with the clouds. And on the
third evening Ilmarinen looked into the furnace and beheld the magic
Sampo growing there. Quickly he took it out and placed it on his anvil,
and taking a huge hammer the wonderful smith forged the luck-bringing
Sampo. From one side it grinds out flour, and from the other salt, and
from the third it coins out money. And the lid is all the colours of the
rainbow, and as it rocks back and forth it grinds one measure for the
day, and one for the market and one for the storehouse.

Then old Louhi joyfully took the luck-bringing Sampo and hid it in the
hills of Lapland. She bound it with nine great locks, and by her
witchcraft made three roots grow all around it, two deep beneath the
mountains and one beneath the seashore.

And when he had finished the Sampo, Ilmarinen came to the lovely
daughter of Louhi and asked her if she were ready now to be his wife.
But she replied: 'If I should go with thee, and leave the Northland, all
the birds would cease to sing. No, never while I live will I give up my
maiden freedom, lest all the birds should leave the forest and the
mermaids leave the waters.'

So Ilmarinen had made the Sampo all in vain, and he was now far from
home and had no way of returning. But Louhi came to him and asked him
why he was grieving, and when she learned his trouble, and that he now
wished to return to his own home, she provided him with a boat of
copper. And when he had set sail she sent the north wind to carry him on
his way, and on the evening of the third day he reached his home.

There Wainamoinen met him and asked if he had forged the magic Sampo.
'Yes,' replied Ilmarinen, 'I have forged the Sampo, with its lid of many
colours. Louhi has the wondrous Sampo, but I have lost the beauteous
maiden.'

* * * * *

'Ah!' said little Mimi, 'old Louhi's daughter was just as mean as could
be, and of course she didn't keep her promise, because Lapps never can
be good people.'

'Don't be too hard on the poor Lapps, my dear,' said Father Mikko, 'for
you see this happened a great many hundreds of years ago, and the whole
world has grown better since then. But now we will leave Ilmarinen and
Wainamoinen for a while, and I will tell you about the reckless
Lemminkainen and his adventures.'

So the old man began as follows:

[Illustration]

LEMMINKAINEN AND KYLLIKKI

Long, long ago a son was born to Lempo, and he was named Lemminkainen,
but