MIGHTY MIKKO
A Book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales
BY
PARKER FILLMORE
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND DECORATIONS
BY
JAY VAN EVEREN
[Decoration]
NEW YORK
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY
Copyright, 1922, by
PARKER FILLMORE
PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY
THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY
RAHWAY, N J
_BY PARKER FILLMORE_
CZECHOSLOVAK FAIRY TALES
THE SHOEMAKER'S APRON
_Both Illustrated by Jan Matulka_
THE LAUGHING PRINCE
_Illustrated by Jay Van Everen_
THE HICKORY LIMB
_Illustrated by Rose Cecil O'Neill_
THE ROSIE WORLD
_Illustrated by Maginal Wright Enright_
[Illustration: _Ilona came floating up through the waves. Page 17_]
To my niece
Phyllis
These stories of her mother's native land
[Decoration]
NOTE
The spirit of nationalism that swept over the small peoples of Europe
in the early nineteenth century touched faraway Finland and started
the Finns on the quest of the Finnish. There as elsewhere scholars who
were also patriots found that the native tongue, lost to the educated
and the well-to-do, had been preserved in the songs and stories which
were current among the peasants. Elias Lönnrot spent a long and busy
life collecting those ancient _runos_ from which he succeeded in
building up a national epic, the _Kalevala_. This is Lönnrot's great
contribution to his own country and to the world. Beside the material
for the _Kalevala_ Lönnrot made important collections of lyrics,
proverbs, and stories.
During his time and since other patriot scholars have made faithful
records of the songs and tales which the old Finnish minstrels, the
_runolaulajat_, chanted to the strains of the _kantele_. The mass of
such material now gathered together in the archives of the Society of
Finnish Literature at Helsingfors is imposing in bulk and of great
importance to the student of comparative folklore.
My own excursions into the Finnish have been made possible through the
kindness and endless patience of my friend, Lydia Tulonen (Mrs. Kurt
J. Rahlson). With her as a native guide I have been wandering some
time through the byways of Finnish folklore. The present volume is the
traveler's pack I have brought home with me filled with strange
treasures which will, I hope, seem as lovely to others as they seemed
to me when first I came upon them.
The stories as I offer them are not translations but my own versions.
Literal translations from the Finnish would make small appeal to the
general reader. To English ears the Finnish is stiff, bald, and
monotonous. One has only to read or attempt to read Kirby's excellent
translation of the _Kalevala_ to realize the truth of this statement.
So I make no apology for retelling these tales in a manner more likely
to prove entertaining to the English reader, whether child or adult.
In some form or other all the tales in this book may be found in the
various folklore collections made by Eero Salmelainen, one of the
patriotic young scholars who followed in Lönnrot's footsteps. His
books were sponsored by the Society of Finnish Literature and used in
its campaign to bring back the Finnish language to the Finns at a time
when Swedish was the official language of the country.
Full of local color as these stories are, it would be vain to pretend
that they are not, for the most part, variants of stories told the
world over. All that I can claim for them is that they are dramatic
and picturesque, that they are told with a wealth of charming detail
which is essentially Finnish, and that they are certainly new to the
generality of English readers. _The Three Chests_, so characteristic
in feeling of a country famous for its lakes and marshes, is the
variant of a German story which Grimm gives as _Fitcher's Bird_. Of
_The Forest Bride_ I have found variants in the folklore of many
lands. There are several very beautiful ones in the Russian; in other
books I myself have retold two, one current among the Czechs and one
among the Serbians; Grimm has two different versions in _The Three
Feathers_ and _The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat_; and Madame d'Aulnoy
has used the same story in her elaborate tale, _The White Cat_. There
is a well-known Oriental version of _Mighty Mikko_ in which the part
of the fox is played by a jackal and I am sure that Mikko's faithful
retainer, though neither city-bred nor polished, is after all pretty
closely related to that most debonnaire of Frenchmen, _Puss in Boots_.
Perrault probably and Madame d'Aulnoy certainly are in turn indebted
to Straparola. And so it goes.
The little cycle of animal stories included under _Mikko the Fox_ will
of course instantly invite comparison with the Beast Epic of _Reynard
the Fox_. The two have many episodes in common and both have episodes
to be found in Æsop and in those books of animal analogues, widely
read in mediæval times, _Physiologus_ and the _Disciplina Clericalis_
of Petrus Alfonsus. The _Reynard_ as we have it is a finished satire
on church and state and in its present form has been current in Europe
since the twelfth century. It was thought at one time that the animal
stories found in Finland were debased versions of the _Reynard_
stories, but scholars are now of opinion that they antedate _Reynard_
and are similar to the earlier simpler stories upon which the
_Reynard_ cycle was originally built. This makes the little Finnish
tales of great interest to the student. Needless to say I do not
present them for this reason but because they seem to me charming
merely as fables. The animals here are not the clerics and the judges
and the nobles that the _Reynard_ animals are, but plain downright
Finnish peasants, sometimes stupid, often dull, frequently amusing,
and always very human.
I have taken one liberty with spelling. I have transliterated
Syöjätär, the name of the dread Finnish witch, as Suyettar. I have
been unwilling to translate by the insufficient word, _bath-house_ or
_vapor bath_, that very characteristic institution of Finnish family
life, the _sauna_, but have retained the Finnish word, _sauna_,
allowing the context in each case to indicate the meaning.
P. F.
_New York_
_June 19, 1922_
[Decoration]
[Decoration]
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE TRUE BRIDE: The Story of Ilona and the King's Son 1
MIGHTY MIKKO: The Story of a Poor Woodsman and a
Grateful Fox 25
THE THREE CHESTS: The Story of the Wicked Old Man
of the Sea 47
LOG: The Story of the Hero Who Released the Sun 67
THE LITTLE SISTER: The Story of Suyettar and the
Nine Brothers 99
THE FOREST BRIDE: The Story of a Little Mouse Who
was a Princess 121
THE ENCHANTED GROUSE: The Story of Helli and
the Little Locked Box 141
THE TERRIBLE OLLI: The Story of an Honest Finn and
a Wicked Troll 155
THE DEVIL'S HIDE: The Story of the Boy Who Wouldn't
Lose His Temper 171
THE MYSTERIOUS SERVANT: The Story of a Young Man Who
Respected the Dead 193
FAMILIAR FACES:
I Mary, Mary, So Contrary! 209
II Jane, Jane, Don't Complain! 215
III Susan Walker, What a Talker! 221
MIKKO THE FOX: A Nursery Epic in Sixteen Adventures
I The Animals Take a Bite 229
II The Partners 235
III The Fox and the Crow 243
IV The Chief Mourner 251
V Mirri, the Cat 257
VI The Fox's Servant 263
VII The Wolf Sings 267
VIII The Clever Goat 273
IX The Harvest 279
X The Porridge 283
XI Nurse Mikko 287
XII The Bear Says _North_ 293
XIII Osmo's Share 297
XIV The Reward of Kindness 301
XV The Bear and the Mouse 307
XVI The Last of Osmo 309
[Decoration]
FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
Ilona came floating up through the waves _Frontispiece_
PAGE
The old king snake has wound himself around Osmo's
arm 15
The King thought that if Mikko should see his daughter 33
She fitted the key in the lock 57
"This last and mightiest battle is for me!" 85
Suyettar bewitching Kerttu 111
She beckoned to Veikko 135
On it flew until it reached the broad Ocean 147
Olli and the Troll's horse 161
From the bones of the cattle he laid three bridges 183
"She is under an evil enchantment and I am delivering
her!" 203
When she got to the middle of the stream 208
They were so busy eating and drinking 214
They carried home the treasure on their backs 220
Osmo, the Bear, grunted out: "Huh! That's easy! We'll
eat the smallest of us next!" 228
"Wake up, Pekka! Wake up! There's butter running out
of your nose!" 239
"I'll teach that Crow to interfere with my affairs!"
the Fox muttered to himself as he trotted off 249
And Mikko, beginning with a little whimpering sound,
slowly rose to a high heartrending cry 253
He jerked quickly away and fled and the Bear was left
standing with his mouth wide open 259
A terrible creature landed on his nose and drove it
full of pins and needles 262
The Wolf went staggering around the room howling at
the top of his voice 269
In the confusion that followed the Wolves stampeded,
running helter-skelter in all directions 272
"Here are three of us and, see, here on the floor is
our harvest already divided into three heaps" 278
He dropped it in the water and of course it spread out
far and wide and the current carried it off 282
He ran after Mikko and was about to overtake him when
Mikko slipped into a crevice in the rocks. Only one
paw stuck out 289
Of course the instant he opened his mouth, the Grouse
flew away 292
"Why, do you know," he said, "my turnips and my bread
don't taste a bit like this!" 296
The first person they met was an old Horse. They put
their case to him 300
With that the Bear lifted his paw and the little Mouse
scampered off 306
So that was the End 315
THE TRUE BRIDE
[Decoration]
_The Story of Ilona and the King's Son_
THE TRUE BRIDE
[Decoration]
There were once two orphans, a brother and a sister, who lived alone
in the old farmhouse where their fathers before them had lived for
many generations. The brother's name was Osmo, the sister's Ilona.
Osmo was an industrious youth, but the farm was small and barren and
he was hard put to it to make a livelihood.
"Sister," he said one day, "I think it might be well if I went out
into the world and found work."
"Do as you think best, brother," Ilona said. "I'm sure I can manage on
here alone."
So Osmo started off, promising to come back for his sister as soon as
he could give her a new home. He wandered far and wide and at last got
employment from the King's Son as a shepherd.
The King's Son was about Osmo's age, and often when he met Osmo
tending his flocks he would stop and talk to him.
One day Osmo told the King's Son about his sister, Ilona.
"I have wandered far over the face of the earth," he said, "and never
have I seen so beautiful a maiden as Ilona."
"What does she look like?" the King's Son asked.
Osmo drew a picture of her and she seemed to the King's Son so
beautiful that at once he fell in love with her.
"Osmo," he said, "if you will go home and get your sister, I will
marry her."
So Osmo hurried home not by the long land route by which he had come
but straight over the water in a boat.
"Sister," he cried, as soon as he saw Ilona, "you must come with me at
once for the King's Son wishes to marry you!"
He thought Ilona would be overjoyed, but she sighed and shook her
head.
"What is it, sister? Why do you sigh?"
"Because it grieves me to leave this old house where our fathers have
lived for so many generations."
"Nonsense, Ilona! What is this little old house compared to the King's
castle where you will live once you marry the King's Son!"
But Ilona only shook her head.
"It's no use, brother! I can't bear to leave this old house until the
grindstone with which our fathers for generations ground their meal is
worn out."
When Osmo found she was firm, he went secretly and broke the old
grindstone into small pieces. He then put the pieces together so that
the stone looked the same as before. But of course the next time Ilona
touched it, it fell apart.
"Now, sister, you'll come, will you not?" Osmo asked.
But again Ilona shook her head.
"It's no use, brother. I can't bear to go until the old stool where
our mothers have sat spinning these many generations is worn through."
So again Osmo took things into his own hands and going secretly to the
old spinning stool he broke it and when Ilona sat on it again it fell
to pieces.
Then Ilona said she couldn't go until the old mortar which had been in
use for generations should fall to bits at a blow from the pestle.
Osmo cracked the mortar and the next time Ilona struck it with the
pestle it broke.
Then Ilona said she couldn't go until the old worn doorsill over which
so many of their forefathers had walked should fall to splinters at
the brush of her skirts. So Osmo secretly split the old doorsill into
thin slivers and, when next Ilona stepped over it, the brush of her
skirts sent the splinters flying.
"I see now I must go," Ilona said, "for the house of our forefathers
no longer holds me."
So she packed all her ribbons and her bodices and skirts in a bright
wooden box and, calling her little dog Pilka, she stepped into the
boat and Osmo rowed her off in the direction of the King's castle.
Soon they passed a long narrow spit of land at the end of which stood
a woman waving her arms. That is she looked like a woman. Really she
was Suyettar but they, of course, did not know this.
"Take me in your boat!" she cried.
"Shall we?" Osmo asked his sister.
"I don't think we ought to," Ilona said. "We don't know who she is or
what she wants and she may be evil."
So Osmo rowed on. But the woman kept shouting:
"Hi, there! Take me in your boat! Take me!"
A second time Osmo paused and asked his sister:
"Don't you think we ought to take her?"
"No," Ilona said.
So Osmo rowed on again. At this the creature raised such a pitiful
outcry demanding what they meant denying assistance to a poor woman
that Osmo was unable longer to refuse and in spite of Ilona's warning
he rowed to land.
Suyettar instantly jumped into the boat and seated herself in the
middle with her face towards Osmo and her back towards Ilona.
"What a fine young man!" Suyettar said in whining flattering tones.
"See how strong he is at the oars! And what a beautiful girl, too! I
daresay the King's Son would fall in love with her if ever he saw
her!"
Thereupon Osmo very foolishly told Suyettar that the King's Son had
already promised to marry Ilona. At that an evil look came into
Suyettar's face and she sat silent for a time biting her fingers. Then
she began mumbling a spell that made Osmo deaf to what Ilona was
saying and Ilona deaf to what Osmo was saying.
At last in the distance the towers of the King's castle appeared.
"Stand up, sister!" Osmo said. "Shake out your skirts and arrange your
pretty ribbons! We'll soon be landing now!"
Ilona could see her brother's lips moving but of course she could not
hear what he was saying.
"What is it, brother?" she asked.
Suyettar answered for him:
"Osmo orders you to jump headlong into the water!"
"No! No!" Ilona cried. "He couldn't order anything so cruel as that!"
Presently Osmo said:
"Sister, what ails you? Don't you hear me? Shake out your skirts and
arrange your pretty ribbons for we'll soon be landing now."
"What is it, brother?" Ilona asked.
As before Suyettar answered for him:
"Osmo orders you to jump headlong into the water!"
"Brother, how can you order so cruel a thing!" Ilona cried, bursting
into tears. "Is it for this you made me leave the home of my fathers?"
A third time Osmo said:
"Stand up, sister, and shake out your skirts and arrange your ribbons!
We'll soon be landing now!"
"I can't hear you, brother! What is it you say?"
Suyettar turned on her fiercely and screamed:
"Osmo orders you to jump headlong into the water!"
"If he says I must, I must!" poor Ilona sobbed, and with that she
leapt overboard.
Osmo tried to save her but Suyettar held him back and with her own
arms rowed off and Ilona was left to sink.
"What will become of me now!" Osmo cried. "When the King's Son finds I
have not brought him my sister he will surely order my death!"
"Not at all!" Suyettar said. "Do as I say and no harm will come to
you. Offer me to the King's Son and tell him I am your sister. He
won't know the difference and anyway I'm sure I'm just as beautiful as
Ilona ever was!"
With that Suyettar opened the wooden box that held Ilona's clothes and
helped herself to skirt and bodice and gay colored ribbons. She decked
herself out in these and for a little while she really did succeed in
looking like a pretty young girl.
So Osmo presented Suyettar to the King's Son as Ilona, and the King's
Son because he had given his word married her. But before one day was
past, he called Osmo to him and asked him angrily:
"What did you mean by telling me your sister was beautiful?"
"Isn't she beautiful?" Osmo faltered.
"No! I thought she was at first but she isn't! She is ugly and evil
and you shall pay the penalty for having deceived me!"
Thereupon he ordered that Osmo be shut up in a place filled with
serpents.
"If you are innocent," the King's Son said, "the serpents will not
harm you. If you are guilty they will devour you!"
Meanwhile poor Ilona when she jumped into the water sank down, down,
down, until she reached the Sea King's palace. They received her
kindly there and comforted her and the Sea King's Son, touched by her
grief and beauty, offered to marry her. But Ilona was homesick for the
upper world and would not listen to him.
"I want to see my brother again!" she wept.
They told her that the King's Son had thrown her brother to the
serpents and had married Suyettar in her stead, but Ilona still begged
so pitifully to be allowed to return to earth that at last the Sea
King said:
"Very well, then! For three successive nights I will allow you to
return to the upper world. But after that never again!"
So they decked Ilona in the lovely jewels of the sea with great
strands of pearls about her neck and to each of her ankles they
attached long silver chains. As she rose in the water the sound of the
chains was like the chiming of silver bells and could be heard for
five miles.
Ilona came to the surface of the water just where Osmo had landed. The
first thing she saw was his boat at the water's edge and curled up
asleep in the bottom of the boat her own little dog, Pilka.
"Pilka!" Ilona cried, and the little dog woke with a bark of joy and
licked Ilona's hand and yelped and frisked.
Then Ilona sang this magic song to Pilka:
"Peely, peely, Pilka, pide,
Lift the latch and slip inside!
Past the watchdog in the yard,
Past the sleeping men on guard!
Creep in softly as a snake,
Then creep out before they wake!
Peely, peely, Pilka, pide,
Peely, peely, Pilka!"
Pilka barked and frisked and said:
"Yes, mistress, yes! I'll do whatever you bid me!"
Ilona gave the little dog an embroidered square of gold and silver
which she herself had worked down in the Sea King's palace.
"Take this," she said to Pilka, "and put it on the pillow where the
King's Son lies asleep. Perhaps when he sees it he will know that it
comes from Osmo's true sister and that the frightful creature he has
married is Suyettar. Then perhaps he will release Osmo before the
serpents devour him. Go now, my faithful Pilka, and come back to me
before the dawn."
So Pilka raced off to the King's palace carrying the square of
embroidery in her teeth. Ilona waited and half an hour before sunrise
the little dog came panting back.
"What news, Pilka? How fares my brother and how is my poor love, the
King's Son?"
"Osmo is still with the serpents," Pilka answered, "but they haven't
eaten him yet. I left the embroidered square on the pillow where the
King's Son's head was lying. Suyettar was asleep on the bed beside him
where you should be, dear mistress. Suyettar's awful mouth was open
and she was snoring horribly. The King's Son moved uneasily for he was
troubled even in his sleep."
"And did you go through the castle, Pilka?"
"Yes, dear mistress."
"And did you see the remains of the wedding feast?"
"Yes, dear mistress, the remains of a feast that shamed the King's
Son, for Suyettar served bones instead of meat, fish heads, turnip
tops, and bread burned to a cinder."
"Good Pilka!" Ilona said. "Good little dog! You have done well! Now
the dawn is coming and I must go back to the Sea King's palace. But I
shall come again to-night and also to-morrow night and do you be here
waiting for me."
Pilka promised and Ilona sank down into the sea to a clanking of
chains that sounded like silver bells. The King's Son heard them in
his sleep and for a moment woke and said:
"What's that?"
"What's what?" snarled Suyettar. "You're dreaming! Go back to sleep!"
A few hours later when he woke again, he found the lovely square of
embroidery on his pillow.
"Who made this?" he cried.
Suyettar was busy combing her snaky locks. She turned on him quickly.
"Who made what?"
When she saw the embroidery she tried to snatch it from him, but he
held it tight.
"I made it, of course!" she declared. "Who but me would sit up all
night and work while you lay snoring!"
But the King's Son, as he folded the embroidery, muttered to himself:
"It doesn't look to me much like your work!"
After he had breakfasted, the King's Son asked for news of Osmo. A
slave was sent to the place of the serpents and when he returned he
reported that Osmo was sitting amongst them uninjured.
"The old king snake has made friends with him," he added, "and has
wound himself around Osmo's arm."
The King's Son was amazed at this news and also relieved, for the
whole affair troubled him sorely and he was beginning to suspect a
mystery.
He knew an old wise woman who lived alone in a little hut on the
seashore and he decided he would go and consult her. So he went to her
and told her about Osmo and how Osmo had deceived him in regard to his
sister. Then he told her how the serpents instead of devouring Osmo
had made friends with him and last he showed her the square of lovely
embroidery he had found on his pillow that morning.
"There is a mystery somewhere, granny," he said in conclusion, "and I
know not how to solve it."
The old woman looked at him thoughtfully.
"My son," she said at last, "that is never Osmo's sister that you have
married. Take an old woman's word--it is Suyettar! Yet Osmo's sister
must be alive and the embroidery must be a token from her. It
probably means that she begs you to release her brother."
[Illustration: _The old king snake has wound himself around Osmo's
arm_]
"Suyettar!" repeated the King's Son, aghast.
At first he couldn't believe such a horrible thing possible and yet
that, if it were so, would explain much.
"I wonder if you're right," he said. "I must be on my guard!"
That night on the stroke of midnight to the sound of silver chimes
Ilona came floating up through the waves and little Pilka, as she
appeared, greeted her with barks of joy.
As before Ilona sang:
"Peely, peely, Pilka, pide,
Lift the latch and slip inside!
Past the watchdog in the yard,
Past the sleeping men on guard!
Creep in softly as a snake,
Then creep out before they wake!
Peely, peely, Pilka, pide,
Peely, peely, Pilka!"
This time Ilona gave Pilka a shirt for the King's Son. Beautifully
embroidered it was in gold and silver and Ilona herself had worked it
in the Sea King's palace.
Pilka carried it safely to the castle and left it on the pillow where
the King's Son could see it as soon as he woke. Then Pilka visited the
place of the serpents and before the first ray of dawn was back at the
seashore to reassure Ilona of Osmo's safety.
Then dawn came and Ilona, as she sank in the waves to the chime of
silver bells, called out to Pilka:
"Meet me here to-night at the same hour! Fail me not, dear Pilka, for
to-night is the last night that the Sea King will allow me to come to
the upper world!"
Pilka, howling with grief, made promise:
"I'll be here, dear mistress, that I will!"
The King's Son that morning, as he opened his eyes, saw the
embroidered shirt lying on the pillow at his head. He thought at first
he must be dreaming for it was more beautiful than any shirt that had
ever been worked by human fingers.
"Ah!" he sighed at last, "who made this?"
"Who made what?" Suyettar demanded rudely.
When she saw the shirt she tried to snatch it, but the King's Son held
it from her. Then she pretended to laugh and said:
"Oh, that! I made it, of course! Do you think any one else in the
world would sit up all night and work for you while you lie there
snoring! And small thanks I get for it, too!"
"It doesn't look to me like your work!" said the King's Son
significantly.
Again the slave reported to him that Osmo was alive and unhurt by the
serpents.
"Strange!" thought the King's Son.
He took the embroidered shirt and made the old wise woman another
visit.
"Ah!" she said, when she saw the shirt, "now I understand! Listen, my
Prince: last night at midnight I was awakened by the chime of silver
bells and I got up and looked out the door. Just there at the water's
edge, close to that little boat, I saw a strange sight. A lovely
maiden rose from the waves holding in her hands the very shirt that
you now have. A little dog that was lying in the boat greeted her with
barks of joy. She sang a magic rime to the dog and gave it the shirt
and off it ran. That maid, my Prince, must be Ilona. She must be in
the Sea King's power and I think she is begging you to rescue her and
to release her brother."
The King's Son slowly nodded his head.
"Granny, I'm sure what you say is true! Help me to rescue Ilona and I
shall reward you richly."
"Then, my son, you must act at once, for to-night, I heard Ilona say,
is the last night that the Sea King will allow her to come to the
upper world. Go now to the smith and have him forge you a strong iron
chain and a great strong scythe. Then to-night hide you down yonder in
the shadow of the boat. At midnight when you hear the silver chimes
and the maiden slowly rises from the waves, throw the iron chain about
her and quickly draw her to you. Then, with one sweep of your scythe,
cut the silver chains that are fastened to her ankles. But remember,
my son, that is not all. She is under enchantment and as you try to
grasp her the Sea King will change her to many things--a fish, a bird,
a fly, and I know not what, and if in any form she escape you, then
all is lost."
At once the King's Son hurried away to the smithy and had the smith
forge him a strong iron chain and a heavy sharp scythe. Then when
night fell he hid in the shadow of the boat and waited. Pilka snuggled
up beside him. Midnight came and to the sweet chiming as of silver
bells Ilona slowly rose from the waves. As she came she began singing:
"Peely, peely, Pilka, pide----"
Instantly the King's Son threw the strong iron chain about her and
drew her to him. Then with one mighty sweep of the scythe he severed
the silver chains that were attached to her ankles and the silver
chains fell chiming into the depths. Another instant and the maiden in
his arms was no maiden but a slimy fish that squirmed and wriggled and
almost slipped through his fingers. He killed the fish and, lo! it was
not a fish but a frightened bird that struggled to escape. He killed
the bird and, lo! it was not a bird but a writhing lizard. And so on
through many transformations, growing finally small and weak until at
last there was only a mosquito. He crushed this and in his arms he
found again the lovely Ilona.
"Ah, dear one," he said, "you are my true bride and not Suyettar who
pretended she was you! Come, we will go at once to the castle and
confront her!"
But Ilona cried out at this:
"Not there, my Prince, not there! Suyettar if she saw me would kill me
and devour me! Keep me from her!"
"Very well, my dear one," the King's Son said. "We'll wait until
to-morrow and after to-morrow there will be no Suyettar to fear."
So for that night they took shelter in the old wise woman's hut, Ilona
and the King's Son and faithful little Pilka.
The next morning early the King's Son returned to the castle and had
the _sauna_ heated. Just inside the door he had a deep hole dug and
filled it with burning tar. Then over the top of the hole he stretched
a brown mat and on the brown mat a blue mat. When all was ready he
went indoors and roused Suyettar.
"Where have you been all night?" she demanded angrily.
"Forgive me this time," he begged in pretended humility, "and I
promise never again to be parted from my own true bride. Come now, my
dear, and bathe for the _sauna_ is ready."
Then Suyettar, who loved to have people see her go to the _sauna_ just
as if she were a real human being, put on a long bathrobe and clapped
her hands. Four slaves appeared. Two took up the train of her bathrobe
and the two others supported her on either side. Slowly she marched
out of the castle, across the courtyard, and over to the _sauna_.
"They all really think I'm a human princess!" she said to herself, and
she was so sure she was beautiful and admired that she tossed her head
and smirked from side to side and took little mincing steps.
When she reached the _sauna_ she was ready to drop the bathrobe and
jump over the doorsill to the steaming shelf, but the King's Son
whispered:
"Nay! Nay! Remember your dignity as a beautiful princess and walk
over the blue mat!"
So with one more toss of her head, one more smirk of her ugly face,
Suyettar stepped on the blue mat and sank into the hole of burning
tar. Then the King's Son quickly locked the door of the _sauna_ and
left her there to burn in the tar, for burning, you know, is the only
way to destroy Suyettar. As she burned the last hateful thing Suyettar
did was to tear out handfuls of her hair and scatter them broadcast in
the air.
"Let these," she cried, yelling and cursing, "turn into mosquitos and
worms and moths and trouble mankind forever!"
Then her yells grew fainter and at last ceased altogether and the
King's Son knew that it was now safe to bring Ilona home. First,
however, he had Osmo released from the place of the serpents and asked
his forgiveness for the unjust punishment.
Then he and Osmo together went to the hut of the old wise woman and
there with tears of happiness the brother and sister were reunited.
The King's Son to show his gratitude to the old wise woman begged her
to accompany them to the castle and presently they all set forth with
Pilka frisking ahead and barking for joy.
That day there was a new wedding feast spread at the castle and this
time it was not bones and fish heads and burnt crusts but such food as
the King's Son had not tasted for many a day.
To celebrate his happy marriage the King's Son made Osmo his
chamberlain and gave Pilka a beautiful new collar.
"Now at last," Ilona said, "I am glad I left the house of my
forefathers."
MIGHTY MIKKO
[Decoration]
_The Story of a Poor Woodsman and a Grateful Fox_
MIGHTY MIKKO
[Decoration]
There was once an old woodsman and his wife who had an only son named
Mikko. As the mother lay dying the young man wept bitterly.
"When you are gone, my dear mother," he said, "there will be no one
left to think of me."
The poor woman comforted him as best she could and said to him:
"You will still have your father."
Shortly after the woman's death, the old man, too, was taken ill.
"Now, indeed, I shall be left desolate and alone," Mikko thought, as
he sat beside his father's bedside and saw him grow weaker and weaker.
"My boy," the old man said just before he died, "I have nothing to
leave you but the three snares with which these many years I have
caught wild animals. Those snares now belong to you. When I am dead,
go into the woods and if you find a wild creature caught in any of
them, free it gently and bring it home alive."
After his father's death, Mikko remembered the snares and went out to
the woods to see them. The first was empty and also the second, but in
the third he found a little red Fox. He carefully lifted the spring
that had shut down on one of the Fox's feet and then carried the
little creature home in his arms. He shared his supper with it and
when he lay down to sleep the Fox curled up at his feet. They lived
together some time until they became close friends.
"Mikko," said the Fox one day, "why are you so sad?"
"Because I'm lonely."
"Pooh!" said the Fox. "That's no way for a young man to talk! You
ought to get married! Then you wouldn't feel lonely!"
"Married!" Mikko repeated. "How can I get married? I can't marry a
poor girl because I'm too poor myself and a rich girl wouldn't marry
me."
"Nonsense!" said the Fox. "You're a fine well set up young man and
you're kind and gentle. What more could a princess ask?"
Mikko laughed to think of a princess wanting him for a husband.
"I mean what I say!" the Fox insisted. "Take our own Princess now.
What would you think of marrying her?"
Mikko laughed louder than before.
"I have heard," he said, "that she is the most beautiful princess in
the world! Any man would be happy to marry her!"
"Very well," the Fox said, "if you feel that way about her then I'll
arrange the wedding for you."
With that the little Fox actually did trot off to the royal castle and
gain audience with the King.
"My master sends you greetings," the Fox said, "and he begs you to
loan him your bushel measure."
"My bushel measure!" the King repeated in surprise. "Who is your
master and why does he want my bushel measure?"
"Ssh!" the Fox whispered as though he didn't want the courtiers to
hear what he was saying. Then slipping up quite close to the King he
murmured in his ear:
"Surely you have heard of Mikko, haven't you?--Mighty Mikko as he's
called."
The King had never heard of any Mikko who was known as Mighty Mikko
but, thinking that perhaps he should have heard of him, he shook his
head and murmured:
"H'm! Mikko! Mighty Mikko! Oh, to be sure! Yes, yes, of course!"
"My master is about to start off on a journey and he needs a bushel
measure for a very particular reason."
"I understand! I understand!" the King said, although he didn't
understand at all, and he gave orders that the bushel measure which
they used in the storeroom of the castle be brought in and given to
the Fox.
The Fox carried off the measure and hid it in the woods. Then he
scurried about to all sorts of little out of the way nooks and
crannies where people had hidden their savings and he dug up a gold
piece here and a silver piece there until he had a handful. Then he
went back to the woods and stuck the various coins in the cracks of
the measure. The next day he returned to the King.
"My master, Mighty Mikko," he said, "sends you thanks, O King, for the
use of your bushel measure."
The King held out his hand and when the Fox gave him the measure he
peeped inside to see if by chance it contained any trace of what had
recently been measured. His eye of course at once caught the glint of
the gold and silver coins lodged in the cracks.
"Ah!" he said, thinking Mikko must be a very mighty lord indeed to be
so careless of his wealth; "I should like to meet your master. Won't
you and he come and visit me?"
This was what the Fox wanted the King to say but he pretended to
hesitate.
"I thank your Majesty for the kind invitation," he said, "but I fear
my master can't accept it just now. He wants to get married soon and
we are about to start off on a long journey to inspect a number of
foreign princesses."
This made the King all the more anxious to have Mikko visit him at
once for he thought that if Mikko should see his daughter before he
saw those foreign princesses he might fall in love with her and marry
her. So he said to the Fox:
"My dear fellow, you must prevail on your master to make me a visit
before he starts out on his travels! You will, won't you?"
The Fox looked this way and that as if he were too embarrassed to
speak.
"Your Majesty," he said at last, "I pray you pardon my frankness. The
truth is you are not rich enough to entertain my master and your
castle isn't big enough to house the immense retinue that always
attends him."
The King, who by this time was frantic to see Mikko, lost his head
completely.
"My dear Fox," he said, "I'll give you anything in the world if you
prevail upon your master to visit me at once! Couldn't you suggest to
him to travel with a modest retinue this time?"
The Fox shook his head.
"No. His rule is either to travel with a great retinue or to go on
foot disguised as a poor woodsman attended only by me."
"Couldn't you prevail on him to come to me disguised as a poor
woodsman?" the King begged. "Once he was here, I could place gorgeous
clothes at his disposal."
But still the Fox shook his head.
"I fear Your Majesty's wardrobe doesn't contain the kind of clothes my
master is accustomed to."
"I assure you I've got some very good clothes," the King said. "Come
along this minute and we'll go through them and I'm sure you'll find
some that your master would wear."
So they went to a room which was like a big wardrobe with hundreds and
hundreds of hooks upon which were hung hundreds of coats and breeches
and embroidered shirts. The King ordered his attendants to bring the
costumes down one by one and place them before the Fox.
[Illustration: _The King thought that if Mikko should see his
daughter_]
They began with the plainer clothes.
"Good enough for most people," the Fox said, "but not for my master."
Then they took down garments of a finer grade.
"I'm afraid you're going to all this trouble for nothing," the Fox
said. "Frankly now, don't you realize that my master couldn't possibly
put on any of these things!"
The King, who had hoped to keep for his own use his most gorgeous
clothes of all, now ordered these to be shown.
The Fox looked at them sideways, sniffed them critically, and at last
said:
"Well, perhaps my master would consent to wear these for a few days.
They are not what he is accustomed to wear but I will say this for
him: he is not proud."
The King was overjoyed.
"Very well, my dear Fox, I'll have the guest chambers put in readiness
for your master's visit and I'll have all these, my finest clothes,
laid out for him. You won't disappoint me, will you?"
"I'll do my best," the Fox promised.
With that he bade the King a civil good day and ran home to Mikko.
The next day as the Princess was peeping out of an upper window of
the castle, she saw a young woodsman approaching accompanied by a Fox.
He was a fine stalwart youth and the Princess, who knew from the
presence of the Fox that he must be Mikko, gave a long sigh and
confided to her serving maid:
"I think I could fall in love with that young man if he really were
only a woodsman!"
Later when she saw him arrayed in her father's finest clothes--which
looked so well on Mikko that no one even recognized them as the
King's--she lost her heart completely and when Mikko was presented to
her she blushed and trembled just as any ordinary girl might before a
handsome young man.
All the Court was equally delighted with Mikko. The ladies went into
ecstasies over his modest manners, his fine figure, and the
gorgeousness of his clothes, and the old graybeard Councilors, nodding
their heads in approval, said to each other:
"Nothing of the coxcomb about this young fellow! In spite of his great
wealth see how politely he listens to us when we talk!"
The next day the Fox went privately to the King, and said:
"My master is a man of few words and quick judgment. He bids me tell
you that your daughter, the Princess, pleases him mightily and that,
with your approval, he will make his addresses to her at once."
The King was greatly agitated and began:
"My dear Fox--"
But the Fox interrupted him to say:
"Think the matter over carefully and give me your decision to-morrow."
So the King consulted with the Princess and with his Councilors and in
a short time the marriage was arranged and the wedding ceremony
actually performed!
"Didn't I tell you?" the Fox said, when he and Mikko were alone after
the wedding.
"Yes," Mikko acknowledged, "you did promise that I should marry the
Princess. But, tell me, now that I am married what am I to do? I can't
live on here forever with my wife."
"Put your mind at rest," the Fox said. "I've thought of everything.
Just do as I tell you and you'll have nothing to regret. To-night say
to the King: 'It is now only fitting that you should visit me and see
for yourself the sort of castle over which your daughter is hereafter
to be mistress!'"
When Mikko said this to the King, the King was overjoyed for now that
the marriage had actually taken place he was wondering whether he
hadn't perhaps been a little hasty. Mikko's words reassured him and he
eagerly accepted the invitation.
On the morrow the Fox said to Mikko:
"Now I'll run on ahead and get things ready for you."
"But where are you going?" Mikko said, frightened at the thought of
being deserted by his little friend.
The Fox drew Mikko aside and whispered softly:
"A few days' march from here there is a very gorgeous castle belonging
to a wicked old dragon who is known as the Worm. I think the Worm's
castle would just about suit you."
"I'm sure it would," Mikko agreed. "But how are we to get it away from
the Worm?"
"Trust me," the Fox said. "All you need do is this: lead the King and
his courtiers along the main highway until by noon to-morrow you reach
a crossroads. Turn there to the left and go straight on until you see
the tower of the Worm's castle. If you meet any men by the wayside,
shepherds or the like, ask them whose men they are and show no
surprise at their answer. So now, dear master, farewell until we meet
again at your beautiful castle."
The little Fox trotted off at a smart pace and Mikko and the Princess
and the King attended by the whole Court followed in more leisurely
fashion.
The little Fox, when he had left the main highway at the crossroads,
soon met ten woodsmen with axes over their shoulders. They were all
dressed in blue smocks of the same cut.
"Good day," the Fox said politely. "Whose men are you?"
"Our master is known as the Worm," the woodsmen told him.
"My poor, poor lads!" the Fox said, shaking his head sadly.
"What's the matter?" the woodsmen asked.
For a few moments the Fox pretended to be too overcome with emotion to
speak. Then he said:
"My poor lads, don't you know that the King is coming with a great
force to destroy the Worm and all his people?"
The woodsmen were simple fellows and this news threw them into great
consternation.
"Is there no way for us to escape?" they asked.
The Fox put his paw to his head and thought.
"Well," he said at last, "there is one way you might escape and that
is by telling every one who asks you that you are the Mighty Mikko's
men. But if you value your lives never again say that your master is
the Worm."
"We are Mighty Mikko's men!" the woodsmen at once began repeating over
and over. "We are Mighty Mikko's men!"
A little farther on the road the Fox met twenty grooms, dressed in the
same blue smocks, who were tending a hundred beautiful horses. The Fox
talked to the twenty grooms as he had talked to the woodsmen and
before he left them they, too, were shouting:
"We are Mighty Mikko's men!"
Next the Fox came to a huge flock of a thousand sheep tended by thirty
shepherds all dressed in the Worm's blue smocks. He stopped and talked
to them until he had them roaring out:
"We are Mighty Mikko's men!"
Then the Fox trotted on until he reached the castle of the Worm. He
found the Worm himself inside lolling lazily about. He was a huge
dragon and had been a great warrior in his day. In fact his castle and
his lands and his servants and his possessions had all been won in
battle. But now for many years no one had cared to fight him and he
had grown fat and lazy.
"Good day," the Fox said, pretending to be very breathless and
frightened. "You're the Worm, aren't you?"
"Yes," the dragon said, boastfully, "I am the great Worm!"
The Fox pretended to grow more agitated.
"My poor fellow, I am sorry for you! But of course none of us can
expect to live forever. Well, I must hurry along. I thought I would
just stop and say good-by."
Made uneasy by the Fox's words, the Worm cried out:
"Wait just a minute! What's the matter?"
The Fox was already at the door but at the Worm's entreaty he paused
and said over his shoulder:
"Why, my poor fellow, you surely know, don't you? that the King with a
great force is coming to destroy you and all your people!"
"What!" the Worm gasped, turning a sickly green with fright. He knew
he was fat and helpless and could never again fight as in the years
gone by.
"Don't go just yet!" he begged the Fox. "When is the King coming?"
"He's on the highway now! That's why I must be going! Good-by!"
"My dear Fox, stay just a moment and I'll reward you richly! Help me
to hide so that the King won't find me! What about the shed where the
linen is stored? I could crawl under the linen and then if you locked
the door from the outside the King could never find me."
"Very well," the Fox agreed, "but we must hurry!"
So they ran outside to the shed where the linen was kept and the Worm
hid himself under the linen. The Fox locked the door, then set fire to
the shed, and soon there was nothing left of that wicked old dragon,
the Worm, but a handful of ashes.
The Fox now called together the dragon's household and talked them
over to Mikko as he had the woodsmen and the grooms and the shepherds.
Meanwhile the King and his party were slowly covering the ground over
which the Fox had sped so quickly. When they came to the ten woodsmen
in blue smocks, the King said:
"I wonder whose woodsmen those are."
One of his attendants asked the woodsmen and the ten of them shouted
out at the top of their voices:
"We are Mighty Mikko's men!"
Mikko said nothing and the King and all the Court were impressed anew
with his modesty.
A little farther on they met the twenty grooms with their hundred
prancing horses. When the grooms were questioned, they answered with a
shout:
"We are Mighty Mikko's men!"
"The Fox certainly spoke the truth," the King thought to himself,
"when he told me of Mikko's riches!"
A little later the thirty shepherds when they were questioned made
answer in a chorus that was deafening to hear:
"We are Mighty Mikko's men!"
The sight of the thousand sheep that belonged to his son-in-law made
the King feel poor and humble in comparison and the courtiers
whispered among themselves:
"For all his simple manner, Mighty Mikko must be a richer, more
powerful lord than the King himself! In fact it is only a very great
lord indeed who could be so simple!"
At last they reached the castle which from the blue smocked soldiers
that guarded the gateway they knew to be Mikko's. The Fox came out to
welcome the King's party and behind him in two rows all the household
servants. These, at a signal from the Fox, cried out in one voice:
"We are Mighty Mikko's men!"
Then Mikko in the same simple manner that he would have used in his
father's mean little hut in the woods bade the King and his followers
welcome and they all entered the castle where they found a great feast
already prepared and waiting.
The King stayed on for several days and the more he saw of Mikko the
better pleased he was that he had him for a son-in-law.
When he was leaving he said to Mikko:
"Your castle is so much grander than mine that I hesitate ever asking
you back for a visit."
But Mikko reassured the King by saying earnestly:
"My dear father-in-law, when first I entered your castle I thought it
was the most beautiful castle in the world!"
The King was flattered and the courtiers whispered among themselves:
"How affable of him to say that when he knows very well how much
grander his own castle is!"
When the King and his followers were safely gone, the little red Fox
came to Mikko and said:
"Now, my master, you have no reason to feel sad and lonely. You are
lord of the most beautiful castle in the world and you have for wife a
sweet and lovely Princess. You have no longer any need of me, so I am
going to bid you farewell."
Mikko thanked the little Fox for all he had done and the little Fox
trotted off to the woods.
So you see that Mikko's poor old father, although he had no wealth to
leave his son, was really the cause of all Mikko's good fortune, for
it was he who told Mikko in the first place to carry home alive
anything he might find caught in the snares.
[Decoration]
THE THREE CHESTS
[Decoration]
_The Story of the Wicked Old Man of the Sea_
THE THREE CHESTS
[Decoration]
There was once an honest old farmer who had three daughters. His farm
ran down to the shores of a deep lake. One day as he leaned over the
water to take a drink, wicked old Wetehinen reached up from the bottom
of the lake and clutched him by the beard.
"Ouch! Ouch!" the farmer cried. "Let me go!"
Wetehinen only held on more tightly.
"Yes, I'll let you go," he said, "but only on this condition: that you
give me one of your daughters for wife!"
"Give you one of my daughters? Never!"
"Very well, then I'll never let go!" wicked old Wetehinen declared and
with that he began jerking at the beard as if it were a bellrope.
"Wait! Wait!" the farmer spluttered.
Now he didn't want to give one of his daughters to wicked old
Wetehinen--of course not! But at the same time he was in Wetehinen's
power and he realized that if he didn't do what the old reprobate
demanded he might lose his life and so leave all three of his
daughters orphans. Perhaps for the good of all he had better sacrifice
one of them.
"All right," he said, "let me go and I'll send you my oldest daughter.
I promise."