evala is a collection of old Finnish songs about
gods and heroes.]

'Ahti,' said they, 'is a mighty king who lives in his dominion of
Ahtola, and has a rock at the bottom of the sea, and possesses besides a
treasury of good things. He rules over all fish and animals of the deep;
he has the finest cows and the swiftest horses that ever chewed grass at
the bottom of the ocean. He who stands well with Ahti is soon a rich
man, but one must beware in dealing with him, for he is very changeful
and touchy. Even a little stone thrown into the water might offend him,
and then as he takes back his gift, he stirs up the sea into a storm and
drags the sailors down into the depths. Ahti owns also the fairest
maidens, who bear the train of his queen Wellamos, and at the sound of
music they comb their long, flowing locks, which glisten in the water.'

'Oh!' cried Matte, 'have your worships really seen all that?'

'We have as good as seen it,' said the students. 'It is all printed in a
book, and everything printed is true.'

'I'm not so sure of that,' said Matte, as he shook his head.

But the herring were now ready, and the students ate enough for six, and
gave Prince some cold meat which they happened to have in the boat.
Prince sat on his hind legs with delight and mewed like a pussy cat.
When all was finished, the students handed Matte a shining silver coin,
and allowed him to fill his pipe with a special kind of tobacco. They
then thanked him for his kind hospitality and went on their journey,
much regretted by Prince, who sat with a woeful expression and whined on
the shore as long as he could see a flip of the boat's white sail in the
distance.

Maie had never uttered a word, but thought the more. She had good ears,
and had laid to heart the story about Ahti. 'How delightful,' thought
she to herself, 'to possess a fairy cow! How delicious every morning and
evening to draw milk from it, and yet have no trouble about the feeding,
and to keep a shelf near the window for dishes of milk and junkets! But
this will never be my luck.'

'What are you thinking of?' asked Matte.

'Nothing,' said his wife; but all the time she was pondering over some
magic rhymes she had heard in her childhood from an old lame man, which
were supposed to bring luck in fishing.

'What if I were to try?' thought she.

Now this was Saturday, and on Saturday evenings Matte never set the
herring-net, for he did not fish on Sunday. Towards evening,