By this time they had reached a little one-room hut evidently deserted, for the door swung on only one hinge. Before they peeked in, Juhani, with a curious look on his face, cautioned each to say "Good Day to all here" on entering even if they saw no one, for a _Tomty_ might be hidden in some corner. It was a very old type of house. The upper half of the walls were stained black. There was a big fire place but no chimney, the smoke having evidently been allowed to escape through a hole in the roof. A long thin piece of resinous wood was still fastened to one wall. This was called a _pare_, and when lit served instead of lamp or candle. There was a small clearing around the house, and half buried in leaves near the door was an old-time harrow that had once been formed from a bundle of stout fir top branches. Later they paused to ask for a drink of water at a small two-room cottage of unhewn, unpainted wood surrounded by a little pasture but with no garden or other sign of cultivation around, nothing but the vast impressive forest. A savage-looking dog that looked as if it might have been crossed with a fox, snarled at them but was called away by a very old woman who explained that she was there alone, her son having lately gone to a timber camp. "He'll come back with enough money," she added with a trembling voice, "to see us through the winter, which is going to be a hard one." "Why do you say that, Granny?" asked Juhani. "Couldn't you see it for yourself," the old woman returned rather sharply, "by the great number of berries?" "Are you not lonely here?" Maja inquired with sympathy. "Aye, lonely," repeated the woman, "but contented too, for have I not the forest with me day and night and is it not a part of my very soul?" A long drawn whistle here made the children realize that the church parties were breaking up and that they must make haste to return, so thanking the old woman they raced back apparently as fresh as if they had not already had a long tramp. Where the forest was thickest it was quite dark. "If it gets any darker," said Maja, "we'll have to stop and pray to the Twilight Maiden to spin for us a thread of gold to lead us safely home." "There are also others to help us," said Juhani, and half playfully he called on all the woodland fairy folk whose names are found in the great Finland epic, "The Kalevala": on _Mielikki_, hostess of the forest; _Tuometar_, nymph of the bird cherry; _Katejatar_, nymph of the juniper; _Pillajatar_, nymph of the mountain ash; _Matka-Teppo_, god of the road; _Hongatar_, ruler of the pines; _Sinetar_, that beauteous elf who paints the flowers the blue of the sky, and on _Sotka's daughter_ who protects wild game from harm. CHAPTER III THE END OF AUTUMN