Finnish Mythology
TThe Boy Who Wouldn't Lose His Temper
There was once a boy who got the best of the devil. His name was Erkki.
Erkki had two brothers who were older than him. They both tried their
luck with the devil and got the worst of it. Then Erkki tried his luck.
They were sure Erkki would be worsted too, but no. Here is the whole
story:
One day the oldest brother said: "It's time for me to go out into the
world and earn my living. You two younger ones wait here at home till
you hear how I get on."
The younger boys agreed to this and the oldest brother started out. He
was unable to get employment till by chance he met the devil. The devil
at once offered him a place but on very strange terms.
"Come work for me," the devil said, "and I promise that you'll be
comfortably housed and well fed. We'll make this bargain: the first of
us who loses his temper will forfeit to the other enough of his own
hide to sole a pair of boots. If I lose my temper first, you may exact
from me a big patch of my hide. If you lose your temper first, I'll
exact the same from you."
The oldest brother agreed to this and the devil at once took him home
and set him to work. "Take this axe," he said, "and go out behind the
house and chop me some firewood."
The oldest brother took the axe and went out to the woodpile. "Chopping wood is easy enough," he thought to himself.
But at the first blow he found that the axe had no edge. Try as he
would he couldn't cut a single log. "I'd be a fool to stay here and
waste my time with such an axe!" he cried. He threw down the axe and
ran away thinking to escape the devil and get work somewhere else. But
the devil had not in mind to let him escape. He ran after him, overtook
him, and asked him what he meant leaving thus without notice.
"I don't want to work for you!" the oldest brother cried, petulantly.
"Very well," the devil said, "but don't lose your temper about it."
"I lose my temper as I will!" the oldest brother declared. "What tomfoolery - expecting me to cut wood with such an axe!"
"Well," the devil remarked, "since you insist on losing your temper,
you'll have to forfeit me enough of your hide to sole a pair of boots.
That was our bargain."
The oldest brother howled and protested but to no purpose. The devil
was firm. He took out a long knife and slit off enough of the oldest
brother's hide to sole a pair of big boots.
"Now then, my boy," he said, "now you may go."
The oldest brother went limping home, complaining bitterly at the hard fate that had befallen him.
"I'm tired and sick," he told his brothers, "and I'm going to stay home and rest. One of you will have to go out and get work."
The second brother at once said that he'd be delighted to try his luck
in the world. He started out and experienced exactly the same as the
older brother. At first he could get no work, then he met the devil and
the devil made just the same bargain with him. He took the second
brother home with him, gave him the same dull axe, and sent him out to
the woodpile. After the first stroke the second brother threw down the
axe in disgust and tried to run off, and the devil wouldn't let him go
till he had got a great patch of the boy's hide.
After a short time the brother came limping home, complaining bitterly of his fate.
"What ails you two?" Erkki said.
"You go out into the cruel world and hunt work," they told him, "and
you'll find out soon enough what ails us. And when you find out you
needn't come limping home and expect sympathy from us, for you won't
easily get it!"
The next day Erkki started out, leaving his brothers at home nursing
their sore backs and their injured feelings. Erkki experienced just the
same thing as them. At first he could get work nowhere, and then later
he met the devil and went into his employ on the same terms as his
brothers.
The devil handed him the same dull axe and sent him out to the
woodpile. At the first blow Erkki knew that the axe had lost its edge
and would never cut a single log. But instead of being discouraged and
losing his temper, he only laughed.
"I suppose the devil thinks I'll lose my hide over a trifle like this!" he said. "Well, I just won't!"
He dropped the axe and, going over to the woodpile, began pulling it
down. Under all the logs he found the devil's cat. It was a keen-eyed
creature with a grey head.
"Hm!" guessed Erkki, "I bet you have got something to do with this!"
He raised the dull axe and with one blow cut off the creature's head.
The axe at once recovered its edge, and after that Erkki had no trouble
at all with chopping as much firewood as the devil wanted.
That night at supper the devil said, "Well, Erkki, did you finish the work I gave you?"
"Yes, master, I've chopped all that wood."
The devil was surprised. "Really?"
"You can go out and see for yourself."
"Then you found something in the woodpile, didn't you?"
"Nothing but an old cat."
The devil started. "Did you do anything to that cat?"
"I only chopped its head off and threw it away."
"What!" the devil cried angrily. "Didn't you know that was my cat!"
"There now, master," Erkki said soothingly, "you're not going to lose
your temper over a dead cat, are you? Don't forget our bargain!"
The devil swallowed his anger and murmured: "No, I'm not going to lose
my temper, but I must say that was no way to treat my cat."
The next day the devil ordered Erkki to go out to the forest and bring home some logs on the ox sledge.
"My black dog will go with you," he said, "and as you come home you are to take exactly the same course the dog takes."
Well, Erkki went out to the forest and loaded the ox sledge with logs
and then drove the oxen home, following the devil's black dog. As they
reached the devil's house the black dog jumped through a hole in the
gate.
"I must follow master's orders," Erkki said to himself. So he cut up
the oxen into small pieces and put them through the same hole in the
gate; he chopped up the logs and pitched them through the hole; and he
broke up the sledge into pieces small enough to follow the oxen and the
logs. Then he crept through the hole himself.
That night at supper the devil said, "Well, Erkki, did you come home the way I told you?"
"Yes, sir, I followed the black dog."
"What!" the devil cried. "Do you mean to say you brought the oxen and the sledge and the logs through the hole in the gate?"
"Yes, master, that's what I did."
"But you couldn't!" the devil declared.
"Well," Erkki said, "just go out and see."
The devil went outside and when he saw how Erkki had carried out his
orders he was furious. But Erkki quieted him by saying, "There now,
you're not going to lose your temper over a trifling matter like this,
are you? Remember our bargain!"
"N-n-no," the devil said, again swallowing his anger, "I'm not going to
lose my temper, but I want you to understand that I think you've acted
very badly in this!"
All that evening the devil fumed and fussed about Erkki.
"We've got to get rid of that boy! That's all there is about it!" he
said to his wife. Whenever Erkki was in sight the devil tried to smile
and look pleasant, but when Erkki was gone, he went back at once to his
grievance. He said emphatically, "There's no living in peace and
comfort with such a boy around!"
"Well," his wife said, "if you feel that way about it, why don't you
kill him tonight when he's asleep? We could throw his body into the
lake and no one will find out of it."
"That's a fine idea!" the devil said. "Wake me up some time after midnight and I'll do it!"
Now Erkki overheard this little plan, so that night he kept awake. When
he knew from their snoring that the devil and his wife were sound
asleep, he slipped over to their bed, quietly lifted the devil's wife
in his arms, and without waking her up placed her gently in his own
bed. Then he put on some of her clothes and laid himself down beside
the devil in the wife's place.
Presently he nudged the devil awake.
"What do you want?" the devil mumbled.
"Shh!" Erkki whispered. "Isn't it time we got up and killed Erkki?"
"Yes," the devil answered, "it is. Come along."
They got up quietly and the devil reached down a great sword from the
wall. Then they crept over to Erkki's bed. With one blow the devil cut
off the head of the person lying there asleep.
"Now," he said, "we'll just carry out the bed and all and dump it in the lake."
So Erkki took one end of the bed and the devil the other, and,
stumbling and slipping in the darkness, they carried it down to the
lake and pitched it in.
"That's a good job done!" the devil said with a laugh.
Then they went back to bed together and the devil fell asleep at once.
Next morning when he got up for breakfast, there was Erkki stirring the
porridge.
"How – did you get here?" the devil asked. "I mean – I mean where's my wife?"
"Your wife? Don't you remember," Erkki said, "you cut off her head last
night and then we threw her into the lake, bed and all! But no one will
know about it!"
"What!" the devil cried, and he was about to fly into an awful rage
when Erkki restrained him by saying, "There now, you're not going to
lose your temper over a wife, are you? Remember our bargain!"
So the devil was forced again to swallow his anger.
"No, I'm not going to lose my temper," he said, "but I tell you frankly
that I don't think that was a nice trick for you to play on me!"
The devil felt lonely now he did not have a wife about the house, so in a few days he decided to go off wooing for a new one.
"And, Erkki," he said, "I expect you to keep busy while I'm gone.
Here's a keg of red paint. Get to work and have the house all blazing
red by the time I get back."
"All blazing red," Erkki repeated. "Very well, trust me to have it all blazing red by the time you get back!"
As soon as the devil was gone, Erkki set the house afire and in a short
time the whole sky was lighted up with the red glow of the flames. In
great fright the devil hurried back and got there in time to see the
house one mass of fire.
"You see," Erkki said, "I've done exactly as you told me. It looks very pretty, doesn't it? All blazing red!"
The devil almost choked with rage. "You – you –" he began,
but Erkki restrained him by saying, "There now, you're not going to
lose your temper over just a house afire, are you? Remember our
bargain!"
The devil swallowed hard and said, "N – no, I'm not going to lose
my temper, but I must say I'm very much annoyed with you!"
Next day the devil wanted to go wooing again and before he started he
said to Erkki, "Now, no nonsense this time! While I'm gone you are to
build three bridges over the lake, but they are not to be built of wood
or stone or iron or earth. Do you understand?"
Erkki pretended to be frightened. "That's a pretty hard task you've given me," he said.
"Hard or easy, see that you get it done!" the devil said.
Erkki waited till the devil was gone, then he went out to the field and
slaughtered all the devil's cattle. From the bones of the cattle he
laid three bridges across the lake, using the skulls for one bridge,
the ribs for another and the legs and the hoofs for the third. Then
when the devil got back, Erkki met him and pointing to the bridges
said, "See, master, there they are, three bridges put together without
stick, stone, iron, or bit of earth!"
When the devil found out that all his cattle had been slaughtered to
give bones for the bridges, he was ready to kill Erkki, but Erkki
quieted him by saying, "There now, you're not going to lose your temper
over a few cattle, are you? Remember our bargain!"
Once again the devil managed to swallow his anger. "No," he said, "I'm
not going to lose my temper, but I just want to tell you that I don't
think you're behaving well!"
The devil had success with his wooing, and quite soon he brought home a
new wife. The new wife didn't like having Erkki around, so the devil
promised her he'd kill the boy.
"I'll do it tonight," he said, "when he's asleep."
Erkki overheard this and that night he put the milk churn in his bed
under the covers, and where his head ordinarily would be he put a big
round stone. Then he himself curled up on the stove and went
comfortably to sleep.
During the night the devil took his great sword from the wall and went
over to Erkki's bed. His first blow hit the round stone and nicked the
sword. His second blow struck sparks.
"Mercy me!" the devil thought. "He's got a mighty hard head! I had better strike lower!"
With the third stroke he hit the churn a mighty blow. The hoops flew apart and the churn collapsed.
The devil went chuckling back to bed. "Ha!" he said to his wife, "I got him that time!"
But next morning when he woke up, there was Erkki as lively as ever and
pretending that nothing had happened. "What!" cried the devil amazed,
"didn't you feel anything strike you last night while you were asleep?"
"I felt a few mosquitoes brushing my cheek," Erkki said.
"Steel doesn't touch him!" the devil said to his wife. "I think I'll try fire on him."
So that night the devil told Erkki to sleep in the threshing barn.
Erkki carried his cot down to the threshing floor and then when it was
dark he shifted it into the hay barn where he slept comfortably all
night.
During the night the devil set fire to the threshing barn. In the early
dawn Erkki carried his cot back to the place of the threshing barn and
in the morning when the devil came out, the first thing he saw was
Erkki unharmed and peacefully sleeping among the smoking ruins,
"Mercy me, Erkki!" he shouted, shaking him awake, "have you been asleep all night?"
Erkki sat up and yawned. "Yes, I've had a fine night's sleep. But I did feel a little chilly."
"Chilly!" the devil gasped.
After that the devil's one thought was to get rid of Erkki. "That boy's
getting on my nerves!" he told his wife. "I just cannot stand this much
longer! What are we going to do about him?"
They discussed one plan after another and at last decided that the only
way they'd ever get rid of him would be to move away and leave him
behind.
"I'll send him out to the forest to chop wood all day," the devil said,
"and while he's gone we'll row ourselves and all our belongings out to
an island, and when he comes back he won't know where we've gone."
Erkki overheard the plan and the next day when they were sure he was
safely at work in the forest, he slipped back and hid himself in the
bedclothes. Then, when they got to the island and began unpacking their
things there was Erkki in the bedclothes!
The devil's new wife complained bitterly. "If you really loved me," she said, "you'd cut off that boy's head!"
"But I've tried to cut it off!" the devil declared, "and I never can do
it! I've always known the good Finns were an obstinate lot but I must
say I've never met one as Erkki!"
But the devil's wife kept on complaining until at last the devil promised that he would try once again to cut off Erkki's head.
"Very well," his wife said, "tonight when he's asleep I'll wake you."
But the moving and everything had made the wife very tired, and as soon
as she went to bed she fell asleep. That gave Erkki just the chance he
needed to try on the new wife the trick he had played on the old one.
Without waking her he carried her to his bed and then laid himself down
in her place beside the devil. Then he woke up the devil and reminded
him in the bedroom darkness that he had promised to cut off Erkki's
head.
The got up and went over to Erkki's bed and cut off the head of his new
wife without knowing it was her. Next morning when he had found out
what he had done, he was furious.
"You get right out of here, Erkki!" he roared. "I never want to see you again!"
"There now," Erkki said, "you're not going to lose your temper over a dead wife, are you?"
"I am so going to lose my temper!" the devil shouted. "And what's more,
I liked this wife, I did, and I don't know where I'll get another one I
like as well as her! So you just clear out of here and be quick about
it, too!"
"Very well, then," said Erkki, "I'll go, but not until you pay me what you owe me."
"What I owe you!" bellowed the devil. "What about all you owe me for my
house, my cattle, my old wife, my dear new wife and everything!"
"You've lost your temper," Erkki said, "and now you've got to pay me a
patch of your hide big enough to sole a pair of boots. That was our
bargain!"
The devil roared and blustered but Erkki was firm. He wouldn't budge a
step till the devil had allowed him to slit a great patch of hide off
his back.
That piece of the devil's hide made the finest soles that a pair of
boots ever had. It wore for years and years. In fact, Erkki is still
tramping around on those same soles. The fame of them has spread over
all the land and it has got so that now people stop Erkki on the
highway to look at his wonderful boots soled with the devil's hide.
Travellers from foreign countries are deeply interested when they hear
about the boots, and when they meet Erkki they question him closely.
"Tell us," they beg him, "how did you get the devil's hide in the first place?"
Erkki always laughs and makes the same answer, "I got it by not losing my temper!"
As for the devil, he's never again made a bargain like the one he made with the tree brothers.
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