it was not
long before all of them had gone to bed and were sound asleep.

Early the next morning they were all awakened by a dull thud and a
smothered shout. Erik and Father Mikko jumped up and lit a lantern, and
then hurried to the door, which stood open. They had dug a passage-way
out through the snow the day before, and they saw that the walls of snow
had just caved in, and sticking out of the middle of the heap was a pair
of small legs waving about wildly in the air.

The next minute they had pulled out the owner of the legs, and little
Antero stood before them, looking very much frightened and very foolish
too. He had his snow-shoes and some meat with him, and managed to
explain, between his sobs, that he had intended to go and hunt for
reindeer in Lapland, the way Lemminkainen did in the story, but his
snow-shoe had caught in the wall and disaster had overtaken him. The
would-be hero was promptly taken in charge by Mother Stina, and soon all
was quiet again.

When they went out the next morning, they found that the snow had long
since stopped, but the wind was blowing so hard and it was so bitterly
cold, that Father Mikko was easily persuaded to stay another day.

After dinner they settled down exactly as the day before, Mimi in
'Pappa' Mikko's lap again, and in a few minutes he began to tell them
some more of his wonderful stories.

'I will tell you about some one you have not heard of yet,' Father Mikko
said; 'about _Kullervo_, though I am sure you will none of you like
Kullervo himself--but yet the story itself may be interesting.' So he
began.

[Illustration: MIMI IN HOLIDAY DRESS.]

[Illustration]

KULLERVO'S BIRTH

Many ages ago there was a mother who had three sons, and one of them
grew up to be a prosperous merchant, but the other two were carried
off--one to distant Pohjola and one to Karjala. And the one in Pohjola
was named Untamo, but the one in Karjala was called Kalerwoinen.

One day Untamo set his nets near Kalerwoinen's home to catch salmon, but
in the evening Kalerwoinen came by and took all the fish out of the nets
and carried them off home. When Untamo found it out he went to his
brother, and soon they fell to blows; but neither could conquer the
other, though they gave one another sound beatings. After this had
happened, Kalerwoinen sowed some barley near Untamo's barns; and
Untamo's sheep broke into the field and ate the barley, and then
Kalerwoinen's dog killed the sheep