SISTER AND BROTHER

A FESTIVAL STORY

Written by Eppu Nuotio, based on an old folk tale

Translated by Johanna Freundlich

One morning in the forest all the animals were awoken by a strange sound. It was like the wail of wind that had dropped from the trees to the grass.

"Someone is crying," a sleepy rabbit finally realised. And so it was. In the middle of the forest there was an old, crooked cottage. The paint from its walls had peeled off a long time ago. Rabbit looked in through the window and saw two children dressed in baggy clothes, barefooted, crying by the bed of their parents. These poor parents had died of a strange disease which in those days took the life on many people, not stopping to ask permission. No more mother or father to take care of their children. Now they had to survive on their own.

"Enough of this crying," snapped Sister, "my knees have grown numb and my stomach is rumbling. Let’s divide the inheritance and leave this place." Sister looked around. There wasn’t that much left in the cottage, only a piece of dark bread from yesterday. Sister picked it up and set it on the table. "They didn’t leave us much, mom and dad. Really!" Sister muttered in annoyance, for she dreamt of being rich. "They did leave us the cat and the goat", whispered Brother and blew his nose into a chequered handkerchief that Father had left behind. The cat mewed as she rubbed herself against Brother’s leg and the goat bent her head as to comfort Brother.

"I’ll take the goat!" shrieked Sister, "I bet goat’s milk is nice way to quench a thirst. And believe me, it makes no sense for you to drag along that cat, she’ll be of no use to you. " But the cat looked at Brother, pleading, and so his heart softened. "Take me and you’ll never be alone", mewed the cat. And so Brother took the cat. "Suit yourself," laughed Sister, "but remember what I told you when the cat eats half of your food. Let’s go. Off to the world!" "What will we do there?" asked Brother carefully and put on his rucksack. "Seek happiness, of course," snapped Sister and kicked the door open, "Hurry up." And so left Sister and Brother. Brother walked backwards until he could he couldn’t even see the chimney of the cottage any more. It was sad leaving home, leaving the secure days of childhood. Brother looked up into the sky and sighed: "Farewell, mother and father. Here go your children, off to seek happiness."

And they walked and walked. Sister kept whining that her shoes were miserable, the weather was lousy and that Brother was boring company. "You’re as dead as a corpse, you should be entertaining me. You can’t even get us money or a vehicle. And where is my delicious dinner? I’m dizzy with hunger. Milk that stupid goat, I’m awfully thirsty." So Brother milked the goat and Sister gulped down all the milk. Then Brother gave his share of the bread to Sister and even ran off to pick her a hatful of lingonberries for dessert. The cat and the goat, too, got their share when Brother ran to the spring and brought back water for both of them.

"Let’s kill the goat, listen to my stomach rumble!" said Sister suddenly the next day. And before Brother had had time to answer, Sister dug a knife from her rucksack. She killed the goat, cut her to pieces and grilled the pieces in the fire. She ate her stomach full with grease dripping from her mouth. But Brother didn’t touch his meal. He curled up next to the cat and looked at the stars high above. How far they were!

Next morning Brother was awoken by somebody licking his face. It was a big, long haired dog wagging his tail merrily. "A dog," cried Brother joyfully, "aren’t you sweet". "What a miserable mongrel," groaned Sister. "Even you can’t be so silly as to drag along a stray dog." But Brother took the dog anyway. And it was the dog who first spotted the garden.

In the garden there was an abundance of fruit, there were so many apples on the ground that you could’ve thought they grew like flowers from the black soil. But nothing was as wonderful as lying on your back and looking up. The trees bore thousands of red apples on their long arms and Brother and Sister knew, that if they stayed there they would never have to starve. And they began to eat, they munched and chrunched. How they ate! At the same time appeared a very large man, a giant, whose head almost touched the sky. "You miserable children!" roared the giant, "you have intruded into my garden and therefore I will eat you!" "Don’t eat us," begged Sister, "at least not yet. Fatten us up first." The giant consented. He gave the children a week to eat and Sister rejoiced. "Let us feast!" Sister hollered but Brother couldn’t even think of eating. "We’ve got to get out of here," Brother said. He asked the horse for help, but the giant ate the horse. Then Brother approached the birds, but the giant shot them. Finally Brother saw a bull and asked him for help. The bull told Brother to take along a leaf from a tree, a round stone and a drop of water. Brother got these and helped his reluctant sister climb on the back of the bull and so the bull ran. When the giant realised they were trying to escape he became furious and ran after the children.

"Throw the leaf" was the bull’s advice and behold: a great forest grew and blocked the giant’s way. But the giant leaped over it crushing an entire grove of trees. "Throw the stone," advised the bull and behold: a tall mountain rose and covered the giant’s face. But the giant pushed the mountain aside and approeched the children. "Throw the water" pleaded the bull and sank to the ground. And behold: a sea unfolded in front of the giant. And the giant, unable to swim or row, decided to drink up the sea. A fox warned him of it. "You’ll burst", grinned the fox, but the giant didn’t believe him. And so he burst. Suddenly Brother saw a castle right in front of them. "It’s my castle", squeaked Sister, "that’s where I will live and begin my life as a princess." And Sister ran so fast that sparks flew from her shoes. Inside the castle Sister was immediately met by the devil, dressed in a handsome attire. "Are you alone, fair lady?" asked the devil. "Most certainly not," sighed Sister, "I’ve got my stupid brother with me." "Would you like to own this castle and be my wife?" asked the devil. "Of course", replied Sister. "Then let’s kill your brother, he’ll only cause trouble." Sister nodded. Trouble, that was it. And so, as Brother, the cat and the dog entered the castle they saw sister lying on
a bed moaning about how ill she was. "Get me milk from a wolf or else I will die", groaned Sister. And so Brother was off to find wolf’s milk. But the devil had been wrong. Mother wolf didn’t tear Brother to pieces, instead she gave him milk. She was also so kind to give her oldest son to guard Brother and, finally, warned Brother of his sister’s vile scheme against him. But Brother ran back to the castle, his heart full of worry, gave the bottle of milk to Sister and smiled. Sister got angry. "I need bear’s milk, you idiot, can’t you see I’m dying!" And Brother left to fetch bear’s milk. But mother bear didn’t tear him up as the devil had promised, but gave him milk and sent her oldest son to guard Brother.

The devil flew into a fury and made a new plan. Brother was to fetch water of life from the old mill and on his journey he would become so thirsty, that he would drink from a spring. And the devil, himself, with his own hands, would poison the waters of every spring. "We’ll finally get rid of him", laughed Sister. And so Brother left, upon the request of his sister, to seek the water of life. And all the animals followed him. And because the journey was so long the animals became thirsty. They drank from a nearby spring and dropped dead on the ground. "Cat, dog, wolf, bear," whispered the boy in tears and stroked his silent friends. "Poor me. Must I survive all alone? Must I find my way alone, must I sleep my nights alone, must I seek the water of life alone?"

Brother traveled on and finally found the old mill and a bottle filled with the water of life. Brother ran to his animal friends, poured drops of the water on their cold coats and then miracle occurred. The animals came to life. They all went back to the castle and chased out the devil. Sister, who was sitting in the hall with a cream pastry in her mouth, climbed on top of a cupboard, terrified. "I know what you’ve done," said Brother "I know everything. These animals could at any moment tear you to pieces and kill you. But I don’t want that. I want you to learn a lesson." " I will, I promise I will," squeaked Sister, but Brother interrupted her. "Don’t promise anything. We’ll take one day at the time. First you must clean up and cook. For me and the animals. In the meantime I will take a little nap. I’d say I’ve deserved some rest." And the rabbit, who had seen everything, jumped across the courtyard carrying a bunch of carrots and is still jumping, reminding us that there’s more evil in the world than meets the eye.