to the Fox's kitchen and sniffed cautiously at the crack under the
door. The Cat inside, seeing the tip of the Wolf's nose and thinking
it was a Mouse, pounced on it with all his claws. This gave the Wolf a
mighty fright and he bolted madly off into the forest.
He was still panting when he met the Bear.
"Osmo," he said, "have you heard about that awful creature that Mikko
has for a servant?"
The Bear had heard nothing, so the Wolf related to him his own
terrifying experience.
The Bear's curiosity was aroused.
"I must have a glimpse of this wonderful servant," he said, ambling
off in the direction of the Fox's kitchen.
"I'll wait for you here," the Wolf called after him, "and I warn you,
Osmo, be careful!"
The Bear when he got to the Fox's kitchen quietly stuck his nose under
the crack of the door and squinted inside. He hardly had time for one
squint when a terrible creature with a straight tail that looked like
a spear came flying through the air, landed on his nose, and drove it
full of pins and needles.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" the Bear whimpered as he hurried back to the Wolf.
"Did you see him?" the Wolf asked.
"I got just one glimpse of him," the Bear said. "He had a long spear
sticking up over his shoulder and he came swooping down through the
air just as if he had wings!"
"My! I wish we could really see him!" the Wolf said. "Suppose we ask
Mikko to arrange some way we can have a good look at him."
So they went to the Fox and Mikko, the rascal, said:
"Well, now, if you make a feast and invite my servant I think he will
come."
"All right," the Wolf said, "that's what we'll do. I've still got some
of that ox. It will make a fine feast."
So they roasted the remains of the ox and set it out.
"Now I'll go get my servant," the Fox said. "When you hear us coming,
you two hide some place where you can see us but we can't see you. If
my servant once sees you I won't be responsible for the consequences!"
So the Wolf hid in some bushes nearby and the Bear drew himself up
into the branches of a tree.
Well, the Fox and the Cat arrived and sat them down to the feast. Now
it happened that the Wolf was not able to see, so he tried to twist
himself around into a better position. The Cat caught a glimpse of his
tail moving in the bushes and instantly pounced on it. With one
terrified yelp, the Wolf jumped out of the bushes and fled into the
forest as fast as he could.
In fright the Cat scampered up the tree and the Bear, of course,
supposed that the awful creature now was after him. In his frantic
efforts to escape he tumbled down out of the tree and broke two ribs.
But for all that he made off, too terrified to look back.
So the Fox and the Cat were left to finish the ox in peace.
[Decoration]
ADVENTURE VII
THE WOLF SINGS
[Decoration]
Having sacrificed his ox in order to feast the Fox's servant, the Wolf
had nothing left for himself and was soon very hungry. He could find
nothing to eat in the forest, so he went prowling around a farm in
hopes of getting a pig or a chicken. The only living creature he came
upon was a thin old Dog asleep in the sun.
"This is better than nothing," he thought to himself and, taking hold
of the Dog, he began dragging it off.
"Cousin! Cousin!" cried the Dog. "Is this any way to treat a
relation? Let me go!"
"I'm sorry," the Wolf said, "but I can't let you go. I'm too hungry."
"Let me go," the Dog begged, "and I tell you what I'll do: I'll give
you a bottle of vodka."
"Promises come easy," the Wolf said. "Where will you get the vodka?"
"Under the bench in the kitchen. That's where the master keeps his
bottle. I've seen him hide it there. Come to-night after the family's
asleep and I'll let you in and give you the vodka."
Now Pekka, the Wolf, was very fond of vodka, so he said to the Dog:
"Very well, I'll let you go. But see that you keep your promise!"
Late that night when the family were asleep, the Wolf came scratching
at the farmhouse door and the Dog let him in.
"Well, old fellow, you know why I've come," the Wolf said.
At once the Dog crawled under the bench and got the master's bottle of
vodka.
"Here, Pekka, here it is!" he said, offering the Wolf the bottle.
[Illustration: _The Wolf went staggering around the room howling
at the top of his voice_]
"You drink first," Pekka insisted. "You're the host."
The Dog raised the bottle and took a little sip. Then the Wolf took a
deep swallow.
"Ah!" he said, smacking his lips, "that's something like!"
His stomach was empty and the vodka went through his veins like fire.
He felt happy and laughed and went capering around the room.
"I feel like singing!" he cried.
"My dear Pekka," the Dog said, "I beg you don't sing! You will wake
the folks! Sit down quietly and we'll talk."
So they sat awhile and talked and then the Wolf took another deep
swallow of the vodka. Again he wanted to sing and the Dog had trouble
in restraining him.
"Do you want to wake the family, Pekka? Be quiet now or you can't have
any more vodka!"
The Wolf took another deep drink and after that there was no holding
him back. He went staggering around the room howling at the top of his
voice.
The Farmer and all his family came hurrying into the kitchen with
clubs and pokers and whatever they could pick up.
"It's a Wolf!" the Farmer cried. "The impudent scoundrel, coming
right into the house! Give him a good beating!"
If the door hadn't been open they would have clubbed poor Pekka to
death. As it was he barely escaped with his life.
[Decoration]
[Illustration: _In the confusion that followed the Wolves stampeded,
running helter-skelter in all directions_]
[Decoration]
ADVENTURE VIII
THE CLEVER GOAT
[Decoration]
The truth is Pekka, the Wolf, was a pretty stupid fellow always
getting into some scrape or other. With sore ribs and a back aching
from the beating which the farm folk had given him he slunk quietly
along the forest ways hoping to come upon some easy prey. Suddenly he
saw ahead of him a Goat and a Ram.
"What are they doing hereabouts?" he thought to himself. "This is no
place for them and if anything happens to them it will be their own
fault."
Vuhi, the Goat, and Dinas, the Ram, both knew that the forest was no
place for them. But where else could they go? They had recently been
turned loose to fend for themselves by their poor old master who was
no longer able to feed them.
"This forest rather frightens me," the Ram had said to the Goat. "Do
you suppose we'll be able to keep off the Wolves?"
Vuhi, the Goat, flirted his whiskers and said:
"I've got a plan."
Thereupon he took a sack and half filled it with dry chips. Then when
he shook the sack the chips made a hollow rattle. He threw the sack
over his shoulder and said to the Ram:
"Don't you be frightened, Dinas. We'll be able to hold our own with
the forest creatures."
It was just at this moment that Pekka, the Wolf, appeared.
"Ha! Ha!" said Pekka suspiciously. "What's that you've got in that
sack? No nonsense now! Answer me at once or I'll have to kill you
both!"
Vuhi, the Goat, gave the sack a little rattle.
"In this sack?" he said. "Oh, only the skulls and bones of the Wolves
we have eaten. We haven't had any Wolf meat now for some time, have
we, Dinas? It's good you've come along for we're hungry.... Attention,
Dinas! Kill the Wolf!"
The Ram lowered his horns ready for attack and Pekka, the Wolf, too
surprised to resist and too stiff to run away, cried out wildly:
"Brothers! Brothers! Don't kill me! I'm your friend! Spare me and I'll
do something for you!"
"Attention, Dinas!" the Goat commanded. "Don't kill the Wolf just
yet!"
Then he asked Pekka:
"What will you do for us if we spare you?"
"I'll send you twelve Wolves," Pekka promised. "That will give you
more meat than you'd have if you killed just me!"
"Twelve," the Goat replied. "You are right: twelve Wolves will give us
more meat than one. Very well, we'll let you go on condition that you
send us twelve. But see you keep your word!"
So the Wolf went off as fast as his stiff legs could carry him and
assembled twelve of his brothers.
"I've called you together," he said, "to warn you of two terrible
creatures, a Goat and a Ram, who are here in the forest eating up
Wolves! Already they have a sack full of our unfortunate relations'
skulls and bones! I saw the sack myself! Don't you think we ought all
of us to flee?"
"What!" said the other Wolves, "thirteen Wolves turn tail on one Goat
and one Ram? Never! We'll go together and give them battle!"
"Don't count me in!" Pekka said. "I don't want to see those two
again!"
So the twelve Wolves marched off without Pekka.
The Goat as he saw them coming ran up a tree. The Ram followed him but
couldn't get very high.
The twelve Wolves came under the tree and standing in close formation
called out:
"Now then, you two, come on! We're ready for you!"
"Attention, Dinas!" the Goat commanded. "They're all here, so lose no
more time! Jump down among them and kill them!"
The Goat himself began climbing down the tree, at the same time making
an awful noise with his sack. He gave the Ram a push and the Ram
slipped and fell right on the backs of the Wolves.
"That's right, Dinas! Kill them all!" the Goat shouted, rattling his
sack more furiously than ever. "Don't let one of them escape!"
In the confusion that followed the Wolves stampeded, running
helter-skelter in all directions. Every Wolf there felt that his own
escape was a piece of rare good fortune.
"Those terrible two!" he thought.
Thereafter Vuhi, the Goat, and Dinas, the Ram, lived on in the forest
untroubled by the Wolves.
[Decoration]
[Illustration: _"Here are three of us and see, here on the floor is
our harvest already divided into three heaps"_]
[Decoration]
ADVENTURE IX
THE HARVEST
[Decoration]
Well, the time came when the field of barley which the Fox and the
Wolf had planted together was ready to harvest. So the two friends cut
the grain and carried the sheaves to the threshing barn where they
spread them out to dry. When it was time to thresh the grain, they
asked Osmo, the Bear, to come and help them.
"Certainly," Osmo said.
At the time agreed the three animals met at the threshing barn.
"Now the first thing to decide," Pekka said, "is how to divide the
work."
The Fox climbed nimbly up to the rafters.
"I'll stay up here," he called down, "and support the beams and the
rafters. In that way there won't be any danger of their falling and
injuring either of you. You two work down there without any concern.
Trust me! I'll take care of you!"
So Osmo, the Bear, used the flail, and Pekka, the Wolf, winnowed the
chaff from the grain. Mikko, the rascal, occasionally dropped down
upon them a hunk of wood.
"Take care!" they'd call out. "Do you want to kill us?"
"Indeed, brothers, you have no idea how hard it is for me to hold up
all these rafters!" Mikko would say. "You're very lucky it's only a
little piece that drops on you now and then! If it weren't for me
you'd certainly be killed, both of you!"
Well, the Bear and the Wolf worked steadily. When they were finished
Mikko, the rascal, leaped down from the rafters and stretched himself
as though he had been working the hardest of them all.
"I'm glad that job of mine is finished!" he said. "I couldn't have
held things up much longer!"
"Well now," Pekka asked, "how shall we divide this our harvest?"
"I'll tell you how," Mikko said. "Here are three of us and, see, here
on the floor is our harvest already divided into three heaps. The
biggest heap will naturally go to the biggest of us. That's Osmo, the
Bear. The middle sized heap will go to you, Pekka. I'm the smallest,
so the smallest heap comes to me."
The Bear and the Wolf, stupid old things, agreed to this. So Osmo took
the great heap of straw, Pekka the pile of chaff, and Mikko, the
rascal, got for his share the little mound of clean grain.
Together they all went to the mill to grind their meal.
As the millstone turned on Mikko's grain, it made a rough rasping
sound.
"Strange," Osmo said to Pekka, "Mikko's grain sounds different from
ours."
"Mix some sand with yours," Mikko said, "then yours will make the same
sound."
So the Bear and the Wolf poured some sand in their straw and their
chaff and sure enough, when they turned their millstones again, they,
too, got a rough rasping sound.
This satisfied them and they went home feeling they had just as good a
winter's supply of food as Mikko.
[Illustration: _He dropped it in the water and of course it spread
out far and wide and the current carried it off_]
[Decoration]
ADVENTURE X
THE PORRIDGE
[Decoration]
Well, it was only natural that they should all want to see at once
what kind of porridge their meal would make.
Osmo's came out black and disgusting. Greatly disturbed he ambled over
to Mikko's house for advice. The Fox was stirring his own porridge
which was white and smooth.
"What's the matter with my porridge?" the Bear asked. "Yours is white
and smooth but mine is black and horrid."
"Did you wash your meal before you put it into the pot?" the Fox
asked.
"Wash it? No! How do you wash meal?"
"You take it to the river and drop it in the water. Then when it's
clean you take it out."
The Bear at once went home and got his ground up straw and took it to
the river. He dropped it in the water and of course it spread out far
and wide and the current carried it off.
So that was the end of Osmo's share of the harvest.
Pekka, the Wolf, had as little luck with his porridge. Soon he, too,
came to Mikko for advice.
"I don't know what's the matter with me," he said. "I don't seem to be
able to make good porridge. Look at yours all white and smooth! I must
watch you how you make it. Won't you let me hang my pot on your crane?
Then I'll do just as you do."
"Certainly," the Fox said. "Hang your pot on this chain and the two
pots can then cook side by side."
"Yours is so white to begin with," Pekka said, "and mine looks no
better than dirt."
"Before you came I climbed up the chain and hung over the pot," the
Fox said. "The heat of the fire melted the fat in my tail and it
dripped down into the pot. It's that fat that makes my porridge look
so white."
Poor gullible Pekka immediately suspended himself on the chain above
his porridge. But he didn't stay there long. The flames scorched him
and he fell down hurting his side. If you notice, to this day any Wolf
that you meet has stiff sides that make it hard for him to turn and
twist, and to this day all Wolves smell of burnt hair.
Well, Pekka, after he had got his breath, tasted his porridge again to
see if it was any better. But it wasn't. It was as bad as ever.
"I don't see any difference in it," he said. "Let me taste yours,
Mikko."
The Fox artfully scooped up a spoonful of the Wolf's porridge and
dropped it into his own pot.
"Help yourself," he said. "Take some out of that spot there. That's
good."
The place he pointed to was, of course, the place where he had dropped
some of the Wolf's own porridge.
So poor old stupid Pekka only sampled his own porridge again when he
thought he was tasting Mikko's.
"Strange," he said, "your porridge doesn't taste good to me either. I
don't believe anything tastes good to me to-day. The truth is I don't
believe I like porridge."
He went home sad and discouraged while Mikko, the rascal, chuckled to
himself and said:
"I wonder why Pekka doesn't like porridge. It tastes awful good to
me!"
[Decoration]
ADVENTURE XI
NURSE MIKKO
[Decoration]
The Wolf's wife gave birth to three little cubs and then died.
"You poor children!" Pekka said, "your mother is dead and there is no
one to take her place. I must get you a nurse."
So he went through the forest hunting some one to take care of his
motherless cubs. The white Grouse offered her services but, when she
sang a lullaby to show what a good nurse she could be, Pekka shook his
head.
"I don't like your voice," he said. "I can't take you."
Then Jussi, the Hare, applied for the position.
"You know I'm lame," he said, "so quiet work like nursing would suit
me."
"Can you sing lullabies?" Pekka asked.
"Oh, yes! Listen!" and Jussi began squealing.
"Stop!" Pekka cried. "I don't like your voice either."
Just then Mikko, the Fox, came running up.
"Good day, Pekka," he said. "I hear you're out looking for a nurse for
your sweet babies."
"Yes, Mikko, I am. Can you recommend one?"
"I'd like the job myself," the Fox said.
"You, Mikko?"
"Yes."
"But you can't sing lullabies, can you?"
"Oh, yes! I sing them very beautifully. Listen:
'Hushabye, sweet little cubs,
Hushabye to sleep!
Who best loves you, do you think?
Who will give you food and drink?
Who on faithful guard will keep?
Mikko! Mikko!
'Hushabye, sweet little cubs,
Mikko loves you well,
Loves each little pointed nose,
Loves your little scratchy toes,
Loves you more than he can tell--
Mikko! Mikko!'"
[Illustration: _He ran after Mikko and was about to overtake him when
Mikko slipped into a crevice in the rocks. Only one paw stuck out_]
Pekka, the Wolf, was charmed with Mikko's lullaby.
"Beautiful! Beautiful!" he said. "I never heard a sweeter lullaby!
You're the very nurse I want! Come home with me at once."
So Mikko went home with Pekka and took over the care of the three
little Wolf cubs.
"I'll go off now and get them something to eat," Pekka said.
He came back after a while with the hind leg of a horse.
"This will be enough for them to start on," he said.
The Fox shook his head.
"I'm afraid it won't last them very long. They're beautiful healthy
children with fine appetites."
"Poor little dears!" Pekka said. "Let me see them."
"Not just now!" Mikko insisted. "They're asleep and mustn't be
disturbed. Go out hunting again and the next time you come home you
shall see them."
Pekka felt that the Fox must be a very good nurse indeed to be so
strict. So he went off hunting again without seeing his children.
As soon as he was gone Mikko, the rascal, ate up all the horse meat
without giving the cubs one bite and then, as he was still hungry, he
ate one of the cubs. The next day he ate another cub, and the day
following he ate the last of them. He was just finishing that last
cub when the Wolf came home and called in at the door:
"Now, nurse, here I am come home to see my dear children! They're
well, aren't they?"
"Very well!" the Fox declared. "But they've grown so big under my good
care that the house isn't large enough now to hold them and you and me
at the same time. If you're coming in, I must get out first."
So the Wolf stood aside as the Fox came out and scampered away.
Then the Wolf went in and of course all he could find of his dear
children were their bones.
"You faithless, faithless nurse!" he cried.
In awful rage he ran after Mikko and was about to overtake him when
Mikko slipped into a crevice in the rocks. Only one paw stuck out. The
Wolf pounced on this paw and began gnawing it.
"Say, Pekka, have you gone crazy?" the Fox asked. "What do you think
you're doing biting that old root? I hope you don't think it's one of
my paws. I'm sitting on all four paws."
The Wolf looked up to see whether this was true and, quick as a flash,
Mikko, the rascal, drew in his paw.
So the poor old Wolf, fooled again, went sadly home.
[Illustration: _Of course the instant he opened his mouth the Grouse
flew away_]
[Decoration]
ADVENTURE XII
THE BEAR SAYS _NORTH_
[Decoration]
One day while Osmo, the Bear, was prowling about the woods he caught a
Grouse.
"Pretty good!" he thought to himself. "Wouldn't the other animals be
surprised if they knew old Osmo had caught a Grouse!"
He was so proud of his feat that he wanted all the world to know of
it. So, holding the Grouse carefully in his teeth without injuring it,
he began parading up and down the forest ways.
"They'll all certainly envy me this nice plump Grouse," he thought.
"And they won't be so ready to call me awkward and lumbering after
this, either!"
Presently Mikko, the Fox, sauntered by. He saw at once that Osmo was
showing off and he determined that the Bear would not get the
satisfaction of any admiration from him. So he pretended not to see
the Grouse at all. Instead he pointed his nose upwards and sniffed.
"Um! Um!" grunted Osmo, trying to attract attention to himself.
"Ah," Mikko remarked, casually, "is that you, Osmo? What way is the
wind blowing to-day? Can you tell me?"
Osmo, of course, could not answer without opening his mouth, so he
grunted again hoping that Mikko would have to notice why he couldn't
answer. But the Fox didn't glance at him at all. With his nose still
pointed upwards he kept sniffing the air.
"It seems to me it's from the South," he said. "Isn't it from the
South, Osmo?"
"Um! Um! Um!" the Bear grunted.
"You say it is from the South, Osmo? Are you sure?"
"Um! Um!" Osmo repeated, growing every moment more impatient.
"Oh, not from the South, you say. Then from what direction is it
blowing?"
By this time the Bear was so exasperated by Mikko's interest in the
wind when he should have been admiring the Grouse that he forgot
himself, opened his mouth, and roared out:
"North!"
Of course the instant he opened his mouth, the Grouse flew away.
"Now see what you've done!" he stormed angrily. "You've made me lose
my fine plump Grouse!"
"I?" Mikko asked. "What had I to do with it?"
"You kept asking me about the wind until I opened my mouth--that's
what you did!"
The Fox shrugged his shoulders.
"Why did you open your mouth?"
"Well, you can't say, 'North!' without opening your mouth, can you?"
the Bear demanded.
The Fox laughed heartily.
"See here, Osmo, don't blame me. Blame yourself. If I had had that
Grouse in my mouth and you had asked me about the wind, I should never
have said, 'North!'"
"What would you have said?" the Bear asked.
Mikko, the rascal, laughed harder than ever. Then he clenched his
teeth and said:
"East!"
[Illustration: _"Why, do you know," he said, "my turnips and my
bread don't taste a bit like this!"_]
[Decoration]
ADVENTURE XIII
OSMO'S SHARE
[Decoration]
One day Osmo, the Bear, came to a clearing where a Man was plowing.
"Good day," the Bear said. "What are you doing?"
"I'm plowing," the Man answered. "After I finish plowing I'm going to
harrow and then plant the field, half in wheat and half in turnips."
"Yum! Yum!" Osmo thought to himself. "Good food that--wheat and
turnips!"
Aloud he said:
"I know how to plow and harrow. What do you say to my helping you?"
"If you help me," the Man said, "I'll share the harvest with you."
So Osmo set to work and between them they soon had the field plowed,
harrowed, and planted.
When Autumn came they went to get their crops.
At the turnip field the Man said:
"Now what do you want as your share--the part that grows above the
ground or the part that grows below?"
Osmo, the Bear, seeing how green and luxuriant the turnip tops were,
said:
"Give me the part that grows above ground."
After they had harvested the turnips, they went on to the wheat field
where the Man put the same question.
The wheat stocks were all dry and shriveled. Osmo looked at them
wisely and said:
"This time you better give me the part that grows under the ground."
The Man laughed in his sleeve and agreed.
One day the following winter the two met and the Man invited the Bear
to dinner. Osmo who was very hungry accepted the invitation gladly.
First they had baked turnips.
"Oh, but these are good!" Osmo said. "I've never tasted anything
better! What are they?"
"Why," the Man said, "they're the turnips from that field that you and
I planted together."
The Bear was greatly surprised.
Then they had some freshly baked bread.
"How good! How good!" Osmo exclaimed. "What is it?"
"Just plain bread," the Man said, "baked from the wheat you and I
planted together."
Osmo was more surprised than ever.
"Why, do you know," he said, "my turnips and my bread don't taste a
bit like this!"
The Man burst out laughing and Osmo wondered why.
[Decoration]
[Illustration: _The first person they met was an old Horse. They
put their case to him_]
[Decoration]
ADVENTURE XIV
THE REWARD OF KINDNESS
[Decoration]
Osmo, the Bear, used to go day after day to a field of growing rye and
eat as much as he wanted. The Farmer noticed from the Bear's tracks
that he always came by the same route.
"I'll teach that Bear a lesson!" the Farmer thought to himself.
So he set a snare made of a strong net and carefully covered it over
with leaves and branches.
That day Osmo, when he came as usual to the field, got entangled in
the net and was unable to escape.
The Farmer when he came and found him securely caught was overjoyed.
"Now, you brute!" he said, "I've got you and I'm going to kill you!"
"Oh, master, don't do that!" the Bear implored. "Don't kill me!"
"Why shouldn't I kill you?" the Farmer asked. "Aren't you destroying
my rye?"