BEDTIME TALES

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12211, 8 August 1925, Page 16

BEDTIME TALES

'THE TRAVELS OF A LAPLAND FAMILY

\ Most.girls and boys if they ore fortunate enough to be taken on a trip tbfl*bogh mountains go in a motor-oar train.. Sunna, the little Laplander, and her brother Johann go to the mountains every summer, but they have to walk part of the way, although for the greater distance they travel in a*'boat over wide blue lakes which lie botween them and the end of the journey. -Just as- soon as the snow begins to melt and the wild flowers take the place of 'the white winter carpet, . Sunna’e father and mother begin to make pre- . p&rations to leave their' lowland home. Jluring the coldest months of the year the little family has had its camp pitched on the outskirts Of a Urge town, and Sunna and Johann sometimes ~ have gone as far as' the stores with their father to buy food. However, as soon as the weather becomes less severe the camp is moved away from the town again, and a sheltered spot is chosen dose' beside ope of the lakes and a little ' “hjalla,” or storehouse, is e*so*ed.., ' iPero everytme waits for tho first sign of spring. Sometimes—wandering in the forest—a little girl likq Sunna Will find violeits beneath a tree where the snow is still banked against the trupk, or her brother will bring in the welcome, news that he has heard the Optima, calling.. ' .Soon after this the mother of the family will begin to get all her household goods together. Everything they possess must go with them on the queer, rather clumsy looking boat sfKfch is moored to a tree overhanging.' the lake. Sunna and Johann will h$ packed in with the goats and the dogs The tiny baby sister will travel in. the snug “homes, ” a kind of Wooden ' cradle, into which she is safely laced with thongs of reindeer hide and gaily coloured wool. Father "Lapp” puts up a sail and With the wind behind them, the fanny hands. They enjoy sailing over the

water in this way, but if the wind changes iss direction the children may have to take an oar each and help their father and big brother to row, for a Laplander has never learned to sail against the wind. Directly the little party reaches tho other side of the lake they will look for the spot where they camped last spring. Mother “Lapp” will be very pleased to find a fireplace already built, jnst as Bhe left it a year ago, in which to cook the evening meal. The children will be sent to gather sticks to make a blaze, while the father and the eldest eon pat up the tent in which the whole family will Sleep.After the children have had their supper they will he put into the separate sleeping- bags, or tents, which are attached to the sides of the main tent.’. Sometimes the dogs will creep np beside the children, hut the mother never drives them away because she knows that the children will snuggle close to the fur coats of these fourfooted members of the family and so keep themselves warm. Besides, from the time they are babies, the children are taught to look upon the dogs as their guardians, and a Lapland dog never betrays his trust. Next day, or soon after, the family will move again, for the reindeer herds, are on ahead in search of the lichen which is their natural food, and wherever the reindeer chooses to go the Laplander will follow, for he has more regard for the reindeer than for any other animal. Somewhere on the slopes of tho mountains toward which they are making their way, Sunna and Johann’s father will find his own herd, numbering maybe many hundreds of reindeer. You must go to Lapland and a«k him yourself if you want to know how many, and'if you take my advice you will not do that, for it is considered very rude to ask a Laplander * how many' reindeer he has—just as rude as though, you were to inquire of anyone how much money he possessed!