time enough to boast after you fight!"
"Fight?" repeated the Serpent as if in surprise. "Shall we fight,
pretty boy, you and I? Very well! Blow then with your sweet breath,
blow out a long level platform of red copper whereon we can meet and
try our strength each with the other!"
"Nay," answered Three Bottles. "Do you blow with your evil breath and
instead of red copper we shall have a platform of black iron."
So the Serpent blew and on the iron platform that came of his breath
Three Bottles met him in combat. Back and forth they raged, Three
Bottles striking right and left with his mighty sword, the Serpent
hitting at Three Bottles with all his scaly heads and belching forth
fire and smoke from all his mouths. Three Bottles whacked off one
scaly head and at last a second one, but he was unable to touch the
third.
"I shall have to have help," he acknowledged to himself finally, and
reaching down he took one of his shoes and threw it over his shoulder
back to his comrades who were awaiting the outcome of the struggle.
Instantly they loosed the dog which bounded forward to its master's
assistance and soon with the dog's help Three Bottles was able to
dispatch the last head.
He was faint now with weariness and his comrades had to help him back
to the old woman's hut where he soon fell asleep.
Night passed and Dawn appeared. A great cry of relief and thanksgiving
went up from all the earth.
"The Dawn! The Dawn!" people cried. "God bless the man who has
released the Dawn!"
Only at the castle was there sorrow still.
"My poor oldest daughter!" the King cried with tears in his eyes. "It
was my sacrifice of her that has released the Dawn!"
Then he called his slaves and gave them orders to gather up his
daughter's bones and to bring back the leather sack.
"We shall need it again to-night," he said. He wiped his eyes and for
a moment could say no more. "Yes, to-night we shall have to sew up my
second daughter and offer her to the Six-Headed Serpent, him that
holds captive the Moon. Otherwise the monster will devour half my
kingdom, half the castle, and half the shining stones. Ai! Ai! Ai!"
But the slaves when they went to the high rock on the seashore found,
not the princess' bones, but the princess herself, sitting there with
her chin in her hand, gazing down on the beach which was strewn with
the fragments of the Three-Headed Serpent.
They led her back to her father and reported the marvel they had seen.
"There, O King, lies the monster on the sand with all his heads
severed! So huge are the heads that it would need three men with
derricks to move one of them!"
"Some unknown hero has rescued my oldest daughter!" the King cried.
"Would that another might come to-night to rescue my second child
likewise! But, alas! what hero is strong enough to destroy the
Six-Headed Monster!"
So when evening came they sewed the second princess in the sack and
carried her out to the rock.
Log and his companions saw the procession move down from the castle
and they saw that the castle was again disturbed, one half of it
laughing and one half weeping.
"It's the second princess to-night," the old woman told them. "Unless
her father, the King, gives her to the Six-Headed Serpent, the Monster
will come and devour half the kingdom, half the castle, and half the
shining stones. He it is that holds the Moon captive and the hero that
slays him will release the Moon."
Then he whom his comrades called Six Bottles cried out:
"Here is work for me!"
He drank bottle after bottle of the strong waters until he had emptied
six.
"Now I am ready!" he shouted.
He mounted his mighty horse and as he rode off he called to his
comrades:
"If I need help I'll throw back a shoe and do you then unleash my
dog!"
He rode to the rock on the shore and dismounted. Then he climbed the
rock and released the second princess. He told her who he was and as
they awaited the arrival of the Six-Headed Serpent he lay at the
princess' feet and she scratched his head.
This time the Serpent came in six mighty swirls with six awful heads
that reared up one after another. In terror the second princess hid
behind the rock while Six Bottles, mounting his horse, rode boldly
down to the water's edge.
Like his brother Serpent this one, too, came sniffing the air
hungrily, muttering the magic rime he had learned from his mother,
wicked Suyettar:
"Fee, fi, fo, fum!
I smell a Finn! Yum! Yum!
I'll fall upon him with a thud!
I'll pick his bones and drink his blood!
Fee, fi, fo, fum!
Yum! Yum!"
"Stop boasting, son of an evil mother!" Six Bottles cried. "You will
have time enough to boast after you fight!"
"Fight?" repeated the Serpent scornfully. "Shall we fight, little one,
you and I? Very well! Blow then with your sweet breath, blow out a
long level platform of white silver whereon we can meet and try our
strength one with the other."
"Nay!" answered Six Bottles. "Do you blow, blow with your evil breath,
and instead of white silver we shall have a platform of red copper."
So the Serpent blew and on the copper platform that came of his
breath Six Bottles met him in combat. Back and forth they raged, Six
Bottles striking left and right with his mighty sword, the Serpent
hitting at Six Bottles with every one of his six scaly heads and
belching forth fire and smoke from all his mouths. Six Bottles whacked
off one head, then another, then another. At last he had disposed of
five heads. He tried hard to strike the last, but by this time the
Serpent had grown wary and Six Bottles' own strength was waning. So he
reached down and took one of his shoes and threw it over his shoulder
back to his comrades who were awaiting the outcome of the struggle.
Instantly they loosed the dog which bounded forward to its master's
assistance and soon with the dog's help Six Bottles was able to
dispatch the last head.
Then his comrades led him, weary from the fight, to the old woman's
hut and soon he fell asleep.
While he slept the Moon appeared in the sky and a great cry of relief
and thanksgiving went up from all the world:
"The Moon! The Moon! God bless the man who has released the Moon!"
The King who was awakened by the sound looked out the castle window
and when he saw the Moon, returned to its place in the sky, his eyes
overflowed with grief.
"My poor second daughter!" he cried. "It was my sacrifice of her that
has released the Moon! To-morrow morning I will send the slaves to
gather up her bones and to bring back the leather sack into which,
alas! I must then sew my youngest daughter for evil Suyettar's third
son, the Nine-Headed Serpent. Ai! Ai! Ai! How sad it is to be a
father!"
But on the morrow when the slaves went to the rock they found the
second princess sitting there alone gazing down upon the scattered
fragments of the Six-Headed Serpent.
"Here she is, safe and sound!" they reported to the King as they led
the second princess into his presence, "and, marvel of marvels! on the
beach below the rock lies the body of the Six-Headed Serpent torn to
pieces! Its heads, O King, are so monstrous that six men with derricks
could scarcely move one of them!"
"God be praised!" the King cried. "Another unknown hero has come and
saved the life of my second child! Would that a third might come
to-night and rescue the life of my youngest child! Alas, she is dearer
to me than both the others, but I fear me that even if there be heroes
who could dispatch the first two Serpents, there is never one who can
touch him of the Nine Heads that holds the mighty Sun a captive!"
[Illustration: _"This last and mightiest battle is for me!"_]
And the poor King wept, so sure was he that nothing could save the
life of his youngest child.
When Log and his companions heard of the King's grief, Log at once
stood forth and said:
"This last and mightiest battle is for me!"
He opened the strong waters and drank bottle after bottle until he had
emptied nine.
"Now let night come as soon as it will!" he cried. "I am ready for the
Monster!"
He started forth telling his comrades he would throw back a shoe if he
needed help from his dog.
So it was Log himself who slashed open the sack for the third time and
released the Youngest Princess who was much more beautiful than her
sisters. She fell in love with the mighty hero on sight and was so
thrilled with his godlike beauty that when he put his head in her lap
she hardly knew what to do although her father always declared that
she scratched his head much better than either of her sisters.
They had not long to wait for soon all the Ocean was a glitter with
the swirls of the ninefold Monster who was coming to shore with the
captive Sun in his keeping.
"Await me behind the rock!" Log cried to the Princess as he leapt upon
his horse and started forward.
"Oh, Log, my hero, be careful!" the Princess cried after him.
Nearer and nearer came the swirls of the nine-coiled Monster. One
after another of his nine heads rose and fell as he approached, and
every head sniffed more hungrily as it came nearer, and each head
rumbled as it sniffed:
"Fee, fi, fo, fum!
I smell a Finn! Yum! Yum!
I'll fall upon him with a thud!
I'll pick his bones and drink his blood!
Fee, fi, fo, fum!
Yum! Yum!"
"Stop boasting, evil son of an evil mother!" Log cried. "You will have
time enough to boast after you fight!"
"Fight?" roared the awful Monster. "Shall we fight, poor infant, you
and I? Very well! Blow then with your sweet breath, blow out a long
level platform of shining gold whereon we can meet and try our
strength each with the other!"
"Nay!" Log answered boldly. "Do you blow, blow with your evil breath
and instead of shining gold we shall have a platform of white silver."
So the Monster blew and on the silver platform that came of his
breath Log met him in combat. Back and forth they raged, Log striking
right and left with his mighty sword, the Serpent hitting at Log with
all his nine scaly heads and belching forth fire and smoke from all
his nine mouths. Log whacked off head after head until six lay gaping
on the sand. But the last three he could not get.
Suddenly he pointed behind the Serpent and cried:
"Quick! Quick! The Sun! It is escaping!"
The Serpent looked around and Log whacked off a head. Now only two
remained, but try as he would Log could get neither of them.
Again he tried a subterfuge.
"Your wife, O Son of Suyettar! See, yonder, they're abusing her!"
The Monster looked and Log whacked off another head. But one now
remained and as usual it was the hardest of them all to get. Log felt
his strength waning while the Monster seemed more nimble than ever.
"I shall have to have help," Log thought.
He threw back his shoe to his comrades and they at once loosed his
dog. With the dog's help Log was soon able to dispatch the last head.
Then Three Bottles and Six Bottles helped him off his horse and
supported him to the old woman's hut where he soon fell into a deep
sleep.
The next morning the blessed Sun rose at his proper time and people
all over the world, falling on their knees with thanksgiving and
weeping with joy, cried out:
"The Sun! The Sun! God bless the man who has released the Sun!"
At the castle they waked the King with the good news but the King only
shook his head and murmured in grief:
"Yes, the Sun is released but what care I since my favorite child, my
youngest daughter, has been sacrificed!"
He dispatched the slaves to gather up her bones and presently these
returned bringing the Princess herself and telling a marvelous tale of
the beach littered with nine severed heads so huge that it would need
nine men with derricks to move one of them.
"What manner of heroes are these who have rescued my daughters!" cried
the King. "Let them come forth and I will give them my daughters for
wives and half my riches for dowry! But they will have to prove
themselves the actual heroes by bringing to the castle the heavy heads
of the Monsters they have slain."
When Log and his fellows heard this they laughed with happiness and,
strengthening themselves with deep draughts of the strong waters, they
gathered together the many heads of the mighty Serpents, bore them to
the castle, and piled them up at the King's feet.
Then Log stepped forward and said:
"Here we are, O King, come to claim our reward!"
The King, true to his promise, gave them his daughters in marriage,
the oldest to Three Bottles, the second to Six Bottles, and the lovely
Youngest to Log. Then he apportioned them the half of his riches and,
after much feasting and merrymaking, the heroes took their brides and
their riches and bidding the King farewell started homewards.
As they rode through a great forest they sighted a tiny hut and Log,
motioning his comrades to wait for him quietly, crept forward to see
who was in the hut. It was well he was cautious for inside the hut was
Suyettar herself talking to two other old hags.
"Ay," she was saying, "they have slain my three beautiful sons, my
mighty offspring that held captive the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn!
But I tell you, sisters, they will pay the penalty...."
To hear better Log changed himself into a piece of firewood and
slipping inside the hut hid himself in the woodpile near the stove.
"Ay, they will pay the penalty!" Suyettar repeated. "I shall have my
revenge on them! A fine supper Suyettar shall soon have, yum, yum!
I'll fall upon them with a thud!
I'll pick their bones and drink their blood!
Fools, fools, to think they can escape Suyettar's anger!"
"But sister, sister," the two old hags asked, "how will you get them?"
Suyettar looked this way and that to make sure that no one was
listening. Then she whispered:
"This is how I shall get them: As they come through this forest, the
three men with their brides, I shall send upon them a terrible hunger.
Then they shall come suddenly upon a table spread with tempting food.
One bite of that food and they are in my power, he-he! Ay, sisters,
to-night Suyettar will have a fine supper! Nothing can save them
unless, before they touch the food, some one make the sign of the
cross three times over the table. Then table and food would disappear
and also the ravening hunger. But even if that happens Suyettar shall
still get them!"
"How, sister, how?" the other two asked.
"Presently I should send upon them consuming thirst, and then put in
their pathway a spring of cold sparkling water. One drop of that
water and they are in my power, he-he! Nothing can save them from me
unless, before their lips touch the water, some one make the sign of
the cross three times over the spring. At that the spring would
disappear and also their thirst. But even if they escape the spring, I
shall still get them. I shall send great heaviness on them and a
longing for sleep, then let them come upon a row of soft inviting
feather beds. If they cast themselves upon the beds, they are mine,
he-he! to feast upon as I will! Nothing can save but that some one
make the sign of the cross three times over the beds before they touch
them. Oh, sisters, I shall get them one way or another for there is no
one to warn them. If there was any one to warn them, he wouldn't dare
tell them what he knows for he would also know that if he told them he
would himself be turned into a blue cross and have to stand forever in
the cemetery."
As Log knew now all the dangers that threatened, he slipped away from
the woodpile and, when he was outside, took his own shape and hurried
back to his comrades.
"Away!" he cried. "We are in great danger!"
They all spurred their horses and rode swiftly on until Three Bottles
suddenly cried:
"Hold, comrades, hold! I am faint with hunger!"
"Me, too!" cried Six Bottles.
At that instant a great table, laden with delicious food, appeared
before them.
"Look!" cried the one of them.
"Food!" cried the other.
They flung themselves from their horses and ran towards the table. But
quick as they were, Log was quicker. He reached the table first and,
raising his hand, made the sign of the cross three times. The table
disappeared as suddenly as it had come and with it the strange hunger
that had but now consumed them.
"Strange!" Three Bottles exclaimed. "I thought I was hungry, but I'm
not!"
"I thought I saw food just now," Six Bottles said. "I must have been
dreaming."
So they mounted again and pushed on.
"Danger threatens us," said Log. "We must hurry and not dismount no
matter what the temptation."
They agreed but presently one of them cried out and then the other:
"Water! Water! We shall soon perish unless we have water!"
Instantly by the wayside appeared a spring of cool sparkling water and
it was all Log could do to reach it before his fellows. He did get
there first and make the sign of the cross three times whereat the
spring disappeared and with it the thirst which had but now consumed
them all.
"I thought I was thirsty," Three Bottles said, "but I'm not!"
"Why did we dismount?" Six Bottles asked. "There's no water here."
So again they mounted and went forward and Log, warning them again
that danger threatened, begged them not to dismount a third time no
matter what the temptation.
They promised they would not but presently, complaining of fatigue,
they wanted to. Their brides, too, swayed in the saddle, overcome with
weariness and sleep.
"Dear Log," they said, "let us rest for an hour. See, our brides are
drooping with fatigue! One hour's sleep and we shall all be
refreshed!"
Instantly beside them on the forest floor they saw three soft white
feather beds. Log leaped to the ground but before he was able to make
the sign of the cross over more than one of the beds, his comrades and
their brides had fallen headlong on the other two.
And that was the end of poor Three Bottles and Six Bottles and their
two lovely brides. There was no way now of saving them from Suyettar.
She had them in her power and nothing would induce her to give them
up.
As Log and his bride sadly mounted their horse and rode on they heard
an evil voice chanting out in triumph:
"I'll fall upon them with a thud, he-he!
I'll pick their bones and drink their blood, he-he!"
"Poor fellows! Poor fellows!" Log said, and the Princess wept to think
of the awful fate that had overtaken her two sisters.
Well, Log and his bride reached home without further adventure and
were received by the King with great honors.
"I knew my heroes were succeeding," the King said, "when first the
Dawn appeared again, and then the Moon, and last the mighty Sun. All
hail to you, Log, and to your two comrades! But, by the way, where are
Three Bottles and Six Bottles?"
"Your Majesty," Log said, "Three Bottles and Six Bottles were brave
men both. By their prowess they released the one the Dawn, the other
the Moon. Then in an evil adventure on the way home they perished. I
can tell you no more."
"You can tell me no more?" the King said. "Why can you tell me no
more? What was the evil adventure in which they perished?"
"If I told you, O King, then I, too, should perish, for I should be
turned into a blue cross and stood forever in the cemetery!"
"What nonsense!" the King exclaimed. "Who would turn you into a blue
cross and stand you forever in the cemetery?"
"That is what I cannot tell you," Log said.
The King laughed and pressed Log no further, but the people of the
kingdom, scenting a mystery, insisted on knowing in detail what had
happened the other two heroes. Presently the rumor began to spread
that Log himself had done away with them in order that he might gather
to himself all the glory of the undertaking.
The King was forced at last to send for him again and to demand a full
account of everything.
Log realized that his end was near. He met it bravely. Commending to
the King's protection his lovely bride, the Youngest Princess, Log
related how the three mighty Serpents whom they had killed were sons
of Suyettar, and how in revenge Suyettar had succeeded in destroying
Three Bottles and Six Bottles together with their brides. Then he told
the fate about to overtake himself.
He finished speaking and as the King and the Court looked at him, to
their amazement he disappeared.
"To the cemetery!" some one cried.
They all went to the cemetery where at once they found a fresh blue
cross that had come there nobody knew how. There it stands to this
day, a reminder of the life and deeds of the mighty hero, Log.
The King was overcome with sorrow at losing such a hero. He took Log's
bride under his protection and he found her so beautiful and so gentle
that soon he fell in love with her and married her.
THE LITTLE SISTER
[Decoration]
_The Story of Suyettar and the Nine Brothers_
THE LITTLE SISTER
[Decoration]
There was once a woman who had nine sons. They were good boys and
loved her dearly but there was one thing about which they were always
complaining.
"Why haven't we a little sister?" they kept asking. "Do give us a
little sister!"
When the time came that another child was to be born, they said to
their mother:
"If the baby is a boy we are going away and you will never see us
again, but if it is a little girl then we shall stay home and take
care of it."
The mother agreed that if the child were a girl she would have her
husband put a spindle outside on the gatepost and, if it were a boy,
an ax.
"Just wait," she said, "and see what your father puts on the gatepost
and then you will know whether it is another brother God has sent you
or a little sister."
The baby turned out to be a girl and the mother was overjoyed.
"Hurry, husband!" she cried, "and put a spindle on the gatepost so
that our nine sons may know the good news!"
The man did so and then quickly returned to the mother and baby. The
moment he was gone Suyettar slipped up and changed the tokens. She
took away the spindle and put in its place an ax. Then with an evil
grin she hurried off mumbling to herself:
"Now we'll see what we'll see!"
She hoped to bring trouble and grief and she succeeded. As soon as the
nine sons saw the ax on the gatepost they thought their mother had
given birth to another son and at once they left home vowing never to
return.
The poor mother waited for them and waited.
"What is keeping my sons?" she cried at last. "Go out to the gate,
husband, and see if they are coming."
The man went out and soon returned bringing back word that some one
had changed the tokens.
"The spindle that I put on the gatepost is gone," he said, "and in its
place is an ax."
"Alas!" cried the poor mother, "some evil creature has done this to
spite us! Oh, if we could only get word to our sons of the little
sister they were so eager to have!"
But there was no way to reach them for no one knew the way they had
gone.
In a short time the husband died and the poor woman, abandoned by her
nine sons, had only her little daughter left. She named the child
Kerttu. Kerttu was a dear little girl and her face was as beautiful as
her heart was good. Whenever she found her mother weeping alone she
tried to comfort her and, as she grew older, she wanted to know the
cause of her mother's grief. At last the mother told her about her
nine brothers and how they had gone away never to return owing to the
trick of some evil creature.
"My poor mother!" she cried, "how sorry I am that I am the innocent
cause of your loss! Let me go out into the world and find my brothers!
When once they hear the truth they will gladly come home to you to
care for you in your old age!"
At first the mother would not consent to this.
"You are all I have," she said, "and I should indeed be miserable and
lonely if anything happened you!"
But Kerttu continued to weep every time she thought of her poor
brothers driven unnecessarily from home and at last the mother,
realizing that she would nevermore be happy unless she were allowed to
go in search of them, gave up opposing her.
"Very well, my daughter, you may go and may God go with you and bring
you safely back to me. But before you go I must prepare you a bag of
food for the journey and bake you a magic cake that will show you the
way."
So she baked a batch of bread and at the same time mixed a little
round cake with Kerttu's own tears and baked it, too. Then she said:
"Here now, my child, are provisions for the journey and here is a
magic cake that will lead you to your brothers. All you have to do is
throw it down in front of you and say:
'Roll, roll, my little cake!
Show me the way that I must take
To find at last the brothers nine
Whose own true mother is also mine!'
Then the little cake will start rolling and do you follow wherever it
rolls. But, Kerttu, my child, you must not start out alone. You must
have some friend or companion to go with you."