each bringing a fiber of flax. When they had spun the flax and carded
it, the little mouse wove a beautiful piece of fine linen. It was so
sheer that she was able when she folded it to put it into an empty
nutshell.
"Here, Veikko," she said, "here in this little box is a sample of my
weaving. I hope your father will like it."
Veikko when he got home felt almost embarrassed for he was sure that
his sweetheart's weaving would shame his brothers. So at first he kept
the nutshell hidden in his pocket.
The sweetheart of the oldest brother had sent as a sample of her
weaving a square of coarse cotton.
"Not very fine," the farmer said, "but good enough."
The second brother's sample was a square of cotton and linen mixed.
"A little better," the farmer said, nodding his head.
Then he turned to Veikko.
"And you, Veikko, has your sweetheart not given you a sample of her
weaving?"
Veikko handed his father a nutshell at sight of which his brothers
burst out laughing.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" they laughed. "Veikko's sweetheart gives him a nut when
he asks for a sample of her weaving."
But their laughter died as the farmer opened the nutshell and began
shaking out a great web of the finest linen.
"Why, Veikko, my boy!" he cried, "however did your sweetheart get
threads for so fine a web?"
Veikko answered modestly:
"She rang a little silver bell and ordered her servants to bring her
in fibers of finest flax. They did so and after they had spun the flax
and carded it, my sweetheart wove the web you see."
"Wonderful!" gasped the farmer. "I have never known such a weaver! The
other girls will be all right for farmers' wives but Veikko's
sweetheart might be a Princess! Well," concluded the farmer, "it's
time that you all brought your sweethearts home. I want to see them
with my own eyes. Suppose you bring them to-morrow."
"She's a good little mouse and I'm very fond of her," Veikko thought
to himself as he went out to the forest, "but my brothers will
certainly laugh when they find she is only a mouse! Well, I don't care
if they do laugh! She's been a good little sweetheart to me and I'm
not going to be ashamed of her!"
So when he got to the hut he told the little mouse at once that his
father wanted to see her.
The little mouse was greatly excited.
"I must go in proper style!" she said.
She rang the little silver bell and ordered her coach and five. The
coach when it came turned out to be an empty nutshell and the five
prancing steeds that were drawing it were five black mice. The little
mouse seated herself in the coach with a coachman mouse on the box in
front of her and a footman mouse on the box behind her.
"Oh, how my brothers will laugh!" thought Veikko.
But he didn't laugh. He walked beside the coach and told the little
mouse not to be frightened, that he would take good care of her. His
father, he told her, was a gentle old man and would be kind to her.
When they left the forest they came to a river which was spanned by a
foot bridge. Just as Veikko and the nutshell coach had reached the
middle of the bridge, a man met them coming from the opposite
direction.
"Mercy me!" the man exclaimed as he caught sight of the strange little
coach that was rolling along beside Veikko. "What's that?"
He stooped down and looked and then with a loud laugh he put out his
foot and pushed the coach, the little mouse, her servants, and her
five prancing steeds--all off the bridge and into the water below.
"What have you done! What have you done!" Veikko cried. "You've
drowned my poor little sweetheart!"
The man thinking Veikko was crazy hurried away.
Veikko with tears in his eyes looked down into the water.
[Illustration: _She beckoned to Veikko_]
"You poor little mouse!" he said. "How sorry I am that you are
drowned! You were a faithful loving sweetheart and now that you are
gone I know how much I loved you!"
As he spoke he saw a beautiful coach of gold drawn by five glossy
horses go up the far bank of the river. A coachman in gold lace held
the reins and a footman in pointed cap sat up stiffly behind. The most
beautiful girl in the world was seated in the coach. Her skin was as
red as a berry and as white as snow, her long golden hair gleamed with
jewels, and she was dressed in pearly velvet. She beckoned to Veikko
and when he came close she said:
"Won't you come sit beside me?"
"Me? Me?" Veikko stammered, too dazed to think.
The beautiful creature smiled.
"You were not ashamed to have me for a sweetheart when I was a mouse,"
she said, "and surely now that I am a Princess again you won't desert
me!"
"A mouse!" Veikko gasped. "Were you the little mouse?"
The Princess nodded.
"Yes, I was the little mouse under an evil enchantment which could
never have been broken if you had not taken me for a sweetheart and if
another human being had not drowned me. Now the enchantment is broken
forever. So come, we will go to your father and after he has given us
his blessing we will get married and go home to my kingdom."
And that's exactly what they did. They drove at once to the farmer's
house and when Veikko's father and his brothers and his brothers'
sweethearts saw the Princess' coach stopping at their gate they all
came out bowing and scraping to see what such grand folk could want of
them.
"Father!" Veikko cried, "don't you know me?"
The farmer stopped bowing long enough to look up.
"Why, bless my soul!" he cried, "it's our Veikko!"
"Yes, father, I'm Veikko and this is the Princess that I'm going to
marry!"
"A Princess, did you say, Veikko? Mercy me, where did my boy find a
Princess?"
"Out in the forest where my tree pointed."
"Well, well, well," the farmer said, "where your tree pointed! I've
always heard that was a good way to find a bride."
The older brothers shook their heads gloomily and muttered:
"Just our luck! If only our trees had pointed to the forest we, too,
should have found princesses instead of plain country wenches!"
But they were wrong: it wasn't because his tree pointed to the forest
that Veikko got the Princess, it was because he was so simple and good
that he was kind even to a little mouse.
Well, after they had got the farmer's blessing they rode home to the
Princess' kingdom and were married. And they were happy as they should
have been for they were good and true to each other and they loved
each other dearly.
[Decoration]
THE ENCHANTED GROUSE
[Decoration]
_The Story of Helli and the Little Locked Box_
THE ENCHANTED GROUSE
[Decoration]
There was once an old couple who lived with their married son and his
wife. The son's name was Helli. He was a dutiful son but his wife was
a scold. She was always finding fault with the old people and with her
husband and for that matter with everybody else as well.
One morning when she saw her husband taking out his bow and arrows she
said:
"Where are you going now?"
"I'm going hunting," he told her.
"Isn't that just like you!" she cried. "You're going off to have a
good time hunting and you don't give a thought to me who have to stay
home alone with two stupid old people!"
"If I didn't go hunting," Helli said, "and shoot something, we'd have
nothing to put in the pot for dinner and then you would have reason to
scold."
At that the woman burst into tears.
"Of course, as usual blame me! Whatever happens it's my fault!"
Poor Helli hurried off, hoping that by the time he returned his wife
would be in a calmer state of mind. He had small success with his
hunting. He shot arrow after arrow but always missed his mark. Then
when he had only one arrow left he saw a Grouse standing in some
brushwood so near that there was little likelihood of his missing it.
He took good aim but before he could fire the Grouse said:
"Don't shoot me, brother! Take me home alive."
Helli paused, then he shook his head.
"I've got to shoot you for we've nothing to put in the pot for
dinner."
Again he aimed his arrow and again the Grouse said:
"Don't shoot me, brother! Take me home alive."
For the second time Helli paused.
"I'd like to spare you," he said, "but what would my wife say if I
came home empty-handed?"
He took aim again and a third time the Grouse said:
"Don't shoot me, brother! Take me home alive."
At that Helli dropped his arrow.
"I don't care what she says! I can't shoot a creature that begs so
pitifully for its life! Very well, Mr. Grouse, I'll do as you say:
I'll take you home alive. But don't blame me if my wife wrings your
neck."
He took the Grouse up in his arms and started homewards.
"Feed me for a year," the Grouse said, "and I'll reward you."
When they reached home and Helli's wife saw the Grouse, she cried out
petulantly:
"Is that all you've got and out hunting all morning! That won't be
dinner enough for four!"
"This Grouse isn't to be killed," Helli announced. "I'm going to keep
it for a year and feed it."
"It won't take much to feed a Grouse," the old man remarked.
But the wife flew into a passion.
"What! Feed a useless bird when there isn't enough to feed your own
flesh and blood!"
But Helli was firm and despite her threats his wife did not dare to
maltreat the Grouse.
At the end of a year the Grouse grew a copper feather in its tail
which it dropped in the dooryard. Then it disappeared.
"Ha!" laughed Helli's wife. "A copper feather! That's your reward for
feeding that thankless bird a whole year! And now it's escaped!"
But the next day the Grouse returned.
"Feed me for another year," it said to Helli, "and I'll reward you."
His wife raised an awful to-do over this, but Helli was firm and for
another year he fed and petted the Grouse.
At the end of the second year the Grouse grew a silver feather in its
tail which it dropped in the dooryard. Then it disappeared.
"One silver feather!" Helli's wife cried. "So that's all you get for
feeding that thankless bird a whole year! And now it's escaped!"
But it hadn't. It returned the very next day.
"Feed me for another year," it said to Helli, "and I'll reward you."
At the end of the third year the Grouse grew a golden feather in its
tail and when it dropped that in the dooryard the scolding wife hadn't
so much to say, for a golden feather was after all pretty good pay for
a few handfuls of grain.
For a day the Grouse disappeared and then when it returned it said to
Helli:
"Get on my back and I'll reward you."
Helli did so and the Grouse, rising high in the air, flew far away.
On, on it flew until it reached the broad Ocean. Over the Ocean it
flew until Helli could see nothing but water in whatever direction he
looked.
[Illustration: _On it flew until it reached the broad Ocean_]
"Ha!" he said to himself with a shudder, "I hope I can hold on!"
As he spoke, the Grouse slipped from beneath him and he fell down,
down, down. However, before he touched water the Grouse swooped under
him and caught him up again high into the air. He had this same
terrible experience a second time and a third time and each time he
thought his last moment had arrived.
"Now," the Grouse told him, "you know what my feelings were when you
threatened three times to shoot me with your arrow."
"You have taught me a lesson," Helli said.
After that the Grouse flew on and on. At last it said:
"Look straight ahead, master, and tell me what you see."
Helli shaded his eyes and looked.
"Far, far ahead I see what looks like a copper column."
"Good!" the Grouse said. "That is the home of my oldest sister. She
will be overjoyed to see us and when she hears how you have spared my
life she will want to make you a present and will offer you various
things. Take my advice and tell her that the only thing you want is
her little locked box the key to which is lost. If she won't give you
that, accept nothing."
The Grouse's oldest sister received them most hospitably and when she
had heard their story at once offered Helli anything he might like
from among her treasures.
"Then give me your little locked box the key to which is lost," Helli
said.
The oldest sister shook her head.
"My little locked box! Who told you about that? I'm sorry, but I
cannot give you that! Take anything else!"
"No," Helli said, "that or nothing!"
When the oldest sister could not be prevailed upon to give away her
little locked box, the Grouse had Helli mount his back once more and
off they flew.
"We'll visit my second sister now," he said. "If she offers you a
present, ask her for her little locked box without a key and accept
nothing else."
On, on they flew until the oldest sister's castle was far behind.
"Look, master," the Grouse said, "look straight ahead and tell me what
you see."
Helli shaded his eyes and looked.
"Far ahead I see something that is like a silver cloud."
"That," said the Grouse, "is the silver castle of my second sister."
At the silver castle the second sister received them with joy and when
she heard who Helli was at once declared that she wanted to show him
her gratitude by making him a gift.
"Ask from me what you will," she said, "and you shall have it."
But when he asked for her little locked box without a key, she cried
out:
"No! No! Not that! Anything else!"
"But I don't want anything else!" Helli said.
When the Grouse saw that his second sister was not to be parted from
her little locked box, he bade Helli mount his back and off they flew
again.
"We'll go to my youngest sister this time," he said. "If she offers
you a present, ask for the same thing."
On, on they flew until the silver castle was lost to view.
"Now, master, look ahead and tell me what you see."
Helli shaded his eyes and looked.
"I seem to see a golden haze like the sun behind a cloud."
"That is the golden castle of my youngest sister."
They arrived and the youngest sister threw her arms about the Grouse
for she loved him dearly and had not seen him for a long time.
"Welcome, brother!" she said. "And welcome also to you, Helli!"
Then she offered Helli a present and when he asked for her little
locked box without a key she gave it to him at once.
"It is my most precious possession," she said, "but you may have it
for you spared my dear brother's life when you might have taken it."
After they had rested and feasted they bade the youngest sister
farewell and Helli with his precious box held tightly in one hand
mounted the Grouse's back and off they flew towards home.
"Be careful of the box," the Grouse said, "and don't let it out of
your hands until we reach some beautiful spot where you'd like always
to live."
They passed high mountains and wooded lakes and fertile valleys.
"Shall we stop here?" the Grouse asked. "Or here? Or here?"
But always Helli said:
"No, not here."
At last they reached home and the Grouse told Helli that now they must
part forever.
"By sparing my life three times," the Grouse said, "and then feeding
me for three years you have broken the enchantment that bound me and
now I shall not have to go about any longer as a grouse but shall be
able to resume my natural shape. Farewell, Helli, and when you find
the spot where you think you would like always to live, drop the box
and you will find you have a treasure that will more than reward you
for your kindness to me."
The Grouse disappeared and Helli said to himself:
"Where do I want to live always but right here at home with my dear
old father and mother and my wife who is my wife even if she does
scold me sometimes!"
So there at home after they all had supper together, he dropped the
box on the floor. It broke and out of it arose a beautiful castle with
servants and riches and everything that Helli had always wanted and
never had. And Helli and his old father and mother and his wife lived
in it and were happy. And gradually his wife got over her habit of
scolding for when you're happy you haven't anything to scold about.
THE TERRIBLE OLLI
[Decoration]
_The Story of an Honest Finn and a Wicked Troll_
THE TERRIBLE OLLI
[Decoration]
There was once a wicked rich old Troll who lived on a Mountain that
sloped down to a Bay. A decent Finn, a farmer, lived on the opposite
side of the Bay. The farmer had three sons. When the boys had reached
manhood he said to them one day:
"I should think it would shame you three strong youths that that
wicked old Troll over there should live on year after year and no one
trouble him. We work hard like honest Finns and are as poor at the end
of the year as at the beginning. That old Troll with all his
wickedness grows richer and richer. I tell you, if you boys had any
real spirit you'd take his riches from him and drive him away!"
His youngest son, whose name was Olli, at once cried out:
"Very well, father, I will!"
But the two older sons, offended at Olli's promptness, declared:
"You'll do no such thing! Don't forget your place in the family!
You're the youngest and we're not going to let you push us aside. Now,
father, we two will go across the Bay and rout out that old Troll.
Olli may come with us if he likes and watch us while we do it."
Olli laughed and said: "All right!" for he was used to his brothers
treating him like a baby.
So in a few days the three brothers walked around the Bay and up the
Mountain and presented themselves at the Troll's house. The Troll and
his old wife were both at home. They received the brothers with great
civility.
"You're the sons of the Finn who lives across the Bay, aren't you?"
the Troll said. "I've watched you boys grow up. I am certainly glad to
see you for I have three daughters who need husbands. Marry my
daughters and you'll inherit my riches."
The old Troll made this offer in order to get the young men into his
power.
"Be careful!" Olli whispered.
But the brothers were too delighted at the prospect of inheriting the
Troll's riches so easily to pay any heed to Olli's warning. Instead
they accepted the Troll's offer at once.
Well, the old Troll's wife made them a fine supper and after supper
the Troll sent them to bed with his three daughters. But first he put
red caps on the three youths and white caps on the three Troll girls.
He made a joke about the caps.
"A red cap and a white cap in each bed!" he said.
The older brothers suspected nothing and soon fell asleep. Olli, too,
pretended to fall asleep and when he was sure that none of the Troll
girls were still awake he got up and quietly changed the caps. He put
the white caps on himself and his brothers and the red caps on the
Troll girls. Then he crept back to bed and waited.
Presently the old Troll came over to the beds with a long knife in his
hand. There was so little light in the room that he couldn't see the
faces of the sleepers, but it was easy enough to distinguish the white
caps from the red caps. With three swift blows he cut off the heads
under the red caps, thinking of course they were the heads of the
three Finnish youths. Then he went back to bed with the old Troll wife
and Olli could hear them both chuckling and laughing. After a time
they went soundly to sleep as Olli could tell from their deep regular
breathing and their loud snores.
Olli now roused his brothers and told them what had happened and the
three of them slipped quietly out of the Troll house and hurried home
to their father on the other side of the Bay.
After that the older brothers no longer talked of despoiling the
Troll. They didn't care to try another encounter with him.
"He might have cut our heads off!" they said, shuddering to think of
the awful risk they had run.
Olli laughed at them.
"Come on!" he kept saying to them day after day. "Let's go across the
Bay to the Troll's!"
"We'll do no such thing!" they told him. "And you wouldn't suggest it
either if you weren't so young and foolish!"
"Well," Olli announced at last, "if you won't come with me I'm going
alone. I've heard that the Troll has a horse with hairs of gold and
silver. I've decided I want that horse."
"Olli," his father said, "I don't believe you ought to go. You know
what your brothers say. That old Troll is an awfully sly one!"
But Olli only laughed.
"Good-by!" he called back as he waved his hand. "When you see me again
I'll be riding the Troll's horse!"
[Illustration: _Olli and the Troll's horse_]
The Troll wasn't at home but the old Troll wife was there. When she
saw Olli she thought to herself:
"Mercy me, here's that Finnish boy again, the one that changed the
caps! What shall I do? I must keep him here on some pretext or other
until the Troll comes home!"
So she pretended to be very glad to see him.
"Why, Olli," she said, "is that you? Come right in!"
She talked to him as long as she could and when she could think of
nothing more to say she asked him would he take the horse and water it
at the Lake.
"That will keep him busy," she thought to herself, "and long before he
gets back from the Lake the Troll will be here."
But Olli, instead of leading the horse down to the Lake, jumped on its
back and galloped away. By the time the Troll reached home, he was
safely on the other side of the Bay.
When the Troll heard from the old Troll wife what had happened, he
went down to the shore and hallooed across the Bay:
"Olli! Oh, Olli, are you there?"
Olli made a trumpet of his hands and called back:
"Yes, I'm here! What do you want?"
"Olli, have you got my horse?"
"Yes, I've got your horse but it's my horse now!"
"Olli! Olli!" his father cried. "You mustn't talk that way to the
Troll! You'll make him angry!"
And his brothers looking with envy at the horse with gold and silver
hairs warned him sourly:
"You better be careful, young man, or the Troll will get you yet!"
A few days later Olli announced:
"I think I'll go over and get the Troll's money-bag."
His father tried to dissuade him.
"Don't be foolhardy, Olli! Your brothers say you had better not go to
the Troll's house again."
But Olli only laughed and started gaily off as though he hadn't a fear
in the world.
Again he found the old Troll wife alone.
"Mercy me!" she thought to herself as she saw him coming, "here is
that terrible Olli again! Whatever shall I do? I mustn't let him off
this time before the Troll gets back! I must keep him right here with
me in the house."
So when he came in she pretended that she was tired and that her back
ached and she asked him would he watch the bread in the oven while she
rested a few moments on the bed.
"Certainly I will," Olli said.
So the old Troll wife lay down on the bed and Olli sat quietly in
front of the oven. The Troll wife really was tired and before she knew
it she fell asleep.
"Ha!" thought Olli, "here's my chance!"
Without disturbing the Troll wife he reached under the bed, pulled out
the big money-bag full of silver pieces, threw it over his shoulder,
and hurried home.
He was measuring the money when he heard the Troll hallooing across to
him:
"Olli! Oh, Olli, are you there?"
"Yes," Olli shouted back, "I'm here! What do you want?"
"Olli, have you got my money-bag?"
"Yes, I've got your money-bag but it's my money-bag now!"
A few days later Olli said:
"Do you know, the Troll has a beautiful coverlet woven of silk and
gold. I think I'll go over and get it."
His father as usual protested but Olli laughed at him merrily and
went. He took with him an auger and a can of water. He hid until it
was dark, then climbed the roof of the Troll's house and bored a hole
right over the bed. When the Troll and his wife went to sleep he
sprinkled some water on the coverlet and on their faces.
The Troll woke with a start.
"I'm wet!" he said, "and the bed's wet, too!"
The old Troll wife got up to change the covers.
"The roof must be leaking," she said. "It never leaked before. I
suppose it was that last wind."
She threw the wet coverlet up over the rafters to dry and put other
covers on the bed.
When she and the Troll were again asleep, Olli made the hole a little
bigger, reached in his hand, and got the coverlet from the rafters.
The next morning the Troll hallooed across the Bay:
"Olli! Oh, Olli, are you there?"
"Yes," Olli shouted back, "I'm here! What do you want?"
"Have you got my coverlet woven of silk and gold?"
"Yes," Olli told him, "I've got your coverlet but it's my coverlet
now!"
A few days later Olli said:
"There's still one thing in the Troll's house that I think I ought to
get. It's a golden bell. If I get that golden bell then there will be
nothing left that had better belong to an honest Finn."
So he went again to the Troll's house taking with him a saw and an
auger. He hid until night and, when the Troll and his wife were
asleep, he cut a hole through the side of the house through which he
reached in his hand to get the bell. At the touch of his hand the bell
tinkled and woke the Troll. The Troll jumped out of bed and grabbed
Olli's hand.
"Ha! Ha!" he cried. "I've got you now and this time you won't get
away!"
Olli didn't try to get away. He made no resistance while the Troll
dragged him into the house.
"We'll eat him--that's what we'll do!" the Troll said to his wife.
"Heat the oven at once and we'll roast him!"
So the Troll wife built a roaring fire in the oven.