course you must follow the dictates of your heart," the King said +drily. "However, come to think of it, my second daughter also has +horns. Maybe you'd like to consider her." + +So the second daughter was called in. Her horns were not so large as +her sister's nor was her voice so hoarse. But Matti, remembering the +Servant's warning, refused her, too. The King seemed surprised and +even annoyed that Matti should refuse his daughters so glibly, but +when he found that Matti was firm he said: + +"I have got another daughter, my youngest, but, if it's horns you're +looking for, I don't believe you'll be interested in her at all since +her horns are so small and soft that they are hardly noticeable at +all. However, as you're here, you might as well see her." + + [Illustration: _"She is under an evil enchantment and I am + delivering her!"_] + +So the youngest princess was sent for and at once Matti knew that she +was the one he wanted to marry. She wasn't as beautiful as a +princess should be but she was gentle and modest and when she passed +Matti her cheeks flushed and she wasn't able to whisper anything. But +Matti felt very sure that if she had whispered her voice would have +been scarcely husky. + +"This, O King," he said, "is my choice! Let me marry your youngest +daughter and I promise to be a faithful husband to her." + +The King would have preferred to marry off the older princesses first +for their horns were getting to be very troublesome, but as they all +had horns he was afraid to refuse Matti's offer. + +So after a little talk he gave Matti the youngest and in a short time +they were married. + +After the wedding feast the King led the young couple to the bridal +chamber and closed the door. + +Matti's Servant meantime had gone out to the woods and cut some stout +switches of birch. When the palace was quiet and all were asleep, he +crept softly into the bridal chamber and, dragging the bride out of +bed, he beat her unmercifully. + +"Oh! Oh!" she cried in pain. + +Her screams woke Matti and in fright he jumped out of bed and tried to +stop the Servant. + +"Wait!" the Servant said. "She is under an evil enchantment and I am +delivering her!" + +So he kept on beating her until he had drawn blood. Then instantly the +horns fell from her head and there she stood a beautiful young girl +released from the evil enchantment that had disfigured her. + +The Servant handed her over to her husband who fell in love with her +on sight and has loved her ever since. + +"Now farewell, Matti," the Servant said. "My work is done and you will +need me no longer. You have married a beautiful princess and the King +will soon make you his heir." + +With these words the Servant disappeared and Matti was left alone with +his lovely bride. + +And that was Matti's reward for having respected the dead. God Himself +in the form of the Servant had come down and taken care of him. + + + + +FAMILIAR FACES + +[Decoration] + +_I Mary, Mary, So Contrary!_ + +_II Jane, Jane, Don't Complain!_ + +_III Susan Walker, What a Talker!_ + + + [Illustration: _When she got to the middle of the stream_] + +I + +MARY, MARY, SO CONTRARY! + +[Decoration] + +There was once a farmer who was married to the most contrary wife in +the world. Her name was Maya. If he expected Maya to say, "Yes," she +would always say, "No," and if he expected her to say, "No," she would +always say, "Yes." If he said the soup was too hot, Maya would +instantly insist that it was too cold. She would do nothing that he +wanted her to do, and she always insisted on doing everything that he +did not want her to do. + +Like most contrary people Maya was really very stupid and the farmer +after he had been married to her for a few years knew exactly how to +manage her. + +For instance at Christmas one year he wanted to make a big feast for +his friends and neighbors. Did he tell his wife so? Not he! Instead, a +few weeks beforehand he remarked casually: + +"Christmas is coming and I suppose every one will expect us to have +fine white bread. But I don't think we ought to. It's too expensive. +Black bread is good enough for us." + +"Black bread, indeed!" cried Maya. "Not at all! We're going to have +white bread and you needn't say any more about it! Black bread at +Christmas! To hear you talk people would suppose we are beggars!" + +The farmer pretended to be grieved and he said: + +"Well, my dear, have white bread if your heart is set on it, but I +hope you don't expect to make any pies." + +"Not make any pies! Just let me tell you I expect to make all the pies +I want!" + +"Well, now, Maya, if we have pies I don't think we ought to have any +wine." + +"No wine! I like that! Of course we'll have wine on Christmas!" + +The farmer was much pleased but, still pretending to protest, he said: + +"Well, if we spend money on wine, we better not expect to buy any +coffee." + +"What! No coffee on Christmas! Who ever heard of such a thing! Of +course we'll have coffee!" + +"Well, I'm not going to quarrel with you! Get a little coffee if you +like, but just enough for you and me for I don't think we ought to +have any guests." + +"What! No guests on Christmas! Indeed and you're wrong if you think +we're not going to have a houseful of guests!" + +The farmer was overjoyed but, still pretending to grumble, he said: + +"If you have the house full of people, you needn't think I'm going to +sit at the head of the table, for I'm not!" + +"You are, too!" screamed his wife. "That's exactly where you are going +to sit!" + +"Maya, Maya, don't get so excited! I will sit there if you insist. But +if I do you mustn't expect me to pour the wine." + +"And why not? It would be a strange thing if you didn't pour the wine +at your own table!" + +"All right, all right, I'll pour it! But you mustn't expect me to +taste it beforehand." + +"Of course you're going to taste it beforehand!" + +This was exactly what the farmer wanted his wife to say. So you see by +pretending to oppose her at every turn he was able to have the big +Christmas party that he wanted and he was able to feast to his heart's +content with all his friends and relatives and neighbors. + +Time went by and Maya grew more and more contrary if such a thing were +possible. Summer came and the haymaking season. They were going to a +distant meadow to toss hay and had to cross an angry little river on a +footbridge made of one slender plank. + +The farmer crossed in safety, then he called back to his wife: + +"Walk very carefully, Maya, for the plank is not strong!" + +"I will not walk carefully!" the wife declared. + +She flung herself on the plank with all her weight and when she got to +the middle of the stream she jumped up and down just to show her +husband how contrary she could be. Well, the plank broke with a snap, +Maya fell into the water, the current carried her off, and she was +drowned! + +Her husband, seeing what had happened, ran madly upstream shouting: + +"Help! Help!" + +The haymakers heard him and came running to see what was the matter. + +"My wife has fallen into the river!" he cried, "and the current has +carried her body away!" + +"What ails you?" the haymakers said. "Are you mad? If the current has +carried your wife away, she's floating downstream, not upstream!" + +"Any other woman would float downstream," the farmer said. "Yes! But +you know Maya! She's so contrary she'd float upstream every time!" + +"That's true," the haymakers said, "she would!" + +So all afternoon the farmer searched upstream for his wife's body but +he never found it. + +When night came he went home and had a good supper of all the things +he liked to eat which Maya would never let him have. + + + [Illustration: _They were so busy eating and drinking_] + +II + +JANE, JANE, DON'T COMPLAIN! + +[Decoration] + +There was once a man who was poor and lazy and he had a wife who was +even worse. Her name was Jenny. Jenny was so lazy that it was an +effort for her to lift one foot after the other. And in addition to +her laziness she was an everlasting complainer. "Oh!" she used to +grunt in the morning, "I wish we didn't have to get up!" and "Oh!" she +used to groan at night, "I wish we didn't have to take our shoes off +before going to bed!" + +One day when they were both out in the forest collecting faggots, +Jenny said: + +"I don't see why we're not rich! I don't see why the King should live +at his ease while we have to grub for everything we get! I just hate +work!" + +Of course the trouble both with Jenny and her husband was not that +they worked but that they didn't work. It was because they didn't that +they had so much time to think about it. + +"Drat it all!" Jenny went on, whining, "Adam and Eve are to blame for +all our misfortunes! If they hadn't disobeyed God's commandment and +eaten that apple, we'd all be living in the Garden of Eden to this +day! It's all their fault that we have to moil and toil and hurry and +scurry!" + +"Yes," the man agreed, "it is, especially Eve's. Of course Adam was to +blame, too, for he should have controlled his wife better. But Eve was +the more to blame. If I had been Adam I shouldn't have allowed her to +touch the apple in the first place." + +Now it happened that the King who was out hunting that day overheard +this conversation. + +"Ha!" he thought to himself, "I've a great mind to teach these two +people a lesson!" + +He pushed aside the bushes that had hidden him from them and said: + +"Good day to you both! I have just heard your complaints and I, too, +think it very hard that you should be poor while others are rich. I +tell you what I'll do: I'll take you both home with me to the castle +and maintain you in ease and luxury provided you obey me in just one +thing." + +Jenny and her husband agreed to this eagerly and just as they were the +King took them home with him to the castle. He lodged them in a room +with golden furniture, he gave them fine clothes to wear, and for food +he had them served the choicest delicacies in the world. + +As they sat eating their first royal meal, he came in to them carrying +in his hands a covered dish of silver. He put the dish down in the +center of the table. + +"Now, my friends," he said, "I promised to maintain you in this ease +and luxury provided you obeyed me in one thing. You see this silver +dish. I forbid you ever to lift the cover. If you disobey me, that +moment I shall take from you your fine clothes and send you back to +your poverty and misery." + +With that the King left them and they stuffed themselves to their +hearts' content with the delicate foods set before them. + +They were so busy, eating and drinking and admiring themselves in +their fine clothes, that for the first day they didn't give the +covered dish a thought. The second day the wife noticed it and said: + +"That's the thing we're not to touch. Well, for my part I don't want +to touch it. I don't want to do anything but eat and sleep and try on +my pretty new clothes." + +By the third day they had eaten so much and so steadily that they +were no longer hungry and when they lay down on the big soft bed they +no longer fell instantly asleep. + +"Dear me," Jenny began whining, "I don't know what's the matter with +this food! It doesn't taste as good as it used to! Maybe the cook has +grown careless! I think we ought to complain to the King. I'm +beginning to feel very uncomfortable and I haven't any appetite at +all! I wonder what's in that covered dish. Perhaps it's something to +eat, something perfectly delicious! I've half a mind to lift the cover +and see." + +"Now just you leave that silver dish alone!" the man growled. He, too, +had been eating too much and was feeling peevish. "Don't you remember +what the King said?" + +"Pooh!" cried Jenny. "What do I care what the King said! I think he +was just poking fun at us telling us we mustn't lift the cover of that +silver dish. After all a dish is a dish and it's no crime to lift a +cover even if it is made of silver!" + +With that Jenny jumped up and before her husband could stop her she +lifted the forbidden cover. Instantly a little white mouse hopped out +of the silver dish and scurried away. + +"Oh!" Jenny screamed, dropping the cover with a great clatter. + +The King who was in an adjoining chamber heard the noise and came in. + +"So!" he said, "you have done the one thing that I told you not to do! +You haven't been here three days and although you've had everything +that heart could wish for yet you couldn't obey me in this one little +matter!" + +"Your Majesty," the man said, "it was my wife who did it, not I." + +"No matter," the King said, "you, too, are to blame. If you had +restrained her it wouldn't have happened." + +Then he called his servants and had them strip off the fine clothes +and dress the couple again in their old rags. + +"Now," he said as he drove them from the castle gates, "never again +blame Adam and Eve for the misfortunes which you bring upon +yourselves!" + + + [Illustration: _They carried home the treasure on their backs_] + +III + +SUSAN WALKER, WHAT A TALKER! + +[Decoration] + +There was once a man whose wife was an awful talker. Her name was +Susanna. No matter how important it was to keep a matter quiet, if +Susanna knew about it, she just had to talk. She was always running to +the neighbors and exclaiming: + +"Oh, my dear, have you heard so and so?" + +Her husband was an industrious fellow. He set nets in the river, he +snared birds in the forest, and he worked at any odd jobs that came +along. + +It happened one day while he was out in the forest that he found a +buried treasure. + +"Ah!" he thought to himself, "now I can buy a little farm that will +keep me and Susanna comfortable the rest of our days!" + +He started home at once to tell his wife the good fortune that had +befallen them. He had almost reached home when he stopped, suddenly +realizing that the first thing Susanna would do would be to spread the +news broadcast throughout the village. Then of course the government +would get wind of his find and presently officers of the law would +come and confiscate the entire treasure. + +"That would never do," he told himself. "I must think out some plan +whereby I can let Susanna know about the treasure without risking the +loss of it." + +He puzzled over the matter for a long time and at last hit upon +something that he thought might prove successful. + +In his nets that day he had caught a pike and in one of his snares he +had found a grouse. He went back now to the river and put the bird in +the fishnet, and then he went to the woods and put the fish in the +snare. This done he went home and at once told Susanna about the +buried treasure which was going to be the means of making their old +age comfortable. + +She flew at once into great excitement. + +"La! La! A buried treasure! Whoever heard of such luck! Oh, how all +the neighbors will envy us when they hear about it! I can hardly wait +to tell them!" + +"But they mustn't hear!" her husband told her. "You don't want the +officers of the law coming and taking it all from us, do you?" + +"That would be a nice how-do-you-do!" Susanna cried. "What! Come and +take our treasure that you found yourself in the forest?" + +"Yes, my dear, that's exactly what they'd do if once they heard about +it." + +"Well, you can depend upon it, my dear husband, not a soul will hear +about it from me!" + +She shook her head vigorously and repeated this many times and then +tried to slip out of the house on some such excuse as needing to +borrow a cup of meal from a neighbor. + +But the man insisted on her staying beside him all evening. She kept +remembering little errands that would take her to the houses of +various neighbors but each time she attempted to leave her husband +called her back. At last he got her safely to bed. + +Early next morning, before she had been able to talk to any one, he +said: + +"Now, my dear, come with me to the forest and help me to carry home +the treasure. On the way we'd better see if we've got anything in the +nets and the snares." + +They went first to the river and when the man had lifted his nets they +found a grouse which he made Susanna reach over and get. Then in the +woods he let her make the discovery of a pike in one of the snares. +She was all the while so excited about the treasure that she hadn't +mind enough left to be surprised that a bird should be caught in a +fishnet and a fish in a birdsnare. + +Well, they found the precious treasure and they stowed it away in two +sacks which they carried home on their backs. On the way home Susanna +could scarcely refrain from calling out to every passerby some hint of +their good fortune. As they passed the house of Helmi, her dearest +crony, she said to her husband: + +"My dear, won't you just wait here a moment while I run in and get a +drink of water?" + +"You mustn't go in just now," her husband said. "Don't you hear what's +going on?" + +There was the sound of two dogs fighting and yelping in the kitchen. + +"Helmi is getting a beating from her husband," the man said. "Can't +you hear her crying? This is no time for an outsider to appear." + +All that day and all that night he kept so close to Susanna that the +poor woman wasn't able to exchange a word with another human being. + +Early next morning she escaped him and ran as fast as her legs could +carry her to Helmi's house. + +"My dear," she began all out of breath, "such a wonderful treasure as +we've found but I've sworn never to whisper a word about it for fear +the government should hear of it! I should have stopped and told you +yesterday but your husband was beating you--" + +"What's that?" cried Helmi's husband who came in just then and caught +the last words. + +"It's the treasure we've found!" + +"The treasure? What are you talking about? Begin at the beginning." + +"Well, my old man and me we started out yesterday morning and first we +went to the river to see if there was anything in the nets. We found a +grouse--" + +"A grouse?" + +"Yes, we found a grouse in the nets. Then we went to the forest and +looked in the snares and in one we found a pike." + +"A pike!" + +"Yes. Then we went and dug up the treasure and put it in two sacks and +you could have seen us yourself carrying it home on our backs but you +were too busy beating poor Helmi." + +"I beating poor Helmi! Ho! Ho! Ho! That is a good one! I was busy +beating my wife while you were getting birds out of fishnets and fish +out of snares! Ho! Ho! Ho!" + +"It's so!" Susanna cried. "It is so! You were so beating Helmi! And +you sounded just like two dogs fighting! And we did so carry home the +treasure!" + +But Helmi's husband only laughed the harder. That afternoon when he +went to the Inn he was still laughing and when the men there asked him +what was so funny he told them Susanna's story and soon the whole +village was laughing at the foolish woman who found birds in fishnets +and fish in snares and who thought that two yelping dogs were Helmi +and her husband fighting. + +As for the treasure that wasn't taken any more seriously than the +grouse and the pike. + +"It must have been two sacks of turnips they carried home on their +backs!" the village people decided. + +The husband of course said nothing and Susanna, too, was soon forced +to keep quiet for now whenever she tried to explain people only +laughed. + + + + +MIKKO, THE FOX + +[Decoration] + +_A Nursery Epic in Sixteen Adventures_ + + + [Illustration: _Osmo, the Bear, grunted out: "Huh! That's easy! + We'll eat the smallest of us next!"_] + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE I + +THE ANIMALS TAKE A BITE + +[Decoration] + +A Farmer once dug a pit to trap the Animals that had been stealing his +grain. By a strange chance he fell into his own pit and was killed. + +The Ermine found him there. + +"H'm," thought the Ermine, "that's the Farmer himself, isn't it? I +better take him before any one else gets him." + +So the Ermine dragged the Farmer's body out of the pit, put it on a +sledge, and then, after taking a bite, began hauling it away. + +Presently he met the Squirrel who clapped his hands in surprise. + +"God bless you, brother!" the Squirrel exclaimed, "what's that you're +hauling behind you?" + +"It's the Farmer himself," the Ermine explained. "He fell into the pit +that he had digged for us poor forest folk and serve him right, too! +Take a bite of him and then come along and help me pull." + +"Very well," the Squirrel said. + +He took a bite of the Farmer and then marched along beside the Ermine, +helping him to pull the sledge. + +Presently they met Jussi, the Hare. Jussi looked at them in amazement, +his eyes popping out of his head. + +"Mercy me!" he cried, "what's that you two are hauling?" + +"It's the Farmer," the Ermine explained. "He fell into the pit that he +digged for us poor forest folk and serve him right, too! Take a bite +of him, Jussi, and then come along and help us pull." + +So Jussi, the Hare, took a bite of the Farmer and then marched along +beside the Ermine and the Squirrel helping them to pull the sledge. + +Next they met Mikko, the Fox. + +"Goodness me!" Mikko said, "what's that you three are hauling?" + +The Ermine again explained: + +"It's the Farmer. He fell into the pit that he had digged for us poor +forest folk and serve him right, too! Take a bite of him, Mikko, and +then come along and help us pull." + +So Mikko, the Fox, took a bite and then marched along beside the +Ermine and the Squirrel and the Hare helping them to pull the sledge. + +Next they met Pekka, the Wolf. + +"Good gracious!" Pekka cried, "what's that you four are hauling?" + +The Ermine explained: + +"It's the Farmer. He fell into the pit that he had digged for us poor +forest folk and serve him right, too! Take a bite of him, Pekka, and +then help us pull." + +So Pekka, the Wolf, took a bite and then marched along beside the +Ermine, the Squirrel, the Hare, and the Fox, helping them to pull the +sledge. + +Next they met Osmo, the Bear. + +"Good heavens!" Osmo rumbled, "what's that you five are hauling?" + +"It's the Farmer," the Ermine explained. "He fell into the pit that he +had digged for us poor forest folk and serve him right, too! Take a +bite of him, Osmo, and then help us pull." + +So Osmo, the Bear, took a bite and then marched along beside the +Ermine, the Squirrel, the Hare, the Fox, and the Wolf, helping them to +pull the sledge. + +Well, they pulled and they pulled and whenever they felt tired or +hungry they stopped and took a bite until the Farmer was about +finished. + +Then Pekka, the Wolf, said: + +"See here, brothers, we've eaten up every bit of the Farmer except his +beard. What are we going to eat now?" + +Osmo, the Bear, grunted out: + +"Huh! That's easy! We'll eat the smallest of us next!" + +He had no sooner spoken than the Squirrel ran up a tree and the Ermine +slipped under a stone. + +Pekka, the Wolf said: + +"But the smallest have escaped!" + +Osmo, the Bear, grunted again: + +"Huh! The smallest now is that pop-eyed Jussi! Let's--" + +At mention of his name the Hare went loping across the field and was +soon at a safe distance. + +Osmo, the Bear, put his heavy paw on the Fox's shoulder. + +"Mikko," he said, "it's your turn now for you're the smallest of us +three." + +Mikko, the Fox, pretended not to be at all afraid. + +"That's true," he said, "I'm the smallest. All right, brothers, I'm +ready. But before you eat me I wish you'd take me to the top of the +hill. Down here in the valley it's so gloomy." + +"Very well," the others agreed, "we'll go where you say. It is more +cheerful there." + +As they climbed the hill the Fox whispered to the Wolf: + +"Sst! Pekka! When you eat me whose turn will it be then? Who will be +the smallest then?" + +"Mercy me!" the Wolf cried, "it will be my turn then, won't it?" + +The terror of the thought quite took his appetite away. + +"See here, Osmo," he said to the Bear, "I don't think it would be +right for us to eat Mikko. You and I and Mikko ought to be friends and +live together in peace. Now let's take a vote on the matter and we'll +do whatever the majority says. I vote that we three be friends. What +do you say, Mikko?" + +The Fox said that he agreed with the Wolf. It would be much better +all around if they three were friends. + +"Well," grunted Osmo, the Bear, "it's no use my voting for you two +make a majority. But I must say I'm sorry to have you vote this way +for I'm hungry." + +So the three animals, the Bear, the Wolf, and the Fox, agreed +henceforward to be friends and planned to live near each other in the +woods behind the Farm. + + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE II + +THE PARTNERS + +[Decoration] + +The Bear and the Wolf and the Fox made houses quite close together and +the Wolf and the Fox decided to go into partnership. + +"The first thing we ought to do," said Pekka, the Wolf, "is make a +clearing in the forest and plant some crops." + +The Fox agreed and the very next day they started out to work. Each +had a crock with three pats of butter for his dinner. They left their +crocks in the cool water of a little spring in the forest not far from +the place where they had decided to make a clearing. + +It was hard work felling trees and the Fox, soon tiring of it, made +some sort of excuse to run off. When he came back he said to the Wolf: + +"Pekka, the folks at the Farm are having a christening and have sent +me an invitation to attend." + +"It's too bad we're so busy to-day," the Wolf said. "Another day you +might have gone." + +"But I must go," the Fox insisted. "They've been good neighbors to us +and they'd be insulted if I refused." + +"Very well," the Wolf said, "if you feel that way about it you better +go. But hurry back for we have a lot to do." + +So the Fox trotted off but he got no farther than the spring where the +butter crocks were cooling. He took the Wolf's crock and licked off +the top layer of butter. Then after a while he went back to the +clearing. + +"Well, Mikko," the Wolf said, "is the christening over?" + +"Yes, it's over." + +"What did they name the child?" + +"They named it Top." + +"Top? That's a strange name!" + +In a few moments the Fox again ran off and returned with the +announcement that there was to be another christening at the Farm and +again they wanted him to attend. + +"Another christening!" the Wolf exclaimed. "How can that be?" + +"This time the daughter has a baby." + +"You're not going, are you, Mikko? You can't always be going to +christenings." + +"That's true, Pekka, that's true," said the Fox, "but I think I must +go this time." + +The Wolf sighed. + +"You will hurry back, won't you? This work is too much for me alone." + +"Yes, Pekka dear," the Fox promised, "I'll hurry back as quickly as I +can." + +So he trotted off again to the spring and the Wolf's butter crock. +This time he ate the middle pat of the Wolf's butter, then slowly +sauntered back to the clearing. + +"Well," said the Wolf, pausing a moment in his work, "what did they +name the baby this time?" + +"This one they named Middle." + +"Middle? That's a strange name to give a baby!" + +For a few moments the Fox pretended to work hard. Then he ran off +again. When he came back, he said: + +"Pekka, do you know they're having another christening at the Farm +and they say that I just must come." + +"Another christening! Now, Mikko, that's too much! How can they be +having another christening?" + +"Well, this time it's the daughter-in-law that has a baby." + +"I don't care who it is," the Wolf said, "you just can't go. You've +got some work to do, you have!" + +The Fox agreed: + +"You're right, Pekka, you're right! I'm entirely too busy to be +running off all the time to christenings! I'd say, 'No!' in a minute +if it wasn't that we are new settlers and they are our nearest +neighbors. As it is I'm afraid they'd think it wasn't neighborly if I +didn't come. But I'll hurry back, I promise you!" + +So for the third time the Fox trotted off to the little spring and +this time he licked the Wolf's butter crock clean to the bottom. Then +he went slowly back to the clearing and told the Wolf about the +christening and the baby. + +"They've named this one Bottom," he said. + +"Bottom!" the Wolf echoed. "What funny names they give children +nowadays!" + +The Fox pretended to work hard for a few minutes, then threw himself +down exhausted. + + [Illustration: _"Wake up, Pekka! Wake up! There's butter running + out of your nose!"_] + +"Heigh ho!" he said, with a yawn, "I'm so tired and hungry it must be +dinner time!" + +The Wolf looked at the sun and said: + +"Yes, I think we had better rest now and eat." + +So they went to the spring and got their butter crocks. The Wolf found +that his had already been licked clean. + +"Mikko!" he cried, "have you been at my butter?" + +"Me?" the Fox said in a tone of great innocence. "How could I have +been at your butter when you know perfectly well that I've been +working right beside you all morning except when I was away at the +christenings? You must have eaten up your butter yourself!" + +"Of course I haven't eaten it up myself!" the Wolf declared. "I just +bet anything you took it!" + +The Fox pretended to be much aggrieved. + +"Pekka, I won't have you saying such a thing! We must get at the +bottom of this! I tell you what we'll do: we'll both lie down in the +sun and the heat of the sun will melt the butter and make it run. Now +then, if butter runs out of my nose then I'm the one that has eaten +your butter; if it runs out of your nose, then you've eaten it +yourself. Do you agree to this test?" + +The Wolf said, yes, he agreed, and at once lay down in the sun. He had +been working so hard that he was very tired and in a few moments he +was sound asleep. Thereupon the Fox slipped over and daubed a little +lump of butter on the end of his nose. The sun melted the butter and +then, of course, it looked as if it were running out of the Wolf's +nose. + +"Wake up, Pekka! Wake up!" the Fox cried. "There's butter running out +of your nose!" + +The Wolf awoke and felt his nose with his tongue. + +"Why, Mikko," he said in surprise, "so there is! Well, I suppose I +must have eaten that butter myself but I give you my word for it I +don't remember doing it!" + +"Well," said the Fox, pretending still to feel hurt, "you shouldn't +always suspect me." + +When they went back to the clearing, the Wolf began pulling the brush +together to burn it up and the Fox slipped away and lay down behind +some brushes. + +"Mikko! Mikko!" the Wolf called. "Aren't you going to help me burn the +brush?" + +"You set it a-fire," the Fox called back, "and I'll stay here to guard +against any flying sparks. We don't want to burn down the whole +forest!" + +So the Wolf burned up all the brush while the Fox took a pleasant nap. + +Then when he was ready to plant the seed in the rich wood ashes, the +Wolf again called out to the Fox to come help him. + +"You do the planting, Pekka," the Fox called back, "and I'll stay here +and frighten off the birds. If I don't they'll come and pick up every +seed you plant." + +So Mikko, the rascal, took another nap while the poor Wolf planted the +field he had already cleared and burned. + + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE III + +THE FOX AND THE CROW + +[Decoration] + +In a short time the field that Pekka, the Wolf, had planted began to +sprout. Pekka was delighted. + +"See, Mikko," he said to the Fox, "our grain is growing and we shall +soon be harvesting it!" + +The Fox turned up his nose indifferently. + +"If we don't get something to eat before that grain ripens," he said, +"we'll starve, both of us! While we wait for the harvest I think we +better go out hunting. I'm going this minute for I tell you I'm +hungry!" + +The Fox went sniffing into the forest and finally came to the tree +where Harakka, the Magpie, had her nest. The Fox, cocking his head, +paced slowly round and round the tree, looking at it from every angle. +Harakka, the Magpie, sitting on her nest among her fledglings began to +feel nervous. + +"Say, Mikko," she called down, "what are you looking at?" + +At first the Fox made no answer. Deep in thought, apparently, he +nodded his head and murmured: + +"Yes, the very tree!" + +Harakka, the Magpie, again called down: + +"What are you looking at, Mikko?" + +The Fox started as though he had heard the question for the first +time. + +"Ah, Harakka, is that you? Good day to you! I hope you are well! I +hope the children are all well! I was so busy looking for the right +tree that I didn't recognize you at first. You see I have to cut down +a tree to get wood for a new pair of _skis_. This tree is just the one +I want." + +"Oh, mercy me!" the Magpie cried. "You can't cut down this tree! Do +you want to kill all my children? This is our home!" + +Mikko, the rascal, pretended to be very sympathetic. + +"I'm awfully sorry to have to disturb you, truly I am, but I'm afraid +I do have to cut down this tree. I can't find another that suits me as +well." + +The Magpie flapped her wings in despair. + +"You hard-hearted wretch! What will you take not to cut down this +tree?" + +The Fox put his paw to his head and pretended to think hard. After a +moment he said: + +"Well, Harakka, I'll make you this offer: I'll leave this tree +standing provided you throw me down one of your fledglings." + +"What!" the poor Magpie shrieked. "Give you one of my babies! I'll +never do that! Never! Never! _Never!_" + +"Oh, very well! Just as you like! If I cut the tree down I can get +them all. But I thought for the sake of old times I'd ask for only +one. However, do as you think best." + +What could the poor Magpie say? If the tree were felled and her +fledglings thrown out of the nest they would certainly all perish. +Perhaps it would be wise to sacrifice one to save the rest. + +"You promise to let the tree stand," she said, "if I give you one of +my children?" + +"Yes," the rascal promised, "just drop me one of your fledglings, a +nice plump one, and I won't cut down the tree." + +With shaking claw Harakka pushed one of her children over the edge of +the nest. It fluttered to the ground and Mikko carried it off. + +Well, the next day what did that Fox do but come back and begin pacing +around the tree again. + +"Yes," he said, pretending to talk to himself, "this is the best tree +I can find. I might as well cut it down at once." + +"But, Mikko!" cried the Magpie, "you forget! You said you wouldn't cut +down this tree if I gave you one of my children and I did give you +one!" + +The Fox flipped his tail indifferently. + +"I know," he said, "I did promise but I thought then I could find +another tree that would suit me as well as this one, but I can't. I've +looked everywhere and I can't. I'm sorry but I'm afraid that I'll just +have to take this tree." + +"O dear, O dear, O dear!" the poor distracted Magpie wept. "Will +nothing make you leave this tree stand?" + +The Fox smacked his lips. + +"Well, Harakka, drop me down another of your fledglings and I won't +disturb the tree. I promise." + +"What! Another of my babies! Oh, you wretch!" + +"Well, suit yourself," Mikko said. "One of your fledglings and you can +keep the others safe in the nest, or I'll cut the tree down." + +What could the poor Magpie do? Wouldn't it be better to sacrifice +another fledgling on the chance of saving the rest? Yes, it would! So +she pushed another out of the nest. It fluttered to the ground and +Mikko, the rascal, carried it off. + +That afternoon Varis, the Crow, came to call on the Magpie. + +"Why, my dear," she said, looking over the fledglings, "two of your +children are missing! Whatever has become of them?" + +"It's that rascally Mikko!" the Magpie cried, and thereupon she told +her friend the whole story. + +Varis, the Crow, listened carefully and then said: + +"My dear, that miserable Fox has been fooling you! Why, he can't cut +down this tree or any other tree for that matter! He hasn't even got +an ax! Don't let him impose on you a third time!" + +So the very next day when the Fox came and again tried the same little +trick, Harakka, the Magpie, tossed her head scornfully and said: + +"Go along, you rascal! You can't fool me again! How can you cut down +this tree or any other for that matter when you haven't even got an +ax!" + +The Fox was furious at being cheated of his dinner. + +"You didn't think that out yourself, Harakka!" he said. "Some one's +been talking to you! Who was it?" + +"It was my dear friend, Varis," the Magpie said. "She's on to your +tricks!" + +"I'll teach that Crow to interfere with my affairs!" the Fox muttered +to himself as he trotted off. + +He went to an open field and lay down with his mouth open, pretending +to be dead. + +"I'm sure Varis will soon spy me!" he said to himself. + +He was right. Presently the Crow began circling above him. She flew +nearer and nearer and at last alighted on his head. His tongue was +lolling out and Varis decided to have her first bite there. She gave +it a sharp peck at which the Fox jumped up and caught her in his paws. + +"Ha! Ha!" he cried. "So you're the one who spoiled my little game with +Harakka, are you? Well, I'll teach you not to interfere with me! As I +haven't got one of Harakka's fledglings for my dinner, I'm going to +take you!" + +"You don't mean you're going to eat me!" cried the Crow in terror. + + [Illustration: _"I'll teach that Crow to interfere with my affairs!" + the Fox muttered to himself as he trotted off_] + +"That's exactly what I mean!" + +"No, no, Mikko! Don't do that!" + +"Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do! I'm going to teach you +birds that I'm not an animal to be played jokes on!" + +"I suppose," the Crow said, sighing, "if it must be, it must be! But, +Mikko, if you really want to use me as a warning to the other birds, +you oughtn't to eat me right down. It would be much better if you +dragged me along the ground first. Then they'd see a wing here, a leg +there, and a long trail of feathers. That really would terrify them." + +"I believe you're right," the Fox said. + +He put the Crow down on the ground and lifted his paw for a moment to +change his hold. The Crow instantly jerked away and escaped. + +"Ha! Ha!" she cawed as she flew off. "You were clever enough to catch +me, Mikko, but you weren't clever enough to eat me when you had me!" + +So this was one time when Mikko, the Fox, was worsted. + + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE IV + +THE CHIEF MOURNER + +[Decoration] + +"Mercy me!" thought Mikko to himself as he watched Varis, the Crow, +fly away, "this is certainly my unlucky day! There I had my dinner +right in my hand and then lost it!" + +Sighing and shaking his head he sauntered slowly back to the forest. + +Now it happened that Osmo, the Bear, had just lost his wife and was +out looking for some one to bewail her death. The first person he met +was Pekka, the Wolf. + +"Pekka," he said, "my wife's dead and I'm out looking for a good +strong mourner. Can you mourn?" + +"Me? Indeed I can! Just listen!" + +Pekka, the Wolf, pointed his nose to the sky and let out a long +shivery howl. + +"There!" he said. "I don't believe you'll find any one that can do any +better than that!" + +But Osmo, the Bear, shook his head. + +"No, Pekka, you won't do. I don't like your mourning at all!" + +The Bear ambled on and presently he met the Hare. + +"Good day, Jussi," he said. "Are you any good at mourning? Show me +what you can do." + +The Hare gave some frightened squeaks as his idea of mourning the +dead. + +"No, no," Osmo said, "I don't like your mourning either." + +So he walked on farther until by chance he met the Fox. + +"Mikko," he said, "my wife's dead and I'm out looking for a good +strong mourner. Can you mourn?" + + [Illustration: _And Mikko, beginning with a little whimpering + sound, slowly rose to a high heartrending cry_] + +"Can I? Indeed I can!" the Fox declared. "I'm a marvel at mourning! I +can wail high and low and soft and loud and just any way you want! +Listen!" And Mikko, beginning with a little whimpering sound, slowly +rose to a high heartrending cry. This is what he wailed: + + "_Med! Med! Med!_ + The Bear's Wife is dead! + _Lax! Lax! Lax!_ + No more she'll spin the flax! + _Eyes! Eyes! Eyes!_ + No more she'll bake the pies! + _Air! Air! Air!_ + No more she'll drive the mare! + _Shakes! Shakes! Shakes!_ + There'll be no more little cakes! + _Darth! Darth! Darth!_ + Throw the pots on the hearth + For the Bear's Wife is dead! + _Med! Med! Med!_" + +Osmo, the Bear, was deeply moved. + +"Beautiful! Beautiful!" he grunted hoarsely. "How well you knew her! +Come along home with me, Mikko, and start right in! Oh, how +beautifully you wail!" + +So Mikko went home with the Bear. The old Bear Wife was laid out on a +bench in the kitchen. + +"Now then," the Bear said, "you begin the wailing while I cook the +porridge." + +"No, no, Osmo," the Fox said, "I couldn't possibly wail in here! The +place is full of smoke and my voice would get husky in two minutes! +Can't you lay her out in the storehouse?" + +The Bear demurred but the Fox insisted and at last had his way. So +together they dragged the body of the old Bear Wife out to the +storehouse. The Fox stood beside the body ready to begin his wailing +and the Bear went back to the kitchen. + +The moment the Bear was out of sight Mikko, the rascal, instead of +bewailing the old Bear Wife began gobbling her up! He just gobbled and +gobbled and gobbled as fast as he could. + +"What's the matter?" the Bear called out after a few minutes. "Why +don't you begin?" + +The Fox made no reply but kept on gobbling as hard as he could. + +"Mikko! Mikko!" the Bear called out again. "What's the matter? Why +aren't you howling?" + +By this time the Fox had made a good dinner, so he called back: + +"Don't bother me! I'm busy eating! Yum! Yum! Yum! Bear meat is awful +good! Just give me a few more minutes and I'll be finished!" + +At that the Bear rushed out of the kitchen in a terrible rage but the +Fox was already running off and the Bear was unable to catch him. He +did hit the end of his tail with the long spoon with which he had +been measuring the meal, but that was all. + +Mikko, the rascal, got safely away. However, to this day his tail +shows the white mark of the meal. + + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE V + +MIRRI, THE CAT + +[Decoration] + +One day while the Fox was out walking in the forest he met a stranger. + +"Good day," he said. "Who are you?" + +"I am Mirri," the stranger said, "a poor unfortunate Cat out of +employment. I had service in a decent family but I've had to leave +them." + +"Did they treat you badly?" the Fox asked. + +"No, it wasn't that. They were considerate enough but they kept +getting poorer and poorer until finally they hadn't food enough to +feed us animals. Then I overheard the master say that soon they'd be +forced to eat us and that they'd begin with me. At that I decided it +was time for me to run away and here I am." + +"My poor Cat," Mikko said, "you've had a cruel experience! Why don't +you take service with me?" + +"Will I be safe with you?" the Cat asked. "Will you protect me?" + +"Will I?" the Fox repeated boastfully. "My dear Mirri, once it becomes +known that you are Mikko's servant all the animals will show you a +wholesome respect." + +"Well then, I'll enter your service," the Cat said. + +So the bargain was struck and the Fox at once began to train his new +servant. + +"Now, Mirri, tell me: what would you do if you suddenly met a Bear?" + +"There's just one thing I could do, master: I'd run up a tree." + +The Fox laughed. + +"You must have more ways than one to meet such a situation! Take me +now: there are any of a hundred things that I could do if I met a +Bear!" + + [Illustration: _He jerked quickly away and fled and the Bear was + left standing with his mouth wide open_] + +Just then Osmo, the Bear, ambled softly up behind the Fox. The Cat saw +him and instantly flew up a tree. Before the Fox could move Osmo +clutched him firmly on the shoulder with his teeth. + +"Oh, master, master!" the Cat called down from the tree. "What's this? +I with my one way have escaped and you with your hundred are caught!" + +But the Fox paid no heed to the Cat. He twisted his head around and +looked reproachfully at the Bear. + +"Why, Osmo, my dear old friend!" he said, "what in the world do you +mean taking hold of me so roughly! Ouch! You're nipping my shoulder, +really you are! I don't understand why you're acting this way! Here +I've always been such a good friend to you, so faithful, so true, +so--" + +"What!" rumbled the Bear. "Faithful! True! Oh, you--" + +Osmo's feelings overcame him to such an extent that he opened his jaws +to roar out freely his denial of the Fox's hypocrisy. + +That gave the Fox just the chance he wanted. He jerked quickly away +and fled and the Bear was left standing with his mouth wide open. + +Later when the Bear had ambled off the Fox returned and called the Cat +down from the tree. + +"You see, Mirri," he remarked casually, "it wasn't anything at all for +me to get the best of the Bear!" + +He could see that he had vastly impressed the Cat, so he let the +subject drop. + +"Come along, Mirri," he said, "it's time for us to go home." + +[Decoration] + + + [Illustration: _A terrible creature landed on his nose and drove it + full of pins and needles_] + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE VI + +THE FOX'S SERVANT + +[Decoration] + +A day or so later the Fox met Pekka, the Wolf. The Fox hadn't seen +much of Pekka recently for Pekka had been having a hard time and had +been on the verge of starvation. Now he was sleek again and well fed +for he had recently killed an Ox. + +"Good day, Pekka," the Fox said in a friendly way. + +"Good day, Mikko. How are you?" + +"Very fine indeed!" the Fox said. "You see I have a new servant. Oh, +he's a wonderful servant! He's not big to look at, you know, but he's +so strong and quick that he'd jump on you in a minute and eat you up +before you knew what was happening!" + +"Really, Mikko?" + +"Yes, really! You just ought to see him!" + +"I'd like to see him," the Wolf said. + +"Well, you might slip down now and take a peep in the kitchen. He's at +home. But, my dear Pekka, I warn you not to let him see you! If he +catches sight of you, I won't be responsible for the consequences!" + +The Wolf was deeply impressed with all this. He crept carefully down +to the Fox's kitchen and sniffed cautiously at the crack under the +door. The Cat inside, seeing the tip of the Wolf's nose and thinking +it was a Mouse, pounced on it with all his claws. This gave the Wolf a +mighty fright and he bolted madly off into the forest. + +He was still panting when he met the Bear. + +"Osmo," he said, "have you heard about that awful creature that Mikko +has for a servant?" + +The Bear had heard nothing, so the Wolf related to him his own +terrifying experience. + +The Bear's curiosity was aroused. + +"I must have a glimpse of this wonderful servant," he said, ambling +off in the direction of the Fox's kitchen. + +"I'll wait for you here," the Wolf called after him, "and I warn you, +Osmo, be careful!" + +The Bear when he got to the Fox's kitchen quietly stuck his nose under +the crack of the door and squinted inside. He hardly had time for one +squint when a terrible creature with a straight tail that looked like +a spear came flying through the air, landed on his nose, and drove it +full of pins and needles. + +"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" the Bear whimpered as he hurried back to the Wolf. + +"Did you see him?" the Wolf asked. + +"I got just one glimpse of him," the Bear said. "He had a long spear +sticking up over his shoulder and he came swooping down through the +air just as if he had wings!" + +"My! I wish we could really see him!" the Wolf said. "Suppose we ask +Mikko to arrange some way we can have a good look at him." + +So they went to the Fox and Mikko, the rascal, said: + +"Well, now, if you make a feast and invite my servant I think he will +come." + +"All right," the Wolf said, "that's what we'll do. I've still got some +of that ox. It will make a fine feast." + +So they roasted the remains of the ox and set it out. + +"Now I'll go get my servant," the Fox said. "When you hear us coming, +you two hide some place where you can see us but we can't see you. If +my servant once sees you I won't be responsible for the consequences!" + +So the Wolf hid in some bushes nearby and the Bear drew himself up +into the branches of a tree. + +Well, the Fox and the Cat arrived and sat them down to the feast. Now +it happened that the Wolf was not able to see, so he tried to twist +himself around into a better position. The Cat caught a glimpse of his +tail moving in the bushes and instantly pounced on it. With one +terrified yelp, the Wolf jumped out of the bushes and fled into the +forest as fast as he could. + +In fright the Cat scampered up the tree and the Bear, of course, +supposed that the awful creature now was after him. In his frantic +efforts to escape he tumbled down out of the tree and broke two ribs. +But for all that he made off, too terrified to look back. + +So the Fox and the Cat were left to finish the ox in peace. + + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE VII + +THE WOLF SINGS + +[Decoration] + +Having sacrificed his ox in order to feast the Fox's servant, the Wolf +had nothing left for himself and was soon very hungry. He could find +nothing to eat in the forest, so he went prowling around a farm in +hopes of getting a pig or a chicken. The only living creature he came +upon was a thin old Dog asleep in the sun. + +"This is better than nothing," he thought to himself and, taking hold +of the Dog, he began dragging it off. + +"Cousin! Cousin!" cried the Dog. "Is this any way to treat a +relation? Let me go!" + +"I'm sorry," the Wolf said, "but I can't let you go. I'm too hungry." + +"Let me go," the Dog begged, "and I tell you what I'll do: I'll give +you a bottle of vodka." + +"Promises come easy," the Wolf said. "Where will you get the vodka?" + +"Under the bench in the kitchen. That's where the master keeps his +bottle. I've seen him hide it there. Come to-night after the family's +asleep and I'll let you in and give you the vodka." + +Now Pekka, the Wolf, was very fond of vodka, so he said to the Dog: + +"Very well, I'll let you go. But see that you keep your promise!" + +Late that night when the family were asleep, the Wolf came scratching +at the farmhouse door and the Dog let him in. + +"Well, old fellow, you know why I've come," the Wolf said. + +At once the Dog crawled under the bench and got the master's bottle of +vodka. + +"Here, Pekka, here it is!" he said, offering the Wolf the bottle. + + [Illustration: _The Wolf went staggering around the room howling + at the top of his voice_] + +"You drink first," Pekka insisted. "You're the host." + +The Dog raised the bottle and took a little sip. Then the Wolf took a +deep swallow. + +"Ah!" he said, smacking his lips, "that's something like!" + +His stomach was empty and the vodka went through his veins like fire. +He felt happy and laughed and went capering around the room. + +"I feel like singing!" he cried. + +"My dear Pekka," the Dog said, "I beg you don't sing! You will wake +the folks! Sit down quietly and we'll talk." + +So they sat awhile and talked and then the Wolf took another deep +swallow of the vodka. Again he wanted to sing and the Dog had trouble +in restraining him. + +"Do you want to wake the family, Pekka? Be quiet now or you can't have +any more vodka!" + +The Wolf took another deep drink and after that there was no holding +him back. He went staggering around the room howling at the top of his +voice. + +The Farmer and all his family came hurrying into the kitchen with +clubs and pokers and whatever they could pick up. + +"It's a Wolf!" the Farmer cried. "The impudent scoundrel, coming +right into the house! Give him a good beating!" + +If the door hadn't been open they would have clubbed poor Pekka to +death. As it was he barely escaped with his life. + +[Decoration] + + + [Illustration: _In the confusion that followed the Wolves stampeded, + running helter-skelter in all directions_] + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE VIII + +THE CLEVER GOAT + +[Decoration] + +The truth is Pekka, the Wolf, was a pretty stupid fellow always +getting into some scrape or other. With sore ribs and a back aching +from the beating which the farm folk had given him he slunk quietly +along the forest ways hoping to come upon some easy prey. Suddenly he +saw ahead of him a Goat and a Ram. + +"What are they doing hereabouts?" he thought to himself. "This is no +place for them and if anything happens to them it will be their own +fault." + +Vuhi, the Goat, and Dinas, the Ram, both knew that the forest was no +place for them. But where else could they go? They had recently been +turned loose to fend for themselves by their poor old master who was +no longer able to feed them. + +"This forest rather frightens me," the Ram had said to the Goat. "Do +you suppose we'll be able to keep off the Wolves?" + +Vuhi, the Goat, flirted his whiskers and said: + +"I've got a plan." + +Thereupon he took a sack and half filled it with dry chips. Then when +he shook the sack the chips made a hollow rattle. He threw the sack +over his shoulder and said to the Ram: + +"Don't you be frightened, Dinas. We'll be able to hold our own with +the forest creatures." + +It was just at this moment that Pekka, the Wolf, appeared. + +"Ha! Ha!" said Pekka suspiciously. "What's that you've got in that +sack? No nonsense now! Answer me at once or I'll have to kill you +both!" + +Vuhi, the Goat, gave the sack a little rattle. + +"In this sack?" he said. "Oh, only the skulls and bones of the Wolves +we have eaten. We haven't had any Wolf meat now for some time, have +we, Dinas? It's good you've come along for we're hungry.... Attention, +Dinas! Kill the Wolf!" + +The Ram lowered his horns ready for attack and Pekka, the Wolf, too +surprised to resist and too stiff to run away, cried out wildly: + +"Brothers! Brothers! Don't kill me! I'm your friend! Spare me and I'll +do something for you!" + +"Attention, Dinas!" the Goat commanded. "Don't kill the Wolf just +yet!" + +Then he asked Pekka: + +"What will you do for us if we spare you?" + +"I'll send you twelve Wolves," Pekka promised. "That will give you +more meat than you'd have if you killed just me!" + +"Twelve," the Goat replied. "You are right: twelve Wolves will give us +more meat than one. Very well, we'll let you go on condition that you +send us twelve. But see you keep your word!" + +So the Wolf went off as fast as his stiff legs could carry him and +assembled twelve of his brothers. + +"I've called you together," he said, "to warn you of two terrible +creatures, a Goat and a Ram, who are here in the forest eating up +Wolves! Already they have a sack full of our unfortunate relations' +skulls and bones! I saw the sack myself! Don't you think we ought all +of us to flee?" + +"What!" said the other Wolves, "thirteen Wolves turn tail on one Goat +and one Ram? Never! We'll go together and give them battle!" + +"Don't count me in!" Pekka said. "I don't want to see those two +again!" + +So the twelve Wolves marched off without Pekka. + +The Goat as he saw them coming ran up a tree. The Ram followed him but +couldn't get very high. + +The twelve Wolves came under the tree and standing in close formation +called out: + +"Now then, you two, come on! We're ready for you!" + +"Attention, Dinas!" the Goat commanded. "They're all here, so lose no +more time! Jump down among them and kill them!" + +The Goat himself began climbing down the tree, at the same time making +an awful noise with his sack. He gave the Ram a push and the Ram +slipped and fell right on the backs of the Wolves. + +"That's right, Dinas! Kill them all!" the Goat shouted, rattling his +sack more furiously than ever. "Don't let one of them escape!" + +In the confusion that followed the Wolves stampeded, running +helter-skelter in all directions. Every Wolf there felt that his own +escape was a piece of rare good fortune. + +"Those terrible two!" he thought. + +Thereafter Vuhi, the Goat, and Dinas, the Ram, lived on in the forest +untroubled by the Wolves. + +[Decoration] + + + [Illustration: _"Here are three of us and see, here on the floor is + our harvest already divided into three heaps"_] + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE IX + +THE HARVEST + +[Decoration] + +Well, the time came when the field of barley which the Fox and the +Wolf had planted together was ready to harvest. So the two friends cut +the grain and carried the sheaves to the threshing barn where they +spread them out to dry. When it was time to thresh the grain, they +asked Osmo, the Bear, to come and help them. + +"Certainly," Osmo said. + +At the time agreed the three animals met at the threshing barn. + +"Now the first thing to decide," Pekka said, "is how to divide the +work." + +The Fox climbed nimbly up to the rafters. + +"I'll stay up here," he called down, "and support the beams and the +rafters. In that way there won't be any danger of their falling and +injuring either of you. You two work down there without any concern. +Trust me! I'll take care of you!" + +So Osmo, the Bear, used the flail, and Pekka, the Wolf, winnowed the +chaff from the grain. Mikko, the rascal, occasionally dropped down +upon them a hunk of wood. + +"Take care!" they'd call out. "Do you want to kill us?" + +"Indeed, brothers, you have no idea how hard it is for me to hold up +all these rafters!" Mikko would say. "You're very lucky it's only a +little piece that drops on you now and then! If it weren't for me +you'd certainly be killed, both of you!" + +Well, the Bear and the Wolf worked steadily. When they were finished +Mikko, the rascal, leaped down from the rafters and stretched himself +as though he had been working the hardest of them all. + +"I'm glad that job of mine is finished!" he said. "I couldn't have +held things up much longer!" + +"Well now," Pekka asked, "how shall we divide this our harvest?" + +"I'll tell you how," Mikko said. "Here are three of us and, see, here +on the floor is our harvest already divided into three heaps. The +biggest heap will naturally go to the biggest of us. That's Osmo, the +Bear. The middle sized heap will go to you, Pekka. I'm the smallest, +so the smallest heap comes to me." + +The Bear and the Wolf, stupid old things, agreed to this. So Osmo took +the great heap of straw, Pekka the pile of chaff, and Mikko, the +rascal, got for his share the little mound of clean grain. + +Together they all went to the mill to grind their meal. + +As the millstone turned on Mikko's grain, it made a rough rasping +sound. + +"Strange," Osmo said to Pekka, "Mikko's grain sounds different from +ours." + +"Mix some sand with yours," Mikko said, "then yours will make the same +sound." + +So the Bear and the Wolf poured some sand in their straw and their +chaff and sure enough, when they turned their millstones again, they, +too, got a rough rasping sound. + +This satisfied them and they went home feeling they had just as good a +winter's supply of food as Mikko. + + + [Illustration: _He dropped it in the water and of course it spread + out far and wide and the current carried it off_] + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE X + +THE PORRIDGE + +[Decoration] + +Well, it was only natural that they should all want to see at once +what kind of porridge their meal would make. + +Osmo's came out black and disgusting. Greatly disturbed he ambled over +to Mikko's house for advice. The Fox was stirring his own porridge +which was white and smooth. + +"What's the matter with my porridge?" the Bear asked. "Yours is white +and smooth but mine is black and horrid." + +"Did you wash your meal before you put it into the pot?" the Fox +asked. + +"Wash it? No! How do you wash meal?" + +"You take it to the river and drop it in the water. Then when it's +clean you take it out." + +The Bear at once went home and got his ground up straw and took it to +the river. He dropped it in the water and of course it spread out far +and wide and the current carried it off. + +So that was the end of Osmo's share of the harvest. + +Pekka, the Wolf, had as little luck with his porridge. Soon he, too, +came to Mikko for advice. + +"I don't know what's the matter with me," he said. "I don't seem to be +able to make good porridge. Look at yours all white and smooth! I must +watch you how you make it. Won't you let me hang my pot on your crane? +Then I'll do just as you do." + +"Certainly," the Fox said. "Hang your pot on this chain and the two +pots can then cook side by side." + +"Yours is so white to begin with," Pekka said, "and mine looks no +better than dirt." + +"Before you came I climbed up the chain and hung over the pot," the +Fox said. "The heat of the fire melted the fat in my tail and it +dripped down into the pot. It's that fat that makes my porridge look +so white." + +Poor gullible Pekka immediately suspended himself on the chain above +his porridge. But he didn't stay there long. The flames scorched him +and he fell down hurting his side. If you notice, to this day any Wolf +that you meet has stiff sides that make it hard for him to turn and +twist, and to this day all Wolves smell of burnt hair. + +Well, Pekka, after he had got his breath, tasted his porridge again to +see if it was any better. But it wasn't. It was as bad as ever. + +"I don't see any difference in it," he said. "Let me taste yours, +Mikko." + +The Fox artfully scooped up a spoonful of the Wolf's porridge and +dropped it into his own pot. + +"Help yourself," he said. "Take some out of that spot there. That's +good." + +The place he pointed to was, of course, the place where he had dropped +some of the Wolf's own porridge. + +So poor old stupid Pekka only sampled his own porridge again when he +thought he was tasting Mikko's. + +"Strange," he said, "your porridge doesn't taste good to me either. I +don't believe anything tastes good to me to-day. The truth is I don't +believe I like porridge." + +He went home sad and discouraged while Mikko, the rascal, chuckled to +himself and said: + +"I wonder why Pekka doesn't like porridge. It tastes awful good to +me!" + + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE XI + +NURSE MIKKO + +[Decoration] + +The Wolf's wife gave birth to three little cubs and then died. + +"You poor children!" Pekka said, "your mother is dead and there is no +one to take her place. I must get you a nurse." + +So he went through the forest hunting some one to take care of his +motherless cubs. The white Grouse offered her services but, when she +sang a lullaby to show what a good nurse she could be, Pekka shook his +head. + +"I don't like your voice," he said. "I can't take you." + +Then Jussi, the Hare, applied for the position. + +"You know I'm lame," he said, "so quiet work like nursing would suit +me." + +"Can you sing lullabies?" Pekka asked. + +"Oh, yes! Listen!" and Jussi began squealing. + +"Stop!" Pekka cried. "I don't like your voice either." + +Just then Mikko, the Fox, came running up. + +"Good day, Pekka," he said. "I hear you're out looking for a nurse for +your sweet babies." + +"Yes, Mikko, I am. Can you recommend one?" + +"I'd like the job myself," the Fox said. + +"You, Mikko?" + +"Yes." + +"But you can't sing lullabies, can you?" + +"Oh, yes! I sing them very beautifully. Listen: + + 'Hushabye, sweet little cubs, + Hushabye to sleep! + Who best loves you, do you think? + Who will give you food and drink? + Who on faithful guard will keep? + Mikko! Mikko! + + 'Hushabye, sweet little cubs, + Mikko loves you well, + Loves each little pointed nose, + Loves your little scratchy toes, + Loves you more than he can tell-- + Mikko! Mikko!'" + + [Illustration: _He ran after Mikko and was about to overtake him when + Mikko slipped into a crevice in the rocks. Only one paw stuck out_] + +Pekka, the Wolf, was charmed with Mikko's lullaby. + +"Beautiful! Beautiful!" he said. "I never heard a sweeter lullaby! +You're the very nurse I want! Come home with me at once." + +So Mikko went home with Pekka and took over the care of the three +little Wolf cubs. + +"I'll go off now and get them something to eat," Pekka said. + +He came back after a while with the hind leg of a horse. + +"This will be enough for them to start on," he said. + +The Fox shook his head. + +"I'm afraid it won't last them very long. They're beautiful healthy +children with fine appetites." + +"Poor little dears!" Pekka said. "Let me see them." + +"Not just now!" Mikko insisted. "They're asleep and mustn't be +disturbed. Go out hunting again and the next time you come home you +shall see them." + +Pekka felt that the Fox must be a very good nurse indeed to be so +strict. So he went off hunting again without seeing his children. + +As soon as he was gone Mikko, the rascal, ate up all the horse meat +without giving the cubs one bite and then, as he was still hungry, he +ate one of the cubs. The next day he ate another cub, and the day +following he ate the last of them. He was just finishing that last +cub when the Wolf came home and called in at the door: + +"Now, nurse, here I am come home to see my dear children! They're +well, aren't they?" + +"Very well!" the Fox declared. "But they've grown so big under my good +care that the house isn't large enough now to hold them and you and me +at the same time. If you're coming in, I must get out first." + +So the Wolf stood aside as the Fox came out and scampered away. + +Then the Wolf went in and of course all he could find of his dear +children were their bones. + +"You faithless, faithless nurse!" he cried. + +In awful rage he ran after Mikko and was about to overtake him when +Mikko slipped into a crevice in the rocks. Only one paw stuck out. The +Wolf pounced on this paw and began gnawing it. + +"Say, Pekka, have you gone crazy?" the Fox asked. "What do you think +you're doing biting that old root? I hope you don't think it's one of +my paws. I'm sitting on all four paws." + +The Wolf looked up to see whether this was true and, quick as a flash, +Mikko, the rascal, drew in his paw. + +So the poor old Wolf, fooled again, went sadly home. + + + [Illustration: _Of course the instant he opened his mouth the Grouse + flew away_] + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE XII + +THE BEAR SAYS _NORTH_ + +[Decoration] + +One day while Osmo, the Bear, was prowling about the woods he caught a +Grouse. + +"Pretty good!" he thought to himself. "Wouldn't the other animals be +surprised if they knew old Osmo had caught a Grouse!" + +He was so proud of his feat that he wanted all the world to know of +it. So, holding the Grouse carefully in his teeth without injuring it, +he began parading up and down the forest ways. + +"They'll all certainly envy me this nice plump Grouse," he thought. +"And they won't be so ready to call me awkward and lumbering after +this, either!" + +Presently Mikko, the Fox, sauntered by. He saw at once that Osmo was +showing off and he determined that the Bear would not get the +satisfaction of any admiration from him. So he pretended not to see +the Grouse at all. Instead he pointed his nose upwards and sniffed. + +"Um! Um!" grunted Osmo, trying to attract attention to himself. + +"Ah," Mikko remarked, casually, "is that you, Osmo? What way is the +wind blowing to-day? Can you tell me?" + +Osmo, of course, could not answer without opening his mouth, so he +grunted again hoping that Mikko would have to notice why he couldn't +answer. But the Fox didn't glance at him at all. With his nose still +pointed upwards he kept sniffing the air. + +"It seems to me it's from the South," he said. "Isn't it from the +South, Osmo?" + +"Um! Um! Um!" the Bear grunted. + +"You say it is from the South, Osmo? Are you sure?" + +"Um! Um!" Osmo repeated, growing every moment more impatient. + +"Oh, not from the South, you say. Then from what direction is it +blowing?" + +By this time the Bear was so exasperated by Mikko's interest in the +wind when he should have been admiring the Grouse that he forgot +himself, opened his mouth, and roared out: + +"North!" + +Of course the instant he opened his mouth, the Grouse flew away. + +"Now see what you've done!" he stormed angrily. "You've made me lose +my fine plump Grouse!" + +"I?" Mikko asked. "What had I to do with it?" + +"You kept asking me about the wind until I opened my mouth--that's +what you did!" + +The Fox shrugged his shoulders. + +"Why did you open your mouth?" + +"Well, you can't say, 'North!' without opening your mouth, can you?" +the Bear demanded. + +The Fox laughed heartily. + +"See here, Osmo, don't blame me. Blame yourself. If I had had that +Grouse in my mouth and you had asked me about the wind, I should never +have said, 'North!'" + +"What would you have said?" the Bear asked. + +Mikko, the rascal, laughed harder than ever. Then he clenched his +teeth and said: + +"East!" + + + [Illustration: _"Why, do you know," he said, "my turnips and my + bread don't taste a bit like this!"_] + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE XIII + +OSMO'S SHARE + +[Decoration] + +One day Osmo, the Bear, came to a clearing where a Man was plowing. + +"Good day," the Bear said. "What are you doing?" + +"I'm plowing," the Man answered. "After I finish plowing I'm going to +harrow and then plant the field, half in wheat and half in turnips." + +"Yum! Yum!" Osmo thought to himself. "Good food that--wheat and +turnips!" + +Aloud he said: + +"I know how to plow and harrow. What do you say to my helping you?" + +"If you help me," the Man said, "I'll share the harvest with you." + +So Osmo set to work and between them they soon had the field plowed, +harrowed, and planted. + +When Autumn came they went to get their crops. + +At the turnip field the Man said: + +"Now what do you want as your share--the part that grows above the +ground or the part that grows below?" + +Osmo, the Bear, seeing how green and luxuriant the turnip tops were, +said: + +"Give me the part that grows above ground." + +After they had harvested the turnips, they went on to the wheat field +where the Man put the same question. + +The wheat stocks were all dry and shriveled. Osmo looked at them +wisely and said: + +"This time you better give me the part that grows under the ground." + +The Man laughed in his sleeve and agreed. + +One day the following winter the two met and the Man invited the Bear +to dinner. Osmo who was very hungry accepted the invitation gladly. + +First they had baked turnips. + +"Oh, but these are good!" Osmo said. "I've never tasted anything +better! What are they?" + +"Why," the Man said, "they're the turnips from that field that you and +I planted together." + +The Bear was greatly surprised. + +Then they had some freshly baked bread. + +"How good! How good!" Osmo exclaimed. "What is it?" + +"Just plain bread," the Man said, "baked from the wheat you and I +planted together." + +Osmo was more surprised than ever. + +"Why, do you know," he said, "my turnips and my bread don't taste a +bit like this!" + +The Man burst out laughing and Osmo wondered why. + +[Decoration] + + + [Illustration: _The first person they met was an old Horse. They + put their case to him_] + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE XIV + +THE REWARD OF KINDNESS + +[Decoration] + +Osmo, the Bear, used to go day after day to a field of growing rye and +eat as much as he wanted. The Farmer noticed from the Bear's tracks +that he always came by the same route. + +"I'll teach that Bear a lesson!" the Farmer thought to himself. + +So he set a snare made of a strong net and carefully covered it over +with leaves and branches. + +That day Osmo, when he came as usual to the field, got entangled in +the net and was unable to escape. + +The Farmer when he came and found him securely caught was overjoyed. + +"Now, you brute!" he said, "I've got you and I'm going to kill you!" + +"Oh, master, don't do that!" the Bear implored. "Don't kill me!" + +"Why shouldn't I kill you?" the Farmer asked. "Aren't you destroying +my rye?" + +"Let me off this time!" Osmo begged, "and I'll reward you! I swear I +will!" + +He begged and begged until at last he prevailed upon the Farmer to +open the net and let him out. + +"Now then," the Farmer said as soon as the Bear was freed, "how are +you going to reward me?" + +Osmo put a heavy paw on the Farmer's shoulder. + +"This is how I'm going to reward you," he said: "I'm going to eat you +up!" + +"What!" the Farmer exclaimed, "is that your idea of a reward for +kindness?" + +"Exactly!" Osmo declared. "In this world that is the reward kindness +always gets! Ask any one!" + +"I don't believe it! I don't believe it!" the Farmer cried. + +"Very well. I'll prove to you that I'm right. We'll ask the first +person we meet." + +The first person they met was an old Horse. They put their case to +him. + +"The Bear is right," the old Horse said. "Look at me: For thirty +years I gave my master faithful service and just this morning I heard +him say: 'It's time we killed that old plug! He's no good for work any +more and he's only eating his head off!'" + +The Bear squinted his little eyes. + +"You see!" + +"No, I don't see!" the Farmer insisted. "We must ask some one else." + +They walked on a little farther until they met an old Dog. They put +their case to him and at once the Dog said: + +"The Bear is right! Look at me: I gave my master a life time of +faithful service and just this morning I overheard him say: 'It's time +we killed that old Dog!' Alas, alas, in this wicked world goodness is +always so rewarded!" + +But still the Farmer was unsatisfied and to humor him Osmo said that +he was willing that they should put their case once more to the +judgment of an outsider. + +The next person they met was Mikko, the Fox. Mikko listened carefully +and then drawing the Farmer aside he whispered: + +"If I give judgment in your favor will you let me carry off all the +chickens in your hen-house?" + +"Indeed I will!" the Farmer promised. + +Then Mikko cleared his throat importantly and said: + +"H'm! H'm! To give fair judgment in this case I must go over all the +ground. First show me the field of rye and the damage Osmo did." + +So they went to the field and the Fox, after he had appraised the +damage, shook his head seriously. + +"It was certainly wicked of Osmo eating all that rye!... Now show me +the net." + +So they went to the snare and the Fox examined it carefully. + +"You say the Bear got entangled in this snare. I want to see just how +he did it." + +Osmo showed just how he had been caught. + +"Get all the way in," the Fox said. "I want to make sure that you +couldn't possibly get out unaided." + +So the Bear entangled himself again in the net and proved that he +couldn't possibly get out unaided. + +"Well," said Mikko, the rascal, "you deserved to get caught the first +time and now that you're in there again you can just stay there! Come +on, Mr. Farmer." + +So Mikko and the Farmer went off leaving Osmo to his fate. + +That night the Fox went to the Farmer's hen-house to claim his reward. +When he came in the chickens, of course, set up an awful squawking +that aroused the family. The Farmer stayed in bed but he sent his wife +out with a stout club. + +"It sounds to me," he said, "as if some rascally Fox is trying to +steal our hens. If you catch him, don't be gentle with him!" + +"Gentle!" repeated the wife significantly. + +She hurried out to the hen-house and when she found Mikko inside she +gave him an awful beating. In fact he barely escaped with his life. + +"Ah!" he said to himself as he limped painfully home, "to think that +this is the reward my kindness has received! Oh, what a wicked, wicked +world this is!" + +[Decoration] + + + [Illustration: _With that the Bear lifted his paw and the little + mouse scampered off_] + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE XV + +THE BEAR AND THE MOUSE + +[Decoration] + +When Osmo, the Bear, was left alone in the net, he thrashed about this +way and that until he was exhausted. Then he fell asleep. + +While he slept a host of little Mice began playing all over his great +body. + +Their tiny feet tickled him and he woke with a start. The Mice +scampered off, all but one that Osmo caught under his paw. + +"Tweek! Tweek!" the frightened little Mouse cried. "Let me go! Let me +go! Please let me go! If you do I'll reward you some day! I promise I +will!" + +Osmo let out a great roar of laughter. + +"What, little one? You'll reward me! Ha! Ha! That is good! The Mouse +will reward the Bear! Well now, that is a joke! However, little one, I +will let you go! You're too weak and insignificant for me to kill and +too small to eat. So run along!" + +With that the Bear lifted his paw and the little Mouse scampered off. + +"It will reward me for my kindness!" Osmo repeated, and in spite of +the fact that he was fast caught in a net he shook again with +laughter. + +He was still laughing when the little Mouse returned with a great army +of his fellows. All the host at once began gnawing at the ropes of the +net and in no time at all they had freed the big Bear. + +"You see," the little Mouse said, "although we are weak and +insignificant we can reward a kindness!" + +Osmo was so ashamed for having laughed at the Mice on account of their +size that all he could say as he shambled off into the forest was: + +"Thanks!" + + +[Decoration] + +ADVENTURE XVI + +THE LAST OF OSMO + +[Decoration] + +There was a Farmer that used to drive his sledge into the forest to +cut wood. Always as he drove he shouted abusively at his Horse. + +"Go along, you old plug!" he'd say. "What do you think you're good +for, anyway? If you don't move along more lively I'll give you to the +Bear for his supper--that's what I'll do with you!" + +Now Osmo, the Bear, heard about this, how the Farmer was always +talking about giving him his Horse, so one afternoon while the Farmer +was going through his usual tirade Osmo suddenly stepped out of the +bushes and said: + +"Well, Mr. Farmer, here I am! Suppose you give me my supper." + +The Farmer was greatly taken back. + +"I didn't really mean what I was saying," he stammered. "He's a good +Horse but he's a little lazy--that's all." + +Osmo stood there swaying his shoulders and twisting his head. + +"Even if he is lazy he'll taste all right to me. Come along, Mr. +Farmer, hand him over as you've promised to do this long time!" + +"But I can't afford to give you my Horse!" the Farmer cried. "He's the +only Horse I've got!" + +But the Bear was firm. + +"No matter! You have to keep your word!" + +"See here," the Farmer begged, "let me off on giving you my Horse and +I tell you what I'll do: I'll give you my Cow. I can spare the Cow +better." + +"When will you give me the Cow?" the Bear asked. + +"To-morrow," the Farmer promised. + +"Very well," Osmo said, "if you deliver me the Cow to-morrow I'll let +you off on the Horse. But see you keep your word!" + +On his way home that afternoon the Farmer visited his traps. In one +he found Mikko, the Fox. Mikko, the little rascal, begged for his life +so piteously that the Farmer with a laugh freed him. + +"You've done me a good turn," Mikko said, "and some day I'll do +something for you. Just wait and see if I don't." + +Well, early next morning the Farmer put his Cow on the sledge and +started off for the forest. On the way he met Mikko. + +"Good morning," Mikko said. "Where are you going with your Cow?" + +The Farmer stopped and told Mikko about his bargain with the Bear. + +"See here," the Fox said, "I promised you yesterday that some day I'd +do you a good turn. That day has come! I'm going to save you your Cow +and show you how you can kill that old Bear once and for all. But if I +do this, you'll have to give me the Bear's carcass after he's dead and +gone." + +"I'll be glad enough to do that," the Farmer declared. "Save me my Cow +and you may have all of that old Bear that you want!" + +"Well then," Mikko said, "go home with the Cow as quickly as you can +and come back here with ten distaffs. My plan is to have you put five +of the distaffs around my neck and five around my tail. I can make an +awful noise rattling them. When the Bear hears me and wonders who I +am, do you say to him: 'Oh! That must be my son, the Hunter! Don't you +hear the rattle of his musket?' Then between us we'll finish that old +Bear." + +The Farmer did as the Fox directed. He drove the Cow home and returned +to the forest with ten distaffs, five of which he fastened about the +Fox's neck and five about his tail. Then he drove the sledge on to the +place where he was to meet the Bear and Mikko, the Fox, crept along +quietly behind him. + +"Where's my Cow?" the Bear demanded as soon as the sledge appeared. + +"I've come to talk to you about that," the Farmer began. + +Just then there was an awful rattle of something in the bushes behind +the Farmer. + +"What's that?" the Bear cried. + +"Oh," the Farmer said, "that must be my son, the Hunter! Don't you +hear the rattle of his musket?" + +The Bear shook in terror. + +"The Hunter, you say! Mercy me, what shall I do! Oh, Mr. Farmer, save +me from the Hunter and I'll forgive you the Cow!" + +"Very well," the Farmer promised, "I'll do my best! Lie down and I'll +try to make the Hunter believe you're only a log." + +So the Bear lay down on the ground and stayed perfectly quiet. + +"Father," called the Fox in a voice that sounded like the Hunter's, +"what's that big brown thing lying on the ground near you? Is it a +Bear?" + +"No, son," the Farmer called back, "that isn't a Bear. It's only a log +of wood." + +"If it's a log of wood, father, chop it up!" + +The Farmer raised his ax. + +"Don't really chop me!" the Bear begged in a whisper. "Just pretend +to." + +"This is too good a log to chop up," the Farmer said. + +"Well, father," said the voice from the bushes, "if it's such a good +log you better put it on your sledge and take it home." + +"Lie still," the Farmer whispered, "while I put you on the sledge." + +So the Bear lay stiff and quiet and the Farmer dragged him on to the +sledge. + +"Father," the voice said, "you better tie that log down to keep it +from rolling off." + +"Don't move," the Farmer whispered, "and I'll tie you down just as if +you were a log." + +So the Bear lay perfectly still while the Farmer lashed him securely +to the sledge. + +"Father, are you sure that log can't roll off?" + +"Yes, son," the Farmer said, "I'm sure it can't roll off now." + +"Then, father, drive your ax into the end of the log and off we'll +go!" + +At that the Farmer raised his ax and with one mighty blow buried it in +the neck of the Bear. + +So that was the end of poor old lumbering Osmo! + +The Farmer was saved both his Horse and his Cow and Mikko, the rascal, +feasted on Bear meat for a week. + +[Decoration] + + [Illustration: _So that was THE END_] + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Archaic and variable spelling and grammar usage is preserved as +printed. + +Minor punctuation errors have been repaired. + +The following amendments have been made for consistency: + + Page 166--Ollie amended to Olli--""Yes," Olli shouted back, + ..." + + Page 198--Mattie amended to Matti--""But remember," Matti + warned him, ..." + + Page 200--Mattie amended to Matti--""That is true," Matti + said, ..." + +The following typographic errors have been repaired: + + Page 230--then amended to them--"Jussi looked at them in + amazement, his eyes popping out of his head." + + Page 294--satisfacion amended to satisfaction--"... the Bear + would not get the satisfaction of any admiration from him." + +Illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they were not in +the middle of a paragraph. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MIGHTY MIKKO *** + +***** This file should be named 38112-0.txt or 38112-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/1/38112/ + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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