dearly.
"I'll take Musti with me!" she said. "Musti will protect me!"
So she called Musti and Musti wagged his tail and barked with joy at
the prospect of going out into the world with his mistress.
Then Kerttu threw down the magic cake in front of her and sang:
"Roll, roll, my little cake!
Show me the way that I must take
To find at last the brothers nine
Whose own true mother is also mine!"
At once the cake rolled off like a little wheel and Kerttu and Musti
followed it. They walked until they were tired. Then Kerttu picked up
the little cake and they rested by the wayside. When they were ready
again to start the cake a-rolling, all Kerttu had to do was throw it
down in front of her and say the magic rime.
Their first day was without adventure. When night came they ate their
supper and went to sleep in a field under a tree.
The second day they overtook an ugly old woman whom Kerttu disliked on
sight. But she said to herself:
"Shame on you, Kerttu, not liking this woman just because she's old
and ugly!" and she made herself answer the old woman's greetings
politely and she made Musti stop snarling and growling.
The old hag asked Kerttu who she was and where she was going and
Kerttu told her.
"Ah!" said the old woman, "how fortunate that we have met each other
for our ways lie together!"
She smiled and petted Kerttu's arm and Kerttu felt like shuddering.
But she restrained herself and told herself severely:
"You're a wicked girl not to feel more friendly to the poor old
thing!"
Musti felt much as Kerttu did. He no longer growled for Kerttu had
told him not to, but he drooped his tail between his legs and,
pressing up close to Kerttu, he trembled with fright. And well he
might, too, for the old hag was none other than Suyettar who had been
waiting all these years just for this very chance to do further injury
to Kerttu and her brothers.
Kerttu, poor child, was, alas! too good and innocent to suspect evil
in others. She said to Suyettar:
"Very well, if our ways lie together then we can be companions."
So Suyettar joined Kerttu and Musti and the three of them walked on
following the little cake. As the day advanced the sun grew hotter
and hotter and at last when they reached a lake Suyettar said:
"My dear, let us sit down here for a few moments and rest."
They all sat down and presently Suyettar said:
"Let us go bathing in the lake. That will refresh us."
Kerttu would have agreed if Musti had not tugged at her skirts and
warned her not to.
"Don't do it, dear mistress!" Musti growled softly. "Don't go in
bathing with her! She'll bewitch you!"
So Kerttu said:
"No, I don't want to go in bathing."
Suyettar waited until they were again journeying on and then when
Kerttu wasn't looking she turned around and kicked Musti and broke one
of the poor little dog's legs. Thereafter Musti had to hop along on
three legs.
The next afternoon when they passed another lake, Suyettar tried again
to tempt Kerttu into the water.
"The sun is very hot," she said, "and it would refresh us both to
bathe. Come, Kerttu, my dear, don't refuse me this time!"
But again Musti tugged at Kerttu's skirts and, licking her hand,
whispered the warning:
"Don't do it, dear mistress! Don't go in bathing with her or she will
bewitch you!"
So again Kerttu said politely:
"No, I don't feel like going in bathing. You go in alone and I'll wait
for you here."
But this was not what Suyettar wanted and she said, no, she didn't
care to go in alone. She was furious, too, with Musti and later when
Kerttu wasn't looking she gave the poor little dog a kick that broke
another leg. Thereafter Musti had to hop along on two legs.
They slept the third night by the wayside and the next day they went
on again always following the magic cake. In midafternoon they passed
a lake and Suyettar said:
"Surely, my dear, you must be tired and hot. Let us both bathe in this
cool lake."
But Musti, hopping painfully along on two legs, yelped weakly and said
to Kerttu:
"Don't do it, dear mistress! Don't go in bathing with her or she'll
bewitch you!"
So for a third time Kerttu refused and later, when she wasn't looking,
Suyettar kicked Musti and broke the third of the poor little dog's
legs. Thereafter Musti hopped on as best he could on only one leg.
Well, they went on and on. When night came they slept by the roadside
and then next morning they started on again. The sun grew hot and by
midafternoon Kerttu was tired and ready to rest. When they reached a
lake Suyettar again begged that they both go in bathing. Kerttu was
tempted to agree when poor Musti threw himself panting at her feet and
whimpered:
"Don't do it, dear mistress! Don't go in bathing with her or she will
bewitch you!"
So Kerttu again refused.
"That's right, dear mistress!" Musti panted, "don't do it! I shall
soon be dead, I know, for she hates me, but before I die I want to
warn you one last time never to go in bathing with her or she will
bewitch you!"
"What's that dog saying?" Suyettar demanded angrily, and without
waiting for an answer she picked up a heavy piece of wood and struck
poor Musti such a blow on the head that it killed him.
"What have you done to my poor little dog?" Kerttu cried.
"Don't mind him, my dear," Suyettar said. "He was sick and lame and it
was better to put him out of his misery."
Suyettar tried to soothe Kerttu and make her forget Musti but all
afternoon Kerttu wept to think that she would never again see her
faithful little friend.
The next afternoon when Suyettar begged her to go in bathing there
was no Musti to warn her against it and at last Kerttu allowed herself
to be persuaded. She was tired from her many days' wandering and it
was true that the first touch of the cool water refreshed her.
"Now splash water in my face!" Suyettar cried.
But Kerttu didn't want to splash water into Suyettar's face for she
supposed Suyettar was an old woman and she thought it would be
disrespectful to splash water into the face of an old woman.
"Do you hear me!" screamed Suyettar.
When Kerttu still hesitated, Suyettar looked at her with such a
terrible, threatening expression that Kerttu did as she was bidden.
She splashed water into Suyettar's face and, as the water touched
Suyettar's eyes, Suyettar cried out:
"Your bonny looks give up to me
And you take mine for all to see!"
Instantly they two changed appearance: Suyettar looked young and
beautiful like Kerttu, and Kerttu was changed to a hideous old hag.
Then too late she realized that the awful old woman to whom she had
been so polite was Suyettar.
[Illustration: _Suyettar bewitching Kerttu_]
"Oh, why," Kerttu cried, "why didn't I heed poor Musti's warning!"
Suyettar dragged her roughly out of the water.
"Come along!" she said. "Dress yourself in those rags of mine and
start that cake a-rolling! We ought to reach your brothers' house by
to-night."
So poor Kerttu had to dress herself in Suyettar's filthy old garments
while Suyettar, looking like a fresh young girl, decked herself out in
Kerttu's pretty bodice and skirt.
Unwillingly now and with a heavy heart Kerttu threw down the cake and
said:
"Roll, roll, my little cake!
Show me the way that I must take
To find at last the brothers nine
Whose own true mother is also mine!"
Off rolled the little cake and they two followed it, Kerttu weeping
bitterly and Suyettar taunting her with ugly laughs. Then suddenly
Kerttu forgot to weep for Suyettar took from her her memory and her
tongue.
The little cake led them at last to a farmhouse before which it
stopped. This was where the nine brothers were living. Eight of them
were out working in the fields but the youngest was at home. He opened
the door and when Suyettar told him that she was Kerttu, his sister,
he kissed her tenderly and made her welcome. Then he invited her
inside and they sat side by side on the bench and talked and Suyettar
told him all she had heard from Kerttu about his mother and about the
tokens which had been changed at Kerttu's birth. The youngest brother
listened eagerly and Suyettar told her story so glibly that of course
he supposed that she was his own true sister.
"And who is the awful looking old hag that has come with you?" he
asked pointing at Kerttu.
"That? Oh, that's an old serving woman whom our mother sent with me to
bear me company. She's dumb and foolish but she's a good herd and we
can let her drive the cow out to pasture every day."
The older brothers when they came home were greatly pleased to find
what they thought was their sister. They began to love her at once and
to pet her and they said that now she must stay with them and keep
house for them. She told them that was what she wanted to do and she
said that now she was here the youngest brother need no longer stay at
home but could go out every morning with the rest of them to work in
the fields.
So now began a new life for poor Kerttu. In the morning after the
brothers were gone Suyettar would scold and abuse her. She would bake
a cake for her dinner to be eaten in the fields and she would fill the
cake with stones and sticks and filth. Then she would take Kerttu as
far as the gate where she would give her back her tongue and her
memory and order her roughly to drive the cow to pasture and look
after it all day long. In the late afternoon when Kerttu drove home
the cow, Suyettar would meet her at the gate and take from her her
tongue and her memory and then in the evening the brothers would see
her as a foolish old woman who couldn't talk. Every morning and every
evening Kerttu begged Suyettar to show her a little mercy, but far
from showing her any mercy Suyettar grew more cruel from day to day.
Suyettar was very proud to think that nine handsome young men took her
for a beautiful girl and she felt sure they would never find out their
mistake for only Kerttu knew who she really was and Kerttu was
entirely in her power.
At night seated in the shadow in a far corner of the kitchen with her
nine brothers laughing and talking Kerttu felt no sorrow for at such
times of course she had no memory. But during the day it was
different. Then when she was alone in the meadow she had her memory
and her tongue and she thought about her poor mother at home anxiously
awaiting her return and she thought of her nine sturdy brothers all of
whom might now through her mistake fall victims to Suyettar. These
thoughts made her weep with grief and as the days went by she put this
grief into a song which she sang constantly:
"I've found at last the brothers nine
Whose own true mother is also mine,
But they know me not from stick or stone!
They leave me here to weep alone,
While Suyettar sits in my place
With stolen looks and stolen face!
She snared me first with evil guile
And now she mocks me all the while:
By night she takes my tongue away,
She feeds me sticks and stones by day!...
Oh, little they guess, the brothers nine,
That their own true mother is also mine!"
The brothers as they worked in nearby fields used to hear the song and
they wondered about it.
"Strange!" they said to one another. "Can that be the old woman
singing? In the evening at home she never opens her mouth and our dear
sister always says that she's dumb and foolish."
One afternoon when Kerttu's song sounded particularly sad, the
youngest brother crept close to the meadow where Kerttu was sitting in
order to hear the words. He listened carefully and then hurried back
to the others and with frightened face told them what he had heard.
"Nonsense!" the older brothers said. "It can't be so!"
However, they, too, wanted to hear for themselves the words of the
strange song, so they all crept near to listen.
It looked like an old hag who was singing but the voice that came out
of the withered mouth was the voice of a young girl. As they listened
they, too, grew pale:
"I've found at last the brothers nine
Whose own true mother is also mine,
But they know me not from stick or stone!
They leave me here to weep alone,
While Suyettar sits in my place
With stolen looks and stolen face!
She snared me first with evil guile
And now she mocks me all the while:
By night she takes my tongue away,
She feeds me sticks and stones by day!...
Oh, little they guess, the brothers nine,
That their own true mother is also mine!"
"Can it be true?" they said, whispering together.
They sent the youngest brother to question Kerttu and he, when he had
heard her story, believed it true. Then the other brothers went to her
one by one and questioned her and finally they were all convinced of
the truth of her story.
"It is well for us," they said, "if we do not all fall into the power
of that awful creature! How, O how can we rescue our poor little
sister!"
"I can never get back my own looks," Kerttu said, "unless Suyettar
splashes water into my eyes and unless I cry out a magic rime as she
does it."
The brothers discussed one plan after another and at last agreed on
one that they thought might deceive Suyettar.
They had Kerttu inflame her eyes with dust and come groping home one
midday. The brothers, too, were at home and as Kerttu came stumbling
into the kitchen they said to Suyettar:
"Oh, sister, sister, see the poor old woman! Something ails her! Her
eyes--they're all red and swollen! Get some water and bathe them!"
"Nonsense!" Suyettar said. "The old hag's well enough! Let her be! She
doesn't need any attention!"
"Oh, sister!" the youngest brother said, reproachfully, "is that any
way for a human, kindhearted girl like you to talk? If you won't
bathe the old creature's eyes, I will myself!"
Then Suyettar who of course wanted them to think that she was a human,
kindhearted girl said, no, she would bathe them. So she took a basin
of water over to Kerttu and told her to lean down her head. As she
splashed the first drop of water into Kerttu's eyes, Kerttu cried out:
"My own true looks give back to me
And take your own for all to see!"
Instantly Suyettar was again a hideous old hag though still dressed in
Kerttu's pretty bodice and skirt, and Kerttu was herself again, young
and fresh and sweet, though still incased in Suyettar's rags. But the
brothers pretended that they saw no difference and kept on talking to
Suyettar as though they still thought her Kerttu. And Suyettar because
her eyes were blinded with the dust supposed that they were still
deceived.
Then one of the brothers said to Suyettar:
"Sister dear, the _sauna_ is all heated and ready. Don't you want to
bathe?"
Suyettar thought that this would be a fine chance to wash the dust
from her eyes, so she let them lead her to the _sauna_. Once they got
her inside they locked the door and set the _sauna_ a-fire. Oh, the
noise she made then when she found she had been trapped! She kicked
and screamed and cursed and threatened! But Kerttu and the brothers
paid no heed to her. They left her burning in the _sauna_ while they
hurried homewards.
They found their poor old mother seated at the window weeping, for she
thought that now Kerttu as well as her sons was lost forever. As
Kerttu and the nine handsome young men came in the gate she didn't
recognize them until Kerttu sang out:
"I bring at last the brothers nine
Whose own true mother is also mine!"
Then she knew who they were and with thanks to God she welcomed them
home.
THE FOREST BRIDE
[Decoration]
_The Story of a Little Mouse Who Was a Princess_
THE FOREST BRIDE
[Decoration]
There was once a farmer who had three sons. One day when the boys were
grown to manhood he said to them:
"My sons, it is high time that you were all married. To-morrow I wish
you to go out in search of brides."
"But where shall we go?" the oldest son asked.
"I have thought of that, too," the father said. "Do each of you chop
down a tree and then take the direction in which the fallen tree
points. I'm sure that each of you if you go far enough in that
direction will find a suitable bride."
So the next day the three sons chopped down trees. The oldest son's
tree fell pointing north.
"That suits me!" he said, for he knew that to the north lay a farm
where a very pretty girl lived.
The tree of the second son when it fell pointed south.
"That suits me!" the second son declared thinking of a girl that he
had often danced with who lived on a farm to the south.
The youngest son's tree--the youngest son's name was Veikko--when it
fell pointed straight to the forest.
"Ha! Ha!" the older brothers laughed. "Veikko will have to go courting
one of the Wolf girls or one of the Foxes!"
They meant by this that only animals lived in the forest and they
thought they were making a good joke at Veikko's expense. But Veikko
said he was perfectly willing to take his chances and go where his
tree pointed.
The older brothers went gaily off and presented their suits to the two
farmers whose daughters they admired. Veikko, too, started off with
brave front but after he had gone some distance in the forest his
courage began to ebb.
"How can I find a bride," he asked himself, "in a place where there
are no human creatures at all!"
Just then he came to a little hut. He pushed open the door and went
in. It was empty. To be sure there was a little mouse sitting on the
table, daintily combing her whiskers, but a mouse of course doesn't
count.
"There's nobody here!" Veikko said aloud.
The little mouse paused in her toilet and turning towards him said
reproachfully:
"Why, Veikko, I'm here!"
"But you don't count. You're only a mouse!"
"Of course I count!" the little mouse declared. "But tell me, what
were you hoping to find?"
"I was hoping to find a sweetheart."
The little mouse questioned him further and Veikko told her the whole
story of his brothers and the trees.
"The two older ones are finding sweethearts easily enough," Veikko
said, "but I don't see how I can off here in the forest. And it will
shame me to have to go home and confess that I alone have failed."
"See here, Veikko," the little mouse said, "why don't you take me for
your sweetheart?"
Veikko laughed heartily.
"But you're only a mouse! Whoever heard of a man having a mouse for a
sweetheart!"
The mouse shook her little head solemnly.
"Take my word for it, Veikko, you could do much worse than have me for
a sweetheart! Even if I am only a mouse I can love you and be true to
you."
She was a dear dainty little mouse and as she sat looking up at Veikko
with her little paws under her chin and her bright little eyes
sparkling Veikko liked her more and more.
Then she sang Veikko a pretty little song and the song cheered him so
much that he forgot his disappointment at not finding a human
sweetheart and as he left her to go home he said:
"Very well, little mouse, I'll take you for my sweetheart!"
At that the mouse made little squeaks of delight and she told him that
she'd be true to him and wait for him no matter how long he was in
returning.
Well, the older brothers when they got home boasted loudly about their
sweethearts.
"Mine," said the oldest, "has the rosiest reddest cheeks you ever
saw!"
"And mine," the second announced, "has long yellow hair!"
Veikko said nothing.
"What's the matter, Veikko?" the older brothers asked him, laughing.
"Has your sweetheart pretty pointed ears or sharp white teeth?"
You see they were still having their little joke about foxes and
wolves.
"You needn't laugh," Veikko said. "I've found a sweetheart. She's a
gentle dainty little thing gowned in velvet."
"Gowned in velvet!" echoed the oldest brother with a frown.
"Just like a princess!" the second brother sneered.
"Yes," Veikko repeated, "gowned in velvet like a princess. And when
she sits up and sings to me I'm perfectly happy."
"Huh!" grunted the older brothers not at all pleased that Veikko
should have so grand a sweetheart.
"Well," said the old farmer after a few days, "now I should like to
know what those sweethearts of yours are able to do. Have them each
bake me a loaf of bread so that I can see whether they're good
housewives."
"Mine will be able to bake bread--I'm sure of that!" the oldest
brother declared boastfully.
"So will mine!" chorused the second brother.
Veikko was silent.
"What about the Princess?" they said with a laugh. "Do you think the
Princess can bake bread?"
"I don't know," Veikko answered truthfully. "I'll have to ask her."
Of course he had no reason for supposing that the little mouse could
bake bread and by the time he reached the hut in the forest he was
feeling sad and discouraged.
When he pushed open the door he found the little mouse as before
seated on the table daintily combing her whiskers. At sight of Veikko
she danced about with delight.
"I'm so glad to see you!" she squeaked. "I knew you would come back!"
Then when she noticed that he was silent she asked him what was the
matter. Veikko told her:
"My father wants each of our sweethearts to bake him a loaf of bread.
If I come home without a loaf my brothers will laugh at me."
"You won't have to go home without a loaf!" the little mouse said. "I
can bake bread."
Veikko was much surprised at this.
"I never heard of a mouse that could bake bread!"
"Well, I can!" the little mouse insisted.
With that she began ringing a small silver bell, _tinkle_, _tinkle_,
_tinkle_. Instantly there was the sound of hurrying footsteps, tiny
scratchy footsteps, and hundreds of mice came running into the hut.
The little Princess mouse sitting up very straight and dignified said
to them:
"Each of you go fetch me a grain of the finest wheat."
All the mice scampered quickly away and soon returned one by one, each
carrying a grain of the finest wheat. After that it was no trick at
all for the Princess mouse to bake a beautiful loaf of wheaten bread.
The next day the three brothers presented their father the loaves of
their sweethearts' baking. The oldest one had a loaf of rye bread.
"Very good," the farmer said. "For hardworking people like us rye
bread is good."
The loaf the second son had was made of barley.
"Barley bread is also good," the farmer said.
But when Veikko presented his loaf of beautiful wheaten bread, his
father cried out:
"What! White bread! Ah, Veikko now must have a sweetheart of wealth!"
"Of course!" the older brothers sneered. "Didn't he tell us she was a
Princess? Say, Veikko, when a Princess wants fine white flour, how
does she get it?"
Veikko answered simply:
"She rings a little silver bell and when her servants come in she
tells them to bring her grains of the finest wheat."
At this the older brothers nearly exploded with envy until their
father had to reprove them.
"There! There!" he said. "Don't grudge the boy his good luck! Each
girl has baked the loaf she knows how to make and each in her own way
will probably make a good wife. But before you bring them home to me
I want one further test of their skill in housewifery. Let them each
send me a sample of their weaving."
The older brothers were delighted at this for they knew that their
sweethearts were skilful weavers.
"We'll see how her ladyship fares this time!" they said, sure in their
hearts that Veikko's sweetheart, whoever she was, would not put them
to shame with her weaving.
Veikko, too, had serious doubts of the little mouse's ability at the
loom.
"Whoever heard of a mouse that could weave?" he said to himself as he
pushed open the door of the forest hut.
"Oh, there you are at last!" the little mouse squeaked joyfully.
She reached out her little paws in welcome and then in her excitement
she began dancing about on the table.
"Are you really glad to see me, little mouse?" Veikko asked.
"Indeed I am!" the mouse declared. "Am I not your sweetheart? I've
been waiting for you and waiting, just wishing that you would return!
Does your father want something more this time, Veikko?"
"Yes, and it's something I'm afraid you can't give me, little mouse."
"Perhaps I can. Tell me what it is."
"It's a sample of your weaving. I don't believe you can weave. I never
heard of a mouse that could weave."
"Tut! Tut!" said the mouse. "Of course I can weave! It would be a
strange thing if Veikko's sweetheart couldn't weave!"
She rang the little silver bell, _tinkle_, _tinkle_, _tinkle_, and
instantly there was the faint _scratch-scratch_ of a hundred little
feet as mice came running in from all directions and sat up on their
haunches awaiting their Princess' orders.
"Go each of you," she said, "and get me a fiber of flax, the finest
there is."