Parker Fillmore

“ If the King refuses to give her up, then Suyettar’s evil son will devour half the kingdom, half of the castle itself, and half the shining stones. O that some hero would kill the monster and save the princess and at the same time release the Dawn that it might again steal over the world! ”

“ Osmo begged, “and I’ll reward you! I swear I will!”
He begged and begged until at last he prevailed upon the Farmer to open the net and let him out.
“Now then,” the Farmer said as soon as the Bear was freed, “how are you going to reward me?”
Osmo put a heavy paw on the Farmer’s shoulder.
“This is how I’m going to reward you,” he said: “I’m going to eat you up!”
“What!” the Farmer exclaimed, “is that your idea of a reward for kindness?”
“Exactly!” Osmo declared. “In this world that is the reward kindness always gets! Ask any one!”
“I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it!” the Farmer cried. ”

“ He killed the fish and, lo! it was not a fish but a frightened bird that struggled to escape. He killed the bird and, lo! it was not a bird but a writhing lizard. And so on through many transformations, growing finally small and weak until at last there was only a mosquito. He crushed this and in his arms he found again the lovely Ilona.
“Ah, dear one,” he said, “you are my true bride and not Suyettar who pretended she was you! Come, we will go at once to the castle and confront her!” ”

“ They lived together some time until they became close friends.
“Mikko,” said the Fox one day, “why are you so sad?”
“Because I’m lonely.”
“Pooh!” said the Fox. “That’s no way for a young man to talk! You ought to get married! Then you wouldn’t feel lonely!”
“Married!” Mikko repeated. “How can I get married? I can’t marry a poor girl because I’m too poor myself and a rich girl wouldn’t marry me.”
“Nonsense!” said the Fox. “You’re a fine well set up young man and you’re kind and gentle. What more could a princess ask?”
Mikko laughed to think of a princess wanting him for a husband. ”

“ So she packed all her ribbons and her bodices and skirts in a bright wooden box and, calling her little dog Pilka, she stepped into the boat and Osmo rowed her off in the direction of the King’s castle.
Soon they passed a long narrow spit of land at the end of which stood a woman waving her arms. That is she looked like a woman. Really she was Suyettar but they, of course, did not know this.
“Take me in your boat!” she cried.
“Shall we?” Osmo asked his sister.
“I don’t think we ought to,” Ilona said. “We don’t know who she is or what she wants and she may be evil.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ It fluttered to the ground and Mikko, the rascal, carried it off.
That afternoon Varis, the Crow, came to call on the Magpie.
“Why, my dear,” she said, looking over the fledglings, “two of your children are missing! Whatever has become of them?”
“It’s that rascally Mikko!” the Magpie cried, and thereupon she told her friend the whole story.
Varis, the Crow, listened carefully and then said:
“My dear, that miserable Fox has been fooling you! Why, he can’t cut down this tree or any other tree for that matter! He hasn’t even got an ax! Don’t let him impose on you a third time!” ”

“ At once the King’s Son hurried away to the smithy and had the smith forge him a strong iron chain and a heavy sharp scythe. Then when night fell he hid in the shadow of the boat and waited. Pilka snuggled up beside him. Midnight came and to the sweet chiming as of silver bells Ilona slowly rose from the waves. As she came she began singing:
“Peely, peely, Pilka, pide——”
Instantly the King’s Son threw the strong iron chain about her and drew her to him. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ You must have eaten up your butter yourself!”
“Of course I haven’t eaten it up myself!” the Wolf declared. “I just bet anything you took it!”
The Fox pretended to be much aggrieved.
“Pekka, I won’t have you saying such a thing! We must get at the bottom of this! I tell you what we’ll do: we’ll both lie down in the sun and the heat of the sun will melt the butter and make it run. Now then, if butter runs out of my nose then I’m the one that has eaten your butter; if it runs out of your nose, then you’ve eaten it yourself. Do you agree to this test?” ”

“ I can make an awful noise rattling them. When the Bear hears me and wonders who I am, do you say to him: ‘Oh! That must be my son, the Hunter! Don’t you hear the rattle of his musket?’ Then between us we’ll finish that old Bear.”
The Farmer did as the Fox directed. He drove the Cow home and returned to the forest with ten distaffs, five of which he fastened about the Fox’s neck and five about his tail. Then he drove the sledge on to the place where he was to meet the Bear and Mikko, the Fox, crept along quietly behind him. ”

“ So Mikko, the Fox, took a bite and then marched along beside the Ermine and the Squirrel and the Hare helping them to pull the sledge.
Next they met Pekka, the Wolf.
“Good gracious!” Pekka cried, “what’s that you four are hauling?”
The Ermine explained:
“It’s the Farmer. He fell into the pit that he had digged for us poor forest folk and serve him right, too! Take a bite of him, Pekka, and then help us pull.”
So Pekka, the Wolf, took a bite and then marched along beside the Ermine, the Squirrel, the Hare, and the Fox, helping them to pull the sledge.
Next they met Osmo, the Bear. ”

“ 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!” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Mikko laughed louder than before.
“I have heard,” he said, “that she is the most beautiful princess in the world! Any man would be happy to marry her!”
“Very well,” the Fox said, “if you feel that way about her then I’ll arrange the wedding for you.”
With that the little Fox actually did trot off to the royal castle and gain audience with the King.
“My master sends you greetings,” the Fox said, “and he begs you to loan him your bushel measure.”
“My bushel measure!” the King repeated in surprise. “Who is your master and why does he want my bushel measure?” ”

“ 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 [Pg 90] 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!” ”

“ Matti repeated with a laugh. “My dear fellow, I’m too poor to have a servant! All I have in the world are nine silver kopeks!”
“No matter, master,” the man said. “Take me anyhow. I will serve you well and I promise you will not regret our bargain.”
So Matti agreed and they walked on together. The sun was hot and by midafternoon Matti was feeling faint with hunger and fatigue.
“Master,” the Servant said, “I will run ahead to the next village and order the landlord at the inn to prepare you a fine dinner. Do you come along slowly and by the time you arrive the dinner will be ready.” ”

“ 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!” ”

“ 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?” ”

“ But, my dear Pekka, I warn you not to let him see you! If he catches sight of you, I won’t be responsible for the consequences!”
The Wolf was deeply impressed with all this. He crept carefully down 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?” ”

“ He had some waters of great strength and it was his hope to find three heroes the first of whom could drink three bottles of the strong waters, the second six bottles, and the third nine bottles.
Hundreds of youths presented themselves and out of them all the King found at last two, one of whom was able to take three bottles of the strong waters, the other six bottles.
“But we need three heroes!” the King cried. “Is there no one in all this kingdom strong enough to drink nine bottles?”
“Try Log!” some one shouted.
All the youths present instantly took up the cry:
“Log! Log! Send for Log!” ”