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Finnish Mythology

Animals Take a Bite

A farmer once dug a pit to trap animals that had been stealing his grain. By a strange chance he fell into his own pit when he bent forward and a big sack full of bait that he was carrying on his back, slid over his head and was killed in the fall. The ermine found him there. "Hm," thought the ermine, "that's the farmer himself, isn't it? I better take the sack before anyone else gets it."
So the ermine dragged the farmer's bait-sack out of the pit, put it on a sledge, and then, after taking a bite, began hauling it away.
Then 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 a sack full of bait; the farmer wanted to trap us with it," the ermine explained. "He fell into the pit that he had dug for us poor forest folk and that serves him right, too! Take a bite of the bait he wanted to use on us animals, and then come along and help me pull."
"Very well," the squirrel said. He took a bite of the farmer's bait and then marched along beside the ermine, helping him to pull the sledge.
Now they met the hare. He 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 bait that the farmer spends on us," the ermine explained. "When he was to place it in a pit he had dug for us poor forest folk, he fell into the pit himself and was killed on the spot. That serves him right! Take a good bite of the bait and then come along and help us pull."
The hare took a bite of the farmer's bait and then marched along beside the ermine and the squirrel helping them to pull the sledge.
Next they met the fox. "Goodness me!" he said, "what's that you three are hauling?"
The ermine again explained, "It's bait that the farmer has spent on us. He fell into a pit with it and broke his neck after he had dug the pit for us poor forest folk. It serves him right! Take a bite of the bait, and then come along and help us pull."
So 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 the wolf.
"Good gracious!" he cried, "what's that you four are hauling?"
The ermine explained, "It's farmer bait. He fell into the pit with it and died from the fall, after he had dug the pit to trap us poor forest folks. It serves him right, don't you think? Take a bite of his bait and then help us pull."
So 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 the bear. "Good heavens!" he rumbled, "what's that you five are hauling?"
"It's a sack of bait that the farmer has spent on us," the ermine explained. "He fell with it into the pit that he had dug for us poor forest folk and died there. It served him right, too! Take a bite of his food and then help us pull."
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.
They pulled and pulled, and whenever they felt tired or hungry they stopped and took a bite till the farmer's bait was about finished.
Then the wolf said, "See here, brothers, we've eaten up every bit of the farmer's bait except a few bones. What are we going to eat now?"
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.
The wolf said, "But the smallest have escaped!"
The bear grunted again, "Huh! The smallest now is that pop-eyed hare Let's –"
At mention of his name the hare went loping across the field and was soon at a safe distance.
The bear put his heavy paw on the fox's shoulder.
"It's your turn now," he said, "for you are the smallest of us three."
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, "Psst! 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," he said to the bear, "I don't think it would be right for us to eat the fox. You and I and the fox 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 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 from now on to be friends and planned to live near each other in the woods behind the farm.