Finnish Mythology
The Lucky Goat and Ram
The wolf easily got into trouble with the farm folks. With sore ribs
and a back aching from the beating that 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."
The goat and 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?"
The goat said, "Yes, I've got a plan." So saying 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 be frightened. We'll be able to hold our own with the
forest creatures."
It was just at this moment that the wolf, appeared.
"Hal Ha!" said the wolf 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!"
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? It's good you've come along
for we're hungry. . . . Get ready, ram! Kill the wolf!"
The ram lowered his horns ready for attack and 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!"
"Get ready, ram!" commanded the goat, "Don't kill the wolf just yet!"
Then he asked the wolf, "What will you do for us if we spare you?"
"I'll send you twelve wolves," the wolf 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 to it that you keep your word!"
So the wolf went off as fast as his stiff legs could carry him and gathered twelve of his brothers.
"I've called you together," he said, "to warn you of two terrible
creatures. A goat and a ram! They are here in the forest, eating up
wolves! Already they have a sack full of our unfortunate relations'
skulls and bones! I should say we ought to flee, all of us!"
"What!" said the other wolves, "thirteen wolves flee from one goat and one ram? No, we'll go together and give them battle!"
"Don't count me in!" the wolf said. "I don't want to see those two again!"
The twelve wolves marched off without him.
As soon as the goat saw them coming, he ran up a tree. The ram followed
him, but couldn't get very high. The twelve wolves came under the tree
and standing in a flock they called out, "Now then, you two, come on!
We're ready for you!"
"Get ready, ram!" commanded the goat. "They're all here. Lose no more time! Jump down among them and kill!"
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 ram! Kill them all!" the goat shouted, rattling his sack
more furiously than ever. "Don't let a single one of them escape!"
In the confusion the wolves stampeded, running helter-skelter in all
directions and felt awfully lucky to get away. "Horrible, horrible!"
each of them thought.
Afterwards the goat and the ram lived on in the forest without being troubled by the wolves any more.
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