CHILDREN'S STORY.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16712, 30 January 1926, Page 14 (Supplement)

CHILDREN'S STORY.

HOW SAMPO LAPPELILL SAW THE MOUNTAIN KJ««. Far away in Lapland, at a place called Aimio, near the Biver Jana, there lived, to a little hut, a Laplander and his wife, with their small son, Sampo. Sampo Lappelill was now between seven and eight years of age. ■He had black hair, brown eyes, a. snub npse, i and a wide mouth, which last is considered a mark of beauty in curious Lapland- Sampo was a strong child for his age; he delighted to dance down the hills in his little snow-shoes, and to drive his own reindeer in his own little sledge. The snow vmirled about him as he passed through the deep ' drifts, until nothing of him could be ' seen except the tuft of his black forelock. "I shall never feel oomfortable while he is from home!" .said the mother. "He may meet Misu's reindeer with the golden antlers." Sampo overheard these words, and wondered what reindeer it could be that had golden antlers. "It must bo a spelndid animal!" said he; "how much I should like to drive to Rastekais with it!" Rastekais is a high, dreary ■ mountain, and can be seen from Aimio, from which it is five or six miles distant. ,'' ..' "' "You audacious boy!" exclaimed the mother; "how dare you talk so? Rastekais is the home of the trolls, and •Hisu dwells there also." "Who is Hisu?" inquired Sampo. "What ears that boy has V thought the Lapp-wife. "But.l ought not to have-spoken of such things in his presence; the best'thing I can do now is to frighten him well." Then sh? said aloud:'"Take care, Lappelill, that you never go near Rastekais, for there lives Hisu, the Mountain King, who can eat a whole reindeer at one mouthful, and who swallows little boys like ?, flies.!'•

Upon hearing these words, Sampo could not help thinking what good fun

it would be to have a peep at such a 1 wonderful being—from a safe distance, i of course I Three or four weeks had elapsed since Christmas, and darkness brooded still over Lapland, There was no morning, noon, or evening; it was always night. Sampo was feeling dull. h It was so long since he had seen the ? sun that he had nearly forgotten what it'was like. Yet he did not desire the return of summer, for the only

thing he remembered about that season was that it was a time when the gnats stung very severely. His one wisb was/ that it might soon become light enough 7 forhim to use his snowshoes. '

' Qne day, at noon (although it was dark), Sampq's father said: "Come here! I ha\e something to show i you."

Sampo came out of the hut. His father pointed towards the south. ""Do you know what that is?" asked he; :

!'A squthern light,"- replied the boy. . *'No," said his father, "it is the herald of the sun. To-morrow, maybe,'or the day after that, we shall see the. sun himself. Look, Sampo, how weirdly the red light glows on the top [of Rastekais I" * Sampo perceived that the snow upon the gloomy summit, which had been so long shrouded in darkness/ was coloured red. - Again the idea flashed into his mind what a grand sight the terrible Mountain-King - would be—from a distance. The boy brooded oithis for the remainder of the day, and throughout half the night, when he should have been asleep. He thought, and thought, until at length he crept silently out of the reindeer skins which formed his bed, and then through the door-hole. The cold was intense. Far above him the stars were/ shining, the snow scrunched beneath his feet. Samp) Lappelill was a brave boy, who did not fear the cold. He was, moreover, well wrapped up in fur. He stood gazing at the stars, considering what to do next. i Then he heard a suggestive sound. His little reindeer pawed the ground iwith its feet. "Why should I not take a drive?" thought Sampo, and proceeded straightway to put his thought into action. He harnessed the reindeer to the sledge, and drove forth into the wilderness of snow. "I will drive only a little way towards Rastekais," said Sampo to himself, and off he went, crossing the frozen River Jana to the opposite shore, which—although the child was unaware of this fact —belonged to the kingdom of Norway. As Sampo drove, he sang a bright little song. The wolves were running .round his sledge like grey dogs, but he .did not mind them. He knew well that no wolf could keep pace with his dear, swift little reindeer. Up hill and down dale he drove on, with the wind whistling in his ears. The moon seemed to he racing with him, and the rocks to be running backwards. It was thoroughly delightful 1 Alas! at a sudden turning upon the downward slope of a hill the sledge overturned, and Sampo was pitched into a snow-drift. The reindeer did not observe this, and, in the belief that its master was still sitting behind it, it ran on. Sampo could not cry "Stop!" for his mouth was stuffed with snow. He lay there in the darkness, in the

midst of the vast, snowy wilderness. ' s in which was no human habitation for miles around. At first, he naturally felt somewhat bewildered. He scrambled unhurt out of the tig snow-drift Then, by the wan moonlight, be saw that he was surrounded on all side by snowdrifts, and huge mountains. One mountain towered •bove the others, and this he knew must be Rastekais, './the home of the fierce Mountain King, ' ~ who swallowed Utile boys like flics J . ' Sampo Lappelill was frightened now, and heartily wished himself safe at home. Butlrowwas he to get there? There sat the poor child, alone in the darkness, amongst the desolate, snow-oovered rocks, with the bis, black shadow of Rastekais frowning down lipnn him. As ho wept his tears froze immediately, and rolled : , down over his jacket in little round lumps like peas; so Sampo thought that he had better leave off crying, and run about in order to keep himself warm. "Ha to or soon freeze to death sere," he said to himself, "I would go straight

to &b Mountain Eing. If lie lias a TTTfari to swhlldw me, Ire must do so, I suppose; 2rat I shall advise him to eat instead some of the wolves in this neighbourhood. They are much fatter than 1, and their Jut Avould not be so difficult to swallow..""

Sampo began to ascend the moun- ! tain. Before he kad gone far, he ! heard the trotting of some creature behind him, and a moment after a large ■ wolf overtook him. Although inwardly trembling, Sampo would not hetray his fear. He shouted — "Keep out of my way! lam the bearer of a message to the King, and hinder me ai your peril 1" "Dear mel" said the wolf (on Rastekais all the animals can speak). "And, pray, what little shrimp are you, wriggling through the snow?" "My name is Sampo Lappelill," replied the boy. "Who are you?" "T," answered the wolf, "am first genileman-usher to the Mountain King. I have just been all over the kingdom to call together his subjects for the great sun festival. As "you are going my way, you may, if you please, get upon my back, and so ride up the mountain."

Sampo instantly accepted the invitation. He climbed upon the shaggy baclffi! of the wolf, and they went off at a gallop. "What do you mean •by the sun festival?" inquired Sampo. "Don't you know that?" said the wolf. "We celebrate the sun's feast the day he first appears on the horizoa after the long night of winter. All trolls; goblins, and animals in the north then assemble on Rastekais, and on that day they are not permitted to hurt each other. Lucky it was for you, my boy, that you came here today. On any other day, I should have devoured you long ago." "Is the King bound by the same law?" asked Sampo anxiously. "Of course he is," answered the wolf. "From one hour before sunrise until one hour after sunset he will not dare to harm you. If, however, you are on the mountain when the time expires, you will be in great danger. For the King will then seize whoever come first, and a thousand bears and a hundred thousand wolves will also be ready to rush upon you There will soon be an end of Sampo Lappelill!" "But perhaps, sir," said Sampo timidly, "you would be so kind as to help me back again before the danger begins?'^ The wolf laughed. "Don't count on any such thing,'my dear Sampo; on the contrary,' I mean to seize you first myself. You are such a very nice, plump little boy! I see that you have ben fattened on reindeer milk an! cheese. You will be splendid for breakfast to-morrow mornjng!" (Concluded Next Week.)