{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_38112/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_38112","id":"gutenberg_38112","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38112","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales -- Finland","Folklore -- Finland"],"text":"MIGHTY MIKKO\n\n A Book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales\n\n BY\n PARKER FILLMORE\n\n\n WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND DECORATIONS\n BY\n JAY VAN EVEREN\n\n\n [Decoration]\n\n\n NEW YORK\n HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY\n\n\n\n\n Copyright, 1922, by\n PARKER FILLMORE\n\n PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY\n THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY\n RAHWAY, N J\n\n\n\n\n _BY PARKER FILLMORE_\n\n CZECHOSLOVAK FAIRY TALES\n THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON\n _Both Illustrated by Jan Matulka_\n\n THE LAUGHING PRINCE\n _Illustrated by Jay Van Everen_\n\n THE HICKORY LIMB\n _Illustrated by Rose Cecil O'Neill_\n\n THE ROSIE WORLD\n _Illustrated by Maginal Wright Enright_\n\n\n\n\n [Illustration: _Ilona came floating up through the waves. Page 17_]\n\n\n\n\n To my niece\n\n Phyllis\n\n These stories of her mother's native land\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nNOTE\n\n\nThe spirit of nationalism that swept over the small peoples of Europe\nin the early nineteenth century touched faraway Finland and started\nthe Finns on the quest of the Finnish. There as elsewhere scholars who\nwere also patriots found that the native tongue, lost to the educated\nand the well-to-do, had been preserved in the songs and stories which\nwere current among the peasants. Elias L\u00f6nnrot spent a long and busy\nlife collecting those ancient _runos_ from which he succeeded in\nbuilding up a national epic, the _Kalevala_. This is L\u00f6nnrot's great\ncontribution to his own country and to the world. Beside the material\nfor the _Kalevala_ L\u00f6nnrot made important collections of lyrics,\nproverbs, and stories.\n\nDuring his time and since other patriot scholars have made faithful\nrecords of the songs and tales which the old Finnish minstrels, the\n_runolaulajat_, chanted to the strains of the _kantele_. The mass of\nsuch material now gathered together in the archives of the Society of\nFinnish Literature at Helsingfors is imposing in bulk and of great\nimportance to the student of comparative folklore.\n\nMy own excursions into the Finnish have been made possible through the\nkindness and endless patience of my friend, Lydia Tulonen (Mrs. Kurt\nJ. Rahlson). With her as a native guide I have been wandering some\ntime through the byways of Finnish folklore. The present volume is the\ntraveler's pack I have brought home with me filled with strange\ntreasures which will, I hope, seem as lovely to others as they seemed\nto me when first I came upon them.\n\nThe stories as I offer them are not translations but my own versions.\nLiteral translations from the Finnish would make small appeal to the\ngeneral reader. To English ears the Finnish is stiff, bald, and\nmonotonous. One has only to read or attempt to read Kirby's excellent\ntranslation of the _Kalevala_ to realize the truth of this statement.\nSo I make no apology for retelling these tales in a manner more likely\nto prove entertaining to the English reader, whether child or adult.\n\nIn some form or other all the tales in this book may be found in the\nvarious folklore collections made by Eero Salmelainen, one of the\npatriotic young scholars who followed in L\u00f6nnrot's footsteps. His\nbooks were sponsored by the Society of Finnish Literature and used in\nits campaign to bring back the Finnish language to the Finns at a time\nwhen Swedish was the official language of the country.\n\nFull of local color as these stories are, it would be vain to pretend\nthat they are not, for the most part, variants of stories told the\nworld over. All that I can claim for them is that they are dramatic\nand picturesque, that they are told with a wealth of charming detail\nwhich is essentially Finnish, and that they are certainly new to the\ngenerality of English readers. _The Three Chests_, so characteristic\nin feeling of a country famous for its lakes and marshes, is the\nvariant of a German story which Grimm gives as _Fitcher's Bird_. Of\n_The Forest Bride_ I have found variants in the folklore of many\nlands. There are several very beautiful ones in the Russian; in other\nbooks I myself have retold two, one current among the Czechs and one\namong the Serbians; Grimm has two different versions in _The Three\nFeathers_ and _The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat_; and Madame d'Aulnoy\nhas used the same story in her elaborate tale, _The White Cat_. There\nis a well-known Oriental version of _Mighty Mikko_ in which the part\nof the fox is played by a jackal and I am sure that Mikko's faithful\nretainer, though neither city-bred nor polished, is after all pretty\nclosely related to that most debonnaire of Frenchmen, _Puss in Boots_.\nPerrault probably and Madame d'Aulnoy certainly are in turn indebted\nto Straparola. And so it goes.\n\nThe little cycle of animal stories included under _Mikko the Fox_ will\nof course instantly invite comparison with the Beast Epic of _Reynard\nthe Fox_. The two have many episodes in common and both have episodes\nto be found in \u00c6sop and in those books of animal analogues, widely\nread in medi\u00e6val times, _Physiologus_ and the _Disciplina Clericalis_\nof Petrus Alfonsus. The _Reynard_ as we have it is a finished satire\non church and state and in its present form has been current in Europe\nsince the twelfth century. It was thought at one time that the animal\nstories found in Finland were debased versions of the _Reynard_\nstories, but scholars are now of opinion that they antedate _Reynard_\nand are similar to the earlier simpler stories upon which the\n_Reynard_ cycle was originally built. This makes the little Finnish\ntales of great interest to the student. Needless to say I do not\npresent them for this reason but because they seem to me charming\nmerely as fables. The animals here are not the clerics and the judges\nand the nobles that the _Reynard_ animals are, but plain downright\nFinnish peasants, sometimes stupid, often dull, frequently amusing,\nand always very human.\n\nI have taken one liberty with spelling. I have transliterated\nSy\u00f6j\u00e4t\u00e4r, the name of the dread Finnish witch, as Suyettar. I have\nbeen unwilling to translate by the insufficient word, _bath-house_ or\n_vapor bath_, that very characteristic institution of Finnish family\nlife, the _sauna_, but have retained the Finnish word, _sauna_,\nallowing the context in each case to indicate the meaning.\n\n P. F.\n\n _New York_\n _June 19, 1922_\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n PAGE\n THE TRUE BRIDE: The Story of Ilona and the King's Son 1\n\n MIGHTY MIKKO: The Story of a Poor Woodsman and a\n Grateful Fox 25\n\n THE THREE CHESTS: The Story of the Wicked Old Man\n of the Sea 47\n\n LOG: The Story of the Hero Who Released the Sun 67\n\n THE LITTLE SISTER: The Story of Suyettar and the\n Nine Brothers 99\n\n THE FOREST BRIDE: The Story of a Little Mouse Who\n was a Princess 121\n\n THE ENCHANTED GROUSE: The Story of Helli and\n the Little Locked Box 141\n\n THE TERRIBLE OLLI: The Story of an Honest Finn and\n a Wicked Troll 155\n\n THE DEVIL'S HIDE: The Story of the Boy Who Wouldn't\n Lose His Temper 171\n\n THE MYSTERIOUS SERVANT: The Story of a Young Man Who\n Respected the Dead 193\n\n FAMILIAR FACES:\n\n I Mary, Mary, So Contrary! 209\n\n II Jane, Jane, Don't Complain! 215\n\n III Susan Walker, What a Talker! 221\n\n MIKKO THE FOX: A Nursery Epic in Sixteen Adventures\n\n I The Animals Take a Bite 229\n\n II The Partners 235\n\n III The Fox and the Crow 243\n\n IV The Chief Mourner 251\n\n V Mirri, the Cat 257\n\n VI The Fox's Servant 263\n\n VII The Wolf Sings 267\n\n VIII The Clever Goat 273\n\n IX The Harvest 279\n\n X The Porridge 283\n\n XI Nurse Mikko 287\n\n XII The Bear Says _North_ 293\n\n XIII Osmo's Share 297\n\n XIV The Reward of Kindness 301\n\n XV The Bear and the Mouse 307\n\n XVI The Last of Osmo 309\n\n\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nFULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n Ilona came floating up through the waves _Frontispiece_\n\n PAGE\n The old king snake has wound himself around Osmo's\n arm 15\n\n The King thought that if Mikko should see his daughter 33\n\n She fitted the key in the lock 57\n\n \"This last and mightiest battle is for me!\" 85\n\n Suyettar bewitching Kerttu 111\n\n She beckoned to Veikko 135\n\n On it flew until it reached the broad Ocean 147\n\n Olli and the Troll's horse 161\n\n From the bones of the cattle he laid three bridges 183\n\n \"She is under an evil enchantment and I am delivering\n her!\" 203\n\n When she got to the middle of the stream 208\n\n They were so busy eating and drinking 214\n\n They carried home the treasure on their backs 220\n\n Osmo, the Bear, grunted out: \"Huh! That's easy! We'll\n eat the smallest of us next!\" 228\n\n \"Wake up, Pekka! Wake up! There's butter running out\n of your nose!\" 239\n\n \"I'll teach that Crow to interfere with my affairs!\"\n the Fox muttered to himself as he trotted off 249\n\n And Mikko, beginning with a little whimpering sound,\n slowly rose to a high heartrending cry 253\n\n He jerked quickly away and fled and the Bear was left\n standing with his mouth wide open 259\n\n A terrible creature landed on his nose and drove it\n full of pins and needles 262\n\n The Wolf went staggering around the room howling at\n the top of his voice 269\n\n In the confusion that followed the Wolves stampeded,\n running helter-skelter in all directions 272\n\n \"Here are three of us and, see, here on the floor is\n our harvest already divided into three heaps\" 278\n\n He dropped it in the water and of course it spread out\n far and wide and the current carried it off 282\n\n He ran after Mikko and was about to overtake him when\n Mikko slipped into a crevice in the rocks. Only one\n paw stuck out 289\n\n Of course the instant he opened his mouth, the Grouse\n flew away 292\n\n \"Why, do you know,\" he said, \"my turnips and my bread\n don't taste a bit like this!\" 296\n\n The first person they met was an old Horse. They put\n their case to him 300\n\n With that the Bear lifted his paw and the little Mouse\n scampered off 306\n\n So that was the End 315\n\n\n\n\nTHE TRUE BRIDE\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_The Story of Ilona and the King's Son_\n\n\nTHE TRUE BRIDE\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere were once two orphans, a brother and a sister, who lived alone\nin the old farmhouse where their fathers before them had lived for\nmany generations. The brother's name was Osmo, the sister's Ilona.\nOsmo was an industrious youth, but the farm was small and barren and\nhe was hard put to it to make a livelihood.\n\n\"Sister,\" he said one day, \"I think it might be well if I went out\ninto the world and found work.\"\n\n\"Do as you think best, brother,\" Ilona said. \"I'm sure I can manage on\nhere alone.\"\n\nSo Osmo started off, promising to come back for his sister as soon as\nhe could give her a new home. He wandered far and wide and at last got\nemployment from the King's Son as a shepherd.\n\nThe King's Son was about Osmo's age, and often when he met Osmo\ntending his flocks he would stop and talk to him.\n\nOne day Osmo told the King's Son about his sister, Ilona.\n\n\"I have wandered far over the face of the earth,\" he said, \"and never\nhave I seen so beautiful a maiden as Ilona.\"\n\n\"What does she look like?\" the King's Son asked.\n\nOsmo drew a picture of her and she seemed to the King's Son so\nbeautiful that at once he fell in love with her.\n\n\"Osmo,\" he said, \"if you will go home and get your sister, I will\nmarry her.\"\n\nSo Osmo hurried home not by the long land route by which he had come\nbut straight over the water in a boat.\n\n\"Sister,\" he cried, as soon as he saw Ilona, \"you must come with me at\nonce for the King's Son wishes to marry you!\"\n\nHe thought Ilona would be overjoyed, but she sighed and shook her\nhead.\n\n\"What is it, sister? Why do you sigh?\"\n\n\"Because it grieves me to leave this old house where our fathers have\nlived for so many generations.\"\n\n\"Nonsense, Ilona! What is this little old house compared to the King's\ncastle where you will live once you marry the King's Son!\"\n\nBut Ilona only shook her head.\n\n\"It's no use, brother! I can't bear to leave this old house until the\ngrindstone with which our fathers for generations ground their meal is\nworn out.\"\n\nWhen Osmo found she was firm, he went secretly and broke the old\ngrindstone into small pieces. He then put the pieces together so that\nthe stone looked the same as before. But of course the next time Ilona\ntouched it, it fell apart.\n\n\"Now, sister, you'll come, will you not?\" Osmo asked.\n\nBut again Ilona shook her head.\n\n\"It's no use, brother. I can't bear to go until the old stool where\nour mothers have sat spinning these many generations is worn through.\"\n\nSo again Osmo took things into his own hands and going secretly to the\nold spinning stool he broke it and when Ilona sat on it again it fell\nto pieces.\n\nThen Ilona said she couldn't go until the old mortar which had been in\nuse for generations should fall to bits at a blow from the pestle.\nOsmo cracked the mortar and the next time Ilona struck it with the\npestle it broke.\n\nThen Ilona said she couldn't go until the old worn doorsill over which\nso many of their forefathers had walked should fall to splinters at\nthe brush of her skirts. So Osmo secretly split the old doorsill into\nthin slivers and, when next Ilona stepped over it, the brush of her\nskirts sent the splinters flying.\n\n\"I see now I must go,\" Ilona said, \"for the house of our forefathers\nno longer holds me.\"\n\nSo she packed all her ribbons and her bodices and skirts in a bright\nwooden box and, calling her little dog Pilka, she stepped into the\nboat and Osmo rowed her off in the direction of the King's castle.\n\nSoon they passed a long narrow spit of land at the end of which stood\na woman waving her arms. That is she looked like a woman. Really she\nwas Suyettar but they, of course, did not know this.\n\n\"Take me in your boat!\" she cried.\n\n\"Shall we?\" Osmo asked his sister.\n\n\"I don't think we ought to,\" Ilona said. \"We don't know who she is or\nwhat she wants and she may be evil.\"\n\nSo Osmo rowed on. But the woman kept shouting:\n\n\"Hi, there! Take me in your boat! Take me!\"\n\nA second time Osmo paused and asked his sister:\n\n\"Don't you think we ought to take her?\"\n\n\"No,\" Ilona said.\n\nSo Osmo rowed on again. At this the creature raised such a pitiful\noutcry demanding what they meant denying assistance to a poor woman\nthat Osmo was unable longer to refuse and in spite of Ilona's warning\nhe rowed to land.\n\nSuyettar instantly jumped into the boat and seated herself in the\nmiddle with her face towards Osmo and her back towards Ilona.\n\n\"What a fine young man!\" Suyettar said in whining flattering tones.\n\"See how strong he is at the oars! And what a beautiful girl, too! I\ndaresay the King's Son would fall in love with her if ever he saw\nher!\"\n\nThereupon Osmo very foolishly told Suyettar that the King's Son had\nalready promised to marry Ilona. At that an evil look came into\nSuyettar's face and she sat silent for a time biting her fingers. Then\nshe began mumbling a spell that made Osmo deaf to what Ilona was\nsaying and Ilona deaf to what Osmo was saying.\n\nAt last in the distance the towers of the King's castle appeared.\n\n\"Stand up, sister!\" Osmo said. \"Shake out your skirts and arrange your\npretty ribbons! We'll soon be landing now!\"\n\nIlona could see her brother's lips moving but of course she could not\nhear what he was saying.\n\n\"What is it, brother?\" she asked.\n\nSuyettar answered for him:\n\n\"Osmo orders you to jump headlong into the water!\"\n\n\"No! No!\" Ilona cried. \"He couldn't order anything so cruel as that!\"\n\nPresently Osmo said:\n\n\"Sister, what ails you? Don't you hear me? Shake out your skirts and\narrange your pretty ribbons for we'll soon be landing now.\"\n\n\"What is it, brother?\" Ilona asked.\n\nAs before Suyettar answered for him:\n\n\"Osmo orders you to jump headlong into the water!\"\n\n\"Brother, how can you order so cruel a thing!\" Ilona cried, bursting\ninto tears. \"Is it for this you made me leave the home of my fathers?\"\n\nA third time Osmo said:\n\n\"Stand up, sister, and shake out your skirts and arrange your ribbons!\nWe'll soon be landing now!\"\n\n\"I can't hear you, brother! What is it you say?\"\n\nSuyettar turned on her fiercely and screamed:\n\n\"Osmo orders you to jump headlong into the water!\"\n\n\"If he says I must, I must!\" poor Ilona sobbed, and with that she\nleapt overboard.\n\nOsmo tried to save her but Suyettar held him back and with her own\narms rowed off and Ilona was left to sink.\n\n\"What will become of me now!\" Osmo cried. \"When the King's Son finds I\nhave not brought him my sister he will surely order my death!\"\n\n\"Not at all!\" Suyettar said. \"Do as I say and no harm will come to\nyou. Offer me to the King's Son and tell him I am your sister. He\nwon't know the difference and anyway I'm sure I'm just as beautiful as\nIlona ever was!\"\n\nWith that Suyettar opened the wooden box that held Ilona's clothes and\nhelped herself to skirt and bodice and gay colored ribbons. She decked\nherself out in these and for a little while she really did succeed in\nlooking like a pretty young girl.\n\nSo Osmo presented Suyettar to the King's Son as Ilona, and the King's\nSon because he had given his word married her. But before one day was\npast, he called Osmo to him and asked him angrily:\n\n\"What did you mean by telling me your sister was beautiful?\"\n\n\"Isn't she beautiful?\" Osmo faltered.\n\n\"No! I thought she was at first but she isn't! She is ugly and evil\nand you shall pay the penalty for having deceived me!\"\n\nThereupon he ordered that Osmo be shut up in a place filled with\nserpents.\n\n\"If you are innocent,\" the King's Son said, \"the serpents will not\nharm you. If you are guilty they will devour you!\"\n\nMeanwhile poor Ilona when she jumped into the water sank down, down,\ndown, until she reached the Sea King's palace. They received her\nkindly there and comforted her and the Sea King's Son, touched by her\ngrief and beauty, offered to marry her. But Ilona was homesick for the\nupper world and would not listen to him.\n\n\"I want to see my brother again!\" she wept.\n\nThey told her that the King's Son had thrown her brother to the\nserpents and had married Suyettar in her stead, but Ilona still begged\nso pitifully to be allowed to return to earth that at last the Sea\nKing said:\n\n\"Very well, then! For three successive nights I will allow you to\nreturn to the upper world. But after that never again!\"\n\nSo they decked Ilona in the lovely jewels of the sea with great\nstrands of pearls about her neck and to each of her ankles they\nattached long silver chains. As she rose in the water the sound of the\nchains was like the chiming of silver bells and could be heard for\nfive miles.\n\nIlona came to the surface of the water just where Osmo had landed. The\nfirst thing she saw was his boat at the water's edge and curled up\nasleep in the bottom of the boat her own little dog, Pilka.\n\n\"Pilka!\" Ilona cried, and the little dog woke with a bark of joy and\nlicked Ilona's hand and yelped and frisked.\n\nThen Ilona sang this magic song to Pilka:\n\n \"Peely, peely, Pilka, pide,\n Lift the latch and slip inside!\n Past the watchdog in the yard,\n Past the sleeping men on guard!\n Creep in softly as a snake,\n Then creep out before they wake!\n Peely, peely, Pilka, pide,\n Peely, peely, Pilka!\"\n\nPilka barked and frisked and said:\n\n\"Yes, mistress, yes! I'll do whatever you bid me!\"\n\nIlona gave the little dog an embroidered square of gold and silver\nwhich she herself had worked down in the Sea King's palace.\n\n\"Take this,\" she said to Pilka, \"and put it on the pillow where the\nKing's Son lies asleep. Perhaps when he sees it he will know that it\ncomes from Osmo's true sister and that the frightful creature he has\nmarried is Suyettar. Then perhaps he will release Osmo before the\nserpents devour him. Go now, my faithful Pilka, and come back to me\nbefore the dawn.\"\n\nSo Pilka raced off to the King's palace carrying the square of\nembroidery in her teeth. Ilona waited and half an hour before sunrise\nthe little dog came panting back.\n\n\"What news, Pilka? How fares my brother and how is my poor love, the\nKing's Son?\"\n\n\"Osmo is still with the serpents,\" Pilka answered, \"but they haven't\neaten him yet. I left the embroidered square on the pillow where the\nKing's Son's head was lying. Suyettar was asleep on the bed beside him\nwhere you should be, dear mistress. Suyettar's awful mouth was open\nand she was snoring horribly. The King's Son moved uneasily for he was\ntroubled even in his sleep.\"\n\n\"And did you go through the castle, Pilka?\"\n\n\"Yes, dear mistress.\"\n\n\"And did you see the remains of the wedding feast?\"\n\n\"Yes, dear mistress, the remains of a feast that shamed the King's\nSon, for Suyettar served bones instead of meat, fish heads, turnip\ntops, and bread burned to a cinder.\"\n\n\"Good Pilka!\" Ilona said. \"Good little dog! You have done well! Now\nthe dawn is coming and I must go back to the Sea King's palace. But I\nshall come again to-night and also to-morrow night and do you be here\nwaiting for me.\"\n\nPilka promised and Ilona sank down into the sea to a clanking of\nchains that sounded like silver bells. The King's Son heard them in\nhis sleep and for a moment woke and said:\n\n\"What's that?\"\n\n\"What's what?\" snarled Suyettar. \"You're dreaming! Go back to sleep!\"\n\nA few hours later when he woke again, he found the lovely square of\nembroidery on his pillow.\n\n\"Who made this?\" he cried.\n\nSuyettar was busy combing her snaky locks. She turned on him quickly.\n\n\"Who made what?\"\n\nWhen she saw the embroidery she tried to snatch it from him, but he\nheld it tight.\n\n\"I made it, of course!\" she declared. \"Who but me would sit up all\nnight and work while you lay snoring!\"\n\nBut the King's Son, as he folded the embroidery, muttered to himself:\n\n\"It doesn't look to me much like your work!\"\n\nAfter he had breakfasted, the King's Son asked for news of Osmo. A\nslave was sent to the place of the serpents and when he returned he\nreported that Osmo was sitting amongst them uninjured.\n\n\"The old king snake has made friends with him,\" he added, \"and has\nwound himself around Osmo's arm.\"\n\nThe King's Son was amazed at this news and also relieved, for the\nwhole affair troubled him sorely and he was beginning to suspect a\nmystery.\n\nHe knew an old wise woman who lived alone in a little hut on the\nseashore and he decided he would go and consult her. So he went to her\nand told her about Osmo and how Osmo had deceived him in regard to his\nsister. Then he told her how the serpents instead of devouring Osmo\nhad made friends with him and last he showed her the square of lovely\nembroidery he had found on his pillow that morning.\n\n\"There is a mystery somewhere, granny,\" he said in conclusion, \"and I\nknow not how to solve it.\"\n\nThe old woman looked at him thoughtfully.\n\n\"My son,\" she said at last, \"that is never Osmo's sister that you have\nmarried. Take an old woman's word--it is Suyettar! Yet Osmo's sister\nmust be alive and the embroidery must be a token from her. It\nprobably means that she begs you to release her brother.\"\n\n [Illustration: _The old king snake has wound himself around Osmo's\n arm_]\n\n\"Suyettar!\" repeated the King's Son, aghast.\n\nAt first he couldn't believe such a horrible thing possible and yet\nthat, if it were so, would explain much.\n\n\"I wonder if you're right,\" he said. \"I must be on my guard!\"\n\nThat night on the stroke of midnight to the sound of silver chimes\nIlona came floating up through the waves and little Pilka, as she\nappeared, greeted her with barks of joy.\n\nAs before Ilona sang:\n\n \"Peely, peely, Pilka, pide,\n Lift the latch and slip inside!\n Past the watchdog in the yard,\n Past the sleeping men on guard!\n Creep in softly as a snake,\n Then creep out before they wake!\n Peely, peely, Pilka, pide,\n Peely, peely, Pilka!\"\n\nThis time Ilona gave Pilka a shirt for the King's Son. Beautifully\nembroidered it was in gold and silver and Ilona herself had worked it\nin the Sea King's palace.\n\nPilka carried it safely to the castle and left it on the pillow where\nthe King's Son could see it as soon as he woke. Then Pilka visited the\nplace of the serpents and before the first ray of dawn was back at the\nseashore to reassure Ilona of Osmo's safety.\n\nThen dawn came and Ilona, as she sank in the waves to the chime of\nsilver bells, called out to Pilka:\n\n\"Meet me here to-night at the same hour! Fail me not, dear Pilka, for\nto-night is the last night that the Sea King will allow me to come to\nthe upper world!\"\n\nPilka, howling with grief, made promise:\n\n\"I'll be here, dear mistress, that I will!\"\n\nThe King's Son that morning, as he opened his eyes, saw the\nembroidered shirt lying on the pillow at his head. He thought at first\nhe must be dreaming for it was more beautiful than any shirt that had\never been worked by human fingers.\n\n\"Ah!\" he sighed at last, \"who made this?\"\n\n\"Who made what?\" Suyettar demanded rudely.\n\nWhen she saw the shirt she tried to snatch it, but the King's Son held\nit from her. Then she pretended to laugh and said:\n\n\"Oh, that! I made it, of course! Do you think any one else in the\nworld would sit up all night and work for you while you lie there\nsnoring! And small thanks I get for it, too!\"\n\n\"It doesn't look to me like your work!\" said the King's Son\nsignificantly.\n\nAgain the slave reported to him that Osmo was alive and unhurt by the\nserpents.\n\n\"Strange!\" thought the King's Son.\n\nHe took the embroidered shirt and made the old wise woman another\nvisit.\n\n\"Ah!\" she said, when she saw the shirt, \"now I understand! Listen, my\nPrince: last night at midnight I was awakened by the chime of silver\nbells and I got up and looked out the door. Just there at the water's\nedge, close to that little boat, I saw a strange sight. A lovely\nmaiden rose from the waves holding in her hands the very shirt that\nyou now have. A little dog that was lying in the boat greeted her with\nbarks of joy. She sang a magic rime to the dog and gave it the shirt\nand off it ran. That maid, my Prince, must be Ilona. She must be in\nthe Sea King's power and I think she is begging you to rescue her and\nto release her brother.\"\n\nThe King's Son slowly nodded his head.\n\n\"Granny, I'm sure what you say is true! Help me to rescue Ilona and I\nshall reward you richly.\"\n\n\"Then, my son, you must act at once, for to-night, I heard Ilona say,\nis the last night that the Sea King will allow her to come to the\nupper world. Go now to the smith and have him forge you a strong iron\nchain and a great strong scythe. Then to-night hide you down yonder in\nthe shadow of the boat. At midnight when you hear the silver chimes\nand the maiden slowly rises from the waves, throw the iron chain about\nher and quickly draw her to you. Then, with one sweep of your scythe,\ncut the silver chains that are fastened to her ankles. But remember,\nmy son, that is not all. She is under enchantment and as you try to\ngrasp her the Sea King will change her to many things--a fish, a bird,\na fly, and I know not what, and if in any form she escape you, then\nall is lost.\"\n\nAt once the King's Son hurried away to the smithy and had the smith\nforge him a strong iron chain and a heavy sharp scythe. Then when\nnight fell he hid in the shadow of the boat and waited. Pilka snuggled\nup beside him. Midnight came and to the sweet chiming as of silver\nbells Ilona slowly rose from the waves. As she came she began singing:\n\n \"Peely, peely, Pilka, pide----\"\n\nInstantly the King's Son threw the strong iron chain about her and\ndrew her to him. Then with one mighty sweep of the scythe he severed\nthe silver chains that were attached to her ankles and the silver\nchains fell chiming into the depths. Another instant and the maiden in\nhis arms was no maiden but a slimy fish that squirmed and wriggled and\nalmost slipped through his fingers. He killed the fish and, lo! it was\nnot a fish but a frightened bird that struggled to escape. He killed\nthe bird and, lo! it was not a bird but a writhing lizard. And so on\nthrough many transformations, growing finally small and weak until at\nlast there was only a mosquito. He crushed this and in his arms he\nfound again the lovely Ilona.\n\n\"Ah, dear one,\" he said, \"you are my true bride and not Suyettar who\npretended she was you! Come, we will go at once to the castle and\nconfront her!\"\n\nBut Ilona cried out at this:\n\n\"Not there, my Prince, not there! Suyettar if she saw me would kill me\nand devour me! Keep me from her!\"\n\n\"Very well, my dear one,\" the King's Son said. \"We'll wait until\nto-morrow and after to-morrow there will be no Suyettar to fear.\"\n\nSo for that night they took shelter in the old wise woman's hut, Ilona\nand the King's Son and faithful little Pilka.\n\nThe next morning early the King's Son returned to the castle and had\nthe _sauna_ heated. Just inside the door he had a deep hole dug and\nfilled it with burning tar. Then over the top of the hole he stretched\na brown mat and on the brown mat a blue mat. When all was ready he\nwent indoors and roused Suyettar.\n\n\"Where have you been all night?\" she demanded angrily.\n\n\"Forgive me this time,\" he begged in pretended humility, \"and I\npromise never again to be parted from my own true bride. Come now, my\ndear, and bathe for the _sauna_ is ready.\"\n\nThen Suyettar, who loved to have people see her go to the _sauna_ just\nas if she were a real human being, put on a long bathrobe and clapped\nher hands. Four slaves appeared. Two took up the train of her bathrobe\nand the two others supported her on either side. Slowly she marched\nout of the castle, across the courtyard, and over to the _sauna_.\n\n\"They all really think I'm a human princess!\" she said to herself, and\nshe was so sure she was beautiful and admired that she tossed her head\nand smirked from side to side and took little mincing steps.\n\nWhen she reached the _sauna_ she was ready to drop the bathrobe and\njump over the doorsill to the steaming shelf, but the King's Son\nwhispered:\n\n\"Nay! Nay! Remember your dignity as a beautiful princess and walk\nover the blue mat!\"\n\nSo with one more toss of her head, one more smirk of her ugly face,\nSuyettar stepped on the blue mat and sank into the hole of burning\ntar. Then the King's Son quickly locked the door of the _sauna_ and\nleft her there to burn in the tar, for burning, you know, is the only\nway to destroy Suyettar. As she burned the last hateful thing Suyettar\ndid was to tear out handfuls of her hair and scatter them broadcast in\nthe air.\n\n\"Let these,\" she cried, yelling and cursing, \"turn into mosquitos and\nworms and moths and trouble mankind forever!\"\n\nThen her yells grew fainter and at last ceased altogether and the\nKing's Son knew that it was now safe to bring Ilona home. First,\nhowever, he had Osmo released from the place of the serpents and asked\nhis forgiveness for the unjust punishment.\n\nThen he and Osmo together went to the hut of the old wise woman and\nthere with tears of happiness the brother and sister were reunited.\nThe King's Son to show his gratitude to the old wise woman begged her\nto accompany them to the castle and presently they all set forth with\nPilka frisking ahead and barking for joy.\n\nThat day there was a new wedding feast spread at the castle and this\ntime it was not bones and fish heads and burnt crusts but such food as\nthe King's Son had not tasted for many a day.\n\nTo celebrate his happy marriage the King's Son made Osmo his\nchamberlain and gave Pilka a beautiful new collar.\n\n\"Now at last,\" Ilona said, \"I am glad I left the house of my\nforefathers.\"\n\n\n\n\nMIGHTY MIKKO\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_The Story of a Poor Woodsman and a Grateful Fox_\n\n\nMIGHTY MIKKO\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once an old woodsman and his wife who had an only son named\nMikko. As the mother lay dying the young man wept bitterly.\n\n\"When you are gone, my dear mother,\" he said, \"there will be no one\nleft to think of me.\"\n\nThe poor woman comforted him as best she could and said to him:\n\n\"You will still have your father.\"\n\nShortly after the woman's death, the old man, too, was taken ill.\n\n\"Now, indeed, I shall be left desolate and alone,\" Mikko thought, as\nhe sat beside his father's bedside and saw him grow weaker and weaker.\n\n\"My boy,\" the old man said just before he died, \"I have nothing to\nleave you but the three snares with which these many years I have\ncaught wild animals. Those snares now belong to you. When I am dead,\ngo into the woods and if you find a wild creature caught in any of\nthem, free it gently and bring it home alive.\"\n\nAfter his father's death, Mikko remembered the snares and went out to\nthe woods to see them. The first was empty and also the second, but in\nthe third he found a little red Fox. He carefully lifted the spring\nthat had shut down on one of the Fox's feet and then carried the\nlittle creature home in his arms. He shared his supper with it and\nwhen he lay down to sleep the Fox curled up at his feet. They lived\ntogether some time until they became close friends.\n\n\"Mikko,\" said the Fox one day, \"why are you so sad?\"\n\n\"Because I'm lonely.\"\n\n\"Pooh!\" said the Fox. \"That's no way for a young man to talk! You\nought to get married! Then you wouldn't feel lonely!\"\n\n\"Married!\" Mikko repeated. \"How can I get married? I can't marry a\npoor girl because I'm too poor myself and a rich girl wouldn't marry\nme.\"\n\n\"Nonsense!\" said the Fox. \"You're a fine well set up young man and\nyou're kind and gentle. What more could a princess ask?\"\n\nMikko laughed to think of a princess wanting him for a husband.\n\n\"I mean what I say!\" the Fox insisted. \"Take our own Princess now.\nWhat would you think of marrying her?\"\n\nMikko laughed louder than before.\n\n\"I have heard,\" he said, \"that she is the most beautiful princess in\nthe world! Any man would be happy to marry her!\"\n\n\"Very well,\" the Fox said, \"if you feel that way about her then I'll\narrange the wedding for you.\"\n\nWith that the little Fox actually did trot off to the royal castle and\ngain audience with the King.\n\n\"My master sends you greetings,\" the Fox said, \"and he begs you to\nloan him your bushel measure.\"\n\n\"My bushel measure!\" the King repeated in surprise. \"Who is your\nmaster and why does he want my bushel measure?\"\n\n\"Ssh!\" the Fox whispered as though he didn't want the courtiers to\nhear what he was saying. Then slipping up quite close to the King he\nmurmured in his ear:\n\n\"Surely you have heard of Mikko, haven't you?--Mighty Mikko as he's\ncalled.\"\n\nThe King had never heard of any Mikko who was known as Mighty Mikko\nbut, thinking that perhaps he should have heard of him, he shook his\nhead and murmured:\n\n\"H'm! Mikko! Mighty Mikko! Oh, to be sure! Yes, yes, of course!\"\n\n\"My master is about to start off on a journey and he needs a bushel\nmeasure for a very particular reason.\"\n\n\"I understand! I understand!\" the King said, although he didn't\nunderstand at all, and he gave orders that the bushel measure which\nthey used in the storeroom of the castle be brought in and given to\nthe Fox.\n\nThe Fox carried off the measure and hid it in the woods. Then he\nscurried about to all sorts of little out of the way nooks and\ncrannies where people had hidden their savings and he dug up a gold\npiece here and a silver piece there until he had a handful. Then he\nwent back to the woods and stuck the various coins in the cracks of\nthe measure. The next day he returned to the King.\n\n\"My master, Mighty Mikko,\" he said, \"sends you thanks, O King, for the\nuse of your bushel measure.\"\n\nThe King held out his hand and when the Fox gave him the measure he\npeeped inside to see if by chance it contained any trace of what had\nrecently been measured. His eye of course at once caught the glint of\nthe gold and silver coins lodged in the cracks.\n\n\"Ah!\" he said, thinking Mikko must be a very mighty lord indeed to be\nso careless of his wealth; \"I should like to meet your master. Won't\nyou and he come and visit me?\"\n\nThis was what the Fox wanted the King to say but he pretended to\nhesitate.\n\n\"I thank your Majesty for the kind invitation,\" he said, \"but I fear\nmy master can't accept it just now. He wants to get married soon and\nwe are about to start off on a long journey to inspect a number of\nforeign princesses.\"\n\nThis made the King all the more anxious to have Mikko visit him at\nonce for he thought that if Mikko should see his daughter before he\nsaw those foreign princesses he might fall in love with her and marry\nher. So he said to the Fox:\n\n\"My dear fellow, you must prevail on your master to make me a visit\nbefore he starts out on his travels! You will, won't you?\"\n\nThe Fox looked this way and that as if he were too embarrassed to\nspeak.\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" he said at last, \"I pray you pardon my frankness. The\ntruth is you are not rich enough to entertain my master and your\ncastle isn't big enough to house the immense retinue that always\nattends him.\"\n\nThe King, who by this time was frantic to see Mikko, lost his head\ncompletely.\n\n\"My dear Fox,\" he said, \"I'll give you anything in the world if you\nprevail upon your master to visit me at once! Couldn't you suggest to\nhim to travel with a modest retinue this time?\"\n\nThe Fox shook his head.\n\n\"No. His rule is either to travel with a great retinue or to go on\nfoot disguised as a poor woodsman attended only by me.\"\n\n\"Couldn't you prevail on him to come to me disguised as a poor\nwoodsman?\" the King begged. \"Once he was here, I could place gorgeous\nclothes at his disposal.\"\n\nBut still the Fox shook his head.\n\n\"I fear Your Majesty's wardrobe doesn't contain the kind of clothes my\nmaster is accustomed to.\"\n\n\"I assure you I've got some very good clothes,\" the King said. \"Come\nalong this minute and we'll go through them and I'm sure you'll find\nsome that your master would wear.\"\n\nSo they went to a room which was like a big wardrobe with hundreds and\nhundreds of hooks upon which were hung hundreds of coats and breeches\nand embroidered shirts. The King ordered his attendants to bring the\ncostumes down one by one and place them before the Fox.\n\n [Illustration: _The King thought that if Mikko should see his\n daughter_]\n\nThey began with the plainer clothes.\n\n\"Good enough for most people,\" the Fox said, \"but not for my master.\"\n\nThen they took down garments of a finer grade.\n\n\"I'm afraid you're going to all this trouble for nothing,\" the Fox\nsaid. \"Frankly now, don't you realize that my master couldn't possibly\nput on any of these things!\"\n\nThe King, who had hoped to keep for his own use his most gorgeous\nclothes of all, now ordered these to be shown.\n\nThe Fox looked at them sideways, sniffed them critically, and at last\nsaid:\n\n\"Well, perhaps my master would consent to wear these for a few days.\nThey are not what he is accustomed to wear but I will say this for\nhim: he is not proud.\"\n\nThe King was overjoyed.\n\n\"Very well, my dear Fox, I'll have the guest chambers put in readiness\nfor your master's visit and I'll have all these, my finest clothes,\nlaid out for him. You won't disappoint me, will you?\"\n\n\"I'll do my best,\" the Fox promised.\n\nWith that he bade the King a civil good day and ran home to Mikko.\n\nThe next day as the Princess was peeping out of an upper window of\nthe castle, she saw a young woodsman approaching accompanied by a Fox.\nHe was a fine stalwart youth and the Princess, who knew from the\npresence of the Fox that he must be Mikko, gave a long sigh and\nconfided to her serving maid:\n\n\"I think I could fall in love with that young man if he really were\nonly a woodsman!\"\n\nLater when she saw him arrayed in her father's finest clothes--which\nlooked so well on Mikko that no one even recognized them as the\nKing's--she lost her heart completely and when Mikko was presented to\nher she blushed and trembled just as any ordinary girl might before a\nhandsome young man.\n\nAll the Court was equally delighted with Mikko. The ladies went into\necstasies over his modest manners, his fine figure, and the\ngorgeousness of his clothes, and the old graybeard Councilors, nodding\ntheir heads in approval, said to each other:\n\n\"Nothing of the coxcomb about this young fellow! In spite of his great\nwealth see how politely he listens to us when we talk!\"\n\nThe next day the Fox went privately to the King, and said:\n\n\"My master is a man of few words and quick judgment. He bids me tell\nyou that your daughter, the Princess, pleases him mightily and that,\nwith your approval, he will make his addresses to her at once.\"\n\nThe King was greatly agitated and began:\n\n\"My dear Fox--\"\n\nBut the Fox interrupted him to say:\n\n\"Think the matter over carefully and give me your decision to-morrow.\"\n\nSo the King consulted with the Princess and with his Councilors and in\na short time the marriage was arranged and the wedding ceremony\nactually performed!\n\n\"Didn't I tell you?\" the Fox said, when he and Mikko were alone after\nthe wedding.\n\n\"Yes,\" Mikko acknowledged, \"you did promise that I should marry the\nPrincess. But, tell me, now that I am married what am I to do? I can't\nlive on here forever with my wife.\"\n\n\"Put your mind at rest,\" the Fox said. \"I've thought of everything.\nJust do as I tell you and you'll have nothing to regret. To-night say\nto the King: 'It is now only fitting that you should visit me and see\nfor yourself the sort of castle over which your daughter is hereafter\nto be mistress!'\"\n\nWhen Mikko said this to the King, the King was overjoyed for now that\nthe marriage had actually taken place he was wondering whether he\nhadn't perhaps been a little hasty. Mikko's words reassured him and he\neagerly accepted the invitation.\n\nOn the morrow the Fox said to Mikko:\n\n\"Now I'll run on ahead and get things ready for you.\"\n\n\"But where are you going?\" Mikko said, frightened at the thought of\nbeing deserted by his little friend.\n\nThe Fox drew Mikko aside and whispered softly:\n\n\"A few days' march from here there is a very gorgeous castle belonging\nto a wicked old dragon who is known as the Worm. I think the Worm's\ncastle would just about suit you.\"\n\n\"I'm sure it would,\" Mikko agreed. \"But how are we to get it away from\nthe Worm?\"\n\n\"Trust me,\" the Fox said. \"All you need do is this: lead the King and\nhis courtiers along the main highway until by noon to-morrow you reach\na crossroads. Turn there to the left and go straight on until you see\nthe tower of the Worm's castle. If you meet any men by the wayside,\nshepherds or the like, ask them whose men they are and show no\nsurprise at their answer. So now, dear master, farewell until we meet\nagain at your beautiful castle.\"\n\nThe little Fox trotted off at a smart pace and Mikko and the Princess\nand the King attended by the whole Court followed in more leisurely\nfashion.\n\nThe little Fox, when he had left the main highway at the crossroads,\nsoon met ten woodsmen with axes over their shoulders. They were all\ndressed in blue smocks of the same cut.\n\n\"Good day,\" the Fox said politely. \"Whose men are you?\"\n\n\"Our master is known as the Worm,\" the woodsmen told him.\n\n\"My poor, poor lads!\" the Fox said, shaking his head sadly.\n\n\"What's the matter?\" the woodsmen asked.\n\nFor a few moments the Fox pretended to be too overcome with emotion to\nspeak. Then he said:\n\n\"My poor lads, don't you know that the King is coming with a great\nforce to destroy the Worm and all his people?\"\n\nThe woodsmen were simple fellows and this news threw them into great\nconsternation.\n\n\"Is there no way for us to escape?\" they asked.\n\nThe Fox put his paw to his head and thought.\n\n\"Well,\" he said at last, \"there is one way you might escape and that\nis by telling every one who asks you that you are the Mighty Mikko's\nmen. But if you value your lives never again say that your master is\nthe Worm.\"\n\n\"We are Mighty Mikko's men!\" the woodsmen at once began repeating over\nand over. \"We are Mighty Mikko's men!\"\n\nA little farther on the road the Fox met twenty grooms, dressed in the\nsame blue smocks, who were tending a hundred beautiful horses. The Fox\ntalked to the twenty grooms as he had talked to the woodsmen and\nbefore he left them they, too, were shouting:\n\n\"We are Mighty Mikko's men!\"\n\nNext the Fox came to a huge flock of a thousand sheep tended by thirty\nshepherds all dressed in the Worm's blue smocks. He stopped and talked\nto them until he had them roaring out:\n\n\"We are Mighty Mikko's men!\"\n\nThen the Fox trotted on until he reached the castle of the Worm. He\nfound the Worm himself inside lolling lazily about. He was a huge\ndragon and had been a great warrior in his day. In fact his castle and\nhis lands and his servants and his possessions had all been won in\nbattle. But now for many years no one had cared to fight him and he\nhad grown fat and lazy.\n\n\"Good day,\" the Fox said, pretending to be very breathless and\nfrightened. \"You're the Worm, aren't you?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" the dragon said, boastfully, \"I am the great Worm!\"\n\nThe Fox pretended to grow more agitated.\n\n\"My poor fellow, I am sorry for you! But of course none of us can\nexpect to live forever. Well, I must hurry along. I thought I would\njust stop and say good-by.\"\n\nMade uneasy by the Fox's words, the Worm cried out:\n\n\"Wait just a minute! What's the matter?\"\n\nThe Fox was already at the door but at the Worm's entreaty he paused\nand said over his shoulder:\n\n\"Why, my poor fellow, you surely know, don't you? that the King with a\ngreat force is coming to destroy you and all your people!\"\n\n\"What!\" the Worm gasped, turning a sickly green with fright. He knew\nhe was fat and helpless and could never again fight as in the years\ngone by.\n\n\"Don't go just yet!\" he begged the Fox. \"When is the King coming?\"\n\n\"He's on the highway now! That's why I must be going! Good-by!\"\n\n\"My dear Fox, stay just a moment and I'll reward you richly! Help me\nto hide so that the King won't find me! What about the shed where the\nlinen is stored? I could crawl under the linen and then if you locked\nthe door from the outside the King could never find me.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" the Fox agreed, \"but we must hurry!\"\n\nSo they ran outside to the shed where the linen was kept and the Worm\nhid himself under the linen. The Fox locked the door, then set fire to\nthe shed, and soon there was nothing left of that wicked old dragon,\nthe Worm, but a handful of ashes.\n\nThe Fox now called together the dragon's household and talked them\nover to Mikko as he had the woodsmen and the grooms and the shepherds.\n\nMeanwhile the King and his party were slowly covering the ground over\nwhich the Fox had sped so quickly. When they came to the ten woodsmen\nin blue smocks, the King said:\n\n\"I wonder whose woodsmen those are.\"\n\nOne of his attendants asked the woodsmen and the ten of them shouted\nout at the top of their voices:\n\n\"We are Mighty Mikko's men!\"\n\nMikko said nothing and the King and all the Court were impressed anew\nwith his modesty.\n\nA little farther on they met the twenty grooms with their hundred\nprancing horses. When the grooms were questioned, they answered with a\nshout:\n\n\"We are Mighty Mikko's men!\"\n\n\"The Fox certainly spoke the truth,\" the King thought to himself,\n\"when he told me of Mikko's riches!\"\n\nA little later the thirty shepherds when they were questioned made\nanswer in a chorus that was deafening to hear:\n\n\"We are Mighty Mikko's men!\"\n\nThe sight of the thousand sheep that belonged to his son-in-law made\nthe King feel poor and humble in comparison and the courtiers\nwhispered among themselves:\n\n\"For all his simple manner, Mighty Mikko must be a richer, more\npowerful lord than the King himself! In fact it is only a very great\nlord indeed who could be so simple!\"\n\nAt last they reached the castle which from the blue smocked soldiers\nthat guarded the gateway they knew to be Mikko's. The Fox came out to\nwelcome the King's party and behind him in two rows all the household\nservants. These, at a signal from the Fox, cried out in one voice:\n\n\"We are Mighty Mikko's men!\"\n\nThen Mikko in the same simple manner that he would have used in his\nfather's mean little hut in the woods bade the King and his followers\nwelcome and they all entered the castle where they found a great feast\nalready prepared and waiting.\n\nThe King stayed on for several days and the more he saw of Mikko the\nbetter pleased he was that he had him for a son-in-law.\n\nWhen he was leaving he said to Mikko:\n\n\"Your castle is so much grander than mine that I hesitate ever asking\nyou back for a visit.\"\n\nBut Mikko reassured the King by saying earnestly:\n\n\"My dear father-in-law, when first I entered your castle I thought it\nwas the most beautiful castle in the world!\"\n\nThe King was flattered and the courtiers whispered among themselves:\n\n\"How affable of him to say that when he knows very well how much\ngrander his own castle is!\"\n\nWhen the King and his followers were safely gone, the little red Fox\ncame to Mikko and said:\n\n\"Now, my master, you have no reason to feel sad and lonely. You are\nlord of the most beautiful castle in the world and you have for wife a\nsweet and lovely Princess. You have no longer any need of me, so I am\ngoing to bid you farewell.\"\n\nMikko thanked the little Fox for all he had done and the little Fox\ntrotted off to the woods.\n\nSo you see that Mikko's poor old father, although he had no wealth to\nleave his son, was really the cause of all Mikko's good fortune, for\nit was he who told Mikko in the first place to carry home alive\nanything he might find caught in the snares.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE THREE CHESTS\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_The Story of the Wicked Old Man of the Sea_\n\n\nTHE THREE CHESTS\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once an honest old farmer who had three daughters. His farm\nran down to the shores of a deep lake. One day as he leaned over the\nwater to take a drink, wicked old Wetehinen reached up from the bottom\nof the lake and clutched him by the beard.\n\n\"Ouch! Ouch!\" the farmer cried. \"Let me go!\"\n\nWetehinen only held on more tightly.\n\n\"Yes, I'll let you go,\" he said, \"but only on this condition: that you\ngive me one of your daughters for wife!\"\n\n\"Give you one of my daughters? Never!\"\n\n\"Very well, then I'll never let go!\" wicked old Wetehinen declared and\nwith that he began jerking at the beard as if it were a bellrope.\n\n\"Wait! Wait!\" the farmer spluttered.\n\nNow he didn't want to give one of his daughters to wicked old\nWetehinen--of course not! But at the same time he was in Wetehinen's\npower and he realized that if he didn't do what the old reprobate\ndemanded he might lose his life and so leave all three of his\ndaughters orphans. Perhaps for the good of all he had better sacrifice\none of them.\n\n\"All right,\" he said, \"let me go and I'll send you my oldest daughter.\nI promise.\"\n\nSo Wetehinen let go his beard and the farmer scrambled to his feet and\nhurried home.\n\n\"My dear,\" he said to his oldest daughter, \"I left a bit of the\nharness down at the lake. Like a good girl will you run down and get\nit for me.\"\n\nThe eldest daughter went at once and when she reached the water's\nedge, old Wetehinen reached up and caught her about the waist and\ncarried her down to the bottom of the lake where he lived in a big\nhouse.\n\nAt first he was kind to her. He made her mistress of the house and\ngave her the keys to all the rooms and closets. He went very carefully\nover the keys and pointing to one he said:\n\n\"That key you must never use for it opens the door to a room which I\nforbid you to enter.\"\n\nThe eldest daughter began keeping house for old Wetehinen and spent\nher time cooking and cleaning and spinning much as she used to at home\nwith her father. The days went by and she grew familiar with the\nhouse and began to know what was in every room and every closet.\n\nAt first she felt no temptation to open the forbidden door. If old\nWetehinen wanted to have a secret room, well and good. But why in the\nworld had he given her the key if he really didn't want her to open\nthe door? The more she thought about it the more she wondered. Every\ntime she passed the room she stopped a moment and stared at the door.\nIt looked just exactly like the doors that led into all the other\nrooms.\n\n\"I wonder why he doesn't want me to open just that door?\" she kept\nasking herself.\n\nFinally one day when old Wetehinen was away she thought:\n\n\"I don't believe it would matter if I opened that door just a little\ncrack and peeped in once! No one would know the difference!\"\n\nFor a few moments she hesitated, then mustered up courage enough to\nturn the key in the forbidden lock and throw open the door.\n\nThe room was a storeroom with boxes and chests and old jars piled up\naround the wall. That was unexciting enough, but in the middle of the\nfloor was something that made her start when she saw what it was. It\nwas blood--that's what it was, a pool of dark red blood! She was about\nto slam the door shut when she saw something else that made her pause.\nThis was a lovely shining ring that lay in the midst of the pool.\n\n\"Oh!\" she thought to herself, \"what a beautiful ring! If I had it I'd\nwear it on my finger!\"\n\nThe longer she looked at it, the more she wanted it.\n\n\"If I'm very careful,\" she said, \"I know I could reach over and pick\nit up without touching the blood.\"\n\nShe tiptoed cautiously into the room, wrapped her skirts tightly about\nher legs, knelt down on the floor, and stretched her arm over the\npool. She picked up the ring very carefully but even so she got a few\ndrops of blood on her fingers.\n\n\"No matter!\" she thought, \"I can wash that off! And see the lovely\nring!\"\n\nBut later, after she had the door again locked, when she tried to wash\nthe blood off, she found she couldn't. She tried soap, she tried sand,\nshe tried everything she could think of, but without success.\n\n\"I don't care!\" she thought to herself. \"If Wetehinen sees the blood,\nI'll just tell him I cut my finger by accident.\"\n\nSo when Wetehinen came home, she hid the ring and pretended nothing\nwas the matter.\n\nAfter supper Wetehinen put his head in her lap and said:\n\n\"Now, my dear, scratch my head and make me drowsy for bed.\"\n\nShe began scratching his head as she had many nights before but, at\nthe first touch of her fingers, he cried out:\n\n\"Stop! You're burning my ear! There must be some blood on your\nfingers! Let me see!\"\n\nHe reached up and caught her hand and, when he saw the blood stains,\nhe flew into a towering rage.\n\n\"I thought so! You've been in the forbidden room!\"\n\nHe jumped up and without allowing her time to say a word he just cut\noff her head then and there with no more concern than if she had been\na mosquito! After that he took the body and the severed head and threw\nthem into the forbidden room and locked the door.\n\n\"Now then,\" he growled, \"_she_ won't disobey me again!\"\n\nThis was all very well but now he had no one to keep house for him and\ncook and scratch his head in the evening and soon he decided he'd have\nto get another wife. He remembered that the farmer had two more\ndaughters, so he thought to himself that now he'd marry the second\nsister.\n\nHe waited his chance and one day when the farmer was out in his boat\nfishing, old Wetehinen came up from the bottom of the lake and\nclutched the boat. When the poor old farmer tried to row back to shore\nhe couldn't make the boat move an inch. He worked and worked at the\noars and wicked old Wetehinen let him struggle until he was exhausted.\nThen he put his head up out of the water and over the side of the boat\nand as though nothing were the matter he said:\n\n\"Hullo!\"\n\n\"Oh!\" the farmer cried, wishing he were safe on shore, \"it's you, is\nit? I wondered what was holding my boat.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" wicked old Wetehinen said, \"it's me and I'm going to hold your\nboat right here on this spot until you promise to give me another of\nyour daughters.\"\n\nWhat could the farmer do? He pleaded with Wetehinen but Wetehinen was\nfirm and the upshot was that before the farmer again walked dry land\nhe had promised Wetehinen his second daughter.\n\nWell, when he got home, he pretended he had forgotten his ax in the\nboat and sent his second daughter down to the lake to get it. Wicked\nold Wetehinen caught her as he had caught her sister and carried her\nhome with him to his house at the bottom of the lake.\n\nWetehinen treated the second sister just exactly as he had the first,\nmaking her mistress of the house and telling her she might use every\nkey but one. Like her sister she, too, after a time gave way to the\ntemptation of looking into the forbidden room and when she saw the\nshining ring lying in the pool of blood of course she wanted it and of\ncourse when she reached to get it she dabbled her fingers in the\nblood. So that was the end of her, too, for wicked old Wetehinen when\nhe saw the blood stains just cut her head right off and threw her body\nand the severed head into the forbidden room beside the body and head\nof her sister and locked the door.\n\nTime went by and the farmer was living happily with his youngest\ndaughter when one day while he was out chopping wood he found a pair\nof fine birch bark brogues. He put them on and instantly found himself\nwalking away from the woods and down to the lake. He tried to stop but\nhe couldn't. He tried to walk in another direction but the brogues\ncarried him straight down to the water's edge and out into the lake\nuntil he was in waist deep.\n\nThen he heard a gruff voice saying:\n\n\"Hullo, there! What are you doing with my brogues?\"\n\nOf course it was wicked old Wetehinen who had played that trick to get\nthe farmer into his power again.\n\n\"What do you want this time?\" the poor farmer cried.\n\n\"I want your youngest daughter,\" Wetehinen said.\n\n\"What! My youngest daughter!\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"I won't give her up!\" the farmer declared. \"I don't care what you do\nto me. I won't give her up!\"\n\n\"Oh, very well!\" Wetehinen said, and immediately the brogues which had\nbeen standing still while they talked started walking again. They\ncarried the farmer out into the lake farther and farther until the\nwater was up to his chin.\n\n\"Wait--wait a minute!\" he cried.\n\nThe brogues stopped walking and Wetehinen said:\n\n\"Well, do you promise to give her to me?\"\n\n\"No!\" the farmer began. \"She's my last daughter and--\"\n\nBefore he could say more, the brogues walked on and the water rose to\nhis nose. In desperation he threw up his hands and shouted:\n\n\"I promise! I promise!\"\n\n [Illustration: _She fitted the key in the lock_]\n\nSo when he got home that day he said to his youngest daughter whose\nname was Lisa:\n\n\"Lisa, my dear, I forgot my brogues at the lake. Like a good girl\nwon't you run and get them for me?\"\n\nSo Lisa went to the lake and Wetehinen of course caught her and\ncarried her down to his house as he had her two sisters.\n\nThen the same old story was repeated. Wetehinen made Lisa mistress of\nthe house and gave her keys to all the doors and closets with the same\nprohibition against opening the door of the forbidden room.\n\n\"If I am mistress of the house,\" Lisa said to herself, \"why should I\nnot unlock every door?\"\n\nShe waited until one day when Wetehinen was away from home, then went\nboldly to the forbidden room, fitted the key in the lock, and flung\nopen the door.\n\nThere lay her two poor sisters with their heads cut off. There in the\npool of blood sparkled the lovely ring, but Lisa paid no heed to it.\n\n\"Wicked old Wetehinen!\" Lisa cried. \"I suppose he thinks that ring\nwill tempt me but nothing will tempt me to touch that awful blood!\"\n\nThen she rummaged about, opening boxes and chests, and turning things\nover. In a dark corner she found two pitchers, one marked _Water of\nLife_, the other _Water of Death_.\n\n\"Ha! This is what I want!\" she cried, taking the pitcher of the _Water\nof Life_.\n\nShe set the severed heads of her sisters in place and then with the\nmagic water brought them back to life. She used up all the _Water of\nLife_, so she filled the pitcher marked _Water of Life_ with the water\nfrom the other pitcher, the _Water of Death_. She hid her sisters each\nin a big wooden chest, she shut and locked the door of the forbidden\nroom, and Wetehinen when he came home found her working at her\nspinning wheel as though nothing unusual had happened.\n\nAfter supper Wetehinen said:\n\n\"Now scratch my head and make me drowsy for bed.\"\n\nSo Lisa scratched his wicked old head and she did it so well that he\ngrunted with satisfaction.\n\n\"Uh! Uh!\" he said. \"That's good! Now just behind my right ear! That's\nit! That's it! You're a good girl, you are! You're not like some of\nthem who do what they're told not to do! Now behind the other ear! Oh,\nthat's fine! Yes, you're a good girl and if there's anything you want\nme to do just tell me what it is.\"\n\n\"I want to send a chest of things to my poor old father,\" Lisa said.\n\"Just a lot of little nothings--odds and ends that I've picked up\nabout the house. I'd be ashamed to have you open the chest and see\nthem. I do wish you'd carry the chest ashore to-morrow and leave it\nwhere my father will find it.\"\n\n\"All right, I will,\" Wetehinen promised.\n\nHe was true to his word. The next morning he hoisted one of the chests\non his shoulder, the one that had in it the eldest sister, he trudged\noff with it, and tossed it up on shore at a place where he was sure\nthe farmer would find it.\n\nLisa then wheedled him into carrying up the second chest that had in\nit the second sister. This time Wetehinen wasn't so good-natured.\n\n\"I don't know what she can always be sending her father!\" he grumbled.\n\"If she sends another chest I'll have to look inside and see.\"\n\nNow Lisa, when the second sister was safely delivered, began to plan\nher own escape. She pulled out another empty chest and then one\nevening after she had succeeded in making old Wetehinen comfortable\nand drowsy she begged him to carry this also to her father. He\ngrumbled and protested but finally promised.\n\n\"And you won't look inside, will you? Promise me you won't!\" Lisa\nbegged.\n\nWetehinen said he wouldn't, but he intended to just the same.\n\nWell, the next morning as soon as Wetehinen went out, Lisa took the\nchurn and dressed it up in some of her own clothes. She carried it to\nthe top of the house and perched it on the ridge of the roof before a\nspinning wheel. Then she herself crept inside the third chest and\nwaited.\n\nWhen Wetehinen came home he looked up and saw what he thought was Lisa\nspinning on the roof.\n\n\"Hullo!\" he shouted. \"What are you doing up there?\"\n\nLisa, in the chest, answered in a voice that sounded as if it came\nfrom the roof:\n\n\"I'm spinning. And you, Wetehinen, my dear, don't forget the chest\nthat you promised to carry to my poor old father. It's standing in the\nkitchen.\"\n\nWetehinen grumbled but because of his promise he hoisted the chest on\nhis shoulder and started off. When he had gone a little way he thought\nto put it down and take a peep inside. Instantly Lisa's voice,\nsounding as if it came from the roof, cried out:\n\n\"No! No! You promised not to look inside!\"\n\n\"I'm not looking inside!\" Wetehinen called back. \"I'm only resting a\nminute!\"\n\nThen he thought to himself:\n\n\"I suppose she's sitting up there so she can watch me!\"\n\nWhen he had gone some distance farther, he thought again to set down\nthe chest and open the lid but instantly Lisa's voice, as from a long\nway off, called out:\n\n\"No! No! You promised not to look inside!\"\n\n\"Who's looking inside?\" he called back, pretending again he was only\nresting.\n\nEvery time he thought it would be safe to put down the chest and open\nthe lid, Lisa's voice cried out:\n\n\"No! No! You promised not to!\"\n\n\"Mercy on us!\" old Wetehinen fumed to himself, \"who would have thought\nshe could see so far!\"\n\nOn the shore of the lake when he threw down the chest in disgust he\ntried one last time to raise the lid. Instantly Lisa's voice cried\nout:\n\n\"No! No! You promised not to!\"\n\n\"I'm not looking inside!\" Wetehinen roared, and in a fury he left the\nchest and started back into the water.\n\nAll the way home he grumbled and growled:\n\n\"A nice way to treat a man, always making him carry chests! I won't\ncarry another one no matter how much she begs me!\"\n\nWhen he came near home he saw the spinning wheel still on the roof and\nthe figure still seated before it.\n\n\"Why haven't you got my dinner ready?\" he called out angrily.\n\nThe figure at the spinning wheel made no answer.\n\n\"What's the matter with you?\" Wetehinen cried. \"Why are you sitting\nthere like a wooden image instead of cooking my dinner?\"\n\nStill the figure made no answer and in a rage Wetehinen began climbing\nup the roof. He reached out blindly and clutched at Lisa's skirt and\njerked it so hard that the churn came clattering down on his head. It\nknocked him off the roof and he fell all the way to the ground and\ncracked his wicked old head wide open.\n\n\"Ouch! Ouch!\" he roared in pain. \"Just wait till I get hold of that\nLisa!\"\n\nHe crawled to the forbidden room and poured over himself the water\nthat was in the pitcher marked _Water of Life_. But it wasn't the\n_Water of Life_ at all, it was the _Water of Death_, and so it didn't\nhelp his wicked old cracked head at all. In fact it just made it worse\nand worse _and_ worse.\n\nLisa and her sisters were never again troubled by him nor was any one\nelse that lived on the shores of that lake.\n\n\"Wonder what's become of wicked old Wetehinen?\" people began saying.\n\nLisa thought she knew but she didn't tell.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n\n\nLOG\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_The Story of the Hero Who Released the Sun_\n\n\nLOG\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once a poor couple who had no children. Their neighbors all\nhad boys and girls in plenty but for some reason God didn't send them\neven one.\n\n\"If I can't have a flesh and blood baby,\" the woman said one day, \"I'm\ngoing to have a wooden baby.\"\n\nShe went to the woods and cut a log of alder just the size of a nice\nfat baby. She dressed the log in baby clothes and put it in a cradle.\nThen for three whole years she and her husband rocked the cradle and\nsang lullabies to the log baby.\n\nAt the end of three years one afternoon, when the man was out chopping\nwood and the woman was driving the cows home from pasture, the log\nbaby turned into a real baby! It was so strong and hearty that by the\ntime its parents got home it had crawled out of the cradle and was\nsitting on the floor yelling lustily for food. It ate and ate and ate\nand the more it ate the faster it grew. It wasn't any time at all in\npassing from babyhood to childhood, from childhood to youth, and from\nyouth to manhood. From its beginnings it was known in the village as\nLog and never received any other name.\n\nLog's parents knew from the first that Log was destined to be a great\nhero. That was why he was so strong and so good. There was no one in\nthe village as strong as he nor any one as kind and gentle.\n\nNow just at this time a great calamity overtook the world. The Sun and\nthe Moon and the Dawn disappeared from the sky and as a result the\nearth was left in darkness.\n\n\"Who have taken from us the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn?\" the people\ncried in terror.\n\n\"Whoever they are,\" the King said, \"they shall have to restore them!\nWhere, O where are the heroes who will undertake to find the Sun and\nthe Moon and the Dawn and return them to their places in the sky?\"\n\nThere were many men willing to offer themselves for the great\nadventure but the King realized that something more was needed than\nwillingness.\n\n\"It is only heroes of exceptional strength and endurance,\" he said,\n\"who should risk the dangers of so perilous an undertaking.\"\n\nSo he called together all the valiant youths of the kingdom and\ntested them one by one. He had some waters of great strength and it\nwas his hope to find three heroes the first of whom could drink three\nbottles of the strong waters, the second six bottles, and the third\nnine bottles.\n\nHundreds of youths presented themselves and out of them all the King\nfound at last two, one of whom was able to take three bottles of the\nstrong waters, the other six bottles.\n\n\"But we need three heroes!\" the King cried. \"Is there no one in all\nthis kingdom strong enough to drink nine bottles?\"\n\n\"Try Log!\" some one shouted.\n\nAll the youths present instantly took up the cry:\n\n\"Log! Log! Send for Log!\"\n\nSo the King sent for Log and sure enough when Log came he was able to\ndrink down nine bottles of the strong waters without any trouble at\nall.\n\n\"Here now,\" the King proclaimed, \"are the three heroes who are to\nrelease the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn from whoever are holding\nthem in captivity and restore them to their places in the sky!\"\n\nHe equipped the three heroes for a long journey furnishing them money\nand food and drink of the strong waters, each according to his\nstrength. He mounted them each on a mighty horse with sword and arrow\nand dog.\n\nSo the three heroes rode off in the dark and the women of the kingdom\nwept to see them go and the men cheered and wished that they, too,\nwere going.\n\nThey rode on and on for many days that seemed like nights until they\nhad crossed the confines of their own country and entered the\nboundaries of an unknown kingdom beyond. Here the darkness was less\ndense. There was no actual daylight but a faint grayness as of\napproaching dawn.\n\nThey rode on until they saw looming up before them the towers of a\nmighty castle. They dismounted near the castle at the door of a little\nhut where they found an old woman.\n\n\"Good day to you, granny!\" Log called out.\n\n\"Good day, indeed!\" the old woman said. \"It's little enough we see of\nthe day since the Evil One cursed the Sun and handed it over to\nSuyettar's wicked offspring, the Nine-Headed Serpent!\"\n\n\"The Evil One!\" Log exclaimed. \"Tell me, granny, why did the Evil One\ncurse the Sun?\"\n\n\"Because he's evil, my son, that's why! He said the Sun's rays\nblistered him, so he cursed the Sun and gave him over to the\nNine-Headed Serpent. And he cursed the Moon, too, because at night\nwhen the Moon shone he could not steal. Yes, my son, he cursed the\nMoon and handed her over to Suyettar's second offspring, the\nSix-Headed Serpent. Then he cursed the Dawn because he said he\ncouldn't sleep in the morning because of the Dawn. So he cursed the\nDawn and gave her over to Suyettar's third offspring, the Three-Headed\nSerpent.\"\n\n\"Tell me, granny,\" Log said, \"where do the three Serpents keep\nprisoner the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn?\"\n\n\"Listen, my son, and I will tell you: When they go far out in the\nOcean they carry with them the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn. The\nThree-Headed Serpent stays out there one day and then returns at\nnight. The Six-Headed Serpent stays two days and then returns, and the\nmighty Nine-Headed Monster does not return until the third night. As\neach returns a faint glow spreads over the land. That is why we are\nnot in utter darkness.\"\n\nLog thanked the old woman and then he and his companions pushed on\ntowards the castle. As they neared it they saw a strange sight which\nthey could not understand. One half of the great castle was laughing\nand rocking as if in merriment and the other half was weeping as if in\ngrief.\n\n\"What can this mean?\" Log cried out. \"We had better ask the old woman\nbefore we go on.\"\n\nSo they went back to the hut and the old woman told them all she knew.\n\n\"It is on account of the dreadful fate that is hanging over the King's\nthree daughters,\" she said. \"Those three evil Monsters are demanding\nthem one by one. To-night when the Three-Headed Serpent comes back\nfrom the Ocean he expects to devour the eldest. If the King refuses to\ngive her up, then Suyettar's evil son will devour half the kingdom,\nhalf of the castle itself, and half the shining stones. O that some\nhero would kill the monster and save the princess and at the same time\nrelease the Dawn that it might again steal over the world!\"\n\nLog and his fellows conferred together and the one they called Three\nBottles, because his strength was equal to three bottles of the strong\nwaters, declared that it was his task to fight and conquer the\nThree-Headed Serpent.\n\nIn the castle meanwhile preparations for the sacrifice of the oldest\nprincess were going forward. As the King sewed the poor girl into a\ngreat leather sack, his tears fell so fast that he could scarcely see\nwhat he was doing.\n\n\"My dear child,\" he said, \"it should comfort you greatly to think that\nthe Monster is going to eat you instead of half the kingdom! Not many\nprincesses are considered as important as half the kingdom!\"\n\nThe princess knew that what her father said must be true and she did\nher best to look cheerful as they slipped the sack over her head. Once\ninside, however, she allowed herself to cry for she knew that no one\ncould see her.\n\nThe sack with the princess inside was carried down to the beach and\nput on a high rock near the place where Suyettar's sons were wont to\ncome up out of the water.\n\n\"Don't be frightened, my daughter!\" the King called out as he and all\nthe Court started back to the castle. \"You won't have long to wait,\nfor it will soon be evening.\"\n\nLog and his companions watched the King's party disappear and then\nThree Bottles solemnly drank down the three bottles of strong waters\nwith which his own King had equipped him. As he was ready to mount his\nhorse, he handed Log the leash to which his dog was attached.\n\n\"If I need help,\" he said, \"I'll throw back my shoe and do you then\nrelease my dog.\"\n\nWith that he rode boldly down to the beach, dismounted, and climbed up\nthe rock where the unfortunate princess lay in a sack. With one slash\nof the sword he ripped open the sack and dragged the princess out. She\nsupposed of course that he was the Three-Headed Serpent and at first\nwas so frightened that she kept her eyes tightly shut not daring to\nlook at him. She expected every minute to have him take a first bite\nand, when minutes and more minutes and more minutes still went by and\nhe didn't, she opened her eyes a little crack to see what was the\nmatter.\n\n\"Oh!\" the princess said.\n\nShe was so surprised that for a long time she didn't dare to take\nanother peep.\n\n\"You thought I was the Three-Headed Serpent, didn't you?\" a pleasant\nvoice asked. \"But I'm not. I'm only a young man who has come to rescue\nyou.\"\n\nThe princess murmured, \"Oh!\" again, but this time the \"Oh!\" expressed\nhappy relief.\n\n\"Yes,\" repeated the young man, \"I am the hero who has come to rescue\nyou. My comrades call me Three Bottles and you, too, may call me that.\nAnd while we are waiting for the Serpent to come in from the Ocean I\nwish you would scratch my head.\"\n\nThe princess wasn't in the least surprised at this request. Heroes and\nmonsters and fathers alike seemed always to want their heads\nscratched.\n\nSo Three Bottles stretched himself at the princess' feet and put his\nhead in her lap. He settled himself comfortably and she scratched his\nhead while he gazed out over the dark Ocean waiting for the Serpent to\nappear.\n\nAt first there was nothing to break the glassy surface of the water.\nThey waited and at last far out they saw three swirling masses rolling\nlandward.\n\n\"Quick, my princess!\" Three Bottles cried. \"There comes the Monster\nnow! Get you down behind the rock and hide there while I go meet the\ncreature and chop off his ugly heads!\"\n\nThe princess, quivering with fright, crouched down behind the rock and\nThree Bottles, mounting his horse, rode boldly down to the water's\nedge awaiting the Serpent's coming.\n\nIt came nearer and nearer in long easy swirls, slowly lifting its\nthree scaly heads one after another.\n\nAs it approached shore it sniffed the air hungrily.\n\n\"Fee, fi, fo, fum!\" it muttered in a deep voice, repeating the magic\nrime it had learned from its evil mother, Suyettar:\n\n \"Fee, fi, fo, fum!\n I smell a Finn! Yum! Yum!\n I'll fall upon him with a thud!\n I'll pick his bones and drink his blood!\n Fee, fi, fo, fum!\n Yum! Yum!\"\n\n\"Stop boasting, son of Suyettar!\" Three Bottles cried. \"You'll have\ntime enough to boast after you fight!\"\n\n\"Fight?\" repeated the Serpent as if in surprise. \"Shall we fight,\npretty boy, you and I? Very well! Blow then with your sweet breath,\nblow out a long level platform of red copper whereon we can meet and\ntry our strength each with the other!\"\n\n\"Nay,\" answered Three Bottles. \"Do you blow with your evil breath and\ninstead of red copper we shall have a platform of black iron.\"\n\nSo the Serpent blew and on the iron platform that came of his breath\nThree Bottles met him in combat. Back and forth they raged, Three\nBottles striking right and left with his mighty sword, the Serpent\nhitting at Three Bottles with all his scaly heads and belching forth\nfire and smoke from all his mouths. Three Bottles whacked off one\nscaly head and at last a second one, but he was unable to touch the\nthird.\n\n\"I shall have to have help,\" he acknowledged to himself finally, and\nreaching down he took one of his shoes and threw it over his shoulder\nback to his comrades who were awaiting the outcome of the struggle.\nInstantly they loosed the dog which bounded forward to its master's\nassistance and soon with the dog's help Three Bottles was able to\ndispatch the last head.\n\nHe was faint now with weariness and his comrades had to help him back\nto the old woman's hut where he soon fell asleep.\n\nNight passed and Dawn appeared. A great cry of relief and thanksgiving\nwent up from all the earth.\n\n\"The Dawn! The Dawn!\" people cried. \"God bless the man who has\nreleased the Dawn!\"\n\nOnly at the castle was there sorrow still.\n\n\"My poor oldest daughter!\" the King cried with tears in his eyes. \"It\nwas my sacrifice of her that has released the Dawn!\"\n\nThen he called his slaves and gave them orders to gather up his\ndaughter's bones and to bring back the leather sack.\n\n\"We shall need it again to-night,\" he said. He wiped his eyes and for\na moment could say no more. \"Yes, to-night we shall have to sew up my\nsecond daughter and offer her to the Six-Headed Serpent, him that\nholds captive the Moon. Otherwise the monster will devour half my\nkingdom, half the castle, and half the shining stones. Ai! Ai! Ai!\"\n\nBut the slaves when they went to the high rock on the seashore found,\nnot the princess' bones, but the princess herself, sitting there with\nher chin in her hand, gazing down on the beach which was strewn with\nthe fragments of the Three-Headed Serpent.\n\nThey led her back to her father and reported the marvel they had seen.\n\n\"There, O King, lies the monster on the sand with all his heads\nsevered! So huge are the heads that it would need three men with\nderricks to move one of them!\"\n\n\"Some unknown hero has rescued my oldest daughter!\" the King cried.\n\"Would that another might come to-night to rescue my second child\nlikewise! But, alas! what hero is strong enough to destroy the\nSix-Headed Monster!\"\n\nSo when evening came they sewed the second princess in the sack and\ncarried her out to the rock.\n\nLog and his companions saw the procession move down from the castle\nand they saw that the castle was again disturbed, one half of it\nlaughing and one half weeping.\n\n\"It's the second princess to-night,\" the old woman told them. \"Unless\nher father, the King, gives her to the Six-Headed Serpent, the Monster\nwill come and devour half the kingdom, half the castle, and half the\nshining stones. He it is that holds the Moon captive and the hero that\nslays him will release the Moon.\"\n\nThen he whom his comrades called Six Bottles cried out:\n\n\"Here is work for me!\"\n\nHe drank bottle after bottle of the strong waters until he had emptied\nsix.\n\n\"Now I am ready!\" he shouted.\n\nHe mounted his mighty horse and as he rode off he called to his\ncomrades:\n\n\"If I need help I'll throw back a shoe and do you then unleash my\ndog!\"\n\nHe rode to the rock on the shore and dismounted. Then he climbed the\nrock and released the second princess. He told her who he was and as\nthey awaited the arrival of the Six-Headed Serpent he lay at the\nprincess' feet and she scratched his head.\n\nThis time the Serpent came in six mighty swirls with six awful heads\nthat reared up one after another. In terror the second princess hid\nbehind the rock while Six Bottles, mounting his horse, rode boldly\ndown to the water's edge.\n\nLike his brother Serpent this one, too, came sniffing the air\nhungrily, muttering the magic rime he had learned from his mother,\nwicked Suyettar:\n\n \"Fee, fi, fo, fum!\n I smell a Finn! Yum! Yum!\n I'll fall upon him with a thud!\n I'll pick his bones and drink his blood!\n Fee, fi, fo, fum!\n Yum! Yum!\"\n\n\"Stop boasting, son of an evil mother!\" Six Bottles cried. \"You will\nhave time enough to boast after you fight!\"\n\n\"Fight?\" repeated the Serpent scornfully. \"Shall we fight, little one,\nyou and I? Very well! Blow then with your sweet breath, blow out a\nlong level platform of white silver whereon we can meet and try our\nstrength one with the other.\"\n\n\"Nay!\" answered Six Bottles. \"Do you blow, blow with your evil breath,\nand instead of white silver we shall have a platform of red copper.\"\n\nSo the Serpent blew and on the copper platform that came of his\nbreath Six Bottles met him in combat. Back and forth they raged, Six\nBottles striking left and right with his mighty sword, the Serpent\nhitting at Six Bottles with every one of his six scaly heads and\nbelching forth fire and smoke from all his mouths. Six Bottles whacked\noff one head, then another, then another. At last he had disposed of\nfive heads. He tried hard to strike the last, but by this time the\nSerpent had grown wary and Six Bottles' own strength was waning. So he\nreached down and took one of his shoes and threw it over his shoulder\nback to his comrades who were awaiting the outcome of the struggle.\nInstantly they loosed the dog which bounded forward to its master's\nassistance and soon with the dog's help Six Bottles was able to\ndispatch the last head.\n\nThen his comrades led him, weary from the fight, to the old woman's\nhut and soon he fell asleep.\n\nWhile he slept the Moon appeared in the sky and a great cry of relief\nand thanksgiving went up from all the world:\n\n\"The Moon! The Moon! God bless the man who has released the Moon!\"\n\nThe King who was awakened by the sound looked out the castle window\nand when he saw the Moon, returned to its place in the sky, his eyes\noverflowed with grief.\n\n\"My poor second daughter!\" he cried. \"It was my sacrifice of her that\nhas released the Moon! To-morrow morning I will send the slaves to\ngather up her bones and to bring back the leather sack into which,\nalas! I must then sew my youngest daughter for evil Suyettar's third\nson, the Nine-Headed Serpent. Ai! Ai! Ai! How sad it is to be a\nfather!\"\n\nBut on the morrow when the slaves went to the rock they found the\nsecond princess sitting there alone gazing down upon the scattered\nfragments of the Six-Headed Serpent.\n\n\"Here she is, safe and sound!\" they reported to the King as they led\nthe second princess into his presence, \"and, marvel of marvels! on the\nbeach below the rock lies the body of the Six-Headed Serpent torn to\npieces! Its heads, O King, are so monstrous that six men with derricks\ncould scarcely move one of them!\"\n\n\"God be praised!\" the King cried. \"Another unknown hero has come and\nsaved the life of my second child! Would that a third might come\nto-night and rescue the life of my youngest child! Alas, she is dearer\nto me than both the others, but I fear me that even if there be heroes\nwho could dispatch the first two Serpents, there is never one who can\ntouch him of the Nine Heads that holds the mighty Sun a captive!\"\n\n [Illustration: _\"This last and mightiest battle is for me!\"_]\n\nAnd the poor King wept, so sure was he that nothing could save the\nlife of his youngest child.\n\nWhen Log and his companions heard of the King's grief, Log at once\nstood forth and said:\n\n\"This last and mightiest battle is for me!\"\n\nHe opened the strong waters and drank bottle after bottle until he had\nemptied nine.\n\n\"Now let night come as soon as it will!\" he cried. \"I am ready for the\nMonster!\"\n\nHe started forth telling his comrades he would throw back a shoe if he\nneeded help from his dog.\n\nSo it was Log himself who slashed open the sack for the third time and\nreleased the Youngest Princess who was much more beautiful than her\nsisters. She fell in love with the mighty hero on sight and was so\nthrilled with his godlike beauty that when he put his head in her lap\nshe hardly knew what to do although her father always declared that\nshe scratched his head much better than either of her sisters.\n\nThey had not long to wait for soon all the Ocean was a glitter with\nthe swirls of the ninefold Monster who was coming to shore with the\ncaptive Sun in his keeping.\n\n\"Await me behind the rock!\" Log cried to the Princess as he leapt upon\nhis horse and started forward.\n\n\"Oh, Log, my hero, be careful!\" the Princess cried after him.\n\nNearer and nearer came the swirls of the nine-coiled Monster. One\nafter another of his nine heads rose and fell as he approached, and\nevery head sniffed more hungrily as it came nearer, and each head\nrumbled as it sniffed:\n\n \"Fee, fi, fo, fum!\n I smell a Finn! Yum! Yum!\n I'll fall upon him with a thud!\n I'll pick his bones and drink his blood!\n Fee, fi, fo, fum!\n Yum! Yum!\"\n\n\"Stop boasting, evil son of an evil mother!\" Log cried. \"You will have\ntime enough to boast after you fight!\"\n\n\"Fight?\" roared the awful Monster. \"Shall we fight, poor infant, you\nand I? Very well! Blow then with your sweet breath, blow out a long\nlevel platform of shining gold whereon we can meet and try our\nstrength each with the other!\"\n\n\"Nay!\" Log answered boldly. \"Do you blow, blow with your evil breath\nand instead of shining gold we shall have a platform of white silver.\"\n\nSo the Monster blew and on the silver platform that came of his\nbreath Log met him in combat. Back and forth they raged, Log striking\nright and left with his mighty sword, the Serpent hitting at Log with\nall his nine scaly heads and belching forth fire and smoke from all\nhis nine mouths. Log whacked off head after head until six lay gaping\non the sand. But the last three he could not get.\n\nSuddenly he pointed behind the Serpent and cried:\n\n\"Quick! Quick! The Sun! It is escaping!\"\n\nThe Serpent looked around and Log whacked off a head. Now only two\nremained, but try as he would Log could get neither of them.\n\nAgain he tried a subterfuge.\n\n\"Your wife, O Son of Suyettar! See, yonder, they're abusing her!\"\n\nThe Monster looked and Log whacked off another head. But one now\nremained and as usual it was the hardest of them all to get. Log felt\nhis strength waning while the Monster seemed more nimble than ever.\n\n\"I shall have to have help,\" Log thought.\n\nHe threw back his shoe to his comrades and they at once loosed his\ndog. With the dog's help Log was soon able to dispatch the last head.\nThen Three Bottles and Six Bottles helped him off his horse and\nsupported him to the old woman's hut where he soon fell into a deep\nsleep.\n\nThe next morning the blessed Sun rose at his proper time and people\nall over the world, falling on their knees with thanksgiving and\nweeping with joy, cried out:\n\n\"The Sun! The Sun! God bless the man who has released the Sun!\"\n\nAt the castle they waked the King with the good news but the King only\nshook his head and murmured in grief:\n\n\"Yes, the Sun is released but what care I since my favorite child, my\nyoungest daughter, has been sacrificed!\"\n\nHe dispatched the slaves to gather up her bones and presently these\nreturned bringing the Princess herself and telling a marvelous tale of\nthe beach littered with nine severed heads so huge that it would need\nnine men with derricks to move one of them.\n\n\"What manner of heroes are these who have rescued my daughters!\" cried\nthe King. \"Let them come forth and I will give them my daughters for\nwives and half my riches for dowry! But they will have to prove\nthemselves the actual heroes by bringing to the castle the heavy heads\nof the Monsters they have slain.\"\n\nWhen Log and his fellows heard this they laughed with happiness and,\nstrengthening themselves with deep draughts of the strong waters, they\ngathered together the many heads of the mighty Serpents, bore them to\nthe castle, and piled them up at the King's feet.\n\nThen Log stepped forward and said:\n\n\"Here we are, O King, come to claim our reward!\"\n\nThe King, true to his promise, gave them his daughters in marriage,\nthe oldest to Three Bottles, the second to Six Bottles, and the lovely\nYoungest to Log. Then he apportioned them the half of his riches and,\nafter much feasting and merrymaking, the heroes took their brides and\ntheir riches and bidding the King farewell started homewards.\n\nAs they rode through a great forest they sighted a tiny hut and Log,\nmotioning his comrades to wait for him quietly, crept forward to see\nwho was in the hut. It was well he was cautious for inside the hut was\nSuyettar herself talking to two other old hags.\n\n\"Ay,\" she was saying, \"they have slain my three beautiful sons, my\nmighty offspring that held captive the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn!\nBut I tell you, sisters, they will pay the penalty....\"\n\nTo hear better Log changed himself into a piece of firewood and\nslipping inside the hut hid himself in the woodpile near the stove.\n\n\"Ay, they will pay the penalty!\" Suyettar repeated. \"I shall have my\nrevenge on them! A fine supper Suyettar shall soon have, yum, yum!\n\n I'll fall upon them with a thud!\n I'll pick their bones and drink their blood!\n\nFools, fools, to think they can escape Suyettar's anger!\"\n\n\"But sister, sister,\" the two old hags asked, \"how will you get them?\"\n\nSuyettar looked this way and that to make sure that no one was\nlistening. Then she whispered:\n\n\"This is how I shall get them: As they come through this forest, the\nthree men with their brides, I shall send upon them a terrible hunger.\nThen they shall come suddenly upon a table spread with tempting food.\nOne bite of that food and they are in my power, he-he! Ay, sisters,\nto-night Suyettar will have a fine supper! Nothing can save them\nunless, before they touch the food, some one make the sign of the\ncross three times over the table. Then table and food would disappear\nand also the ravening hunger. But even if that happens Suyettar shall\nstill get them!\"\n\n\"How, sister, how?\" the other two asked.\n\n\"Presently I should send upon them consuming thirst, and then put in\ntheir pathway a spring of cold sparkling water. One drop of that\nwater and they are in my power, he-he! Nothing can save them from me\nunless, before their lips touch the water, some one make the sign of\nthe cross three times over the spring. At that the spring would\ndisappear and also their thirst. But even if they escape the spring, I\nshall still get them. I shall send great heaviness on them and a\nlonging for sleep, then let them come upon a row of soft inviting\nfeather beds. If they cast themselves upon the beds, they are mine,\nhe-he! to feast upon as I will! Nothing can save but that some one\nmake the sign of the cross three times over the beds before they touch\nthem. Oh, sisters, I shall get them one way or another for there is no\none to warn them. If there was any one to warn them, he wouldn't dare\ntell them what he knows for he would also know that if he told them he\nwould himself be turned into a blue cross and have to stand forever in\nthe cemetery.\"\n\nAs Log knew now all the dangers that threatened, he slipped away from\nthe woodpile and, when he was outside, took his own shape and hurried\nback to his comrades.\n\n\"Away!\" he cried. \"We are in great danger!\"\n\nThey all spurred their horses and rode swiftly on until Three Bottles\nsuddenly cried:\n\n\"Hold, comrades, hold! I am faint with hunger!\"\n\n\"Me, too!\" cried Six Bottles.\n\nAt that instant a great table, laden with delicious food, appeared\nbefore them.\n\n\"Look!\" cried the one of them.\n\n\"Food!\" cried the other.\n\nThey flung themselves from their horses and ran towards the table. But\nquick as they were, Log was quicker. He reached the table first and,\nraising his hand, made the sign of the cross three times. The table\ndisappeared as suddenly as it had come and with it the strange hunger\nthat had but now consumed them.\n\n\"Strange!\" Three Bottles exclaimed. \"I thought I was hungry, but I'm\nnot!\"\n\n\"I thought I saw food just now,\" Six Bottles said. \"I must have been\ndreaming.\"\n\nSo they mounted again and pushed on.\n\n\"Danger threatens us,\" said Log. \"We must hurry and not dismount no\nmatter what the temptation.\"\n\nThey agreed but presently one of them cried out and then the other:\n\n\"Water! Water! We shall soon perish unless we have water!\"\n\nInstantly by the wayside appeared a spring of cool sparkling water and\nit was all Log could do to reach it before his fellows. He did get\nthere first and make the sign of the cross three times whereat the\nspring disappeared and with it the thirst which had but now consumed\nthem all.\n\n\"I thought I was thirsty,\" Three Bottles said, \"but I'm not!\"\n\n\"Why did we dismount?\" Six Bottles asked. \"There's no water here.\"\n\nSo again they mounted and went forward and Log, warning them again\nthat danger threatened, begged them not to dismount a third time no\nmatter what the temptation.\n\nThey promised they would not but presently, complaining of fatigue,\nthey wanted to. Their brides, too, swayed in the saddle, overcome with\nweariness and sleep.\n\n\"Dear Log,\" they said, \"let us rest for an hour. See, our brides are\ndrooping with fatigue! One hour's sleep and we shall all be\nrefreshed!\"\n\nInstantly beside them on the forest floor they saw three soft white\nfeather beds. Log leaped to the ground but before he was able to make\nthe sign of the cross over more than one of the beds, his comrades and\ntheir brides had fallen headlong on the other two.\n\nAnd that was the end of poor Three Bottles and Six Bottles and their\ntwo lovely brides. There was no way now of saving them from Suyettar.\nShe had them in her power and nothing would induce her to give them\nup.\n\nAs Log and his bride sadly mounted their horse and rode on they heard\nan evil voice chanting out in triumph:\n\n \"I'll fall upon them with a thud, he-he!\n I'll pick their bones and drink their blood, he-he!\"\n\n\"Poor fellows! Poor fellows!\" Log said, and the Princess wept to think\nof the awful fate that had overtaken her two sisters.\n\nWell, Log and his bride reached home without further adventure and\nwere received by the King with great honors.\n\n\"I knew my heroes were succeeding,\" the King said, \"when first the\nDawn appeared again, and then the Moon, and last the mighty Sun. All\nhail to you, Log, and to your two comrades! But, by the way, where are\nThree Bottles and Six Bottles?\"\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" Log said, \"Three Bottles and Six Bottles were brave\nmen both. By their prowess they released the one the Dawn, the other\nthe Moon. Then in an evil adventure on the way home they perished. I\ncan tell you no more.\"\n\n\"You can tell me no more?\" the King said. \"Why can you tell me no\nmore? What was the evil adventure in which they perished?\"\n\n\"If I told you, O King, then I, too, should perish, for I should be\nturned into a blue cross and stood forever in the cemetery!\"\n\n\"What nonsense!\" the King exclaimed. \"Who would turn you into a blue\ncross and stand you forever in the cemetery?\"\n\n\"That is what I cannot tell you,\" Log said.\n\nThe King laughed and pressed Log no further, but the people of the\nkingdom, scenting a mystery, insisted on knowing in detail what had\nhappened the other two heroes. Presently the rumor began to spread\nthat Log himself had done away with them in order that he might gather\nto himself all the glory of the undertaking.\n\nThe King was forced at last to send for him again and to demand a full\naccount of everything.\n\nLog realized that his end was near. He met it bravely. Commending to\nthe King's protection his lovely bride, the Youngest Princess, Log\nrelated how the three mighty Serpents whom they had killed were sons\nof Suyettar, and how in revenge Suyettar had succeeded in destroying\nThree Bottles and Six Bottles together with their brides. Then he told\nthe fate about to overtake himself.\n\nHe finished speaking and as the King and the Court looked at him, to\ntheir amazement he disappeared.\n\n\"To the cemetery!\" some one cried.\n\nThey all went to the cemetery where at once they found a fresh blue\ncross that had come there nobody knew how. There it stands to this\nday, a reminder of the life and deeds of the mighty hero, Log.\n\nThe King was overcome with sorrow at losing such a hero. He took Log's\nbride under his protection and he found her so beautiful and so gentle\nthat soon he fell in love with her and married her.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LITTLE SISTER\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_The Story of Suyettar and the Nine Brothers_\n\n\nTHE LITTLE SISTER\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once a woman who had nine sons. They were good boys and\nloved her dearly but there was one thing about which they were always\ncomplaining.\n\n\"Why haven't we a little sister?\" they kept asking. \"Do give us a\nlittle sister!\"\n\nWhen the time came that another child was to be born, they said to\ntheir mother:\n\n\"If the baby is a boy we are going away and you will never see us\nagain, but if it is a little girl then we shall stay home and take\ncare of it.\"\n\nThe mother agreed that if the child were a girl she would have her\nhusband put a spindle outside on the gatepost and, if it were a boy,\nan ax.\n\n\"Just wait,\" she said, \"and see what your father puts on the gatepost\nand then you will know whether it is another brother God has sent you\nor a little sister.\"\n\nThe baby turned out to be a girl and the mother was overjoyed.\n\n\"Hurry, husband!\" she cried, \"and put a spindle on the gatepost so\nthat our nine sons may know the good news!\"\n\nThe man did so and then quickly returned to the mother and baby. The\nmoment he was gone Suyettar slipped up and changed the tokens. She\ntook away the spindle and put in its place an ax. Then with an evil\ngrin she hurried off mumbling to herself:\n\n\"Now we'll see what we'll see!\"\n\nShe hoped to bring trouble and grief and she succeeded. As soon as the\nnine sons saw the ax on the gatepost they thought their mother had\ngiven birth to another son and at once they left home vowing never to\nreturn.\n\nThe poor mother waited for them and waited.\n\n\"What is keeping my sons?\" she cried at last. \"Go out to the gate,\nhusband, and see if they are coming.\"\n\nThe man went out and soon returned bringing back word that some one\nhad changed the tokens.\n\n\"The spindle that I put on the gatepost is gone,\" he said, \"and in its\nplace is an ax.\"\n\n\"Alas!\" cried the poor mother, \"some evil creature has done this to\nspite us! Oh, if we could only get word to our sons of the little\nsister they were so eager to have!\"\n\nBut there was no way to reach them for no one knew the way they had\ngone.\n\nIn a short time the husband died and the poor woman, abandoned by her\nnine sons, had only her little daughter left. She named the child\nKerttu. Kerttu was a dear little girl and her face was as beautiful as\nher heart was good. Whenever she found her mother weeping alone she\ntried to comfort her and, as she grew older, she wanted to know the\ncause of her mother's grief. At last the mother told her about her\nnine brothers and how they had gone away never to return owing to the\ntrick of some evil creature.\n\n\"My poor mother!\" she cried, \"how sorry I am that I am the innocent\ncause of your loss! Let me go out into the world and find my brothers!\nWhen once they hear the truth they will gladly come home to you to\ncare for you in your old age!\"\n\nAt first the mother would not consent to this.\n\n\"You are all I have,\" she said, \"and I should indeed be miserable and\nlonely if anything happened you!\"\n\nBut Kerttu continued to weep every time she thought of her poor\nbrothers driven unnecessarily from home and at last the mother,\nrealizing that she would nevermore be happy unless she were allowed to\ngo in search of them, gave up opposing her.\n\n\"Very well, my daughter, you may go and may God go with you and bring\nyou safely back to me. But before you go I must prepare you a bag of\nfood for the journey and bake you a magic cake that will show you the\nway.\"\n\nSo she baked a batch of bread and at the same time mixed a little\nround cake with Kerttu's own tears and baked it, too. Then she said:\n\n\"Here now, my child, are provisions for the journey and here is a\nmagic cake that will lead you to your brothers. All you have to do is\nthrow it down in front of you and say:\n\n 'Roll, roll, my little cake!\n Show me the way that I must take\n To find at last the brothers nine\n Whose own true mother is also mine!'\n\nThen the little cake will start rolling and do you follow wherever it\nrolls. But, Kerttu, my child, you must not start out alone. You must\nhave some friend or companion to go with you.\"\n\nNow it happened that Kerttu had a little dog, Musti, that she loved\ndearly.\n\n\"I'll take Musti with me!\" she said. \"Musti will protect me!\"\n\nSo she called Musti and Musti wagged his tail and barked with joy at\nthe prospect of going out into the world with his mistress.\n\nThen Kerttu threw down the magic cake in front of her and sang:\n\n \"Roll, roll, my little cake!\n Show me the way that I must take\n To find at last the brothers nine\n Whose own true mother is also mine!\"\n\nAt once the cake rolled off like a little wheel and Kerttu and Musti\nfollowed it. They walked until they were tired. Then Kerttu picked up\nthe little cake and they rested by the wayside. When they were ready\nagain to start the cake a-rolling, all Kerttu had to do was throw it\ndown in front of her and say the magic rime.\n\nTheir first day was without adventure. When night came they ate their\nsupper and went to sleep in a field under a tree.\n\nThe second day they overtook an ugly old woman whom Kerttu disliked on\nsight. But she said to herself:\n\n\"Shame on you, Kerttu, not liking this woman just because she's old\nand ugly!\" and she made herself answer the old woman's greetings\npolitely and she made Musti stop snarling and growling.\n\nThe old hag asked Kerttu who she was and where she was going and\nKerttu told her.\n\n\"Ah!\" said the old woman, \"how fortunate that we have met each other\nfor our ways lie together!\"\n\nShe smiled and petted Kerttu's arm and Kerttu felt like shuddering.\nBut she restrained herself and told herself severely:\n\n\"You're a wicked girl not to feel more friendly to the poor old\nthing!\"\n\nMusti felt much as Kerttu did. He no longer growled for Kerttu had\ntold him not to, but he drooped his tail between his legs and,\npressing up close to Kerttu, he trembled with fright. And well he\nmight, too, for the old hag was none other than Suyettar who had been\nwaiting all these years just for this very chance to do further injury\nto Kerttu and her brothers.\n\nKerttu, poor child, was, alas! too good and innocent to suspect evil\nin others. She said to Suyettar:\n\n\"Very well, if our ways lie together then we can be companions.\"\n\nSo Suyettar joined Kerttu and Musti and the three of them walked on\nfollowing the little cake. As the day advanced the sun grew hotter\nand hotter and at last when they reached a lake Suyettar said:\n\n\"My dear, let us sit down here for a few moments and rest.\"\n\nThey all sat down and presently Suyettar said:\n\n\"Let us go bathing in the lake. That will refresh us.\"\n\nKerttu would have agreed if Musti had not tugged at her skirts and\nwarned her not to.\n\n\"Don't do it, dear mistress!\" Musti growled softly. \"Don't go in\nbathing with her! She'll bewitch you!\"\n\nSo Kerttu said:\n\n\"No, I don't want to go in bathing.\"\n\nSuyettar waited until they were again journeying on and then when\nKerttu wasn't looking she turned around and kicked Musti and broke one\nof the poor little dog's legs. Thereafter Musti had to hop along on\nthree legs.\n\nThe next afternoon when they passed another lake, Suyettar tried again\nto tempt Kerttu into the water.\n\n\"The sun is very hot,\" she said, \"and it would refresh us both to\nbathe. Come, Kerttu, my dear, don't refuse me this time!\"\n\nBut again Musti tugged at Kerttu's skirts and, licking her hand,\nwhispered the warning:\n\n\"Don't do it, dear mistress! Don't go in bathing with her or she will\nbewitch you!\"\n\nSo again Kerttu said politely:\n\n\"No, I don't feel like going in bathing. You go in alone and I'll wait\nfor you here.\"\n\nBut this was not what Suyettar wanted and she said, no, she didn't\ncare to go in alone. She was furious, too, with Musti and later when\nKerttu wasn't looking she gave the poor little dog a kick that broke\nanother leg. Thereafter Musti had to hop along on two legs.\n\nThey slept the third night by the wayside and the next day they went\non again always following the magic cake. In midafternoon they passed\na lake and Suyettar said:\n\n\"Surely, my dear, you must be tired and hot. Let us both bathe in this\ncool lake.\"\n\nBut Musti, hopping painfully along on two legs, yelped weakly and said\nto Kerttu:\n\n\"Don't do it, dear mistress! Don't go in bathing with her or she'll\nbewitch you!\"\n\nSo for a third time Kerttu refused and later, when she wasn't looking,\nSuyettar kicked Musti and broke the third of the poor little dog's\nlegs. Thereafter Musti hopped on as best he could on only one leg.\n\nWell, they went on and on. When night came they slept by the roadside\nand then next morning they started on again. The sun grew hot and by\nmidafternoon Kerttu was tired and ready to rest. When they reached a\nlake Suyettar again begged that they both go in bathing. Kerttu was\ntempted to agree when poor Musti threw himself panting at her feet and\nwhimpered:\n\n\"Don't do it, dear mistress! Don't go in bathing with her or she will\nbewitch you!\"\n\nSo Kerttu again refused.\n\n\"That's right, dear mistress!\" Musti panted, \"don't do it! I shall\nsoon be dead, I know, for she hates me, but before I die I want to\nwarn you one last time never to go in bathing with her or she will\nbewitch you!\"\n\n\"What's that dog saying?\" Suyettar demanded angrily, and without\nwaiting for an answer she picked up a heavy piece of wood and struck\npoor Musti such a blow on the head that it killed him.\n\n\"What have you done to my poor little dog?\" Kerttu cried.\n\n\"Don't mind him, my dear,\" Suyettar said. \"He was sick and lame and it\nwas better to put him out of his misery.\"\n\nSuyettar tried to soothe Kerttu and make her forget Musti but all\nafternoon Kerttu wept to think that she would never again see her\nfaithful little friend.\n\nThe next afternoon when Suyettar begged her to go in bathing there\nwas no Musti to warn her against it and at last Kerttu allowed herself\nto be persuaded. She was tired from her many days' wandering and it\nwas true that the first touch of the cool water refreshed her.\n\n\"Now splash water in my face!\" Suyettar cried.\n\nBut Kerttu didn't want to splash water into Suyettar's face for she\nsupposed Suyettar was an old woman and she thought it would be\ndisrespectful to splash water into the face of an old woman.\n\n\"Do you hear me!\" screamed Suyettar.\n\nWhen Kerttu still hesitated, Suyettar looked at her with such a\nterrible, threatening expression that Kerttu did as she was bidden.\nShe splashed water into Suyettar's face and, as the water touched\nSuyettar's eyes, Suyettar cried out:\n\n \"Your bonny looks give up to me\n And you take mine for all to see!\"\n\nInstantly they two changed appearance: Suyettar looked young and\nbeautiful like Kerttu, and Kerttu was changed to a hideous old hag.\nThen too late she realized that the awful old woman to whom she had\nbeen so polite was Suyettar.\n\n [Illustration: _Suyettar bewitching Kerttu_]\n\n\"Oh, why,\" Kerttu cried, \"why didn't I heed poor Musti's warning!\"\n\nSuyettar dragged her roughly out of the water.\n\n\"Come along!\" she said. \"Dress yourself in those rags of mine and\nstart that cake a-rolling! We ought to reach your brothers' house by\nto-night.\"\n\nSo poor Kerttu had to dress herself in Suyettar's filthy old garments\nwhile Suyettar, looking like a fresh young girl, decked herself out in\nKerttu's pretty bodice and skirt.\n\nUnwillingly now and with a heavy heart Kerttu threw down the cake and\nsaid:\n\n \"Roll, roll, my little cake!\n Show me the way that I must take\n To find at last the brothers nine\n Whose own true mother is also mine!\"\n\nOff rolled the little cake and they two followed it, Kerttu weeping\nbitterly and Suyettar taunting her with ugly laughs. Then suddenly\nKerttu forgot to weep for Suyettar took from her her memory and her\ntongue.\n\nThe little cake led them at last to a farmhouse before which it\nstopped. This was where the nine brothers were living. Eight of them\nwere out working in the fields but the youngest was at home. He opened\nthe door and when Suyettar told him that she was Kerttu, his sister,\nhe kissed her tenderly and made her welcome. Then he invited her\ninside and they sat side by side on the bench and talked and Suyettar\ntold him all she had heard from Kerttu about his mother and about the\ntokens which had been changed at Kerttu's birth. The youngest brother\nlistened eagerly and Suyettar told her story so glibly that of course\nhe supposed that she was his own true sister.\n\n\"And who is the awful looking old hag that has come with you?\" he\nasked pointing at Kerttu.\n\n\"That? Oh, that's an old serving woman whom our mother sent with me to\nbear me company. She's dumb and foolish but she's a good herd and we\ncan let her drive the cow out to pasture every day.\"\n\nThe older brothers when they came home were greatly pleased to find\nwhat they thought was their sister. They began to love her at once and\nto pet her and they said that now she must stay with them and keep\nhouse for them. She told them that was what she wanted to do and she\nsaid that now she was here the youngest brother need no longer stay at\nhome but could go out every morning with the rest of them to work in\nthe fields.\n\nSo now began a new life for poor Kerttu. In the morning after the\nbrothers were gone Suyettar would scold and abuse her. She would bake\na cake for her dinner to be eaten in the fields and she would fill the\ncake with stones and sticks and filth. Then she would take Kerttu as\nfar as the gate where she would give her back her tongue and her\nmemory and order her roughly to drive the cow to pasture and look\nafter it all day long. In the late afternoon when Kerttu drove home\nthe cow, Suyettar would meet her at the gate and take from her her\ntongue and her memory and then in the evening the brothers would see\nher as a foolish old woman who couldn't talk. Every morning and every\nevening Kerttu begged Suyettar to show her a little mercy, but far\nfrom showing her any mercy Suyettar grew more cruel from day to day.\n\nSuyettar was very proud to think that nine handsome young men took her\nfor a beautiful girl and she felt sure they would never find out their\nmistake for only Kerttu knew who she really was and Kerttu was\nentirely in her power.\n\nAt night seated in the shadow in a far corner of the kitchen with her\nnine brothers laughing and talking Kerttu felt no sorrow for at such\ntimes of course she had no memory. But during the day it was\ndifferent. Then when she was alone in the meadow she had her memory\nand her tongue and she thought about her poor mother at home anxiously\nawaiting her return and she thought of her nine sturdy brothers all of\nwhom might now through her mistake fall victims to Suyettar. These\nthoughts made her weep with grief and as the days went by she put this\ngrief into a song which she sang constantly:\n\n \"I've found at last the brothers nine\n Whose own true mother is also mine,\n But they know me not from stick or stone!\n They leave me here to weep alone,\n While Suyettar sits in my place\n With stolen looks and stolen face!\n She snared me first with evil guile\n And now she mocks me all the while:\n By night she takes my tongue away,\n She feeds me sticks and stones by day!...\n Oh, little they guess, the brothers nine,\n That their own true mother is also mine!\"\n\nThe brothers as they worked in nearby fields used to hear the song and\nthey wondered about it.\n\n\"Strange!\" they said to one another. \"Can that be the old woman\nsinging? In the evening at home she never opens her mouth and our dear\nsister always says that she's dumb and foolish.\"\n\nOne afternoon when Kerttu's song sounded particularly sad, the\nyoungest brother crept close to the meadow where Kerttu was sitting in\norder to hear the words. He listened carefully and then hurried back\nto the others and with frightened face told them what he had heard.\n\n\"Nonsense!\" the older brothers said. \"It can't be so!\"\n\nHowever, they, too, wanted to hear for themselves the words of the\nstrange song, so they all crept near to listen.\n\nIt looked like an old hag who was singing but the voice that came out\nof the withered mouth was the voice of a young girl. As they listened\nthey, too, grew pale:\n\n \"I've found at last the brothers nine\n Whose own true mother is also mine,\n But they know me not from stick or stone!\n They leave me here to weep alone,\n While Suyettar sits in my place\n With stolen looks and stolen face!\n She snared me first with evil guile\n And now she mocks me all the while:\n By night she takes my tongue away,\n She feeds me sticks and stones by day!...\n Oh, little they guess, the brothers nine,\n That their own true mother is also mine!\"\n\n\"Can it be true?\" they said, whispering together.\n\nThey sent the youngest brother to question Kerttu and he, when he had\nheard her story, believed it true. Then the other brothers went to her\none by one and questioned her and finally they were all convinced of\nthe truth of her story.\n\n\"It is well for us,\" they said, \"if we do not all fall into the power\nof that awful creature! How, O how can we rescue our poor little\nsister!\"\n\n\"I can never get back my own looks,\" Kerttu said, \"unless Suyettar\nsplashes water into my eyes and unless I cry out a magic rime as she\ndoes it.\"\n\nThe brothers discussed one plan after another and at last agreed on\none that they thought might deceive Suyettar.\n\nThey had Kerttu inflame her eyes with dust and come groping home one\nmidday. The brothers, too, were at home and as Kerttu came stumbling\ninto the kitchen they said to Suyettar:\n\n\"Oh, sister, sister, see the poor old woman! Something ails her! Her\neyes--they're all red and swollen! Get some water and bathe them!\"\n\n\"Nonsense!\" Suyettar said. \"The old hag's well enough! Let her be! She\ndoesn't need any attention!\"\n\n\"Oh, sister!\" the youngest brother said, reproachfully, \"is that any\nway for a human, kindhearted girl like you to talk? If you won't\nbathe the old creature's eyes, I will myself!\"\n\nThen Suyettar who of course wanted them to think that she was a human,\nkindhearted girl said, no, she would bathe them. So she took a basin\nof water over to Kerttu and told her to lean down her head. As she\nsplashed the first drop of water into Kerttu's eyes, Kerttu cried out:\n\n \"My own true looks give back to me\n And take your own for all to see!\"\n\nInstantly Suyettar was again a hideous old hag though still dressed in\nKerttu's pretty bodice and skirt, and Kerttu was herself again, young\nand fresh and sweet, though still incased in Suyettar's rags. But the\nbrothers pretended that they saw no difference and kept on talking to\nSuyettar as though they still thought her Kerttu. And Suyettar because\nher eyes were blinded with the dust supposed that they were still\ndeceived.\n\nThen one of the brothers said to Suyettar:\n\n\"Sister dear, the _sauna_ is all heated and ready. Don't you want to\nbathe?\"\n\nSuyettar thought that this would be a fine chance to wash the dust\nfrom her eyes, so she let them lead her to the _sauna_. Once they got\nher inside they locked the door and set the _sauna_ a-fire. Oh, the\nnoise she made then when she found she had been trapped! She kicked\nand screamed and cursed and threatened! But Kerttu and the brothers\npaid no heed to her. They left her burning in the _sauna_ while they\nhurried homewards.\n\nThey found their poor old mother seated at the window weeping, for she\nthought that now Kerttu as well as her sons was lost forever. As\nKerttu and the nine handsome young men came in the gate she didn't\nrecognize them until Kerttu sang out:\n\n \"I bring at last the brothers nine\n Whose own true mother is also mine!\"\n\nThen she knew who they were and with thanks to God she welcomed them\nhome.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FOREST BRIDE\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_The Story of a Little Mouse Who Was a Princess_\n\n\nTHE FOREST BRIDE\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once a farmer who had three sons. One day when the boys were\ngrown to manhood he said to them:\n\n\"My sons, it is high time that you were all married. To-morrow I wish\nyou to go out in search of brides.\"\n\n\"But where shall we go?\" the oldest son asked.\n\n\"I have thought of that, too,\" the father said. \"Do each of you chop\ndown a tree and then take the direction in which the fallen tree\npoints. I'm sure that each of you if you go far enough in that\ndirection will find a suitable bride.\"\n\nSo the next day the three sons chopped down trees. The oldest son's\ntree fell pointing north.\n\n\"That suits me!\" he said, for he knew that to the north lay a farm\nwhere a very pretty girl lived.\n\nThe tree of the second son when it fell pointed south.\n\n\"That suits me!\" the second son declared thinking of a girl that he\nhad often danced with who lived on a farm to the south.\n\nThe youngest son's tree--the youngest son's name was Veikko--when it\nfell pointed straight to the forest.\n\n\"Ha! Ha!\" the older brothers laughed. \"Veikko will have to go courting\none of the Wolf girls or one of the Foxes!\"\n\nThey meant by this that only animals lived in the forest and they\nthought they were making a good joke at Veikko's expense. But Veikko\nsaid he was perfectly willing to take his chances and go where his\ntree pointed.\n\nThe older brothers went gaily off and presented their suits to the two\nfarmers whose daughters they admired. Veikko, too, started off with\nbrave front but after he had gone some distance in the forest his\ncourage began to ebb.\n\n\"How can I find a bride,\" he asked himself, \"in a place where there\nare no human creatures at all!\"\n\nJust then he came to a little hut. He pushed open the door and went\nin. It was empty. To be sure there was a little mouse sitting on the\ntable, daintily combing her whiskers, but a mouse of course doesn't\ncount.\n\n\"There's nobody here!\" Veikko said aloud.\n\nThe little mouse paused in her toilet and turning towards him said\nreproachfully:\n\n\"Why, Veikko, I'm here!\"\n\n\"But you don't count. You're only a mouse!\"\n\n\"Of course I count!\" the little mouse declared. \"But tell me, what\nwere you hoping to find?\"\n\n\"I was hoping to find a sweetheart.\"\n\nThe little mouse questioned him further and Veikko told her the whole\nstory of his brothers and the trees.\n\n\"The two older ones are finding sweethearts easily enough,\" Veikko\nsaid, \"but I don't see how I can off here in the forest. And it will\nshame me to have to go home and confess that I alone have failed.\"\n\n\"See here, Veikko,\" the little mouse said, \"why don't you take me for\nyour sweetheart?\"\n\nVeikko laughed heartily.\n\n\"But you're only a mouse! Whoever heard of a man having a mouse for a\nsweetheart!\"\n\nThe mouse shook her little head solemnly.\n\n\"Take my word for it, Veikko, you could do much worse than have me for\na sweetheart! Even if I am only a mouse I can love you and be true to\nyou.\"\n\nShe was a dear dainty little mouse and as she sat looking up at Veikko\nwith her little paws under her chin and her bright little eyes\nsparkling Veikko liked her more and more.\n\nThen she sang Veikko a pretty little song and the song cheered him so\nmuch that he forgot his disappointment at not finding a human\nsweetheart and as he left her to go home he said:\n\n\"Very well, little mouse, I'll take you for my sweetheart!\"\n\nAt that the mouse made little squeaks of delight and she told him that\nshe'd be true to him and wait for him no matter how long he was in\nreturning.\n\nWell, the older brothers when they got home boasted loudly about their\nsweethearts.\n\n\"Mine,\" said the oldest, \"has the rosiest reddest cheeks you ever\nsaw!\"\n\n\"And mine,\" the second announced, \"has long yellow hair!\"\n\nVeikko said nothing.\n\n\"What's the matter, Veikko?\" the older brothers asked him, laughing.\n\"Has your sweetheart pretty pointed ears or sharp white teeth?\"\n\nYou see they were still having their little joke about foxes and\nwolves.\n\n\"You needn't laugh,\" Veikko said. \"I've found a sweetheart. She's a\ngentle dainty little thing gowned in velvet.\"\n\n\"Gowned in velvet!\" echoed the oldest brother with a frown.\n\n\"Just like a princess!\" the second brother sneered.\n\n\"Yes,\" Veikko repeated, \"gowned in velvet like a princess. And when\nshe sits up and sings to me I'm perfectly happy.\"\n\n\"Huh!\" grunted the older brothers not at all pleased that Veikko\nshould have so grand a sweetheart.\n\n\"Well,\" said the old farmer after a few days, \"now I should like to\nknow what those sweethearts of yours are able to do. Have them each\nbake me a loaf of bread so that I can see whether they're good\nhousewives.\"\n\n\"Mine will be able to bake bread--I'm sure of that!\" the oldest\nbrother declared boastfully.\n\n\"So will mine!\" chorused the second brother.\n\nVeikko was silent.\n\n\"What about the Princess?\" they said with a laugh. \"Do you think the\nPrincess can bake bread?\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" Veikko answered truthfully. \"I'll have to ask her.\"\n\nOf course he had no reason for supposing that the little mouse could\nbake bread and by the time he reached the hut in the forest he was\nfeeling sad and discouraged.\n\nWhen he pushed open the door he found the little mouse as before\nseated on the table daintily combing her whiskers. At sight of Veikko\nshe danced about with delight.\n\n\"I'm so glad to see you!\" she squeaked. \"I knew you would come back!\"\n\nThen when she noticed that he was silent she asked him what was the\nmatter. Veikko told her:\n\n\"My father wants each of our sweethearts to bake him a loaf of bread.\nIf I come home without a loaf my brothers will laugh at me.\"\n\n\"You won't have to go home without a loaf!\" the little mouse said. \"I\ncan bake bread.\"\n\nVeikko was much surprised at this.\n\n\"I never heard of a mouse that could bake bread!\"\n\n\"Well, I can!\" the little mouse insisted.\n\nWith that she began ringing a small silver bell, _tinkle_, _tinkle_,\n_tinkle_. Instantly there was the sound of hurrying footsteps, tiny\nscratchy footsteps, and hundreds of mice came running into the hut.\n\nThe little Princess mouse sitting up very straight and dignified said\nto them:\n\n\"Each of you go fetch me a grain of the finest wheat.\"\n\nAll the mice scampered quickly away and soon returned one by one, each\ncarrying a grain of the finest wheat. After that it was no trick at\nall for the Princess mouse to bake a beautiful loaf of wheaten bread.\n\nThe next day the three brothers presented their father the loaves of\ntheir sweethearts' baking. The oldest one had a loaf of rye bread.\n\n\"Very good,\" the farmer said. \"For hardworking people like us rye\nbread is good.\"\n\nThe loaf the second son had was made of barley.\n\n\"Barley bread is also good,\" the farmer said.\n\nBut when Veikko presented his loaf of beautiful wheaten bread, his\nfather cried out:\n\n\"What! White bread! Ah, Veikko now must have a sweetheart of wealth!\"\n\n\"Of course!\" the older brothers sneered. \"Didn't he tell us she was a\nPrincess? Say, Veikko, when a Princess wants fine white flour, how\ndoes she get it?\"\n\nVeikko answered simply:\n\n\"She rings a little silver bell and when her servants come in she\ntells them to bring her grains of the finest wheat.\"\n\nAt this the older brothers nearly exploded with envy until their\nfather had to reprove them.\n\n\"There! There!\" he said. \"Don't grudge the boy his good luck! Each\ngirl has baked the loaf she knows how to make and each in her own way\nwill probably make a good wife. But before you bring them home to me\nI want one further test of their skill in housewifery. Let them each\nsend me a sample of their weaving.\"\n\nThe older brothers were delighted at this for they knew that their\nsweethearts were skilful weavers.\n\n\"We'll see how her ladyship fares this time!\" they said, sure in their\nhearts that Veikko's sweetheart, whoever she was, would not put them\nto shame with her weaving.\n\nVeikko, too, had serious doubts of the little mouse's ability at the\nloom.\n\n\"Whoever heard of a mouse that could weave?\" he said to himself as he\npushed open the door of the forest hut.\n\n\"Oh, there you are at last!\" the little mouse squeaked joyfully.\n\nShe reached out her little paws in welcome and then in her excitement\nshe began dancing about on the table.\n\n\"Are you really glad to see me, little mouse?\" Veikko asked.\n\n\"Indeed I am!\" the mouse declared. \"Am I not your sweetheart? I've\nbeen waiting for you and waiting, just wishing that you would return!\nDoes your father want something more this time, Veikko?\"\n\n\"Yes, and it's something I'm afraid you can't give me, little mouse.\"\n\n\"Perhaps I can. Tell me what it is.\"\n\n\"It's a sample of your weaving. I don't believe you can weave. I never\nheard of a mouse that could weave.\"\n\n\"Tut! Tut!\" said the mouse. \"Of course I can weave! It would be a\nstrange thing if Veikko's sweetheart couldn't weave!\"\n\nShe rang the little silver bell, _tinkle_, _tinkle_, _tinkle_, and\ninstantly there was the faint _scratch-scratch_ of a hundred little\nfeet as mice came running in from all directions and sat up on their\nhaunches awaiting their Princess' orders.\n\n\"Go each of you,\" she said, \"and get me a fiber of flax, the finest\nthere is.\"\n\nThe mice went scurrying off and soon they began returning one by one\neach bringing a fiber of flax. When they had spun the flax and carded\nit, the little mouse wove a beautiful piece of fine linen. It was so\nsheer that she was able when she folded it to put it into an empty\nnutshell.\n\n\"Here, Veikko,\" she said, \"here in this little box is a sample of my\nweaving. I hope your father will like it.\"\n\nVeikko when he got home felt almost embarrassed for he was sure that\nhis sweetheart's weaving would shame his brothers. So at first he kept\nthe nutshell hidden in his pocket.\n\nThe sweetheart of the oldest brother had sent as a sample of her\nweaving a square of coarse cotton.\n\n\"Not very fine,\" the farmer said, \"but good enough.\"\n\nThe second brother's sample was a square of cotton and linen mixed.\n\n\"A little better,\" the farmer said, nodding his head.\n\nThen he turned to Veikko.\n\n\"And you, Veikko, has your sweetheart not given you a sample of her\nweaving?\"\n\nVeikko handed his father a nutshell at sight of which his brothers\nburst out laughing.\n\n\"Ha! Ha! Ha!\" they laughed. \"Veikko's sweetheart gives him a nut when\nhe asks for a sample of her weaving.\"\n\nBut their laughter died as the farmer opened the nutshell and began\nshaking out a great web of the finest linen.\n\n\"Why, Veikko, my boy!\" he cried, \"however did your sweetheart get\nthreads for so fine a web?\"\n\nVeikko answered modestly:\n\n\"She rang a little silver bell and ordered her servants to bring her\nin fibers of finest flax. They did so and after they had spun the flax\nand carded it, my sweetheart wove the web you see.\"\n\n\"Wonderful!\" gasped the farmer. \"I have never known such a weaver! The\nother girls will be all right for farmers' wives but Veikko's\nsweetheart might be a Princess! Well,\" concluded the farmer, \"it's\ntime that you all brought your sweethearts home. I want to see them\nwith my own eyes. Suppose you bring them to-morrow.\"\n\n\"She's a good little mouse and I'm very fond of her,\" Veikko thought\nto himself as he went out to the forest, \"but my brothers will\ncertainly laugh when they find she is only a mouse! Well, I don't care\nif they do laugh! She's been a good little sweetheart to me and I'm\nnot going to be ashamed of her!\"\n\nSo when he got to the hut he told the little mouse at once that his\nfather wanted to see her.\n\nThe little mouse was greatly excited.\n\n\"I must go in proper style!\" she said.\n\nShe rang the little silver bell and ordered her coach and five. The\ncoach when it came turned out to be an empty nutshell and the five\nprancing steeds that were drawing it were five black mice. The little\nmouse seated herself in the coach with a coachman mouse on the box in\nfront of her and a footman mouse on the box behind her.\n\n\"Oh, how my brothers will laugh!\" thought Veikko.\n\nBut he didn't laugh. He walked beside the coach and told the little\nmouse not to be frightened, that he would take good care of her. His\nfather, he told her, was a gentle old man and would be kind to her.\n\nWhen they left the forest they came to a river which was spanned by a\nfoot bridge. Just as Veikko and the nutshell coach had reached the\nmiddle of the bridge, a man met them coming from the opposite\ndirection.\n\n\"Mercy me!\" the man exclaimed as he caught sight of the strange little\ncoach that was rolling along beside Veikko. \"What's that?\"\n\nHe stooped down and looked and then with a loud laugh he put out his\nfoot and pushed the coach, the little mouse, her servants, and her\nfive prancing steeds--all off the bridge and into the water below.\n\n\"What have you done! What have you done!\" Veikko cried. \"You've\ndrowned my poor little sweetheart!\"\n\nThe man thinking Veikko was crazy hurried away.\n\nVeikko with tears in his eyes looked down into the water.\n\n [Illustration: _She beckoned to Veikko_]\n\n\"You poor little mouse!\" he said. \"How sorry I am that you are\ndrowned! You were a faithful loving sweetheart and now that you are\ngone I know how much I loved you!\"\n\nAs he spoke he saw a beautiful coach of gold drawn by five glossy\nhorses go up the far bank of the river. A coachman in gold lace held\nthe reins and a footman in pointed cap sat up stiffly behind. The most\nbeautiful girl in the world was seated in the coach. Her skin was as\nred as a berry and as white as snow, her long golden hair gleamed with\njewels, and she was dressed in pearly velvet. She beckoned to Veikko\nand when he came close she said:\n\n\"Won't you come sit beside me?\"\n\n\"Me? Me?\" Veikko stammered, too dazed to think.\n\nThe beautiful creature smiled.\n\n\"You were not ashamed to have me for a sweetheart when I was a mouse,\"\nshe said, \"and surely now that I am a Princess again you won't desert\nme!\"\n\n\"A mouse!\" Veikko gasped. \"Were you the little mouse?\"\n\nThe Princess nodded.\n\n\"Yes, I was the little mouse under an evil enchantment which could\nnever have been broken if you had not taken me for a sweetheart and if\nanother human being had not drowned me. Now the enchantment is broken\nforever. So come, we will go to your father and after he has given us\nhis blessing we will get married and go home to my kingdom.\"\n\nAnd that's exactly what they did. They drove at once to the farmer's\nhouse and when Veikko's father and his brothers and his brothers'\nsweethearts saw the Princess' coach stopping at their gate they all\ncame out bowing and scraping to see what such grand folk could want of\nthem.\n\n\"Father!\" Veikko cried, \"don't you know me?\"\n\nThe farmer stopped bowing long enough to look up.\n\n\"Why, bless my soul!\" he cried, \"it's our Veikko!\"\n\n\"Yes, father, I'm Veikko and this is the Princess that I'm going to\nmarry!\"\n\n\"A Princess, did you say, Veikko? Mercy me, where did my boy find a\nPrincess?\"\n\n\"Out in the forest where my tree pointed.\"\n\n\"Well, well, well,\" the farmer said, \"where your tree pointed! I've\nalways heard that was a good way to find a bride.\"\n\nThe older brothers shook their heads gloomily and muttered:\n\n\"Just our luck! If only our trees had pointed to the forest we, too,\nshould have found princesses instead of plain country wenches!\"\n\nBut they were wrong: it wasn't because his tree pointed to the forest\nthat Veikko got the Princess, it was because he was so simple and good\nthat he was kind even to a little mouse.\n\nWell, after they had got the farmer's blessing they rode home to the\nPrincess' kingdom and were married. And they were happy as they should\nhave been for they were good and true to each other and they loved\neach other dearly.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE ENCHANTED GROUSE\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_The Story of Helli and the Little Locked Box_\n\n\nTHE ENCHANTED GROUSE\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once an old couple who lived with their married son and his\nwife. The son's name was Helli. He was a dutiful son but his wife was\na scold. She was always finding fault with the old people and with her\nhusband and for that matter with everybody else as well.\n\nOne morning when she saw her husband taking out his bow and arrows she\nsaid:\n\n\"Where are you going now?\"\n\n\"I'm going hunting,\" he told her.\n\n\"Isn't that just like you!\" she cried. \"You're going off to have a\ngood time hunting and you don't give a thought to me who have to stay\nhome alone with two stupid old people!\"\n\n\"If I didn't go hunting,\" Helli said, \"and shoot something, we'd have\nnothing to put in the pot for dinner and then you would have reason to\nscold.\"\n\nAt that the woman burst into tears.\n\n\"Of course, as usual blame me! Whatever happens it's my fault!\"\n\nPoor Helli hurried off, hoping that by the time he returned his wife\nwould be in a calmer state of mind. He had small success with his\nhunting. He shot arrow after arrow but always missed his mark. Then\nwhen he had only one arrow left he saw a Grouse standing in some\nbrushwood so near that there was little likelihood of his missing it.\n\nHe took good aim but before he could fire the Grouse said:\n\n\"Don't shoot me, brother! Take me home alive.\"\n\nHelli paused, then he shook his head.\n\n\"I've got to shoot you for we've nothing to put in the pot for\ndinner.\"\n\nAgain he aimed his arrow and again the Grouse said:\n\n\"Don't shoot me, brother! Take me home alive.\"\n\nFor the second time Helli paused.\n\n\"I'd like to spare you,\" he said, \"but what would my wife say if I\ncame home empty-handed?\"\n\nHe took aim again and a third time the Grouse said:\n\n\"Don't shoot me, brother! Take me home alive.\"\n\nAt that Helli dropped his arrow.\n\n\"I don't care what she says! I can't shoot a creature that begs so\npitifully for its life! Very well, Mr. Grouse, I'll do as you say:\nI'll take you home alive. But don't blame me if my wife wrings your\nneck.\"\n\nHe took the Grouse up in his arms and started homewards.\n\n\"Feed me for a year,\" the Grouse said, \"and I'll reward you.\"\n\nWhen they reached home and Helli's wife saw the Grouse, she cried out\npetulantly:\n\n\"Is that all you've got and out hunting all morning! That won't be\ndinner enough for four!\"\n\n\"This Grouse isn't to be killed,\" Helli announced. \"I'm going to keep\nit for a year and feed it.\"\n\n\"It won't take much to feed a Grouse,\" the old man remarked.\n\nBut the wife flew into a passion.\n\n\"What! Feed a useless bird when there isn't enough to feed your own\nflesh and blood!\"\n\nBut Helli was firm and despite her threats his wife did not dare to\nmaltreat the Grouse.\n\nAt the end of a year the Grouse grew a copper feather in its tail\nwhich it dropped in the dooryard. Then it disappeared.\n\n\"Ha!\" laughed Helli's wife. \"A copper feather! That's your reward for\nfeeding that thankless bird a whole year! And now it's escaped!\"\n\nBut the next day the Grouse returned.\n\n\"Feed me for another year,\" it said to Helli, \"and I'll reward you.\"\n\nHis wife raised an awful to-do over this, but Helli was firm and for\nanother year he fed and petted the Grouse.\n\nAt the end of the second year the Grouse grew a silver feather in its\ntail which it dropped in the dooryard. Then it disappeared.\n\n\"One silver feather!\" Helli's wife cried. \"So that's all you get for\nfeeding that thankless bird a whole year! And now it's escaped!\"\n\nBut it hadn't. It returned the very next day.\n\n\"Feed me for another year,\" it said to Helli, \"and I'll reward you.\"\n\nAt the end of the third year the Grouse grew a golden feather in its\ntail and when it dropped that in the dooryard the scolding wife hadn't\nso much to say, for a golden feather was after all pretty good pay for\na few handfuls of grain.\n\nFor a day the Grouse disappeared and then when it returned it said to\nHelli:\n\n\"Get on my back and I'll reward you.\"\n\nHelli did so and the Grouse, rising high in the air, flew far away.\nOn, on it flew until it reached the broad Ocean. Over the Ocean it\nflew until Helli could see nothing but water in whatever direction he\nlooked.\n\n [Illustration: _On it flew until it reached the broad Ocean_]\n\n\"Ha!\" he said to himself with a shudder, \"I hope I can hold on!\"\n\nAs he spoke, the Grouse slipped from beneath him and he fell down,\ndown, down. However, before he touched water the Grouse swooped under\nhim and caught him up again high into the air. He had this same\nterrible experience a second time and a third time and each time he\nthought his last moment had arrived.\n\n\"Now,\" the Grouse told him, \"you know what my feelings were when you\nthreatened three times to shoot me with your arrow.\"\n\n\"You have taught me a lesson,\" Helli said.\n\nAfter that the Grouse flew on and on. At last it said:\n\n\"Look straight ahead, master, and tell me what you see.\"\n\nHelli shaded his eyes and looked.\n\n\"Far, far ahead I see what looks like a copper column.\"\n\n\"Good!\" the Grouse said. \"That is the home of my oldest sister. She\nwill be overjoyed to see us and when she hears how you have spared my\nlife she will want to make you a present and will offer you various\nthings. Take my advice and tell her that the only thing you want is\nher little locked box the key to which is lost. If she won't give you\nthat, accept nothing.\"\n\nThe Grouse's oldest sister received them most hospitably and when she\nhad heard their story at once offered Helli anything he might like\nfrom among her treasures.\n\n\"Then give me your little locked box the key to which is lost,\" Helli\nsaid.\n\nThe oldest sister shook her head.\n\n\"My little locked box! Who told you about that? I'm sorry, but I\ncannot give you that! Take anything else!\"\n\n\"No,\" Helli said, \"that or nothing!\"\n\nWhen the oldest sister could not be prevailed upon to give away her\nlittle locked box, the Grouse had Helli mount his back once more and\noff they flew.\n\n\"We'll visit my second sister now,\" he said. \"If she offers you a\npresent, ask her for her little locked box without a key and accept\nnothing else.\"\n\nOn, on they flew until the oldest sister's castle was far behind.\n\n\"Look, master,\" the Grouse said, \"look straight ahead and tell me what\nyou see.\"\n\nHelli shaded his eyes and looked.\n\n\"Far ahead I see something that is like a silver cloud.\"\n\n\"That,\" said the Grouse, \"is the silver castle of my second sister.\"\n\nAt the silver castle the second sister received them with joy and when\nshe heard who Helli was at once declared that she wanted to show him\nher gratitude by making him a gift.\n\n\"Ask from me what you will,\" she said, \"and you shall have it.\"\n\nBut when he asked for her little locked box without a key, she cried\nout:\n\n\"No! No! Not that! Anything else!\"\n\n\"But I don't want anything else!\" Helli said.\n\nWhen the Grouse saw that his second sister was not to be parted from\nher little locked box, he bade Helli mount his back and off they flew\nagain.\n\n\"We'll go to my youngest sister this time,\" he said. \"If she offers\nyou a present, ask for the same thing.\"\n\nOn, on they flew until the silver castle was lost to view.\n\n\"Now, master, look ahead and tell me what you see.\"\n\nHelli shaded his eyes and looked.\n\n\"I seem to see a golden haze like the sun behind a cloud.\"\n\n\"That is the golden castle of my youngest sister.\"\n\nThey arrived and the youngest sister threw her arms about the Grouse\nfor she loved him dearly and had not seen him for a long time.\n\n\"Welcome, brother!\" she said. \"And welcome also to you, Helli!\"\n\nThen she offered Helli a present and when he asked for her little\nlocked box without a key she gave it to him at once.\n\n\"It is my most precious possession,\" she said, \"but you may have it\nfor you spared my dear brother's life when you might have taken it.\"\n\nAfter they had rested and feasted they bade the youngest sister\nfarewell and Helli with his precious box held tightly in one hand\nmounted the Grouse's back and off they flew towards home.\n\n\"Be careful of the box,\" the Grouse said, \"and don't let it out of\nyour hands until we reach some beautiful spot where you'd like always\nto live.\"\n\nThey passed high mountains and wooded lakes and fertile valleys.\n\n\"Shall we stop here?\" the Grouse asked. \"Or here? Or here?\"\n\nBut always Helli said:\n\n\"No, not here.\"\n\nAt last they reached home and the Grouse told Helli that now they must\npart forever.\n\n\"By sparing my life three times,\" the Grouse said, \"and then feeding\nme for three years you have broken the enchantment that bound me and\nnow I shall not have to go about any longer as a grouse but shall be\nable to resume my natural shape. Farewell, Helli, and when you find\nthe spot where you think you would like always to live, drop the box\nand you will find you have a treasure that will more than reward you\nfor your kindness to me.\"\n\nThe Grouse disappeared and Helli said to himself:\n\n\"Where do I want to live always but right here at home with my dear\nold father and mother and my wife who is my wife even if she does\nscold me sometimes!\"\n\nSo there at home after they all had supper together, he dropped the\nbox on the floor. It broke and out of it arose a beautiful castle with\nservants and riches and everything that Helli had always wanted and\nnever had. And Helli and his old father and mother and his wife lived\nin it and were happy. And gradually his wife got over her habit of\nscolding for when you're happy you haven't anything to scold about.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TERRIBLE OLLI\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_The Story of an Honest Finn and a Wicked Troll_\n\n\nTHE TERRIBLE OLLI\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once a wicked rich old Troll who lived on a Mountain that\nsloped down to a Bay. A decent Finn, a farmer, lived on the opposite\nside of the Bay. The farmer had three sons. When the boys had reached\nmanhood he said to them one day:\n\n\"I should think it would shame you three strong youths that that\nwicked old Troll over there should live on year after year and no one\ntrouble him. We work hard like honest Finns and are as poor at the end\nof the year as at the beginning. That old Troll with all his\nwickedness grows richer and richer. I tell you, if you boys had any\nreal spirit you'd take his riches from him and drive him away!\"\n\nHis youngest son, whose name was Olli, at once cried out:\n\n\"Very well, father, I will!\"\n\nBut the two older sons, offended at Olli's promptness, declared:\n\n\"You'll do no such thing! Don't forget your place in the family!\nYou're the youngest and we're not going to let you push us aside. Now,\nfather, we two will go across the Bay and rout out that old Troll.\nOlli may come with us if he likes and watch us while we do it.\"\n\nOlli laughed and said: \"All right!\" for he was used to his brothers\ntreating him like a baby.\n\nSo in a few days the three brothers walked around the Bay and up the\nMountain and presented themselves at the Troll's house. The Troll and\nhis old wife were both at home. They received the brothers with great\ncivility.\n\n\"You're the sons of the Finn who lives across the Bay, aren't you?\"\nthe Troll said. \"I've watched you boys grow up. I am certainly glad to\nsee you for I have three daughters who need husbands. Marry my\ndaughters and you'll inherit my riches.\"\n\nThe old Troll made this offer in order to get the young men into his\npower.\n\n\"Be careful!\" Olli whispered.\n\nBut the brothers were too delighted at the prospect of inheriting the\nTroll's riches so easily to pay any heed to Olli's warning. Instead\nthey accepted the Troll's offer at once.\n\nWell, the old Troll's wife made them a fine supper and after supper\nthe Troll sent them to bed with his three daughters. But first he put\nred caps on the three youths and white caps on the three Troll girls.\nHe made a joke about the caps.\n\n\"A red cap and a white cap in each bed!\" he said.\n\nThe older brothers suspected nothing and soon fell asleep. Olli, too,\npretended to fall asleep and when he was sure that none of the Troll\ngirls were still awake he got up and quietly changed the caps. He put\nthe white caps on himself and his brothers and the red caps on the\nTroll girls. Then he crept back to bed and waited.\n\nPresently the old Troll came over to the beds with a long knife in his\nhand. There was so little light in the room that he couldn't see the\nfaces of the sleepers, but it was easy enough to distinguish the white\ncaps from the red caps. With three swift blows he cut off the heads\nunder the red caps, thinking of course they were the heads of the\nthree Finnish youths. Then he went back to bed with the old Troll wife\nand Olli could hear them both chuckling and laughing. After a time\nthey went soundly to sleep as Olli could tell from their deep regular\nbreathing and their loud snores.\n\nOlli now roused his brothers and told them what had happened and the\nthree of them slipped quietly out of the Troll house and hurried home\nto their father on the other side of the Bay.\n\nAfter that the older brothers no longer talked of despoiling the\nTroll. They didn't care to try another encounter with him.\n\n\"He might have cut our heads off!\" they said, shuddering to think of\nthe awful risk they had run.\n\nOlli laughed at them.\n\n\"Come on!\" he kept saying to them day after day. \"Let's go across the\nBay to the Troll's!\"\n\n\"We'll do no such thing!\" they told him. \"And you wouldn't suggest it\neither if you weren't so young and foolish!\"\n\n\"Well,\" Olli announced at last, \"if you won't come with me I'm going\nalone. I've heard that the Troll has a horse with hairs of gold and\nsilver. I've decided I want that horse.\"\n\n\"Olli,\" his father said, \"I don't believe you ought to go. You know\nwhat your brothers say. That old Troll is an awfully sly one!\"\n\nBut Olli only laughed.\n\n\"Good-by!\" he called back as he waved his hand. \"When you see me again\nI'll be riding the Troll's horse!\"\n\n [Illustration: _Olli and the Troll's horse_]\n\nThe Troll wasn't at home but the old Troll wife was there. When she\nsaw Olli she thought to herself:\n\n\"Mercy me, here's that Finnish boy again, the one that changed the\ncaps! What shall I do? I must keep him here on some pretext or other\nuntil the Troll comes home!\"\n\nSo she pretended to be very glad to see him.\n\n\"Why, Olli,\" she said, \"is that you? Come right in!\"\n\nShe talked to him as long as she could and when she could think of\nnothing more to say she asked him would he take the horse and water it\nat the Lake.\n\n\"That will keep him busy,\" she thought to herself, \"and long before he\ngets back from the Lake the Troll will be here.\"\n\nBut Olli, instead of leading the horse down to the Lake, jumped on its\nback and galloped away. By the time the Troll reached home, he was\nsafely on the other side of the Bay.\n\nWhen the Troll heard from the old Troll wife what had happened, he\nwent down to the shore and hallooed across the Bay:\n\n\"Olli! Oh, Olli, are you there?\"\n\nOlli made a trumpet of his hands and called back:\n\n\"Yes, I'm here! What do you want?\"\n\n\"Olli, have you got my horse?\"\n\n\"Yes, I've got your horse but it's my horse now!\"\n\n\"Olli! Olli!\" his father cried. \"You mustn't talk that way to the\nTroll! You'll make him angry!\"\n\nAnd his brothers looking with envy at the horse with gold and silver\nhairs warned him sourly:\n\n\"You better be careful, young man, or the Troll will get you yet!\"\n\nA few days later Olli announced:\n\n\"I think I'll go over and get the Troll's money-bag.\"\n\nHis father tried to dissuade him.\n\n\"Don't be foolhardy, Olli! Your brothers say you had better not go to\nthe Troll's house again.\"\n\nBut Olli only laughed and started gaily off as though he hadn't a fear\nin the world.\n\nAgain he found the old Troll wife alone.\n\n\"Mercy me!\" she thought to herself as she saw him coming, \"here is\nthat terrible Olli again! Whatever shall I do? I mustn't let him off\nthis time before the Troll gets back! I must keep him right here with\nme in the house.\"\n\nSo when he came in she pretended that she was tired and that her back\nached and she asked him would he watch the bread in the oven while she\nrested a few moments on the bed.\n\n\"Certainly I will,\" Olli said.\n\nSo the old Troll wife lay down on the bed and Olli sat quietly in\nfront of the oven. The Troll wife really was tired and before she knew\nit she fell asleep.\n\n\"Ha!\" thought Olli, \"here's my chance!\"\n\nWithout disturbing the Troll wife he reached under the bed, pulled out\nthe big money-bag full of silver pieces, threw it over his shoulder,\nand hurried home.\n\nHe was measuring the money when he heard the Troll hallooing across to\nhim:\n\n\"Olli! Oh, Olli, are you there?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Olli shouted back, \"I'm here! What do you want?\"\n\n\"Olli, have you got my money-bag?\"\n\n\"Yes, I've got your money-bag but it's my money-bag now!\"\n\nA few days later Olli said:\n\n\"Do you know, the Troll has a beautiful coverlet woven of silk and\ngold. I think I'll go over and get it.\"\n\nHis father as usual protested but Olli laughed at him merrily and\nwent. He took with him an auger and a can of water. He hid until it\nwas dark, then climbed the roof of the Troll's house and bored a hole\nright over the bed. When the Troll and his wife went to sleep he\nsprinkled some water on the coverlet and on their faces.\n\nThe Troll woke with a start.\n\n\"I'm wet!\" he said, \"and the bed's wet, too!\"\n\nThe old Troll wife got up to change the covers.\n\n\"The roof must be leaking,\" she said. \"It never leaked before. I\nsuppose it was that last wind.\"\n\nShe threw the wet coverlet up over the rafters to dry and put other\ncovers on the bed.\n\nWhen she and the Troll were again asleep, Olli made the hole a little\nbigger, reached in his hand, and got the coverlet from the rafters.\n\nThe next morning the Troll hallooed across the Bay:\n\n\"Olli! Oh, Olli, are you there?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Olli shouted back, \"I'm here! What do you want?\"\n\n\"Have you got my coverlet woven of silk and gold?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Olli told him, \"I've got your coverlet but it's my coverlet\nnow!\"\n\nA few days later Olli said:\n\n\"There's still one thing in the Troll's house that I think I ought to\nget. It's a golden bell. If I get that golden bell then there will be\nnothing left that had better belong to an honest Finn.\"\n\nSo he went again to the Troll's house taking with him a saw and an\nauger. He hid until night and, when the Troll and his wife were\nasleep, he cut a hole through the side of the house through which he\nreached in his hand to get the bell. At the touch of his hand the bell\ntinkled and woke the Troll. The Troll jumped out of bed and grabbed\nOlli's hand.\n\n\"Ha! Ha!\" he cried. \"I've got you now and this time you won't get\naway!\"\n\nOlli didn't try to get away. He made no resistance while the Troll\ndragged him into the house.\n\n\"We'll eat him--that's what we'll do!\" the Troll said to his wife.\n\"Heat the oven at once and we'll roast him!\"\n\nSo the Troll wife built a roaring fire in the oven.\n\n\"He'll make a fine roast!\" the Troll said, pinching Olli's arms and\nlegs. \"I think we ought to invite the other Troll folk to come and\nhelp us eat him up. Suppose I just go over the Mountain and gather\nthem in. You can manage here without me. As soon as the oven is well\nheated just take Olli and slip him in and close the door and by the\ntime we come he'll be done.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" the Troll wife said, \"but don't be too long! He's young\nand tender and will roast quickly!\"\n\nSo the Troll went out to invite to the feast the Troll folk who lived\non the other side of the Mountain and Olli was left alone with the\nTroll wife.\n\nWhen the oven was well heated she raked out the coals and said to\nOlli:\n\n\"Now then, my boy, sit down in front of the oven with your back to the\nopening and I'll push you in nicely.\"\n\nOlli pretended he didn't quite understand. He sat down first one way\nand then another, spreading himself out so large that he was too big\nfor the oven door.\n\n\"Not that way!\" the Troll wife kept saying. \"Hunch up little, straight\nin front of the door!\"\n\n\"You show me how,\" Olli begged.\n\nSo the old Troll wife sat down before the oven directly in front of\nthe opening, and she hunched herself up very compactly with her chin\non her knees and her arms around her legs.\n\n\"Oh, that way!\" Olli said, \"so that you can just take hold of me and\npush me in and shut the door!\"\n\nAnd as he spoke he took hold of her and pushed her in and slammed the\ndoor! And that was the end of the old Troll wife!\n\nOlli let her roast in the oven until she was done to a turn. Then he\ntook her out and put her on the table all ready for the feast.\n\nThen he filled a sack with straw and dressed the sack up in some of\nthe old Troll wife's clothes. He threw the dressed up sack on the bed\nand, just to glance at it, you'd suppose it was the Troll wife asleep.\n\nThen Olli took the golden bell and went home.\n\nWell, presently the Troll and all the Troll folk from over the\nMountain came trooping in.\n\n\"Yum! Yum! It certainly smells good!\" they said as they got the first\nwhiff from the big roast on the table.\n\n\"See!\" the Troll said, pointing to the bed. \"The old woman's asleep!\nWell, let her sleep! She's tired! We'll just sit down without her!\"\n\nSo they set to and feasted and feasted.\n\n\"Ha! Ha!\" said the Troll. \"This is the way to serve a troublesome\nyoung Finn!\"\n\nJust then his knife struck something hard and he looked down to see\nwhat it was.\n\n\"Mercy me!\" he cried, \"if here isn't one of the old woman's beads!\nWhat can that mean? You don't suppose the roast is not Olli after all\nbut the old woman! No! No! It can't be!\"\n\nHe got up and went over to the bed. Then he came back shaking his head\nsadly.\n\n\"My friends,\" he said, \"we've been eating the old woman! However,\nwe've eaten so much of her that I suppose we might as well finish\nher!\"\n\nSo the Troll folk sat all night feasting and drinking.\n\nAt dawn the Troll went down to the water and hallooed across:\n\n\"Olli! Oh, Olli, are you there?\"\n\nOlli who was safely home shouted back:\n\n\"Yes, I'm here! What do you want?\"\n\n\"Have you got my golden bell?\"\n\n\"Yes, I've got your golden bell but it's my golden bell now!\"\n\n\"One thing more, Olli: did you roast my old woman?\"\n\n\"Your old woman?\" Olli echoed. \"Look! Is that she?\"\n\nOlli pointed at the rising sun which was coming up behind the Troll.\n\nThe Troll turned and looked. He looked straight at the sun and then,\nof course, he burst!\n\nSo that was the end of him!\n\nWell, after that no other Troll ever dared settle on that side of the\nMountain. They were all too afraid of the Terrible Olli!\n\n\n\n\nTHE DEVIL'S HIDE\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_The Story of the Boy Who Wouldn't Lose His Temper_\n\n\nTHE DEVIL'S HIDE\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once a Finnish boy who got the best of the Devil. His name\nwas Erkki. Erkki had two brothers who were, of course, older than he.\nThey both tried their luck with the Devil and got the worst of it.\nThen Erkki tried his luck. They were sure Erkki, too, would be\nworsted, but he wasn't. Here is the whole story:\n\nOne day the oldest brother said:\n\n\"It's time for me to go out into the world and earn my living. Do you\ntwo younger ones wait here at home until you hear how I get on.\"\n\nThe younger boys agreed to this and the oldest brother started out. He\nwas unable to get employment until by chance he met the Devil. The\nDevil at once offered him a place but on very strange terms.\n\n\"Come work for me,\" the Devil said, \"and I promise that you'll be\ncomfortably housed and well fed. We'll make this bargain: the first of\nus who loses his temper will forfeit to the other enough of his own\nhide to sole a pair of boots. If I lose my temper first, you may exact\nfrom me a big patch of my hide. If you lose your temper first, I'll\nexact the same from you.\"\n\nThe oldest brother agreed to this and the Devil at once took him home\nand set him to work.\n\n\"Take this ax,\" he said, \"and go out behind the house and chop me some\nfirewood.\"\n\nThe oldest brother took the ax and went out to the woodpile.\n\n\"Chopping wood is easy enough,\" he thought to himself.\n\nBut at the first blow he found that the ax had no edge. Try as he\nwould he couldn't cut a single log.\n\n\"I'd be a fool to stay here and waste my time with such an ax!\" he\ncried.\n\nSo he threw down the ax and ran away thinking to escape the Devil and\nget work somewhere else. But the Devil had no intention of letting him\nescape. He ran after him, overtook him, and asked him what he meant\nleaving thus without notice.\n\n\"I don't want to work for you!\" the oldest brother cried, petulantly.\n\n\"Very well,\" the Devil said, \"but don't lose your temper about it.\"\n\n\"I will so lose my temper!\" the oldest brother declared. \"The\nidea--expecting me to cut wood with such an ax!\"\n\n\"Well,\" the Devil remarked, \"since you insist on losing your temper,\nyou'll have to forfeit me enough of your hide to sole a pair of boots!\nThat was our bargain.\"\n\nThe oldest brother howled and protested but to no purpose. The Devil\nwas firm. He took out a long knife and slit off enough of the oldest\nbrother's hide to sole a pair of big boots.\n\n\"Now then, my boy,\" he said, \"now you may go.\"\n\nThe oldest brother went limping home complaining bitterly at the hard\nfate that had befallen him.\n\n\"I'm tired and sick,\" he told his brothers, \"and I'm going to stay\nhome and rest. One of you will have to go out and get work.\"\n\nThe second brother at once said that he'd be delighted to try his luck\nin the world. So he started out and he had exactly the same\nexperience. At first he could get no work, then he met the Devil and\nthe Devil made exactly the same bargain with him that he had made with\nthe oldest brother. He took the second brother home with him, gave him\nthe same dull ax, and sent him out to the woodpile. After the first\nstroke the second brother threw down the ax in disgust and tried to\nrun off and the Devil, of course, wouldn't let him go until he, too,\nhad submitted to the loss of a great patch of hide. So it was no time\nat all before the second brother came limping home complaining\nbitterly at fate.\n\n\"What ails you two?\" Erkki said.\n\n\"You go out into the cruel world and hunt work,\" they told him, \"and\nyou'll find out soon enough what ails us! And when you do find out you\nneedn't come limping home expecting sympathy from us for you won't get\nit!\"\n\nSo the very next day Erkki started out, leaving his brothers at home\nnursing their sore backs and their injured feelings.\n\nWell, Erkki had exactly the same experience. At first he could get\nwork nowhere, then later he met the Devil and went into his employ on\nexactly the same terms as his brothers.\n\nThe Devil handed him the same dull ax and sent him out to the\nwoodpile. At the first blow Erkki knew that the ax had lost its edge\nand would never cut a single log. But instead of being discouraged and\nlosing his temper, he only laughed.\n\n\"I suppose the Devil thinks I'll lose my hide over a trifle like\nthis!\" he said. \"Well, I just won't!\"\n\nHe dropped the ax and, going over to the woodpile, began pulling it\ndown. Under all the logs he found the Devil's cat. It was an evil\nlooking creature with a gray head.\n\n\"Ha!\" thought Erkki, \"I bet anything you've got something to do with\nthis!\"\n\nHe raised the dull ax and with one blow cut off the evil creature's\nhead. Sure enough the ax instantly recovered its edge and after that\nErkki had no trouble at all in chopping as much firewood as the Devil\nwanted.\n\nThat night at supper the Devil said:\n\n\"Well, Erkki, did you finish the work I gave you?\"\n\n\"Yes, master, I've chopped all that wood.\"\n\nThe Devil was surprised.\n\n\"Really?\"\n\n\"Yes, master. You can go out and see for yourself.\"\n\n\"Then you found something in the woodpile, didn't you?\"\n\n\"Nothing but an awful looking old cat.\"\n\nThe Devil started.\n\n\"Did you do anything to that cat?\"\n\n\"I only chopped its head off and threw it away.\"\n\n\"What!\" the Devil cried angrily. \"Didn't you know that was my cat!\"\n\n\"There now, master,\" Erkki said soothingly, \"you're not going to lose\nyour temper over a little thing like a dead cat, are you? Don't forget\nour bargain!\"\n\nThe Devil swallowed his anger and murmured:\n\n\"No, I'm not going to lose my temper but I must say that was no way to\ntreat my cat.\"\n\nThe next day the Devil ordered Erkki to go out to the forest and bring\nhome some logs on the ox sledge.\n\n\"My black dog will go with you,\" he said, \"and as you come home you're\nto take exactly the same course the dog takes.\"\n\nWell, Erkki went out to the forest and loaded the ox sledge with logs\nand then drove the oxen home following the Devil's black dog. As they\nreached the Devil's house the black dog jumped through a hole in the\ngate.\n\n\"I must follow master's orders,\" Erkki said to himself.\n\nSo he cut up the oxen into small pieces and put them through the same\nhole in the gate; he chopped up the logs and pitched them through the\nhole; and he broke up the sledge into pieces small enough to follow\nthe oxen and the logs. Then he crept through the hole himself.\n\nThat night at supper the Devil said:\n\n\"Well, Erkki, did you come home the way I told you?\"\n\n\"Yes, master, I followed the black dog.\"\n\n\"What!\" the Devil cried. \"Do you mean to say you brought the oxen and\nthe sledge and the logs through the hole in the gate?\"\n\n\"Yes, master, that's what I did.\"\n\n\"But you couldn't!\" the Devil declared.\n\n\"Well, master,\" Erkki said, \"just go out and see.\"\n\nThe Devil went outside and when he saw the method by which Erkki had\ncarried out his orders he was furious. But Erkki quieted him by\nsaying:\n\n\"There now, master, you're not going to lose your temper over a\ntrifling matter like this, are you? Remember our bargain!\"\n\n\"N-n-no,\" the Devil said, again swallowing his anger, \"I'm not going\nto lose my temper, but I want you to understand, Erkki, that I think\nyou've acted very badly in this!\"\n\nAll that evening the Devil fumed and fussed about Erkki.\n\n\"We've got to get rid of that boy! That's all there is about it!\" he\nsaid to his wife.\n\nOf course whenever Erkki was in sight the Devil tried to smile and\nlook pleasant, but as soon as Erkki was gone he went back at once to\nhis grievance. He declared emphatically:\n\n\"There's no living in peace and comfort with such a boy around!\"\n\n\"Well,\" his wife said, \"if you feel that way about it, why don't you\nkill him to-night when he's asleep? We could throw his body into the\nlake and no one be the wiser.\"\n\n\"That's a fine idea!\" the Devil said. \"Wake me up some time after\nmidnight and I'll do it!\"\n\nNow Erkki overheard this little plan, so that night he kept awake.\nWhen he knew from their snoring that the Devil and his wife were sound\nasleep, he slipped over to their bed, quietly lifted the Devil's wife\nin his arms, and without awakening her placed her gently in his own\nbed. Then he put on some of her clothes and laid himself down beside\nthe Devil in the wife's place.\n\nPresently he nudged the Devil awake.\n\n\"What do you want?\" the Devil mumbled.\n\n\"Sst!\" Erkki whispered. \"Isn't it time we got up and killed Erkki?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" the Devil answered, \"it is. Come along.\"\n\nThey got up quietly and the Devil reached down a great sword from the\nwall. Then they crept over to Erkki's bed and the Devil with one blow\ncut off the head of the person who was lying there asleep.\n\n\"Now,\" he said, \"we'll just carry out the bed and all and dump it in\nthe lake.\"\n\nSo Erkki took one end of the bed and the Devil the other and,\nstumbling and slipping in the darkness, they carried it down to the\nlake and pitched it in.\n\n\"That's a good job done!\" the Devil said with a laugh.\n\nThen they went back to bed together and the Devil fell instantly\nasleep.\n\nThe next morning when he got up for breakfast, there was Erkki\nstirring the porridge.\n\n\"How--did you get here?\" the Devil asked. \"I mean--I mean where is my\nwife?\"\n\n\"Your wife? Don't you remember,\" Erkki said, \"you cut off her head\nlast night and then we threw her into the lake, bed and all! But no\none will be the wiser!\"\n\n\"W-wh-what!\" the Devil cried, and he was about to fly into an awful\nrage when Erkki restrained him by saying:\n\n\"There now, master, you're not going to lose your temper over a little\nthing like a wife, are you? Remember our bargain!\"\n\nSo the Devil was forced again to swallow his anger.\n\n\"No, I'm not going to lose my temper,\" he said, \"but I tell you\nfrankly, Erkki, I don't think that was a nice trick for you to play on\nme!\"\n\nWell, the Devil felt lonely not having a wife about the house, so in a\nfew days he decided to go off wooing for a new one.\n\n\"And, Erkki,\" he said, \"I expect you to keep busy while I'm gone.\nHere's a keg of red paint. Now get to work and have the house all\nblazing red by the time I get back.\"\n\n\"All blazing red,\" Erkki repeated. \"Very well, master, trust me to\nhave it all blazing red by the time you get back!\"\n\nAs soon as the Devil was gone, Erkki set the house a-fire and in a\nshort time the whole sky was lighted up with the red glow of the\nflames. In great fright the Devil hurried back and got there in time\nto see the house one mass of fire.\n\n\"You see, master,\" Erkki said, \"I've done as you told me. It looks\nvery pretty, doesn't it? all blazing red!\"\n\nThe Devil almost choked with rage.\n\n\"You--you--\" he began, but Erkki restrained him by saying:\n\n\"There now, master, you're not going to lose your temper over a\nlittle thing like a house a-fire, are you? Remember our bargain!\"\n\n [Illustration: _From the bones of the cattle he laid three bridges_]\n\nThe Devil swallowed hard and said:\n\n\"N--no, I'm not going to lose my temper, but I must say, Erkki, that\nI'm very much annoyed with you!\"\n\nThe next day the Devil wanted to go a-wooing again and before he\nstarted he said to Erkki:\n\n\"Now, no nonsense this time! While I'm gone you're to build three\nbridges over the lake, but they're not to be built of wood or stone or\niron or earth. Do you understand?\"\n\nErkki pretended to be frightened.\n\n\"That's a pretty hard task you've given me, master!\"\n\n\"Hard or easy, see that you get it done!\" the Devil said.\n\nErkki waited until the Devil was gone, then he went out to the field\nand slaughtered all the Devil's cattle. From the bones of the cattle\nhe laid three bridges across the lake, using the skulls for one\nbridge, the ribs for another, and the legs and the hoofs for the\nthird. Then when the Devil got back, Erkki met him and pointing to the\nbridges said:\n\n\"See, master, there they are, three bridges put together without\nstick, stone, iron, or bit of earth!\"\n\nWhen the Devil found out that all his cattle had been slaughtered to\ngive bones for the bridges, he was ready to kill Erkki, but Erkki\nquieted him by saying:\n\n\"There now, master, you're not going to lose your temper over a little\nthing like the slaughter of a few cattle, are you? Remember our\nbargain!\"\n\nSo again the Devil had to swallow his anger.\n\n\"No,\" he said, \"I'm not going to lose my temper exactly but I just\nwant to tell you, Erkki, that I don't think you're behaving well!\"\n\nThe Devil's wooing was successful and pretty soon he brought home a\nnew wife. The new wife didn't like having Erkki about, so the Devil\npromised her he'd kill the boy.\n\n\"I'll do it to-night,\" he said, \"when he's asleep.\"\n\nErkki overheard this and that night he put the churn in his bed under\nthe covers, and where his head ordinarily would be he put a big round\nstone. Then he himself curled up on the stove and went comfortably to\nsleep.\n\nDuring the night the Devil took his great sword from the wall and went\nover to Erkki's bed. His first blow hit the round stone and nicked the\nsword. His second blow struck sparks.\n\n\"Mercy me!\" the Devil thought, \"he's got a mighty hard head! I better\nstrike lower!\"\n\nWith the third stroke he hit the churn a mighty blow. The hoops flew\napart and the churn collapsed.\n\nThe Devil went chuckling back to bed.\n\n\"Ha!\" he said boastfully to his wife, \"I got him that time!\"\n\nBut the next morning when he woke up he didn't feel like laughing for\nthere was Erkki as lively as ever and pretending that nothing had\nhappened.\n\n\"What!\" cried the Devil in amazement, \"didn't you feel anything strike\nyou last night while you were asleep?\"\n\n\"Oh, I did feel a few mosquitoes brushing my cheek,\" Erkki said.\n\"Nothing else.\"\n\n\"Steel doesn't touch him!\" the Devil said to his wife. \"I think I'll\ntry fire on him.\"\n\nSo that night the Devil told Erkki to sleep in the threshing barn.\nErkki carried his cot down to the threshing floor and then when it was\ndark he shifted it into the hay barn where he slept comfortably all\nnight.\n\nDuring the night the Devil set fire to the threshing barn. In the\nearly dawn Erkki carried his cot back to the place of the threshing\nbarn and in the morning when the Devil came out the first thing he\nsaw was Erkki unharmed and peacefully sleeping among the smoking\nruins.\n\n\"Mercy me, Erkki!\" he shouted, shaking him awake, \"have you been\nasleep all night?\"\n\nErkki sat up and yawned.\n\n\"Yes, I've had a fine night's sleep. But I did feel a little chilly.\"\n\n\"Chilly!\" the Devil gasped.\n\nAfter that the Devil's one thought was to get rid of Erkki.\n\n\"That boy's getting on my nerves!\" he told his wife. \"I just can't\nstand him much longer! What are we going to do about him?\"\n\nThey discussed one plan after another and at last decided that the\nonly way they'd ever get rid of him would be to move away and leave\nhim behind.\n\n\"I'll send him out to the forest to chop wood all day,\" the Devil\nsaid, \"and while he's gone we'll row ourselves and all our belongings\nout to an island and when he comes back he won't know where we've\ngone.\"\n\nErkki overheard this plan and the next day when they were sure he was\nsafely at work in the forest he slipped back and hid himself in the\nbedclothes.\n\nWell, when they got to the island and began unpacking their things\nthere was Erkki in the bedclothes!\n\nThe Devil's new wife complained bitterly.\n\n\"If you really loved me,\" she said, \"you'd cut off that boy's head!\"\n\n\"But I've tried to cut it off!\" the Devil declared, \"and I never can\ndo it! Plague take such a boy! I've always known the Finns were an\nobstinate lot but I must say I've never met one as bad as Erkki! He's\ntoo much for me!\"\n\nBut the Devil's wife kept on complaining until at last the Devil\npromised that he would try once again to cut off Erkki's head.\n\n\"Very well,\" his wife said, \"to-night when he's asleep I'll wake you.\"\n\nWell, what with the moving and everything the wife herself was tired\nand as soon as she went to bed she fell asleep. That gave Erkki just\nthe very chance he needed to try on the new wife the trick he had\nplayed on the old one. Without waking her he carried her to his bed\nand then laid himself down in her place beside the Devil. Then he\nwaked up the Devil and reminded him that he had promised to cut off\nErkki's head.\n\nThe poor old Devil got up and went over to Erkki's bed and of course\ncut off the head of his new wife.\n\nThe next morning when he had found out what he had done, he was\nperfectly furious.\n\n\"You get right out of here, Erkki!\" he roared. \"I never want to see\nyou again!\"\n\n\"There now, master,\" Erkki said, \"you're not going to lose your temper\nover a little thing like a dead wife, are you?\"\n\n\"I am so going to lose my temper!\" the Devil shouted. \"And what's more\nit isn't a little thing! I liked this wife, I did, and I don't know\nwhere I'll get another one I like as well! So you just clear out of\nhere and be quick about it, too!\"\n\n\"Very well, master,\" Erkki said, \"I'll go but not until you pay me\nwhat you owe me.\"\n\n\"What I owe you!\" bellowed the Devil. \"What about all you owe me for\nmy house and my cattle and my old wife and my dear new wife and\neverything!\"\n\n\"You've lost your temper,\" Erkki said, \"and now you've got to pay me a\npatch of your hide big enough to sole a pair of boots. That was our\nbargain!\"\n\nThe Devil roared and blustered but Erkki was firm. He wouldn't budge a\nstep until the Devil had allowed him to slit a great patch of hide off\nhis back.\n\nThat piece of the Devil's hide made the finest soles that a pair of\nboots ever had. It wore for years and years and years. In fact Erkki\nis still tramping around on those same soles. The fame of them has\nspread over all the land and it has got so that now people stop Erkki\non the highway to look at his wonderful boots soled with the Devil's\nhide. Travelers from foreign countries are deeply interested when they\nhear about the boots and when they meet Erkki they question him\nclosely.\n\n\"Tell us,\" they beg him, \"how did you get the Devil's hide in the\nfirst place?\"\n\nErkki always laughs and makes the same answer:\n\n\"I got it by not losing my temper!\"\n\nAs for the Devil, he's never again made a bargain like that with a\nFinn!\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE MYSTERIOUS SERVANT\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_The Story of a Young Man Who Respected the Dead_\n\n\nTHE MYSTERIOUS SERVANT\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once a rich merchant who had an only son. As he lay dying,\nhe said:\n\n\"Matti, my boy, my end is approaching and there are two things I want\nto say to you: The first is that I am leaving you all my wealth. If\nyou are careful you will have enough to suffice you for life. The\nsecond thing I have to say is to beg you never to leave this, your\nnative village. At your birth there was a prophecy which declared that\nif ever you left this village you would have to marry a woman with\nhorns. Now that I have warned you in time it will be your own fault if\never you have to meet this fate.\"\n\nThe merchant died and Matti was left alone. He had never before wanted\nto travel but now that he knew of the fate which would overtake him if\nhe did, he couldn't bear the thought of remaining forever a prisoner\nin his native village.\n\n\"What is the use of riches,\" he asked himself, \"if one can't travel\nover the broad world and see wonderful sights? Besides, if it's my\nfate to marry a horned woman, I don't see why sitting quietly at home\nis going to save me. No! I'm going to take my chances like a man and\ncome and go as I like!\"\n\nSo he gathered his riches together, closed the old house where he had\nbeen born, and started out into the bright world. He traveled many\ndays, meeting strange peoples and seeing strange sights. At last he\nsettled down in a large city and became a merchant like his father.\n\nOne afternoon as he was out walking, he saw a crowd of men dragging\nthe body of a dead man in the gutter. They were kicking and abusing\nthe dead body and calling it evil names.\n\nMatti stopped them.\n\n\"What is this you are doing?\" he demanded. \"Don't you know that\ndisrespect to the dead is disrespect to God? Give over abusing this\npoor dead body and bury it decently or God will punish you!\"\n\n\"Let us alone!\" the men cried. \"He deserves the abuse we are giving\nhim! When he was alive he borrowed money from us all and then he died\nwithout repaying us. Are we to have no satisfaction at all?\"\n\nWith that they resumed their abuse of the dead body.\n\n\"Wait!\" Matti cried. \"Tell me what the dead man owed you and I will\npay it!\"\n\n\"He owed me ten ducats!\" said one.\n\n\"And me a hundred!\" shouted another.\n\n\"And me five hundred!\"\n\n\"And me a thousand!\"\n\n\"Come all of you to my house,\" Matti said, \"and I will pay you, but\nonly on condition that first you hand over the body to me and help me\ngive it a decent burial.\"\n\nThe men agreed. They helped Matti bury the dead man and then went home\nwith him.\n\nEach told Matti the amount the dead man owed him and, true to his\npromise, Matti paid them all.\n\nWhen he had paid the last man he found that he had nothing left for\nhimself but nine silver kopeks. The dead man's debts had exhausted all\nthe wealth his father had left him.\n\n\"No matter!\" Matti thought to himself. \"My riches would have done me\nno good if I had stood by and allowed a poor dead man to be abused.\nWhat if I have nothing left? I'm young and strong and I can go out\ninto the world and make my livelihood somehow. I'll go home and have\none last look at my native village and then begin life anew.\"\n\nSo, dressed in shabby old clothes with nothing in his pockets but the\nnine silver kopeks, Matti left the city where people were beginning to\nknow him as a merchant and started back to his native village. He was\nsoon met by a man who addressed him respectfully and asked to be\nengaged as his servant.\n\n\"My servant!\" Matti repeated with a laugh. \"My dear fellow, I'm too\npoor to have a servant! All I have in the world are nine silver\nkopeks!\"\n\n\"No matter, master,\" the man said. \"Take me anyhow. I will serve you\nwell and I promise you will not regret our bargain.\"\n\nSo Matti agreed and they walked on together. The sun was hot and by\nmidafternoon Matti was feeling faint with hunger and fatigue.\n\n\"Master,\" the Servant said, \"I will run ahead to the next village and\norder the landlord at the inn to prepare you a fine dinner. Do you\ncome along slowly and by the time you arrive the dinner will be\nready.\"\n\n\"But remember,\" Matti warned him, \"I have no money to pay for a fine\ndinner!\"\n\n\"Trust me!\" the Servant said and off he hurried.\n\nAt the next village he hunted out the best inn and ordered the\nlandlord to prepare his finest dinner without delay. He was so\nparticular that everything should be the best that the landlord\nsupposed his master must be some great lord.\n\nWhen Matti arrived on foot, tired and travel-stained and shabby, the\nlandlord was amazed.\n\n\"It's fine lords we have nowadays!\" he muttered scornfully, and he\nwished he had not been in such haste to cook the best food in the\nhouse. But it was cooked and ready to serve and so, with an ill grace,\nhe served it.\n\nMatti and his man ate their fill of good cabbage soup and fish and\nfowl tender and juicy.\n\nIt quite enraged the landlord to see poor men with such good\nappetites.\n\n\"They eat as if their pockets were lined with gold!\" he muttered\nangrily. \"Well, let them eat while they can for they'll lose their\nappetites once they see the reckoning!\"\n\nWhen they finished eating, they rested and then called for the\nreckoning. It was much more than it should have been but neither Matti\nnor the Servant objected.\n\n\"Like a good fellow,\" the Servant said, \"will you please to lend me\nyour half peck measure.\"\n\n\"Like a good fellow, indeed!\" the landlord muttered to himself. \"Who\nare you to call me a good fellow I'd like to know!\"\n\nNevertheless he went out and got the measure.\n\n\"Now, master,\" the Servant said, \"give me three of your nine silver\nkopeks.\"\n\nThe Servant threw the three silver kopeks into the measure, shook the\nmeasure three times and lo! it was filled to the brim with silver\nkopeks! The Servant counted out the amount of the reckoning and handed\nthe rest of the money to his master. Then he and Matti went on their\nway leaving the landlord gaping after them with open mouth.\n\nDay after day the Servant paid the reckoning in the same way at the\nvarious inns where they stopped until they reached at last Matti's\nnative village and the old house that still belonged to him.\n\nThey settled themselves there and one day the Servant said to Matti:\n\n\"Now, master, you know your fate: for having left your native village\nyou know you are destined to marry a horned woman. You might as well\ndo it at once for you'll have to do it sooner or later.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" Matti said, \"and if I knew the whereabouts of the\nhorned woman who is my fate I should marry her at once.\"\n\n\"In that case we'll lose no more time,\" the Servant said. \"The King\nhas three daughters all of whom are horned. This isn't generally\nknown but it is true. Let us go to the palace and present your suit.\nThe King will give friendly ear for there are not many suitors for\ndaughters with horns. He will try to make you take the oldest who has\nbig horns and a hoarse voice. When she sees you, she'll whisper: 'Take\nme! Take me!' But do you shake your head and answer: 'No! Not this\none!' Then the King will send for his second daughter. Her horns are\nnot so big nor is her voice so hoarse. She, too, will whisper you:\n'Take me! Take me!' But do you again shake your head and answer: 'No!\nNot this one!' Be firm and the King will finally have to send for his\nyoungest daughter. Her horns are just soft little baby horns and her\nvoice is just a little husky. Take her and soon all will be well.\"\n\nSo Matti and the Servant went to the palace and got audience with the\nKing.\n\n\"My master, Matti,\" the Servant said, addressing the King, \"is\ndesirous of marrying a wife with horns.\"\n\nThe King was interested at once.\n\n\"As it happens I have a daughter with horns,\" he said. \"I'll have her\ncome in.\"\n\nHe sent for his oldest daughter and presently she appeared. Her horns\nwere long and thick.\n\n\"Take me! Take me!\" she whispered hoarsely as she passed Matti.\n\n\"See what a fine girl she is!\" the King said, \"and what well grown\nhorns she has!\"\n\nBut Matti shook his head.\n\n\"No, Your Majesty, I don't think I want to marry this one.\"\n\n\"Of course you must follow the dictates of your heart,\" the King said\ndrily. \"However, come to think of it, my second daughter also has\nhorns. Maybe you'd like to consider her.\"\n\nSo the second daughter was called in. Her horns were not so large as\nher sister's nor was her voice so hoarse. But Matti, remembering the\nServant's warning, refused her, too. The King seemed surprised and\neven annoyed that Matti should refuse his daughters so glibly, but\nwhen he found that Matti was firm he said:\n\n\"I have got another daughter, my youngest, but, if it's horns you're\nlooking for, I don't believe you'll be interested in her at all since\nher horns are so small and soft that they are hardly noticeable at\nall. However, as you're here, you might as well see her.\"\n\n [Illustration: _\"She is under an evil enchantment and I am\n delivering her!\"_]\n\nSo the youngest princess was sent for and at once Matti knew that she\nwas the one he wanted to marry. She wasn't as beautiful as a\nprincess should be but she was gentle and modest and when she passed\nMatti her cheeks flushed and she wasn't able to whisper anything. But\nMatti felt very sure that if she had whispered her voice would have\nbeen scarcely husky.\n\n\"This, O King,\" he said, \"is my choice! Let me marry your youngest\ndaughter and I promise to be a faithful husband to her.\"\n\nThe King would have preferred to marry off the older princesses first\nfor their horns were getting to be very troublesome, but as they all\nhad horns he was afraid to refuse Matti's offer.\n\nSo after a little talk he gave Matti the youngest and in a short time\nthey were married.\n\nAfter the wedding feast the King led the young couple to the bridal\nchamber and closed the door.\n\nMatti's Servant meantime had gone out to the woods and cut some stout\nswitches of birch. When the palace was quiet and all were asleep, he\ncrept softly into the bridal chamber and, dragging the bride out of\nbed, he beat her unmercifully.\n\n\"Oh! Oh!\" she cried in pain.\n\nHer screams woke Matti and in fright he jumped out of bed and tried to\nstop the Servant.\n\n\"Wait!\" the Servant said. \"She is under an evil enchantment and I am\ndelivering her!\"\n\nSo he kept on beating her until he had drawn blood. Then instantly the\nhorns fell from her head and there she stood a beautiful young girl\nreleased from the evil enchantment that had disfigured her.\n\nThe Servant handed her over to her husband who fell in love with her\non sight and has loved her ever since.\n\n\"Now farewell, Matti,\" the Servant said. \"My work is done and you will\nneed me no longer. You have married a beautiful princess and the King\nwill soon make you his heir.\"\n\nWith these words the Servant disappeared and Matti was left alone with\nhis lovely bride.\n\nAnd that was Matti's reward for having respected the dead. God Himself\nin the form of the Servant had come down and taken care of him.\n\n\n\n\nFAMILIAR FACES\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_I Mary, Mary, So Contrary!_\n\n_II Jane, Jane, Don't Complain!_\n\n_III Susan Walker, What a Talker!_\n\n\n [Illustration: _When she got to the middle of the stream_]\n\nI\n\nMARY, MARY, SO CONTRARY!\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once a farmer who was married to the most contrary wife in\nthe world. Her name was Maya. If he expected Maya to say, \"Yes,\" she\nwould always say, \"No,\" and if he expected her to say, \"No,\" she would\nalways say, \"Yes.\" If he said the soup was too hot, Maya would\ninstantly insist that it was too cold. She would do nothing that he\nwanted her to do, and she always insisted on doing everything that he\ndid not want her to do.\n\nLike most contrary people Maya was really very stupid and the farmer\nafter he had been married to her for a few years knew exactly how to\nmanage her.\n\nFor instance at Christmas one year he wanted to make a big feast for\nhis friends and neighbors. Did he tell his wife so? Not he! Instead, a\nfew weeks beforehand he remarked casually:\n\n\"Christmas is coming and I suppose every one will expect us to have\nfine white bread. But I don't think we ought to. It's too expensive.\nBlack bread is good enough for us.\"\n\n\"Black bread, indeed!\" cried Maya. \"Not at all! We're going to have\nwhite bread and you needn't say any more about it! Black bread at\nChristmas! To hear you talk people would suppose we are beggars!\"\n\nThe farmer pretended to be grieved and he said:\n\n\"Well, my dear, have white bread if your heart is set on it, but I\nhope you don't expect to make any pies.\"\n\n\"Not make any pies! Just let me tell you I expect to make all the pies\nI want!\"\n\n\"Well, now, Maya, if we have pies I don't think we ought to have any\nwine.\"\n\n\"No wine! I like that! Of course we'll have wine on Christmas!\"\n\nThe farmer was much pleased but, still pretending to protest, he said:\n\n\"Well, if we spend money on wine, we better not expect to buy any\ncoffee.\"\n\n\"What! No coffee on Christmas! Who ever heard of such a thing! Of\ncourse we'll have coffee!\"\n\n\"Well, I'm not going to quarrel with you! Get a little coffee if you\nlike, but just enough for you and me for I don't think we ought to\nhave any guests.\"\n\n\"What! No guests on Christmas! Indeed and you're wrong if you think\nwe're not going to have a houseful of guests!\"\n\nThe farmer was overjoyed but, still pretending to grumble, he said:\n\n\"If you have the house full of people, you needn't think I'm going to\nsit at the head of the table, for I'm not!\"\n\n\"You are, too!\" screamed his wife. \"That's exactly where you are going\nto sit!\"\n\n\"Maya, Maya, don't get so excited! I will sit there if you insist. But\nif I do you mustn't expect me to pour the wine.\"\n\n\"And why not? It would be a strange thing if you didn't pour the wine\nat your own table!\"\n\n\"All right, all right, I'll pour it! But you mustn't expect me to\ntaste it beforehand.\"\n\n\"Of course you're going to taste it beforehand!\"\n\nThis was exactly what the farmer wanted his wife to say. So you see by\npretending to oppose her at every turn he was able to have the big\nChristmas party that he wanted and he was able to feast to his heart's\ncontent with all his friends and relatives and neighbors.\n\nTime went by and Maya grew more and more contrary if such a thing were\npossible. Summer came and the haymaking season. They were going to a\ndistant meadow to toss hay and had to cross an angry little river on a\nfootbridge made of one slender plank.\n\nThe farmer crossed in safety, then he called back to his wife:\n\n\"Walk very carefully, Maya, for the plank is not strong!\"\n\n\"I will not walk carefully!\" the wife declared.\n\nShe flung herself on the plank with all her weight and when she got to\nthe middle of the stream she jumped up and down just to show her\nhusband how contrary she could be. Well, the plank broke with a snap,\nMaya fell into the water, the current carried her off, and she was\ndrowned!\n\nHer husband, seeing what had happened, ran madly upstream shouting:\n\n\"Help! Help!\"\n\nThe haymakers heard him and came running to see what was the matter.\n\n\"My wife has fallen into the river!\" he cried, \"and the current has\ncarried her body away!\"\n\n\"What ails you?\" the haymakers said. \"Are you mad? If the current has\ncarried your wife away, she's floating downstream, not upstream!\"\n\n\"Any other woman would float downstream,\" the farmer said. \"Yes! But\nyou know Maya! She's so contrary she'd float upstream every time!\"\n\n\"That's true,\" the haymakers said, \"she would!\"\n\nSo all afternoon the farmer searched upstream for his wife's body but\nhe never found it.\n\nWhen night came he went home and had a good supper of all the things\nhe liked to eat which Maya would never let him have.\n\n\n [Illustration: _They were so busy eating and drinking_]\n\nII\n\nJANE, JANE, DON'T COMPLAIN!\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once a man who was poor and lazy and he had a wife who was\neven worse. Her name was Jenny. Jenny was so lazy that it was an\neffort for her to lift one foot after the other. And in addition to\nher laziness she was an everlasting complainer. \"Oh!\" she used to\ngrunt in the morning, \"I wish we didn't have to get up!\" and \"Oh!\" she\nused to groan at night, \"I wish we didn't have to take our shoes off\nbefore going to bed!\"\n\nOne day when they were both out in the forest collecting faggots,\nJenny said:\n\n\"I don't see why we're not rich! I don't see why the King should live\nat his ease while we have to grub for everything we get! I just hate\nwork!\"\n\nOf course the trouble both with Jenny and her husband was not that\nthey worked but that they didn't work. It was because they didn't that\nthey had so much time to think about it.\n\n\"Drat it all!\" Jenny went on, whining, \"Adam and Eve are to blame for\nall our misfortunes! If they hadn't disobeyed God's commandment and\neaten that apple, we'd all be living in the Garden of Eden to this\nday! It's all their fault that we have to moil and toil and hurry and\nscurry!\"\n\n\"Yes,\" the man agreed, \"it is, especially Eve's. Of course Adam was to\nblame, too, for he should have controlled his wife better. But Eve was\nthe more to blame. If I had been Adam I shouldn't have allowed her to\ntouch the apple in the first place.\"\n\nNow it happened that the King who was out hunting that day overheard\nthis conversation.\n\n\"Ha!\" he thought to himself, \"I've a great mind to teach these two\npeople a lesson!\"\n\nHe pushed aside the bushes that had hidden him from them and said:\n\n\"Good day to you both! I have just heard your complaints and I, too,\nthink it very hard that you should be poor while others are rich. I\ntell you what I'll do: I'll take you both home with me to the castle\nand maintain you in ease and luxury provided you obey me in just one\nthing.\"\n\nJenny and her husband agreed to this eagerly and just as they were the\nKing took them home with him to the castle. He lodged them in a room\nwith golden furniture, he gave them fine clothes to wear, and for food\nhe had them served the choicest delicacies in the world.\n\nAs they sat eating their first royal meal, he came in to them carrying\nin his hands a covered dish of silver. He put the dish down in the\ncenter of the table.\n\n\"Now, my friends,\" he said, \"I promised to maintain you in this ease\nand luxury provided you obeyed me in one thing. You see this silver\ndish. I forbid you ever to lift the cover. If you disobey me, that\nmoment I shall take from you your fine clothes and send you back to\nyour poverty and misery.\"\n\nWith that the King left them and they stuffed themselves to their\nhearts' content with the delicate foods set before them.\n\nThey were so busy, eating and drinking and admiring themselves in\ntheir fine clothes, that for the first day they didn't give the\ncovered dish a thought. The second day the wife noticed it and said:\n\n\"That's the thing we're not to touch. Well, for my part I don't want\nto touch it. I don't want to do anything but eat and sleep and try on\nmy pretty new clothes.\"\n\nBy the third day they had eaten so much and so steadily that they\nwere no longer hungry and when they lay down on the big soft bed they\nno longer fell instantly asleep.\n\n\"Dear me,\" Jenny began whining, \"I don't know what's the matter with\nthis food! It doesn't taste as good as it used to! Maybe the cook has\ngrown careless! I think we ought to complain to the King. I'm\nbeginning to feel very uncomfortable and I haven't any appetite at\nall! I wonder what's in that covered dish. Perhaps it's something to\neat, something perfectly delicious! I've half a mind to lift the cover\nand see.\"\n\n\"Now just you leave that silver dish alone!\" the man growled. He, too,\nhad been eating too much and was feeling peevish. \"Don't you remember\nwhat the King said?\"\n\n\"Pooh!\" cried Jenny. \"What do I care what the King said! I think he\nwas just poking fun at us telling us we mustn't lift the cover of that\nsilver dish. After all a dish is a dish and it's no crime to lift a\ncover even if it is made of silver!\"\n\nWith that Jenny jumped up and before her husband could stop her she\nlifted the forbidden cover. Instantly a little white mouse hopped out\nof the silver dish and scurried away.\n\n\"Oh!\" Jenny screamed, dropping the cover with a great clatter.\n\nThe King who was in an adjoining chamber heard the noise and came in.\n\n\"So!\" he said, \"you have done the one thing that I told you not to do!\nYou haven't been here three days and although you've had everything\nthat heart could wish for yet you couldn't obey me in this one little\nmatter!\"\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" the man said, \"it was my wife who did it, not I.\"\n\n\"No matter,\" the King said, \"you, too, are to blame. If you had\nrestrained her it wouldn't have happened.\"\n\nThen he called his servants and had them strip off the fine clothes\nand dress the couple again in their old rags.\n\n\"Now,\" he said as he drove them from the castle gates, \"never again\nblame Adam and Eve for the misfortunes which you bring upon\nyourselves!\"\n\n\n [Illustration: _They carried home the treasure on their backs_]\n\nIII\n\nSUSAN WALKER, WHAT A TALKER!\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was once a man whose wife was an awful talker. Her name was\nSusanna. No matter how important it was to keep a matter quiet, if\nSusanna knew about it, she just had to talk. She was always running to\nthe neighbors and exclaiming:\n\n\"Oh, my dear, have you heard so and so?\"\n\nHer husband was an industrious fellow. He set nets in the river, he\nsnared birds in the forest, and he worked at any odd jobs that came\nalong.\n\nIt happened one day while he was out in the forest that he found a\nburied treasure.\n\n\"Ah!\" he thought to himself, \"now I can buy a little farm that will\nkeep me and Susanna comfortable the rest of our days!\"\n\nHe started home at once to tell his wife the good fortune that had\nbefallen them. He had almost reached home when he stopped, suddenly\nrealizing that the first thing Susanna would do would be to spread the\nnews broadcast throughout the village. Then of course the government\nwould get wind of his find and presently officers of the law would\ncome and confiscate the entire treasure.\n\n\"That would never do,\" he told himself. \"I must think out some plan\nwhereby I can let Susanna know about the treasure without risking the\nloss of it.\"\n\nHe puzzled over the matter for a long time and at last hit upon\nsomething that he thought might prove successful.\n\nIn his nets that day he had caught a pike and in one of his snares he\nhad found a grouse. He went back now to the river and put the bird in\nthe fishnet, and then he went to the woods and put the fish in the\nsnare. This done he went home and at once told Susanna about the\nburied treasure which was going to be the means of making their old\nage comfortable.\n\nShe flew at once into great excitement.\n\n\"La! La! A buried treasure! Whoever heard of such luck! Oh, how all\nthe neighbors will envy us when they hear about it! I can hardly wait\nto tell them!\"\n\n\"But they mustn't hear!\" her husband told her. \"You don't want the\nofficers of the law coming and taking it all from us, do you?\"\n\n\"That would be a nice how-do-you-do!\" Susanna cried. \"What! Come and\ntake our treasure that you found yourself in the forest?\"\n\n\"Yes, my dear, that's exactly what they'd do if once they heard about\nit.\"\n\n\"Well, you can depend upon it, my dear husband, not a soul will hear\nabout it from me!\"\n\nShe shook her head vigorously and repeated this many times and then\ntried to slip out of the house on some such excuse as needing to\nborrow a cup of meal from a neighbor.\n\nBut the man insisted on her staying beside him all evening. She kept\nremembering little errands that would take her to the houses of\nvarious neighbors but each time she attempted to leave her husband\ncalled her back. At last he got her safely to bed.\n\nEarly next morning, before she had been able to talk to any one, he\nsaid:\n\n\"Now, my dear, come with me to the forest and help me to carry home\nthe treasure. On the way we'd better see if we've got anything in the\nnets and the snares.\"\n\nThey went first to the river and when the man had lifted his nets they\nfound a grouse which he made Susanna reach over and get. Then in the\nwoods he let her make the discovery of a pike in one of the snares.\nShe was all the while so excited about the treasure that she hadn't\nmind enough left to be surprised that a bird should be caught in a\nfishnet and a fish in a birdsnare.\n\nWell, they found the precious treasure and they stowed it away in two\nsacks which they carried home on their backs. On the way home Susanna\ncould scarcely refrain from calling out to every passerby some hint of\ntheir good fortune. As they passed the house of Helmi, her dearest\ncrony, she said to her husband:\n\n\"My dear, won't you just wait here a moment while I run in and get a\ndrink of water?\"\n\n\"You mustn't go in just now,\" her husband said. \"Don't you hear what's\ngoing on?\"\n\nThere was the sound of two dogs fighting and yelping in the kitchen.\n\n\"Helmi is getting a beating from her husband,\" the man said. \"Can't\nyou hear her crying? This is no time for an outsider to appear.\"\n\nAll that day and all that night he kept so close to Susanna that the\npoor woman wasn't able to exchange a word with another human being.\n\nEarly next morning she escaped him and ran as fast as her legs could\ncarry her to Helmi's house.\n\n\"My dear,\" she began all out of breath, \"such a wonderful treasure as\nwe've found but I've sworn never to whisper a word about it for fear\nthe government should hear of it! I should have stopped and told you\nyesterday but your husband was beating you--\"\n\n\"What's that?\" cried Helmi's husband who came in just then and caught\nthe last words.\n\n\"It's the treasure we've found!\"\n\n\"The treasure? What are you talking about? Begin at the beginning.\"\n\n\"Well, my old man and me we started out yesterday morning and first we\nwent to the river to see if there was anything in the nets. We found a\ngrouse--\"\n\n\"A grouse?\"\n\n\"Yes, we found a grouse in the nets. Then we went to the forest and\nlooked in the snares and in one we found a pike.\"\n\n\"A pike!\"\n\n\"Yes. Then we went and dug up the treasure and put it in two sacks and\nyou could have seen us yourself carrying it home on our backs but you\nwere too busy beating poor Helmi.\"\n\n\"I beating poor Helmi! Ho! Ho! Ho! That is a good one! I was busy\nbeating my wife while you were getting birds out of fishnets and fish\nout of snares! Ho! Ho! Ho!\"\n\n\"It's so!\" Susanna cried. \"It is so! You were so beating Helmi! And\nyou sounded just like two dogs fighting! And we did so carry home the\ntreasure!\"\n\nBut Helmi's husband only laughed the harder. That afternoon when he\nwent to the Inn he was still laughing and when the men there asked him\nwhat was so funny he told them Susanna's story and soon the whole\nvillage was laughing at the foolish woman who found birds in fishnets\nand fish in snares and who thought that two yelping dogs were Helmi\nand her husband fighting.\n\nAs for the treasure that wasn't taken any more seriously than the\ngrouse and the pike.\n\n\"It must have been two sacks of turnips they carried home on their\nbacks!\" the village people decided.\n\nThe husband of course said nothing and Susanna, too, was soon forced\nto keep quiet for now whenever she tried to explain people only\nlaughed.\n\n\n\n\nMIKKO, THE FOX\n\n[Decoration]\n\n_A Nursery Epic in Sixteen Adventures_\n\n\n [Illustration: _Osmo, the Bear, grunted out: \"Huh! That's easy!\n We'll eat the smallest of us next!\"_]\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE I\n\nTHE ANIMALS TAKE A BITE\n\n[Decoration]\n\nA Farmer once dug a pit to trap the Animals that had been stealing his\ngrain. By a strange chance he fell into his own pit and was killed.\n\nThe Ermine found him there.\n\n\"H'm,\" thought the Ermine, \"that's the Farmer himself, isn't it? I\nbetter take him before any one else gets him.\"\n\nSo the Ermine dragged the Farmer's body out of the pit, put it on a\nsledge, and then, after taking a bite, began hauling it away.\n\nPresently he met the Squirrel who clapped his hands in surprise.\n\n\"God bless you, brother!\" the Squirrel exclaimed, \"what's that you're\nhauling behind you?\"\n\n\"It's the Farmer himself,\" the Ermine explained. \"He fell into the pit\nthat he had digged for us poor forest folk and serve him right, too!\nTake a bite of him and then come along and help me pull.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" the Squirrel said.\n\nHe took a bite of the Farmer and then marched along beside the Ermine,\nhelping him to pull the sledge.\n\nPresently they met Jussi, the Hare. Jussi looked at them in amazement,\nhis eyes popping out of his head.\n\n\"Mercy me!\" he cried, \"what's that you two are hauling?\"\n\n\"It's the Farmer,\" the Ermine explained. \"He fell into the pit that he\ndigged for us poor forest folk and serve him right, too! Take a bite\nof him, Jussi, and then come along and help us pull.\"\n\nSo Jussi, the Hare, took a bite of the Farmer and then marched along\nbeside the Ermine and the Squirrel helping them to pull the sledge.\n\nNext they met Mikko, the Fox.\n\n\"Goodness me!\" Mikko said, \"what's that you three are hauling?\"\n\nThe Ermine again explained:\n\n\"It's the Farmer. He fell into the pit that he had digged for us poor\nforest folk and serve him right, too! Take a bite of him, Mikko, and\nthen come along and help us pull.\"\n\nSo Mikko, the Fox, took a bite and then marched along beside the\nErmine and the Squirrel and the Hare helping them to pull the sledge.\n\nNext they met Pekka, the Wolf.\n\n\"Good gracious!\" Pekka cried, \"what's that you four are hauling?\"\n\nThe Ermine explained:\n\n\"It's the Farmer. He fell into the pit that he had digged for us poor\nforest folk and serve him right, too! Take a bite of him, Pekka, and\nthen help us pull.\"\n\nSo Pekka, the Wolf, took a bite and then marched along beside the\nErmine, the Squirrel, the Hare, and the Fox, helping them to pull the\nsledge.\n\nNext they met Osmo, the Bear.\n\n\"Good heavens!\" Osmo rumbled, \"what's that you five are hauling?\"\n\n\"It's the Farmer,\" the Ermine explained. \"He fell into the pit that he\nhad digged for us poor forest folk and serve him right, too! Take a\nbite of him, Osmo, and then help us pull.\"\n\nSo Osmo, the Bear, took a bite and then marched along beside the\nErmine, the Squirrel, the Hare, the Fox, and the Wolf, helping them to\npull the sledge.\n\nWell, they pulled and they pulled and whenever they felt tired or\nhungry they stopped and took a bite until the Farmer was about\nfinished.\n\nThen Pekka, the Wolf, said:\n\n\"See here, brothers, we've eaten up every bit of the Farmer except his\nbeard. What are we going to eat now?\"\n\nOsmo, the Bear, grunted out:\n\n\"Huh! That's easy! We'll eat the smallest of us next!\"\n\nHe had no sooner spoken than the Squirrel ran up a tree and the Ermine\nslipped under a stone.\n\nPekka, the Wolf said:\n\n\"But the smallest have escaped!\"\n\nOsmo, the Bear, grunted again:\n\n\"Huh! The smallest now is that pop-eyed Jussi! Let's--\"\n\nAt mention of his name the Hare went loping across the field and was\nsoon at a safe distance.\n\nOsmo, the Bear, put his heavy paw on the Fox's shoulder.\n\n\"Mikko,\" he said, \"it's your turn now for you're the smallest of us\nthree.\"\n\nMikko, the Fox, pretended not to be at all afraid.\n\n\"That's true,\" he said, \"I'm the smallest. All right, brothers, I'm\nready. But before you eat me I wish you'd take me to the top of the\nhill. Down here in the valley it's so gloomy.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" the others agreed, \"we'll go where you say. It is more\ncheerful there.\"\n\nAs they climbed the hill the Fox whispered to the Wolf:\n\n\"Sst! Pekka! When you eat me whose turn will it be then? Who will be\nthe smallest then?\"\n\n\"Mercy me!\" the Wolf cried, \"it will be my turn then, won't it?\"\n\nThe terror of the thought quite took his appetite away.\n\n\"See here, Osmo,\" he said to the Bear, \"I don't think it would be\nright for us to eat Mikko. You and I and Mikko ought to be friends and\nlive together in peace. Now let's take a vote on the matter and we'll\ndo whatever the majority says. I vote that we three be friends. What\ndo you say, Mikko?\"\n\nThe Fox said that he agreed with the Wolf. It would be much better\nall around if they three were friends.\n\n\"Well,\" grunted Osmo, the Bear, \"it's no use my voting for you two\nmake a majority. But I must say I'm sorry to have you vote this way\nfor I'm hungry.\"\n\nSo the three animals, the Bear, the Wolf, and the Fox, agreed\nhenceforward to be friends and planned to live near each other in the\nwoods behind the Farm.\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE II\n\nTHE PARTNERS\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThe Bear and the Wolf and the Fox made houses quite close together and\nthe Wolf and the Fox decided to go into partnership.\n\n\"The first thing we ought to do,\" said Pekka, the Wolf, \"is make a\nclearing in the forest and plant some crops.\"\n\nThe Fox agreed and the very next day they started out to work. Each\nhad a crock with three pats of butter for his dinner. They left their\ncrocks in the cool water of a little spring in the forest not far from\nthe place where they had decided to make a clearing.\n\nIt was hard work felling trees and the Fox, soon tiring of it, made\nsome sort of excuse to run off. When he came back he said to the Wolf:\n\n\"Pekka, the folks at the Farm are having a christening and have sent\nme an invitation to attend.\"\n\n\"It's too bad we're so busy to-day,\" the Wolf said. \"Another day you\nmight have gone.\"\n\n\"But I must go,\" the Fox insisted. \"They've been good neighbors to us\nand they'd be insulted if I refused.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" the Wolf said, \"if you feel that way about it you better\ngo. But hurry back for we have a lot to do.\"\n\nSo the Fox trotted off but he got no farther than the spring where the\nbutter crocks were cooling. He took the Wolf's crock and licked off\nthe top layer of butter. Then after a while he went back to the\nclearing.\n\n\"Well, Mikko,\" the Wolf said, \"is the christening over?\"\n\n\"Yes, it's over.\"\n\n\"What did they name the child?\"\n\n\"They named it Top.\"\n\n\"Top? That's a strange name!\"\n\nIn a few moments the Fox again ran off and returned with the\nannouncement that there was to be another christening at the Farm and\nagain they wanted him to attend.\n\n\"Another christening!\" the Wolf exclaimed. \"How can that be?\"\n\n\"This time the daughter has a baby.\"\n\n\"You're not going, are you, Mikko? You can't always be going to\nchristenings.\"\n\n\"That's true, Pekka, that's true,\" said the Fox, \"but I think I must\ngo this time.\"\n\nThe Wolf sighed.\n\n\"You will hurry back, won't you? This work is too much for me alone.\"\n\n\"Yes, Pekka dear,\" the Fox promised, \"I'll hurry back as quickly as I\ncan.\"\n\nSo he trotted off again to the spring and the Wolf's butter crock.\nThis time he ate the middle pat of the Wolf's butter, then slowly\nsauntered back to the clearing.\n\n\"Well,\" said the Wolf, pausing a moment in his work, \"what did they\nname the baby this time?\"\n\n\"This one they named Middle.\"\n\n\"Middle? That's a strange name to give a baby!\"\n\nFor a few moments the Fox pretended to work hard. Then he ran off\nagain. When he came back, he said:\n\n\"Pekka, do you know they're having another christening at the Farm\nand they say that I just must come.\"\n\n\"Another christening! Now, Mikko, that's too much! How can they be\nhaving another christening?\"\n\n\"Well, this time it's the daughter-in-law that has a baby.\"\n\n\"I don't care who it is,\" the Wolf said, \"you just can't go. You've\ngot some work to do, you have!\"\n\nThe Fox agreed:\n\n\"You're right, Pekka, you're right! I'm entirely too busy to be\nrunning off all the time to christenings! I'd say, 'No!' in a minute\nif it wasn't that we are new settlers and they are our nearest\nneighbors. As it is I'm afraid they'd think it wasn't neighborly if I\ndidn't come. But I'll hurry back, I promise you!\"\n\nSo for the third time the Fox trotted off to the little spring and\nthis time he licked the Wolf's butter crock clean to the bottom. Then\nhe went slowly back to the clearing and told the Wolf about the\nchristening and the baby.\n\n\"They've named this one Bottom,\" he said.\n\n\"Bottom!\" the Wolf echoed. \"What funny names they give children\nnowadays!\"\n\nThe Fox pretended to work hard for a few minutes, then threw himself\ndown exhausted.\n\n [Illustration: _\"Wake up, Pekka! Wake up! There's butter running\n out of your nose!\"_]\n\n\"Heigh ho!\" he said, with a yawn, \"I'm so tired and hungry it must be\ndinner time!\"\n\nThe Wolf looked at the sun and said:\n\n\"Yes, I think we had better rest now and eat.\"\n\nSo they went to the spring and got their butter crocks. The Wolf found\nthat his had already been licked clean.\n\n\"Mikko!\" he cried, \"have you been at my butter?\"\n\n\"Me?\" the Fox said in a tone of great innocence. \"How could I have\nbeen at your butter when you know perfectly well that I've been\nworking right beside you all morning except when I was away at the\nchristenings? You must have eaten up your butter yourself!\"\n\n\"Of course I haven't eaten it up myself!\" the Wolf declared. \"I just\nbet anything you took it!\"\n\nThe Fox pretended to be much aggrieved.\n\n\"Pekka, I won't have you saying such a thing! We must get at the\nbottom of this! I tell you what we'll do: we'll both lie down in the\nsun and the heat of the sun will melt the butter and make it run. Now\nthen, if butter runs out of my nose then I'm the one that has eaten\nyour butter; if it runs out of your nose, then you've eaten it\nyourself. Do you agree to this test?\"\n\nThe Wolf said, yes, he agreed, and at once lay down in the sun. He had\nbeen working so hard that he was very tired and in a few moments he\nwas sound asleep. Thereupon the Fox slipped over and daubed a little\nlump of butter on the end of his nose. The sun melted the butter and\nthen, of course, it looked as if it were running out of the Wolf's\nnose.\n\n\"Wake up, Pekka! Wake up!\" the Fox cried. \"There's butter running out\nof your nose!\"\n\nThe Wolf awoke and felt his nose with his tongue.\n\n\"Why, Mikko,\" he said in surprise, \"so there is! Well, I suppose I\nmust have eaten that butter myself but I give you my word for it I\ndon't remember doing it!\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Fox, pretending still to feel hurt, \"you shouldn't\nalways suspect me.\"\n\nWhen they went back to the clearing, the Wolf began pulling the brush\ntogether to burn it up and the Fox slipped away and lay down behind\nsome brushes.\n\n\"Mikko! Mikko!\" the Wolf called. \"Aren't you going to help me burn the\nbrush?\"\n\n\"You set it a-fire,\" the Fox called back, \"and I'll stay here to guard\nagainst any flying sparks. We don't want to burn down the whole\nforest!\"\n\nSo the Wolf burned up all the brush while the Fox took a pleasant nap.\n\nThen when he was ready to plant the seed in the rich wood ashes, the\nWolf again called out to the Fox to come help him.\n\n\"You do the planting, Pekka,\" the Fox called back, \"and I'll stay here\nand frighten off the birds. If I don't they'll come and pick up every\nseed you plant.\"\n\nSo Mikko, the rascal, took another nap while the poor Wolf planted the\nfield he had already cleared and burned.\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE III\n\nTHE FOX AND THE CROW\n\n[Decoration]\n\nIn a short time the field that Pekka, the Wolf, had planted began to\nsprout. Pekka was delighted.\n\n\"See, Mikko,\" he said to the Fox, \"our grain is growing and we shall\nsoon be harvesting it!\"\n\nThe Fox turned up his nose indifferently.\n\n\"If we don't get something to eat before that grain ripens,\" he said,\n\"we'll starve, both of us! While we wait for the harvest I think we\nbetter go out hunting. I'm going this minute for I tell you I'm\nhungry!\"\n\nThe Fox went sniffing into the forest and finally came to the tree\nwhere Harakka, the Magpie, had her nest. The Fox, cocking his head,\npaced slowly round and round the tree, looking at it from every angle.\nHarakka, the Magpie, sitting on her nest among her fledglings began to\nfeel nervous.\n\n\"Say, Mikko,\" she called down, \"what are you looking at?\"\n\nAt first the Fox made no answer. Deep in thought, apparently, he\nnodded his head and murmured:\n\n\"Yes, the very tree!\"\n\nHarakka, the Magpie, again called down:\n\n\"What are you looking at, Mikko?\"\n\nThe Fox started as though he had heard the question for the first\ntime.\n\n\"Ah, Harakka, is that you? Good day to you! I hope you are well! I\nhope the children are all well! I was so busy looking for the right\ntree that I didn't recognize you at first. You see I have to cut down\na tree to get wood for a new pair of _skis_. This tree is just the one\nI want.\"\n\n\"Oh, mercy me!\" the Magpie cried. \"You can't cut down this tree! Do\nyou want to kill all my children? This is our home!\"\n\nMikko, the rascal, pretended to be very sympathetic.\n\n\"I'm awfully sorry to have to disturb you, truly I am, but I'm afraid\nI do have to cut down this tree. I can't find another that suits me as\nwell.\"\n\nThe Magpie flapped her wings in despair.\n\n\"You hard-hearted wretch! What will you take not to cut down this\ntree?\"\n\nThe Fox put his paw to his head and pretended to think hard. After a\nmoment he said:\n\n\"Well, Harakka, I'll make you this offer: I'll leave this tree\nstanding provided you throw me down one of your fledglings.\"\n\n\"What!\" the poor Magpie shrieked. \"Give you one of my babies! I'll\nnever do that! Never! Never! _Never!_\"\n\n\"Oh, very well! Just as you like! If I cut the tree down I can get\nthem all. But I thought for the sake of old times I'd ask for only\none. However, do as you think best.\"\n\nWhat could the poor Magpie say? If the tree were felled and her\nfledglings thrown out of the nest they would certainly all perish.\nPerhaps it would be wise to sacrifice one to save the rest.\n\n\"You promise to let the tree stand,\" she said, \"if I give you one of\nmy children?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" the rascal promised, \"just drop me one of your fledglings, a\nnice plump one, and I won't cut down the tree.\"\n\nWith shaking claw Harakka pushed one of her children over the edge of\nthe nest. It fluttered to the ground and Mikko carried it off.\n\nWell, the next day what did that Fox do but come back and begin pacing\naround the tree again.\n\n\"Yes,\" he said, pretending to talk to himself, \"this is the best tree\nI can find. I might as well cut it down at once.\"\n\n\"But, Mikko!\" cried the Magpie, \"you forget! You said you wouldn't cut\ndown this tree if I gave you one of my children and I did give you\none!\"\n\nThe Fox flipped his tail indifferently.\n\n\"I know,\" he said, \"I did promise but I thought then I could find\nanother tree that would suit me as well as this one, but I can't. I've\nlooked everywhere and I can't. I'm sorry but I'm afraid that I'll just\nhave to take this tree.\"\n\n\"O dear, O dear, O dear!\" the poor distracted Magpie wept. \"Will\nnothing make you leave this tree stand?\"\n\nThe Fox smacked his lips.\n\n\"Well, Harakka, drop me down another of your fledglings and I won't\ndisturb the tree. I promise.\"\n\n\"What! Another of my babies! Oh, you wretch!\"\n\n\"Well, suit yourself,\" Mikko said. \"One of your fledglings and you can\nkeep the others safe in the nest, or I'll cut the tree down.\"\n\nWhat could the poor Magpie do? Wouldn't it be better to sacrifice\nanother fledgling on the chance of saving the rest? Yes, it would! So\nshe pushed another out of the nest. It fluttered to the ground and\nMikko, the rascal, carried it off.\n\nThat afternoon Varis, the Crow, came to call on the Magpie.\n\n\"Why, my dear,\" she said, looking over the fledglings, \"two of your\nchildren are missing! Whatever has become of them?\"\n\n\"It's that rascally Mikko!\" the Magpie cried, and thereupon she told\nher friend the whole story.\n\nVaris, the Crow, listened carefully and then said:\n\n\"My dear, that miserable Fox has been fooling you! Why, he can't cut\ndown this tree or any other tree for that matter! He hasn't even got\nan ax! Don't let him impose on you a third time!\"\n\nSo the very next day when the Fox came and again tried the same little\ntrick, Harakka, the Magpie, tossed her head scornfully and said:\n\n\"Go along, you rascal! You can't fool me again! How can you cut down\nthis tree or any other for that matter when you haven't even got an\nax!\"\n\nThe Fox was furious at being cheated of his dinner.\n\n\"You didn't think that out yourself, Harakka!\" he said. \"Some one's\nbeen talking to you! Who was it?\"\n\n\"It was my dear friend, Varis,\" the Magpie said. \"She's on to your\ntricks!\"\n\n\"I'll teach that Crow to interfere with my affairs!\" the Fox muttered\nto himself as he trotted off.\n\nHe went to an open field and lay down with his mouth open, pretending\nto be dead.\n\n\"I'm sure Varis will soon spy me!\" he said to himself.\n\nHe was right. Presently the Crow began circling above him. She flew\nnearer and nearer and at last alighted on his head. His tongue was\nlolling out and Varis decided to have her first bite there. She gave\nit a sharp peck at which the Fox jumped up and caught her in his paws.\n\n\"Ha! Ha!\" he cried. \"So you're the one who spoiled my little game with\nHarakka, are you? Well, I'll teach you not to interfere with me! As I\nhaven't got one of Harakka's fledglings for my dinner, I'm going to\ntake you!\"\n\n\"You don't mean you're going to eat me!\" cried the Crow in terror.\n\n [Illustration: _\"I'll teach that Crow to interfere with my affairs!\"\n the Fox muttered to himself as he trotted off_]\n\n\"That's exactly what I mean!\"\n\n\"No, no, Mikko! Don't do that!\"\n\n\"Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do! I'm going to teach you\nbirds that I'm not an animal to be played jokes on!\"\n\n\"I suppose,\" the Crow said, sighing, \"if it must be, it must be! But,\nMikko, if you really want to use me as a warning to the other birds,\nyou oughtn't to eat me right down. It would be much better if you\ndragged me along the ground first. Then they'd see a wing here, a leg\nthere, and a long trail of feathers. That really would terrify them.\"\n\n\"I believe you're right,\" the Fox said.\n\nHe put the Crow down on the ground and lifted his paw for a moment to\nchange his hold. The Crow instantly jerked away and escaped.\n\n\"Ha! Ha!\" she cawed as she flew off. \"You were clever enough to catch\nme, Mikko, but you weren't clever enough to eat me when you had me!\"\n\nSo this was one time when Mikko, the Fox, was worsted.\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE IV\n\nTHE CHIEF MOURNER\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\"Mercy me!\" thought Mikko to himself as he watched Varis, the Crow,\nfly away, \"this is certainly my unlucky day! There I had my dinner\nright in my hand and then lost it!\"\n\nSighing and shaking his head he sauntered slowly back to the forest.\n\nNow it happened that Osmo, the Bear, had just lost his wife and was\nout looking for some one to bewail her death. The first person he met\nwas Pekka, the Wolf.\n\n\"Pekka,\" he said, \"my wife's dead and I'm out looking for a good\nstrong mourner. Can you mourn?\"\n\n\"Me? Indeed I can! Just listen!\"\n\nPekka, the Wolf, pointed his nose to the sky and let out a long\nshivery howl.\n\n\"There!\" he said. \"I don't believe you'll find any one that can do any\nbetter than that!\"\n\nBut Osmo, the Bear, shook his head.\n\n\"No, Pekka, you won't do. I don't like your mourning at all!\"\n\nThe Bear ambled on and presently he met the Hare.\n\n\"Good day, Jussi,\" he said. \"Are you any good at mourning? Show me\nwhat you can do.\"\n\nThe Hare gave some frightened squeaks as his idea of mourning the\ndead.\n\n\"No, no,\" Osmo said, \"I don't like your mourning either.\"\n\nSo he walked on farther until by chance he met the Fox.\n\n\"Mikko,\" he said, \"my wife's dead and I'm out looking for a good\nstrong mourner. Can you mourn?\"\n\n [Illustration: _And Mikko, beginning with a little whimpering\n sound, slowly rose to a high heartrending cry_]\n\n\"Can I? Indeed I can!\" the Fox declared. \"I'm a marvel at mourning! I\ncan wail high and low and soft and loud and just any way you want!\nListen!\" And Mikko, beginning with a little whimpering sound, slowly\nrose to a high heartrending cry. This is what he wailed:\n\n \"_Med! Med! Med!_\n The Bear's Wife is dead!\n _Lax! Lax! Lax!_\n No more she'll spin the flax!\n _Eyes! Eyes! Eyes!_\n No more she'll bake the pies!\n _Air! Air! Air!_\n No more she'll drive the mare!\n _Shakes! Shakes! Shakes!_\n There'll be no more little cakes!\n _Darth! Darth! Darth!_\n Throw the pots on the hearth\n For the Bear's Wife is dead!\n _Med! Med! Med!_\"\n\nOsmo, the Bear, was deeply moved.\n\n\"Beautiful! Beautiful!\" he grunted hoarsely. \"How well you knew her!\nCome along home with me, Mikko, and start right in! Oh, how\nbeautifully you wail!\"\n\nSo Mikko went home with the Bear. The old Bear Wife was laid out on a\nbench in the kitchen.\n\n\"Now then,\" the Bear said, \"you begin the wailing while I cook the\nporridge.\"\n\n\"No, no, Osmo,\" the Fox said, \"I couldn't possibly wail in here! The\nplace is full of smoke and my voice would get husky in two minutes!\nCan't you lay her out in the storehouse?\"\n\nThe Bear demurred but the Fox insisted and at last had his way. So\ntogether they dragged the body of the old Bear Wife out to the\nstorehouse. The Fox stood beside the body ready to begin his wailing\nand the Bear went back to the kitchen.\n\nThe moment the Bear was out of sight Mikko, the rascal, instead of\nbewailing the old Bear Wife began gobbling her up! He just gobbled and\ngobbled and gobbled as fast as he could.\n\n\"What's the matter?\" the Bear called out after a few minutes. \"Why\ndon't you begin?\"\n\nThe Fox made no reply but kept on gobbling as hard as he could.\n\n\"Mikko! Mikko!\" the Bear called out again. \"What's the matter? Why\naren't you howling?\"\n\nBy this time the Fox had made a good dinner, so he called back:\n\n\"Don't bother me! I'm busy eating! Yum! Yum! Yum! Bear meat is awful\ngood! Just give me a few more minutes and I'll be finished!\"\n\nAt that the Bear rushed out of the kitchen in a terrible rage but the\nFox was already running off and the Bear was unable to catch him. He\ndid hit the end of his tail with the long spoon with which he had\nbeen measuring the meal, but that was all.\n\nMikko, the rascal, got safely away. However, to this day his tail\nshows the white mark of the meal.\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE V\n\nMIRRI, THE CAT\n\n[Decoration]\n\nOne day while the Fox was out walking in the forest he met a stranger.\n\n\"Good day,\" he said. \"Who are you?\"\n\n\"I am Mirri,\" the stranger said, \"a poor unfortunate Cat out of\nemployment. I had service in a decent family but I've had to leave\nthem.\"\n\n\"Did they treat you badly?\" the Fox asked.\n\n\"No, it wasn't that. They were considerate enough but they kept\ngetting poorer and poorer until finally they hadn't food enough to\nfeed us animals. Then I overheard the master say that soon they'd be\nforced to eat us and that they'd begin with me. At that I decided it\nwas time for me to run away and here I am.\"\n\n\"My poor Cat,\" Mikko said, \"you've had a cruel experience! Why don't\nyou take service with me?\"\n\n\"Will I be safe with you?\" the Cat asked. \"Will you protect me?\"\n\n\"Will I?\" the Fox repeated boastfully. \"My dear Mirri, once it becomes\nknown that you are Mikko's servant all the animals will show you a\nwholesome respect.\"\n\n\"Well then, I'll enter your service,\" the Cat said.\n\nSo the bargain was struck and the Fox at once began to train his new\nservant.\n\n\"Now, Mirri, tell me: what would you do if you suddenly met a Bear?\"\n\n\"There's just one thing I could do, master: I'd run up a tree.\"\n\nThe Fox laughed.\n\n\"You must have more ways than one to meet such a situation! Take me\nnow: there are any of a hundred things that I could do if I met a\nBear!\"\n\n [Illustration: _He jerked quickly away and fled and the Bear was\n left standing with his mouth wide open_]\n\nJust then Osmo, the Bear, ambled softly up behind the Fox. The Cat saw\nhim and instantly flew up a tree. Before the Fox could move Osmo\nclutched him firmly on the shoulder with his teeth.\n\n\"Oh, master, master!\" the Cat called down from the tree. \"What's this?\nI with my one way have escaped and you with your hundred are caught!\"\n\nBut the Fox paid no heed to the Cat. He twisted his head around and\nlooked reproachfully at the Bear.\n\n\"Why, Osmo, my dear old friend!\" he said, \"what in the world do you\nmean taking hold of me so roughly! Ouch! You're nipping my shoulder,\nreally you are! I don't understand why you're acting this way! Here\nI've always been such a good friend to you, so faithful, so true,\nso--\"\n\n\"What!\" rumbled the Bear. \"Faithful! True! Oh, you--\"\n\nOsmo's feelings overcame him to such an extent that he opened his jaws\nto roar out freely his denial of the Fox's hypocrisy.\n\nThat gave the Fox just the chance he wanted. He jerked quickly away\nand fled and the Bear was left standing with his mouth wide open.\n\nLater when the Bear had ambled off the Fox returned and called the Cat\ndown from the tree.\n\n\"You see, Mirri,\" he remarked casually, \"it wasn't anything at all for\nme to get the best of the Bear!\"\n\nHe could see that he had vastly impressed the Cat, so he let the\nsubject drop.\n\n\"Come along, Mirri,\" he said, \"it's time for us to go home.\"\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n [Illustration: _A terrible creature landed on his nose and drove it\n full of pins and needles_]\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE VI\n\nTHE FOX'S SERVANT\n\n[Decoration]\n\nA day or so later the Fox met Pekka, the Wolf. The Fox hadn't seen\nmuch of Pekka recently for Pekka had been having a hard time and had\nbeen on the verge of starvation. Now he was sleek again and well fed\nfor he had recently killed an Ox.\n\n\"Good day, Pekka,\" the Fox said in a friendly way.\n\n\"Good day, Mikko. How are you?\"\n\n\"Very fine indeed!\" the Fox said. \"You see I have a new servant. Oh,\nhe's a wonderful servant! He's not big to look at, you know, but he's\nso strong and quick that he'd jump on you in a minute and eat you up\nbefore you knew what was happening!\"\n\n\"Really, Mikko?\"\n\n\"Yes, really! You just ought to see him!\"\n\n\"I'd like to see him,\" the Wolf said.\n\n\"Well, you might slip down now and take a peep in the kitchen. He's at\nhome. But, my dear Pekka, I warn you not to let him see you! If he\ncatches sight of you, I won't be responsible for the consequences!\"\n\nThe Wolf was deeply impressed with all this. He crept carefully down\nto the Fox's kitchen and sniffed cautiously at the crack under the\ndoor. The Cat inside, seeing the tip of the Wolf's nose and thinking\nit was a Mouse, pounced on it with all his claws. This gave the Wolf a\nmighty fright and he bolted madly off into the forest.\n\nHe was still panting when he met the Bear.\n\n\"Osmo,\" he said, \"have you heard about that awful creature that Mikko\nhas for a servant?\"\n\nThe Bear had heard nothing, so the Wolf related to him his own\nterrifying experience.\n\nThe Bear's curiosity was aroused.\n\n\"I must have a glimpse of this wonderful servant,\" he said, ambling\noff in the direction of the Fox's kitchen.\n\n\"I'll wait for you here,\" the Wolf called after him, \"and I warn you,\nOsmo, be careful!\"\n\nThe Bear when he got to the Fox's kitchen quietly stuck his nose under\nthe crack of the door and squinted inside. He hardly had time for one\nsquint when a terrible creature with a straight tail that looked like\na spear came flying through the air, landed on his nose, and drove it\nfull of pins and needles.\n\n\"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!\" the Bear whimpered as he hurried back to the Wolf.\n\n\"Did you see him?\" the Wolf asked.\n\n\"I got just one glimpse of him,\" the Bear said. \"He had a long spear\nsticking up over his shoulder and he came swooping down through the\nair just as if he had wings!\"\n\n\"My! I wish we could really see him!\" the Wolf said. \"Suppose we ask\nMikko to arrange some way we can have a good look at him.\"\n\nSo they went to the Fox and Mikko, the rascal, said:\n\n\"Well, now, if you make a feast and invite my servant I think he will\ncome.\"\n\n\"All right,\" the Wolf said, \"that's what we'll do. I've still got some\nof that ox. It will make a fine feast.\"\n\nSo they roasted the remains of the ox and set it out.\n\n\"Now I'll go get my servant,\" the Fox said. \"When you hear us coming,\nyou two hide some place where you can see us but we can't see you. If\nmy servant once sees you I won't be responsible for the consequences!\"\n\nSo the Wolf hid in some bushes nearby and the Bear drew himself up\ninto the branches of a tree.\n\nWell, the Fox and the Cat arrived and sat them down to the feast. Now\nit happened that the Wolf was not able to see, so he tried to twist\nhimself around into a better position. The Cat caught a glimpse of his\ntail moving in the bushes and instantly pounced on it. With one\nterrified yelp, the Wolf jumped out of the bushes and fled into the\nforest as fast as he could.\n\nIn fright the Cat scampered up the tree and the Bear, of course,\nsupposed that the awful creature now was after him. In his frantic\nefforts to escape he tumbled down out of the tree and broke two ribs.\nBut for all that he made off, too terrified to look back.\n\nSo the Fox and the Cat were left to finish the ox in peace.\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE VII\n\nTHE WOLF SINGS\n\n[Decoration]\n\nHaving sacrificed his ox in order to feast the Fox's servant, the Wolf\nhad nothing left for himself and was soon very hungry. He could find\nnothing to eat in the forest, so he went prowling around a farm in\nhopes of getting a pig or a chicken. The only living creature he came\nupon was a thin old Dog asleep in the sun.\n\n\"This is better than nothing,\" he thought to himself and, taking hold\nof the Dog, he began dragging it off.\n\n\"Cousin! Cousin!\" cried the Dog. \"Is this any way to treat a\nrelation? Let me go!\"\n\n\"I'm sorry,\" the Wolf said, \"but I can't let you go. I'm too hungry.\"\n\n\"Let me go,\" the Dog begged, \"and I tell you what I'll do: I'll give\nyou a bottle of vodka.\"\n\n\"Promises come easy,\" the Wolf said. \"Where will you get the vodka?\"\n\n\"Under the bench in the kitchen. That's where the master keeps his\nbottle. I've seen him hide it there. Come to-night after the family's\nasleep and I'll let you in and give you the vodka.\"\n\nNow Pekka, the Wolf, was very fond of vodka, so he said to the Dog:\n\n\"Very well, I'll let you go. But see that you keep your promise!\"\n\nLate that night when the family were asleep, the Wolf came scratching\nat the farmhouse door and the Dog let him in.\n\n\"Well, old fellow, you know why I've come,\" the Wolf said.\n\nAt once the Dog crawled under the bench and got the master's bottle of\nvodka.\n\n\"Here, Pekka, here it is!\" he said, offering the Wolf the bottle.\n\n [Illustration: _The Wolf went staggering around the room howling\n at the top of his voice_]\n\n\"You drink first,\" Pekka insisted. \"You're the host.\"\n\nThe Dog raised the bottle and took a little sip. Then the Wolf took a\ndeep swallow.\n\n\"Ah!\" he said, smacking his lips, \"that's something like!\"\n\nHis stomach was empty and the vodka went through his veins like fire.\nHe felt happy and laughed and went capering around the room.\n\n\"I feel like singing!\" he cried.\n\n\"My dear Pekka,\" the Dog said, \"I beg you don't sing! You will wake\nthe folks! Sit down quietly and we'll talk.\"\n\nSo they sat awhile and talked and then the Wolf took another deep\nswallow of the vodka. Again he wanted to sing and the Dog had trouble\nin restraining him.\n\n\"Do you want to wake the family, Pekka? Be quiet now or you can't have\nany more vodka!\"\n\nThe Wolf took another deep drink and after that there was no holding\nhim back. He went staggering around the room howling at the top of his\nvoice.\n\nThe Farmer and all his family came hurrying into the kitchen with\nclubs and pokers and whatever they could pick up.\n\n\"It's a Wolf!\" the Farmer cried. \"The impudent scoundrel, coming\nright into the house! Give him a good beating!\"\n\nIf the door hadn't been open they would have clubbed poor Pekka to\ndeath. As it was he barely escaped with his life.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n [Illustration: _In the confusion that followed the Wolves stampeded,\n running helter-skelter in all directions_]\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE VIII\n\nTHE CLEVER GOAT\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThe truth is Pekka, the Wolf, was a pretty stupid fellow always\ngetting into some scrape or other. With sore ribs and a back aching\nfrom the beating which the farm folk had given him he slunk quietly\nalong the forest ways hoping to come upon some easy prey. Suddenly he\nsaw ahead of him a Goat and a Ram.\n\n\"What are they doing hereabouts?\" he thought to himself. \"This is no\nplace for them and if anything happens to them it will be their own\nfault.\"\n\nVuhi, the Goat, and Dinas, the Ram, both knew that the forest was no\nplace for them. But where else could they go? They had recently been\nturned loose to fend for themselves by their poor old master who was\nno longer able to feed them.\n\n\"This forest rather frightens me,\" the Ram had said to the Goat. \"Do\nyou suppose we'll be able to keep off the Wolves?\"\n\nVuhi, the Goat, flirted his whiskers and said:\n\n\"I've got a plan.\"\n\nThereupon he took a sack and half filled it with dry chips. Then when\nhe shook the sack the chips made a hollow rattle. He threw the sack\nover his shoulder and said to the Ram:\n\n\"Don't you be frightened, Dinas. We'll be able to hold our own with\nthe forest creatures.\"\n\nIt was just at this moment that Pekka, the Wolf, appeared.\n\n\"Ha! Ha!\" said Pekka suspiciously. \"What's that you've got in that\nsack? No nonsense now! Answer me at once or I'll have to kill you\nboth!\"\n\nVuhi, the Goat, gave the sack a little rattle.\n\n\"In this sack?\" he said. \"Oh, only the skulls and bones of the Wolves\nwe have eaten. We haven't had any Wolf meat now for some time, have\nwe, Dinas? It's good you've come along for we're hungry.... Attention,\nDinas! Kill the Wolf!\"\n\nThe Ram lowered his horns ready for attack and Pekka, the Wolf, too\nsurprised to resist and too stiff to run away, cried out wildly:\n\n\"Brothers! Brothers! Don't kill me! I'm your friend! Spare me and I'll\ndo something for you!\"\n\n\"Attention, Dinas!\" the Goat commanded. \"Don't kill the Wolf just\nyet!\"\n\nThen he asked Pekka:\n\n\"What will you do for us if we spare you?\"\n\n\"I'll send you twelve Wolves,\" Pekka promised. \"That will give you\nmore meat than you'd have if you killed just me!\"\n\n\"Twelve,\" the Goat replied. \"You are right: twelve Wolves will give us\nmore meat than one. Very well, we'll let you go on condition that you\nsend us twelve. But see you keep your word!\"\n\nSo the Wolf went off as fast as his stiff legs could carry him and\nassembled twelve of his brothers.\n\n\"I've called you together,\" he said, \"to warn you of two terrible\ncreatures, a Goat and a Ram, who are here in the forest eating up\nWolves! Already they have a sack full of our unfortunate relations'\nskulls and bones! I saw the sack myself! Don't you think we ought all\nof us to flee?\"\n\n\"What!\" said the other Wolves, \"thirteen Wolves turn tail on one Goat\nand one Ram? Never! We'll go together and give them battle!\"\n\n\"Don't count me in!\" Pekka said. \"I don't want to see those two\nagain!\"\n\nSo the twelve Wolves marched off without Pekka.\n\nThe Goat as he saw them coming ran up a tree. The Ram followed him but\ncouldn't get very high.\n\nThe twelve Wolves came under the tree and standing in close formation\ncalled out:\n\n\"Now then, you two, come on! We're ready for you!\"\n\n\"Attention, Dinas!\" the Goat commanded. \"They're all here, so lose no\nmore time! Jump down among them and kill them!\"\n\nThe Goat himself began climbing down the tree, at the same time making\nan awful noise with his sack. He gave the Ram a push and the Ram\nslipped and fell right on the backs of the Wolves.\n\n\"That's right, Dinas! Kill them all!\" the Goat shouted, rattling his\nsack more furiously than ever. \"Don't let one of them escape!\"\n\nIn the confusion that followed the Wolves stampeded, running\nhelter-skelter in all directions. Every Wolf there felt that his own\nescape was a piece of rare good fortune.\n\n\"Those terrible two!\" he thought.\n\nThereafter Vuhi, the Goat, and Dinas, the Ram, lived on in the forest\nuntroubled by the Wolves.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n [Illustration: _\"Here are three of us and see, here on the floor is\n our harvest already divided into three heaps\"_]\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE IX\n\nTHE HARVEST\n\n[Decoration]\n\nWell, the time came when the field of barley which the Fox and the\nWolf had planted together was ready to harvest. So the two friends cut\nthe grain and carried the sheaves to the threshing barn where they\nspread them out to dry. When it was time to thresh the grain, they\nasked Osmo, the Bear, to come and help them.\n\n\"Certainly,\" Osmo said.\n\nAt the time agreed the three animals met at the threshing barn.\n\n\"Now the first thing to decide,\" Pekka said, \"is how to divide the\nwork.\"\n\nThe Fox climbed nimbly up to the rafters.\n\n\"I'll stay up here,\" he called down, \"and support the beams and the\nrafters. In that way there won't be any danger of their falling and\ninjuring either of you. You two work down there without any concern.\nTrust me! I'll take care of you!\"\n\nSo Osmo, the Bear, used the flail, and Pekka, the Wolf, winnowed the\nchaff from the grain. Mikko, the rascal, occasionally dropped down\nupon them a hunk of wood.\n\n\"Take care!\" they'd call out. \"Do you want to kill us?\"\n\n\"Indeed, brothers, you have no idea how hard it is for me to hold up\nall these rafters!\" Mikko would say. \"You're very lucky it's only a\nlittle piece that drops on you now and then! If it weren't for me\nyou'd certainly be killed, both of you!\"\n\nWell, the Bear and the Wolf worked steadily. When they were finished\nMikko, the rascal, leaped down from the rafters and stretched himself\nas though he had been working the hardest of them all.\n\n\"I'm glad that job of mine is finished!\" he said. \"I couldn't have\nheld things up much longer!\"\n\n\"Well now,\" Pekka asked, \"how shall we divide this our harvest?\"\n\n\"I'll tell you how,\" Mikko said. \"Here are three of us and, see, here\non the floor is our harvest already divided into three heaps. The\nbiggest heap will naturally go to the biggest of us. That's Osmo, the\nBear. The middle sized heap will go to you, Pekka. I'm the smallest,\nso the smallest heap comes to me.\"\n\nThe Bear and the Wolf, stupid old things, agreed to this. So Osmo took\nthe great heap of straw, Pekka the pile of chaff, and Mikko, the\nrascal, got for his share the little mound of clean grain.\n\nTogether they all went to the mill to grind their meal.\n\nAs the millstone turned on Mikko's grain, it made a rough rasping\nsound.\n\n\"Strange,\" Osmo said to Pekka, \"Mikko's grain sounds different from\nours.\"\n\n\"Mix some sand with yours,\" Mikko said, \"then yours will make the same\nsound.\"\n\nSo the Bear and the Wolf poured some sand in their straw and their\nchaff and sure enough, when they turned their millstones again, they,\ntoo, got a rough rasping sound.\n\nThis satisfied them and they went home feeling they had just as good a\nwinter's supply of food as Mikko.\n\n\n [Illustration: _He dropped it in the water and of course it spread\n out far and wide and the current carried it off_]\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE X\n\nTHE PORRIDGE\n\n[Decoration]\n\nWell, it was only natural that they should all want to see at once\nwhat kind of porridge their meal would make.\n\nOsmo's came out black and disgusting. Greatly disturbed he ambled over\nto Mikko's house for advice. The Fox was stirring his own porridge\nwhich was white and smooth.\n\n\"What's the matter with my porridge?\" the Bear asked. \"Yours is white\nand smooth but mine is black and horrid.\"\n\n\"Did you wash your meal before you put it into the pot?\" the Fox\nasked.\n\n\"Wash it? No! How do you wash meal?\"\n\n\"You take it to the river and drop it in the water. Then when it's\nclean you take it out.\"\n\nThe Bear at once went home and got his ground up straw and took it to\nthe river. He dropped it in the water and of course it spread out far\nand wide and the current carried it off.\n\nSo that was the end of Osmo's share of the harvest.\n\nPekka, the Wolf, had as little luck with his porridge. Soon he, too,\ncame to Mikko for advice.\n\n\"I don't know what's the matter with me,\" he said. \"I don't seem to be\nable to make good porridge. Look at yours all white and smooth! I must\nwatch you how you make it. Won't you let me hang my pot on your crane?\nThen I'll do just as you do.\"\n\n\"Certainly,\" the Fox said. \"Hang your pot on this chain and the two\npots can then cook side by side.\"\n\n\"Yours is so white to begin with,\" Pekka said, \"and mine looks no\nbetter than dirt.\"\n\n\"Before you came I climbed up the chain and hung over the pot,\" the\nFox said. \"The heat of the fire melted the fat in my tail and it\ndripped down into the pot. It's that fat that makes my porridge look\nso white.\"\n\nPoor gullible Pekka immediately suspended himself on the chain above\nhis porridge. But he didn't stay there long. The flames scorched him\nand he fell down hurting his side. If you notice, to this day any Wolf\nthat you meet has stiff sides that make it hard for him to turn and\ntwist, and to this day all Wolves smell of burnt hair.\n\nWell, Pekka, after he had got his breath, tasted his porridge again to\nsee if it was any better. But it wasn't. It was as bad as ever.\n\n\"I don't see any difference in it,\" he said. \"Let me taste yours,\nMikko.\"\n\nThe Fox artfully scooped up a spoonful of the Wolf's porridge and\ndropped it into his own pot.\n\n\"Help yourself,\" he said. \"Take some out of that spot there. That's\ngood.\"\n\nThe place he pointed to was, of course, the place where he had dropped\nsome of the Wolf's own porridge.\n\nSo poor old stupid Pekka only sampled his own porridge again when he\nthought he was tasting Mikko's.\n\n\"Strange,\" he said, \"your porridge doesn't taste good to me either. I\ndon't believe anything tastes good to me to-day. The truth is I don't\nbelieve I like porridge.\"\n\nHe went home sad and discouraged while Mikko, the rascal, chuckled to\nhimself and said:\n\n\"I wonder why Pekka doesn't like porridge. It tastes awful good to\nme!\"\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE XI\n\nNURSE MIKKO\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThe Wolf's wife gave birth to three little cubs and then died.\n\n\"You poor children!\" Pekka said, \"your mother is dead and there is no\none to take her place. I must get you a nurse.\"\n\nSo he went through the forest hunting some one to take care of his\nmotherless cubs. The white Grouse offered her services but, when she\nsang a lullaby to show what a good nurse she could be, Pekka shook his\nhead.\n\n\"I don't like your voice,\" he said. \"I can't take you.\"\n\nThen Jussi, the Hare, applied for the position.\n\n\"You know I'm lame,\" he said, \"so quiet work like nursing would suit\nme.\"\n\n\"Can you sing lullabies?\" Pekka asked.\n\n\"Oh, yes! Listen!\" and Jussi began squealing.\n\n\"Stop!\" Pekka cried. \"I don't like your voice either.\"\n\nJust then Mikko, the Fox, came running up.\n\n\"Good day, Pekka,\" he said. \"I hear you're out looking for a nurse for\nyour sweet babies.\"\n\n\"Yes, Mikko, I am. Can you recommend one?\"\n\n\"I'd like the job myself,\" the Fox said.\n\n\"You, Mikko?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"But you can't sing lullabies, can you?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes! I sing them very beautifully. Listen:\n\n 'Hushabye, sweet little cubs,\n Hushabye to sleep!\n Who best loves you, do you think?\n Who will give you food and drink?\n Who on faithful guard will keep?\n Mikko! Mikko!\n\n 'Hushabye, sweet little cubs,\n Mikko loves you well,\n Loves each little pointed nose,\n Loves your little scratchy toes,\n Loves you more than he can tell--\n Mikko! Mikko!'\"\n\n [Illustration: _He ran after Mikko and was about to overtake him when\n Mikko slipped into a crevice in the rocks. Only one paw stuck out_]\n\nPekka, the Wolf, was charmed with Mikko's lullaby.\n\n\"Beautiful! Beautiful!\" he said. \"I never heard a sweeter lullaby!\nYou're the very nurse I want! Come home with me at once.\"\n\nSo Mikko went home with Pekka and took over the care of the three\nlittle Wolf cubs.\n\n\"I'll go off now and get them something to eat,\" Pekka said.\n\nHe came back after a while with the hind leg of a horse.\n\n\"This will be enough for them to start on,\" he said.\n\nThe Fox shook his head.\n\n\"I'm afraid it won't last them very long. They're beautiful healthy\nchildren with fine appetites.\"\n\n\"Poor little dears!\" Pekka said. \"Let me see them.\"\n\n\"Not just now!\" Mikko insisted. \"They're asleep and mustn't be\ndisturbed. Go out hunting again and the next time you come home you\nshall see them.\"\n\nPekka felt that the Fox must be a very good nurse indeed to be so\nstrict. So he went off hunting again without seeing his children.\n\nAs soon as he was gone Mikko, the rascal, ate up all the horse meat\nwithout giving the cubs one bite and then, as he was still hungry, he\nate one of the cubs. The next day he ate another cub, and the day\nfollowing he ate the last of them. He was just finishing that last\ncub when the Wolf came home and called in at the door:\n\n\"Now, nurse, here I am come home to see my dear children! They're\nwell, aren't they?\"\n\n\"Very well!\" the Fox declared. \"But they've grown so big under my good\ncare that the house isn't large enough now to hold them and you and me\nat the same time. If you're coming in, I must get out first.\"\n\nSo the Wolf stood aside as the Fox came out and scampered away.\n\nThen the Wolf went in and of course all he could find of his dear\nchildren were their bones.\n\n\"You faithless, faithless nurse!\" he cried.\n\nIn awful rage he ran after Mikko and was about to overtake him when\nMikko slipped into a crevice in the rocks. Only one paw stuck out. The\nWolf pounced on this paw and began gnawing it.\n\n\"Say, Pekka, have you gone crazy?\" the Fox asked. \"What do you think\nyou're doing biting that old root? I hope you don't think it's one of\nmy paws. I'm sitting on all four paws.\"\n\nThe Wolf looked up to see whether this was true and, quick as a flash,\nMikko, the rascal, drew in his paw.\n\nSo the poor old Wolf, fooled again, went sadly home.\n\n\n [Illustration: _Of course the instant he opened his mouth the Grouse\n flew away_]\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE XII\n\nTHE BEAR SAYS _NORTH_\n\n[Decoration]\n\nOne day while Osmo, the Bear, was prowling about the woods he caught a\nGrouse.\n\n\"Pretty good!\" he thought to himself. \"Wouldn't the other animals be\nsurprised if they knew old Osmo had caught a Grouse!\"\n\nHe was so proud of his feat that he wanted all the world to know of\nit. So, holding the Grouse carefully in his teeth without injuring it,\nhe began parading up and down the forest ways.\n\n\"They'll all certainly envy me this nice plump Grouse,\" he thought.\n\"And they won't be so ready to call me awkward and lumbering after\nthis, either!\"\n\nPresently Mikko, the Fox, sauntered by. He saw at once that Osmo was\nshowing off and he determined that the Bear would not get the\nsatisfaction of any admiration from him. So he pretended not to see\nthe Grouse at all. Instead he pointed his nose upwards and sniffed.\n\n\"Um! Um!\" grunted Osmo, trying to attract attention to himself.\n\n\"Ah,\" Mikko remarked, casually, \"is that you, Osmo? What way is the\nwind blowing to-day? Can you tell me?\"\n\nOsmo, of course, could not answer without opening his mouth, so he\ngrunted again hoping that Mikko would have to notice why he couldn't\nanswer. But the Fox didn't glance at him at all. With his nose still\npointed upwards he kept sniffing the air.\n\n\"It seems to me it's from the South,\" he said. \"Isn't it from the\nSouth, Osmo?\"\n\n\"Um! Um! Um!\" the Bear grunted.\n\n\"You say it is from the South, Osmo? Are you sure?\"\n\n\"Um! Um!\" Osmo repeated, growing every moment more impatient.\n\n\"Oh, not from the South, you say. Then from what direction is it\nblowing?\"\n\nBy this time the Bear was so exasperated by Mikko's interest in the\nwind when he should have been admiring the Grouse that he forgot\nhimself, opened his mouth, and roared out:\n\n\"North!\"\n\nOf course the instant he opened his mouth, the Grouse flew away.\n\n\"Now see what you've done!\" he stormed angrily. \"You've made me lose\nmy fine plump Grouse!\"\n\n\"I?\" Mikko asked. \"What had I to do with it?\"\n\n\"You kept asking me about the wind until I opened my mouth--that's\nwhat you did!\"\n\nThe Fox shrugged his shoulders.\n\n\"Why did you open your mouth?\"\n\n\"Well, you can't say, 'North!' without opening your mouth, can you?\"\nthe Bear demanded.\n\nThe Fox laughed heartily.\n\n\"See here, Osmo, don't blame me. Blame yourself. If I had had that\nGrouse in my mouth and you had asked me about the wind, I should never\nhave said, 'North!'\"\n\n\"What would you have said?\" the Bear asked.\n\nMikko, the rascal, laughed harder than ever. Then he clenched his\nteeth and said:\n\n\"East!\"\n\n\n [Illustration: _\"Why, do you know,\" he said, \"my turnips and my\n bread don't taste a bit like this!\"_]\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE XIII\n\nOSMO'S SHARE\n\n[Decoration]\n\nOne day Osmo, the Bear, came to a clearing where a Man was plowing.\n\n\"Good day,\" the Bear said. \"What are you doing?\"\n\n\"I'm plowing,\" the Man answered. \"After I finish plowing I'm going to\nharrow and then plant the field, half in wheat and half in turnips.\"\n\n\"Yum! Yum!\" Osmo thought to himself. \"Good food that--wheat and\nturnips!\"\n\nAloud he said:\n\n\"I know how to plow and harrow. What do you say to my helping you?\"\n\n\"If you help me,\" the Man said, \"I'll share the harvest with you.\"\n\nSo Osmo set to work and between them they soon had the field plowed,\nharrowed, and planted.\n\nWhen Autumn came they went to get their crops.\n\nAt the turnip field the Man said:\n\n\"Now what do you want as your share--the part that grows above the\nground or the part that grows below?\"\n\nOsmo, the Bear, seeing how green and luxuriant the turnip tops were,\nsaid:\n\n\"Give me the part that grows above ground.\"\n\nAfter they had harvested the turnips, they went on to the wheat field\nwhere the Man put the same question.\n\nThe wheat stocks were all dry and shriveled. Osmo looked at them\nwisely and said:\n\n\"This time you better give me the part that grows under the ground.\"\n\nThe Man laughed in his sleeve and agreed.\n\nOne day the following winter the two met and the Man invited the Bear\nto dinner. Osmo who was very hungry accepted the invitation gladly.\n\nFirst they had baked turnips.\n\n\"Oh, but these are good!\" Osmo said. \"I've never tasted anything\nbetter! What are they?\"\n\n\"Why,\" the Man said, \"they're the turnips from that field that you and\nI planted together.\"\n\nThe Bear was greatly surprised.\n\nThen they had some freshly baked bread.\n\n\"How good! How good!\" Osmo exclaimed. \"What is it?\"\n\n\"Just plain bread,\" the Man said, \"baked from the wheat you and I\nplanted together.\"\n\nOsmo was more surprised than ever.\n\n\"Why, do you know,\" he said, \"my turnips and my bread don't taste a\nbit like this!\"\n\nThe Man burst out laughing and Osmo wondered why.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n [Illustration: _The first person they met was an old Horse. They\n put their case to him_]\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE XIV\n\nTHE REWARD OF KINDNESS\n\n[Decoration]\n\nOsmo, the Bear, used to go day after day to a field of growing rye and\neat as much as he wanted. The Farmer noticed from the Bear's tracks\nthat he always came by the same route.\n\n\"I'll teach that Bear a lesson!\" the Farmer thought to himself.\n\nSo he set a snare made of a strong net and carefully covered it over\nwith leaves and branches.\n\nThat day Osmo, when he came as usual to the field, got entangled in\nthe net and was unable to escape.\n\nThe Farmer when he came and found him securely caught was overjoyed.\n\n\"Now, you brute!\" he said, \"I've got you and I'm going to kill you!\"\n\n\"Oh, master, don't do that!\" the Bear implored. \"Don't kill me!\"\n\n\"Why shouldn't I kill you?\" the Farmer asked. \"Aren't you destroying\nmy rye?\"\n\n\"Let me off this time!\" Osmo begged, \"and I'll reward you! I swear I\nwill!\"\n\nHe begged and begged until at last he prevailed upon the Farmer to\nopen the net and let him out.\n\n\"Now then,\" the Farmer said as soon as the Bear was freed, \"how are\nyou going to reward me?\"\n\nOsmo put a heavy paw on the Farmer's shoulder.\n\n\"This is how I'm going to reward you,\" he said: \"I'm going to eat you\nup!\"\n\n\"What!\" the Farmer exclaimed, \"is that your idea of a reward for\nkindness?\"\n\n\"Exactly!\" Osmo declared. \"In this world that is the reward kindness\nalways gets! Ask any one!\"\n\n\"I don't believe it! I don't believe it!\" the Farmer cried.\n\n\"Very well. I'll prove to you that I'm right. We'll ask the first\nperson we meet.\"\n\nThe first person they met was an old Horse. They put their case to\nhim.\n\n\"The Bear is right,\" the old Horse said. \"Look at me: For thirty\nyears I gave my master faithful service and just this morning I heard\nhim say: 'It's time we killed that old plug! He's no good for work any\nmore and he's only eating his head off!'\"\n\nThe Bear squinted his little eyes.\n\n\"You see!\"\n\n\"No, I don't see!\" the Farmer insisted. \"We must ask some one else.\"\n\nThey walked on a little farther until they met an old Dog. They put\ntheir case to him and at once the Dog said:\n\n\"The Bear is right! Look at me: I gave my master a life time of\nfaithful service and just this morning I overheard him say: 'It's time\nwe killed that old Dog!' Alas, alas, in this wicked world goodness is\nalways so rewarded!\"\n\nBut still the Farmer was unsatisfied and to humor him Osmo said that\nhe was willing that they should put their case once more to the\njudgment of an outsider.\n\nThe next person they met was Mikko, the Fox. Mikko listened carefully\nand then drawing the Farmer aside he whispered:\n\n\"If I give judgment in your favor will you let me carry off all the\nchickens in your hen-house?\"\n\n\"Indeed I will!\" the Farmer promised.\n\nThen Mikko cleared his throat importantly and said:\n\n\"H'm! H'm! To give fair judgment in this case I must go over all the\nground. First show me the field of rye and the damage Osmo did.\"\n\nSo they went to the field and the Fox, after he had appraised the\ndamage, shook his head seriously.\n\n\"It was certainly wicked of Osmo eating all that rye!... Now show me\nthe net.\"\n\nSo they went to the snare and the Fox examined it carefully.\n\n\"You say the Bear got entangled in this snare. I want to see just how\nhe did it.\"\n\nOsmo showed just how he had been caught.\n\n\"Get all the way in,\" the Fox said. \"I want to make sure that you\ncouldn't possibly get out unaided.\"\n\nSo the Bear entangled himself again in the net and proved that he\ncouldn't possibly get out unaided.\n\n\"Well,\" said Mikko, the rascal, \"you deserved to get caught the first\ntime and now that you're in there again you can just stay there! Come\non, Mr. Farmer.\"\n\nSo Mikko and the Farmer went off leaving Osmo to his fate.\n\nThat night the Fox went to the Farmer's hen-house to claim his reward.\nWhen he came in the chickens, of course, set up an awful squawking\nthat aroused the family. The Farmer stayed in bed but he sent his wife\nout with a stout club.\n\n\"It sounds to me,\" he said, \"as if some rascally Fox is trying to\nsteal our hens. If you catch him, don't be gentle with him!\"\n\n\"Gentle!\" repeated the wife significantly.\n\nShe hurried out to the hen-house and when she found Mikko inside she\ngave him an awful beating. In fact he barely escaped with his life.\n\n\"Ah!\" he said to himself as he limped painfully home, \"to think that\nthis is the reward my kindness has received! Oh, what a wicked, wicked\nworld this is!\"\n\n[Decoration]\n\n\n [Illustration: _With that the Bear lifted his paw and the little\n mouse scampered off_]\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE XV\n\nTHE BEAR AND THE MOUSE\n\n[Decoration]\n\nWhen Osmo, the Bear, was left alone in the net, he thrashed about this\nway and that until he was exhausted. Then he fell asleep.\n\nWhile he slept a host of little Mice began playing all over his great\nbody.\n\nTheir tiny feet tickled him and he woke with a start. The Mice\nscampered off, all but one that Osmo caught under his paw.\n\n\"Tweek! Tweek!\" the frightened little Mouse cried. \"Let me go! Let me\ngo! Please let me go! If you do I'll reward you some day! I promise I\nwill!\"\n\nOsmo let out a great roar of laughter.\n\n\"What, little one? You'll reward me! Ha! Ha! That is good! The Mouse\nwill reward the Bear! Well now, that is a joke! However, little one, I\nwill let you go! You're too weak and insignificant for me to kill and\ntoo small to eat. So run along!\"\n\nWith that the Bear lifted his paw and the little Mouse scampered off.\n\n\"It will reward me for my kindness!\" Osmo repeated, and in spite of\nthe fact that he was fast caught in a net he shook again with\nlaughter.\n\nHe was still laughing when the little Mouse returned with a great army\nof his fellows. All the host at once began gnawing at the ropes of the\nnet and in no time at all they had freed the big Bear.\n\n\"You see,\" the little Mouse said, \"although we are weak and\ninsignificant we can reward a kindness!\"\n\nOsmo was so ashamed for having laughed at the Mice on account of their\nsize that all he could say as he shambled off into the forest was:\n\n\"Thanks!\"\n\n\n[Decoration]\n\nADVENTURE XVI\n\nTHE LAST OF OSMO\n\n[Decoration]\n\nThere was a Farmer that used to drive his sledge into the forest to\ncut wood. Always as he drove he shouted abusively at his Horse.\n\n\"Go along, you old plug!\" he'd say. \"What do you think you're good\nfor, anyway? If you don't move along more lively I'll give you to the\nBear for his supper--that's what I'll do with you!\"\n\nNow Osmo, the Bear, heard about this, how the Farmer was always\ntalking about giving him his Horse, so one afternoon while the Farmer\nwas going through his usual tirade Osmo suddenly stepped out of the\nbushes and said:\n\n\"Well, Mr. Farmer, here I am! Suppose you give me my supper.\"\n\nThe Farmer was greatly taken back.\n\n\"I didn't really mean what I was saying,\" he stammered. \"He's a good\nHorse but he's a little lazy--that's all.\"\n\nOsmo stood there swaying his shoulders and twisting his head.\n\n\"Even if he is lazy he'll taste all right to me. Come along, Mr.\nFarmer, hand him over as you've promised to do this long time!\"\n\n\"But I can't afford to give you my Horse!\" the Farmer cried. \"He's the\nonly Horse I've got!\"\n\nBut the Bear was firm.\n\n\"No matter! You have to keep your word!\"\n\n\"See here,\" the Farmer begged, \"let me off on giving you my Horse and\nI tell you what I'll do: I'll give you my Cow. I can spare the Cow\nbetter.\"\n\n\"When will you give me the Cow?\" the Bear asked.\n\n\"To-morrow,\" the Farmer promised.\n\n\"Very well,\" Osmo said, \"if you deliver me the Cow to-morrow I'll let\nyou off on the Horse. But see you keep your word!\"\n\nOn his way home that afternoon the Farmer visited his traps. In one\nhe found Mikko, the Fox. Mikko, the little rascal, begged for his life\nso piteously that the Farmer with a laugh freed him.\n\n\"You've done me a good turn,\" Mikko said, \"and some day I'll do\nsomething for you. Just wait and see if I don't.\"\n\nWell, early next morning the Farmer put his Cow on the sledge and\nstarted off for the forest. On the way he met Mikko.\n\n\"Good morning,\" Mikko said. \"Where are you going with your Cow?\"\n\nThe Farmer stopped and told Mikko about his bargain with the Bear.\n\n\"See here,\" the Fox said, \"I promised you yesterday that some day I'd\ndo you a good turn. That day has come! I'm going to save you your Cow\nand show you how you can kill that old Bear once and for all. But if I\ndo this, you'll have to give me the Bear's carcass after he's dead and\ngone.\"\n\n\"I'll be glad enough to do that,\" the Farmer declared. \"Save me my Cow\nand you may have all of that old Bear that you want!\"\n\n\"Well then,\" Mikko said, \"go home with the Cow as quickly as you can\nand come back here with ten distaffs. My plan is to have you put five\nof the distaffs around my neck and five around my tail. I can make an\nawful noise rattling them. When the Bear hears me and wonders who I\nam, do you say to him: 'Oh! That must be my son, the Hunter! Don't you\nhear the rattle of his musket?' Then between us we'll finish that old\nBear.\"\n\nThe Farmer did as the Fox directed. He drove the Cow home and returned\nto the forest with ten distaffs, five of which he fastened about the\nFox's neck and five about his tail. Then he drove the sledge on to the\nplace where he was to meet the Bear and Mikko, the Fox, crept along\nquietly behind him.\n\n\"Where's my Cow?\" the Bear demanded as soon as the sledge appeared.\n\n\"I've come to talk to you about that,\" the Farmer began.\n\nJust then there was an awful rattle of something in the bushes behind\nthe Farmer.\n\n\"What's that?\" the Bear cried.\n\n\"Oh,\" the Farmer said, \"that must be my son, the Hunter! Don't you\nhear the rattle of his musket?\"\n\nThe Bear shook in terror.\n\n\"The Hunter, you say! Mercy me, what shall I do! Oh, Mr. Farmer, save\nme from the Hunter and I'll forgive you the Cow!\"\n\n\"Very well,\" the Farmer promised, \"I'll do my best! Lie down and I'll\ntry to make the Hunter believe you're only a log.\"\n\nSo the Bear lay down on the ground and stayed perfectly quiet.\n\n\"Father,\" called the Fox in a voice that sounded like the Hunter's,\n\"what's that big brown thing lying on the ground near you? Is it a\nBear?\"\n\n\"No, son,\" the Farmer called back, \"that isn't a Bear. It's only a log\nof wood.\"\n\n\"If it's a log of wood, father, chop it up!\"\n\nThe Farmer raised his ax.\n\n\"Don't really chop me!\" the Bear begged in a whisper. \"Just pretend\nto.\"\n\n\"This is too good a log to chop up,\" the Farmer said.\n\n\"Well, father,\" said the voice from the bushes, \"if it's such a good\nlog you better put it on your sledge and take it home.\"\n\n\"Lie still,\" the Farmer whispered, \"while I put you on the sledge.\"\n\nSo the Bear lay stiff and quiet and the Farmer dragged him on to the\nsledge.\n\n\"Father,\" the voice said, \"you better tie that log down to keep it\nfrom rolling off.\"\n\n\"Don't move,\" the Farmer whispered, \"and I'll tie you down just as if\nyou were a log.\"\n\nSo the Bear lay perfectly still while the Farmer lashed him securely\nto the sledge.\n\n\"Father, are you sure that log can't roll off?\"\n\n\"Yes, son,\" the Farmer said, \"I'm sure it can't roll off now.\"\n\n\"Then, father, drive your ax into the end of the log and off we'll\ngo!\"\n\nAt that the Farmer raised his ax and with one mighty blow buried it in\nthe neck of the Bear.\n\nSo that was the end of poor old lumbering Osmo!\n\nThe Farmer was saved both his Horse and his Cow and Mikko, the rascal,\nfeasted on Bear meat for a week.\n\n[Decoration]\n\n [Illustration: _So that was THE END_]\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nArchaic and variable spelling and grammar usage is preserved as\nprinted.\n\nMinor punctuation errors have been repaired.\n\nThe following amendments have been made for consistency:\n\n Page 166--Ollie amended to Olli--\"\"Yes,\" Olli shouted back,\n ...\"\n\n Page 198--Mattie amended to Matti--\"\"But remember,\" Matti\n warned him, ...\"\n\n Page 200--Mattie amended to Matti--\"\"That is true,\" Matti\n said, ...\"\n\nThe following typographic errors have been repaired:\n\n Page 230--then amended to them--\"Jussi looked at them in\n amazement, his eyes popping out of his head.\"\n\n Page 294--satisfacion amended to satisfaction--\"... the Bear\n would not get the satisfaction of any admiration from him.\"\n\nIllustrations have been moved where necessary so that they were not in\nthe middle of a paragraph.","title":"Mighty Mikko: A Book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":48622}