he rod, and his wife got a sound birching.

Then he ordered the ants to build him a new storehouse in the enclosure,
and next morning it was finished. He now lived a happy life, and left
the rod to his children; but in the third generation it fell to a
foolish man, who began to demand all sorts of absurd and impossible
things. At length he ordered the rod to fetch the sun and stars from
heaven to warm his back. But although the sun did not move, God sent
down such hot rays from it, that the offender and all his house and
goods were burned up, so that no trace of them was left. What became of
the rod is unknown, but it is thought that the trees in the wood were so
terrified by the fire that they have never spoken a word since.

* * * * *

There is a short Christian variant of this story (Jannsen: Veckenstedt),
in which the woodcutter meets not Tapio, but Jesus, who deprives the
trees of speech. But a gentle sighing and rustling of leaves is still to
be heard in the woods when the trees whisper together. When the first
fir-tree was felled, she shed bitter tears, which hardened into resin.
But her children, the fir cones, vowed to avenge her wrongs on men, so
they transformed themselves into bugs, which crept into men's houses,
and still plague and torment them.

* * * * *

Our next story is a very odd one about a hat.

THE GOOD DEED REWARDED.

(KREUTZWALD.)

Once upon a time a young countryman was busy raking up his hay in the
meadow, when a threatening thundercloud which arose on the horizon
caused him to hasten with his work. He was lucky enough to complete it
before the rain began, and he then turned his steps homewards. On his
way he perceived a stranger asleep under a tree. "He'll get his hide
pretty well soaked if I leave him asleep here," thought the countryman,
so he went to the stranger, and shook him till he roused him from a
sound sleep. The stranger stood up, and turned pale when he saw the
advancing thundercloud. He felt in his pocket, intending to give
something to the man who had roused him, but unfortunately he found it
empty. So he said hurriedly, "For the present I must remain your debtor,
but a day will come when I shall be able to show you my gratitude for
your kindness. Do not forget what I tell you. You will become a soldier.
After you have been parted from your friends for years, a day will come
when you will be seized wi