Chapter III: Susan Walker, What a Talker! (1)

[Decoration]

There was once a man whose wife was an awful talker. Her name was Susanna. No matter how important it was to keep a matter quiet, if Susanna knew about it, she just had to talk. She was always running to the neighbors and exclaiming:

"Oh, my dear, have you heard so and so?"

Her husband was an industrious fellow. He set nets in the river, he snared birds in the forest, and he worked at any odd jobs that came along.

It happened one day while he was out in the forest that he found a buried treasure.

"Ah!" he thought to himself, "now I can buy a little farm that will keep me and Susanna comfortable the rest of our days!"

He started home at once to tell his wife the good fortune that had befallen them. He had almost reached home when he stopped, suddenly realizing that the first thing Susanna would do would be to spread the news broadcast throughout the village. Then of course the government would get wind of his find and presently officers of the law would come and confiscate the entire treasure.

"That would never do," he told himself. "I must think out some plan whereby I can let Susanna know about the treasure without risking the loss of it."

He puzzled over the matter for a long time and at last hit upon something that he thought might prove successful.

In his nets that day he had caught a pike and in one of his snares he had found a grouse. He went back now to the river and put the bird in the fishnet, and then he went to the woods and put the fish in the snare. This done he went home and at once told Susanna about the buried treasure which was going to be the means of making their old age comfortable.

She flew at once into great excitement.

"La! La! A buried treasure! Whoever heard of such luck! Oh, how all the neighbors will envy us when they hear about it! I can hardly wait to tell them!"

"But they mustn't hear!" her husband told her. "You don't want the officers of the law coming and taking it all from us, do you?"

"That would be a nice how-do-you-do!" Susanna cried. "What! Come and take our treasure that you found yourself in the forest?"

"Yes, my dear, that's exactly what they'd do if once they heard about it."

"Well, you can depend upon it, my dear husband, not a soul will hear about it from me!"

She shook her head vigorously and repeated this many times and then tried to slip out of the house on some such excuse as needing to borrow a cup of meal from a neighbor.

But the man insisted on her staying beside him all evening. She kept remembering little errands that would take her to the houses of various neighbors but each time she attempted to leave her husband called her back. At last he got her safely to bed.

Early next morning, before she had been able to talk to any one, he said:

"Now, my dear, come with me to the forest and help me to carry home the treasure. On the way we'd better see if we've got anything in the nets and the snares."

They went first to the river and when the man had lifted his nets they found a grouse which he made Susanna reach over and get. Then in the woods he let her make the discovery of a pike in one of the snares. She was all the while so excited about the treasure that she hadn't mind enough left to be surprised that a bird should be caught in a fishnet and a fish in a birdsnare.

Well, they found the precious treasure and they stowed it away in two sacks which they carried home on their backs. On the way home Susanna could scarcely refrain from calling out to every passerby some hint of their good fortune. As they passed the house of Helmi, her dearest crony, she said to her husband:

"My dear, won't you just wait here a moment while I run in and get a drink of water?"

"You mustn't go in just now," her husband said. "Don't you hear what's going on?"

There was the sound of two dogs fighting and yelping in the kitchen.

"Helmi is getting a beating from her husband," the man said. "Can't you hear her crying? This is no time for an outsider to appear."

All that day and all that night he kept so close to Susanna that the poor woman wasn't able to exchange a word with another human being.

Early next morning she escaped him and ran as fast as her legs could carry her to Helmi's house.

"My dear," she began all out of breath, "such a wonderful treasure as we've found but I've sworn never to whisper a word about it for fear the government should hear of it! I should have stopped and told you yesterday but your husband was beating you--"

"What's that?" cried Helmi's husband who came in just then and caught the last words.

"It's the treasure we've found!"

"The treasure? What are you talking about? Begin at the beginning."

"Well, my old man and me we started out yesterday morning and first we went to the river to see if there was anything in the nets. We found a grouse--"

"A grouse?"

"Yes, we found a grouse in the nets. Then we went to the forest and looked in the snares and in one we found a pike."

"A pike!"

"Yes. Then we went and dug up the treasure and put it in two sacks and you could have seen us yourself carrying it home on our backs but you were too busy beating poor Helmi."

"I beating poor Helmi! Ho! Ho! Ho! That is a good one! I was busy beating my wife while you were getting birds out of fishnets and fish out of snares! Ho! Ho! Ho!"

"It's so!" Susanna cried. "It is so! You were so beating Helmi! And you sounded just like two dogs fighting! And we did so carry home the treasure!"

But Helmi's husband only laughed the harder. That afternoon when he went to the Inn he was still laughing and when the men there asked him what was so funny he told them Susanna's story and soon the whole village was laughing at the foolish woman who found birds in fishnets and fish in snares and who thought that two yelping dogs were Helmi and her husband fighting.

As for the treasure that wasn't taken any more seriously than the grouse and the pike.

"It must have been two sacks of turnips they carried home on their backs!" the village people decided.

The husband of course said nothing and Susanna, too, was soon forced to keep quiet for now whenever she tried to explain people only laughed.

MIKKO, THE FOX

[Decoration]

_A Nursery Epic in Sixteen Adventures_

[Decoration]

ADVENTURE I

THE ANIMALS TAKE A BITE

[Decoration]

A Farmer once dug a pit to trap the Animals that had been stealing his grain. By a strange chance he fell into his own pit and was killed.

The Ermine found him there.

"H'm," thought the Ermine, "that's the Farmer himself, isn't it? I better take him before any one else gets him."

So the Ermine dragged the Farmer's body out of the pit, put it on a sledge, and then, after taking a bite, began hauling it away.

Presently he met the Squirrel who clapped his hands in surprise.

"God bless you, brother!" the Squirrel exclaimed, "what's that you're hauling behind you?"

"It's the Farmer himself," the Ermine explained. "He fell into the pit that he had digged for us poor forest folk and serve him right, too! Take a bite of him and then come along and help me pull."

"Very well," the Squirrel said.

He took a bite of the Farmer and then marched along beside the Ermine, helping him to pull the sledge.

Presently they met Jussi, the Hare. Jussi looked at them in amazement, his eyes popping out of his head.

"Mercy me!" he cried, "what's that you two are hauling?"

"It's the Farmer," the Ermine explained. "He fell into the pit that he digged for us poor forest folk and serve him right, too! Take a bite of him, Jussi, and then come along and help us pull."

So Jussi, the Hare, took a bite of the Farmer and then marched along beside the Ermine and the Squirrel helping them to pull the sledge.

Next they met Mikko, the Fox.

"Goodness me!" Mikko said, "what's that you three are hauling?"

The Ermine again 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, Mikko, and then come along and help us pull."

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.

"Good heavens!" Osmo rumbled, "what's that you five are hauling?"

"It's the Farmer," the Ermine explained. "He fell into the pit that he had digged for us poor forest folk and serve him right, too! Take a bite of him, Osmo, and then help us pull."

So Osmo, the Bear, took a bite and then marched along beside the Ermine, the Squirrel, the Hare, the Fox, and the Wolf, helping them to pull the sledge.

Well, they pulled and they pulled and whenever they felt tired or hungry they stopped and took a bite until the Farmer was about finished.

Then Pekka, the Wolf, said:

"See here, brothers, we've eaten up every bit of the Farmer except his beard. What are we going to eat now?"

Osmo, the Bear, grunted out:

"Huh! That's easy! We'll eat the smallest of us next!"

He had no sooner spoken than the Squirrel ran up a tree and the Ermine slipped under a stone.

Pekka, the Wolf said:

"But the smallest have escaped!"

Osmo, the Bear, grunted again:

"Huh! The smallest now is that pop-eyed Jussi! Let's--"

At mention of his name the Hare went loping across the field and was soon at a safe distance.

Osmo, the Bear, put his heavy paw on the Fox's shoulder.

"Mikko," he said, "it's your turn now for you're the smallest of us three."

Mikko, the Fox, pretended not to be at all afraid.

"That's true," he said, "I'm the smallest. All right, brothers, I'm ready. But before you eat me I wish you'd take me to the top of the hill. Down here in the valley it's so gloomy."

"Very well," the others agreed, "we'll go where you say. It is more cheerful there."

As they climbed the hill the Fox whispered to the Wolf:

"Sst! Pekka! When you eat me whose turn will it be then? Who will be the smallest then?"

"Mercy me!" the Wolf cried, "it will be my turn then, won't it?"

The terror of the thought quite took his appetite away.

"See here, Osmo," he said to the Bear, "I don't think it would be right for us to eat Mikko. You and I and Mikko ought to be friends and live together in peace. Now let's take a vote on the matter and we'll do whatever the majority says. I vote that we three be friends. What do you say, Mikko?"

The Fox said that he agreed with the Wolf. It would be much better all around if they three were friends.

"Well," grunted Osmo, the Bear, "it's no use my voting for you two make a majority. But I must say I'm sorry to have you vote this way for I'm hungry."

So the three animals, the Bear, the Wolf, and the Fox, agreed henceforward to be friends and planned to live near each other in the woods behind the Farm.

[Decoration]

ADVENTURE II

THE PARTNERS

[Decoration]

The Bear and the Wolf and the Fox made houses quite close together and the Wolf and the Fox decided to go into partnership.

"The first thing we ought to do," said Pekka, the Wolf, "is make a clearing in the forest and plant some crops."

The Fox agreed and the very next day they started out to work. Each had a crock with three pats of butter for his dinner. They left their crocks in the cool water of a little spring in the forest not far from the place where they had decided to make a clearing.

It was hard work felling trees and the Fox, soon tiring of it, made some sort of excuse to run off. When he came back he said to the Wolf:

"Pekka, the folks at the Farm are having a christening and have sent me an invitation to attend."

"It's too bad we're so busy to-day," the Wolf said. "Another day you might have gone."

"But I must go," the Fox insisted. "They've been good neighbors to us and they'd be insulted if I refused."

"Very well," the Wolf said, "if you feel that way about it you better go. But hurry back for we have a lot to do."

So the Fox trotted off but he got no farther than the spring where the butter crocks were cooling. He took the Wolf's crock and licked off the top layer of butter. Then after a while he went back to the clearing.

"Well, Mikko," the Wolf said, "is the christening over?"

"Yes, it's over."

"What did they name the child?"

"They named it Top."

"Top? That's a strange name!"

In a few moments the Fox again ran off and returned with the announcement that there was to be another christening at the Farm and again they wanted him to attend.

"Another christening!" the Wolf exclaimed. "How can that be?"

"This time the daughter has a baby."

"You're not going, are you, Mikko? You can't always be going to christenings."

"That's true, Pekka, that's true," said the Fox, "but I think I must go this time."

The Wolf sighed.

"You will hurry back, won't you? This work is too much for me alone."

"Yes, Pekka dear," the Fox promised, "I'll hurry back as quickly as I can."

So he trotted off again to the spring and the Wolf's butter crock. This time he ate the middle pat of the Wolf's butter, then slowly sauntered back to the clearing.

"Well," said the Wolf, pausing a moment in his work, "what did they name the baby this time?"

"This one they named Middle."

"Middle? That's a strange name to give a baby!"

For a few moments the Fox pretended to work hard. Then he ran off again. When he came back, he said:

"Pekka, do you know they're having another christening at the Farm and they say that I just must come."

"Another christening! Now, Mikko, that's too much! How can they be having another christening?"

"Well, this time it's the daughter-in-law that has a baby."

"I don't care who it is," the Wolf said, "you just can't go. You've got some work to do, you have!"

The Fox agreed:

"You're right, Pekka, you're right! I'm entirely too busy to be running off all the time to christenings! I'd say, 'No!' in a minute if it wasn't that we are new settlers and they are our nearest neighbors. As it is I'm afraid they'd think it wasn't neighborly if I didn't come. But I'll hurry back, I promise you!"

So for the third time the Fox trotted off to the little spring and this time he licked the Wolf's butter crock clean to the bottom. Then he went slowly back to the clearing and told the Wolf about the christening and the baby.

"They've named this one Bottom," he said.

"Bottom!" the Wolf echoed. "What funny names they give children nowadays!"

The Fox pretended to work hard for a few minutes, then threw himself down exhausted.

"Heigh ho!" he said, with a yawn, "I'm so tired and hungry it must be dinner time!"

The Wolf looked at the sun and said:

"Yes, I think we had better rest now and eat."

So they went to the spring and got their butter crocks. The Wolf found that his had already been licked clean.

"Mikko!" he cried, "have you been at my butter?"

"Me?" the Fox said in a tone of great innocence. "How could I have been at your butter when you know perfectly well that I've been working right beside you all morning except when I was away at the christenings? 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?"

The Wolf said, yes, he agreed, and at once lay down in the sun. He had been working so hard that he was very tired and in a few moments he was sound asleep. Thereupon the Fox slipped over and daubed a little lump of butter on the end of his nose. The sun melted the butter and then, of course, it looked as if it were running out of the Wolf's nose.

"Wake up, Pekka! Wake up!" the Fox cried. "There's butter running out of your nose!"

The Wolf awoke and felt his nose with his tongue.

"Why, Mikko," he said in surprise, "so there is! Well, I suppose I must have eaten that butter myself but I give you my word for it I don't remember doing it!"

"Well," said the Fox, pretending still to feel hurt, "you shouldn't always suspect me."

When they went back to the clearing, the Wolf began pulling the brush together to burn it up and the Fox slipped away and lay down behind some brushes.

"Mikko! Mikko!" the Wolf called. "Aren't you going to help me burn the brush?"

"You set it a-fire," the Fox called back, "and I'll stay here to guard against any flying sparks. We don't want to burn down the whole forest!"

So the Wolf burned up all the brush while the Fox took a pleasant nap.

Then when he was ready to plant the seed in the rich wood ashes, the Wolf again called out to the Fox to come help him.

"You do the planting, Pekka," the Fox called back, "and I'll stay here and frighten off the birds. If I don't they'll come and pick up every seed you plant."

So Mikko, the rascal, took another nap while the poor Wolf planted the field he had already cleared and burned.

[Decoration]

ADVENTURE III

THE FOX AND THE CROW

[Decoration]

In a short time the field that Pekka, the Wolf, had planted began to sprout. Pekka was delighted.

"See, Mikko," he said to the Fox, "our grain is growing and we shall soon be harvesting it!"

The Fox turned up his nose indifferently.

"If we don't get something to eat before that grain ripens," he said, "we'll starve, both of us! While we wait for the harvest I think we better go out hunting. I'm going this minute for I tell you I'm hungry!"

The Fox went sniffing into the forest and finally came to the tree where Harakka, the Magpie, had her nest. The Fox, cocking his head, paced slowly round and round the tree, looking at it from every angle. Harakka, the Magpie, sitting on her nest among her fledglings began to feel nervous.

"Say, Mikko," she called down, "what are you looking at?"

At first the Fox made no answer. Deep in thought, apparently, he nodded his head and murmured:

"Yes, the very tree!"

Harakka, the Magpie, again called down:

"What are you looking at, Mikko?"

The Fox started as though he had heard the question for the first time.

"Ah, Harakka, is that you? Good day to you! I hope you are well! I hope the children are all well! I was so busy looking for the right tree that I didn't recognize you at first. You see I have to cut down a tree to get wood for a new pair of _skis_. This tree is just the one I want."

"Oh, mercy me!" the Magpie cried. "You can't cut down this tree! Do you want to kill all my children? This is our home!"

Mikko, the rascal, pretended to be very sympathetic.

"I'm awfully sorry to have to disturb you, truly I am, but I'm afraid I do have to cut down this tree. I can't find another that suits me as well."

The Magpie flapped her wings in despair.

"You hard-hearted wretch! What will you take not to cut down this tree?"

The Fox put his paw to his head and pretended to think hard. After a moment he said:

"Well, Harakka, I'll make you this offer: I'll leave this tree standing provided you throw me down one of your fledglings."

"What!" the poor Magpie shrieked. "Give you one of my babies! I'll never do that! Never! Never! _Never!_"

"Oh, very well! Just as you like! If I cut the tree down I can get them all. But I thought for the sake of old times I'd ask for only one. However, do as you think best."

What could the poor Magpie say? If the tree were felled and her fledglings thrown out of the nest they would certainly all perish. Perhaps it would be wise to sacrifice one to save the rest.

"You promise to let the tree stand," she said, "if I give you one of my children?"

"Yes," the rascal promised, "just drop me one of your fledglings, a nice plump one, and I won't cut down the tree."

With shaking claw Harakka pushed one of her children over the edge of the nest. It fluttered to the ground and Mikko carried it off.

Well, the next day what did that Fox do but come back and begin pacing around the tree again.

"Yes," he said, pretending to talk to himself, "this is the best tree I can find. I might as well cut it down at once."

"But, Mikko!" cried the Magpie, "you forget! You said you wouldn't cut down this tree if I gave you one of my children and I did give you one!"

The Fox flipped his tail indifferently.

"I know," he said, "I did promise but I thought then I could find another tree that would suit me as well as this one, but I can't. I've looked everywhere and I can't. I'm sorry but I'm afraid that I'll just have to take this tree."

"O dear, O dear, O dear!" the poor distracted Magpie wept. "Will nothing make you leave this tree stand?"

The Fox smacked his lips.

"Well, Harakka, drop me down another of your fledglings and I won't disturb the tree. I promise."

"What! Another of my babies! Oh, you wretch!"

"Well, suit yourself," Mikko said. "One of your fledglings and you can keep the others safe in the nest, or I'll cut the tree down."

What could the poor Magpie do? Wouldn't it be better to sacrifice another fledgling on the chance of saving the rest? Yes, it would! So she pushed another out of the nest. 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!"

So the very next day when the Fox came and again tried the same little trick, Harakka, the Magpie, tossed her head scornfully and said:

"Go along, you rascal! You can't fool me again! How can you cut down this tree or any other for that matter when you haven't even got an ax!"

The Fox was furious at being cheated of his dinner.

"You didn't think that out yourself, Harakka!" he said. "Some one's been talking to you! Who was it?"

"It was my dear friend, Varis," the Magpie said. "She's on to your tricks!"

"I'll teach that Crow to interfere with my affairs!" the Fox muttered to himself as he trotted off.

He went to an open field and lay down with his mouth open, pretending to be dead.

"I'm sure Varis will soon spy me!" he said to himself.

He was right. Presently the Crow began circling above him. She flew nearer and nearer and at last alighted on his head. His tongue was lolling out and Varis decided to have her first bite there. She gave it a sharp peck at which the Fox jumped up and caught her in his paws.

"Ha! Ha!" he cried. "So you're the one who spoiled my little game with Harakka, are you? Well, I'll teach you not to interfere with me! As I haven't got one of Harakka's fledglings for my dinner, I'm going to take you!"

"You don't mean you're going to eat me!" cried the Crow in terror.

"That's exactly what I mean!"

"No, no, Mikko! Don't do that!"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do! I'm going to teach you birds that I'm not an animal to be played jokes on!"

"I suppose," the Crow said, sighing, "if it must be, it must be! But, Mikko, if you really want to use me as a warning to the other birds, you oughtn't to eat me right down. It would be much better if you dragged me along the ground first. Then they'd see a wing here, a leg there, and a long trail of feathers. That really would terrify them."

"I believe you're right," the Fox said.

He put the Crow down on the ground and lifted his paw for a moment to change his hold. The Crow instantly jerked away and escaped.

"Ha! Ha!" she cawed as she flew off. "You were clever enough to catch me, Mikko, but you weren't clever enough to eat me when you had me!"

So this was one time when Mikko, the Fox, was worsted.

[Decoration]

ADVENTURE IV

THE CHIEF MOURNER

[Decoration]

"Mercy me!" thought Mikko to himself as he watched Varis, the Crow, fly away, "this is certainly my unlucky day! There I had my dinner right in my hand and then lost it!"

Sighing and shaking his head he sauntered slowly back to the forest.

Now it happened that Osmo, the Bear, had just lost his wife and was out looking for some one to bewail her death. The first person he met was Pekka, the Wolf.

"Pekka," he said, "my wife's dead and I'm out looking for a good strong mourner. Can you mourn?"

"Me? Indeed I can! Just listen!"

Pekka, the Wolf, pointed his nose to the sky and let out a long shivery howl.

"There!" he said. "I don't believe you'll find any one that can do any better than that!"

But Osmo, the Bear, shook his head.

"No, Pekka, you won't do. I don't like your mourning at all!"

The Bear ambled on and presently he met the Hare.

"Good day, Jussi," he said. "Are you any good at mourning? Show me what you can do."

The Hare gave some frightened squeaks as his idea of mourning the dead.

"No, no," Osmo said, "I don't like your mourning either."

So he walked on farther until by chance he met the Fox.

"Mikko," he said, "my wife's dead and I'm out looking for a good strong mourner. Can you mourn?"

"Can I? Indeed I can!" the Fox declared. "I'm a marvel at mourning! I can wail high and low and soft and loud and just any way you want! Listen!" And Mikko, beginning with a little whimpering sound, slowly rose to a high heartrending cry. This is what he wailed:

"_Med! Med! Med!_
The Bear's Wife is dead!
_Lax! Lax! Lax!_
No more she'll spin the flax!
_Eyes! Eyes! Eyes!_
No more she'll bake the pies!
_Air! Air! Air!_
No more she'll drive the mare!
_Shakes! Shakes! Shakes!_
There'll be no more little cakes!
_Darth! Darth! Darth!_
Throw the pots on the hearth
For the Bear's Wife is dead!
_Med! Med! Med!_"

Osmo, the Bear, was deeply moved.

"Beautiful! Beautiful!" he grunted hoarsely. "How well you knew her! Come along home with me, Mikko, and start right in! Oh, how beautifully you wail!"

So Mikko went home with the Bear. The old Bear Wife was laid out on a bench in the kitchen.

"Now then," the Bear said, "you begin the wailing while I cook the porridge."

"No, no, Osmo," the Fox said, "I couldn't possibly wail in here! The place is full of smoke and my voice would get husky in two minutes! Can't you lay her out in the storehouse?"

The Bear demurred but the Fox insisted and at last had his way. So together they dragged the body of the old Bear Wife out to the storehouse. The Fox stood beside the body ready to begin his wailing and the Bear went back to the kitchen.

The moment the Bear was out of sight Mikko, the rascal, instead of bewailing the old Bear Wife began gobbling her up! He just gobbled and gobbled and gobbled as fast as he could.

"What's the matter?" the Bear called out after a few minutes. "Why don't you begin?"

The Fox made no reply but kept on gobbling as hard as he could.

"Mikko! Mikko!" the Bear called out again. "What's the matter? Why aren't you howling?"

By this time the Fox had made a good dinner, so he called back:

"Don't bother me! I'm busy eating! Yum! Yum! Yum! Bear meat is awful good! Just give me a few more minutes and I'll be finished!"

At that the Bear rushed out of the kitchen in a terrible rage but the Fox was already running off and the Bear was unable to catch him. He did hit the end of his tail with the long spoon with which he had been measuring the meal, but that was all.

Mikko, the rascal, got safely away. However, to this day his tail shows the white mark of the meal.

[Decoration]

ADVENTURE V

MIRRI, THE CAT

[Decoration]

One day while the Fox was out walking in the forest he met a stranger.

"Good day," he said. "Who are you?"

"I am Mirri," the stranger said, "a poor unfortunate Cat out of employment. I had service in a decent family but I've had to leave them."

"Did they treat you badly?" the Fox asked.

"No, it wasn't that. They were considerate enough but they kept getting poorer and poorer until finally they hadn't food enough to feed us animals. Then I overheard the master say that soon they'd be forced to eat us and that they'd begin with me. At that I decided it was time for me to run away and here I am."

"My poor Cat," Mikko said, "you've had a cruel experience! Why don't you take service with me?"

"Will I be safe with you?" the Cat asked. "Will you protect me?"

"Will I?" the Fox repeated boastfully. "My dear Mirri, once it becomes known that you are Mikko's servant all the animals will show you a wholesome respect."

"Well then, I'll enter your service," the Cat said.

So the bargain was struck and the Fox at once began to train his new servant.

"Now, Mirri, tell me: what would you do if you suddenly met a Bear?"

"There's just one thing I could do, master: I'd run up a tree."

The Fox laughed.

"You must have more ways than one to meet such a situation! Take me now: there are any of a hundred things that I could do if I met a Bear!"

Just then Osmo, the Bear, ambled softly up behind the Fox. The Cat saw him and instantly flew up a tree. Before the Fox could move Osmo clutched him firmly on the shoulder with his teeth.

"Oh, master, master!" the Cat called down from the tree. "What's this? I with my one way have escaped and you with your hundred are caught!"

But the Fox paid no heed to the Cat. He twisted his head around and looked reproachfully at the Bear.

"Why, Osmo, my dear old friend!" he said, "what in the world do you mean taking hold of me so roughly! Ouch! You're nipping my shoulder, really you are! I don't understand why you're acting this way! Here I've always been such a good friend to you, so faithful, so true, so--"

"What!" rumbled the Bear. "Faithful! True! Oh, you--"

Osmo's feelings overcame him to such an extent that he opened his jaws to roar out freely his denial of the Fox's hypocrisy.

That gave the Fox just the chance he wanted. He jerked quickly away and fled and the Bear was left standing with his mouth wide open.

Later when the Bear had ambled off the Fox returned and called the Cat down from the tree.

"You see, Mirri," he remarked casually, "it wasn't anything at all for me to get the best of the Bear!"

He could see that he had vastly impressed the Cat, so he let the subject drop.

"Come along, Mirri," he said, "it's time for us to go home."

[Decoration]

[Decoration]

ADVENTURE VI

THE FOX'S SERVANT

[Decoration]

A day or so later the Fox met Pekka, the Wolf. The Fox hadn't seen much of Pekka recently for Pekka had been having a hard time and had been on the verge of starvation. Now he was sleek again and well fed for he had recently killed an Ox.

"Good day, Pekka," the Fox said in a friendly way.

"Good day, Mikko. How are you?"

"Very fine indeed!" the Fox said. "You see I have a new servant. Oh, he's a wonderful servant! He's not big to look at, you know, but he's so strong and quick that he'd jump on you in a minute and eat you up before you knew what was happening!"

"Really, Mikko?"

"Yes, really! You just ought to see him!"

"I'd like to see him," the Wolf said.

"Well, you might slip down now and take a peep in the kitchen. He's at home. 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?"

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.

"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]

[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]

[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.

[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."