Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-06-03
STANTON SPECTATOR AND GENERAL ADVERTISER
er OF message to tie king, ana you
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er OF message to tie king, ana you
! hinder me at your perilp'
i "Dear me, said the wolf ION Ras-
tekais all the animals can speak,. "And,
pray, what little shrimp are you, wrig-
Cling through the snowy
"My name is Sampo Lappelill. - re-
piled the boy. ':Who are your
sI," answered the wolf, "am first
gentleman 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 like, get upon my back
and SO ride up to the mountain. /"
Sampo instantly accepted the invita-
ton. He climbed upon the shaggy back
of the wolf, and they went off at gal
lop.
''What do you mean by the sun festi-
val?'' inquired Sampo.
Don't you know that?" said the
wolf. "We celebrate the sun S feast the
day he first appears on the horizon after
the long night of winter. All trolls,
COLLINS and animals in the north then
assemble on Rastekais, and on that day
they are not permitted to hurt each 9th
er. Lucky it was for you, my boy, that
you came here today. On any other day
I should have devoured you long ago. -
els 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 comes first, and
/, 900 bears and 100, 900 wolves will also
be ready to rush upon you. There will
soon be an end of Sampo Lappelill. y
"But perhaps, sir, - said Sampo tim
idly, "you would be SO kind as to help
me back again before the danger be-
gins?"
The wolf laughed. "Don't count on
any such thing, my dear Sampo. On the
contrary, I mean to seize you first my
self. You are very nice, plump little
boyl see that you have been fattened
|
be splendid for breakfast tomorrow
morningl'
Sampo began to think that his best
course might be to jump off the wolf
back at once. But it was too late They
had now arrived at the top of Rastekais
Many curious and marvellous things
were there to be seen. There sat the ter
rible mountain king on his throne Of
cloudy rocks, gazing out over the snow
fields. He wore on his head cap of
white snow clouds; his eyes were like a
full moon; his nose resembled noun
tain ridge; his mouth was an abyss
his beard was like tufts of immense
icicles; his arms were as thick and
strong as fir trees; his coat was like an
enormous snow mountain. Sampo Lap
pelill had good view of the king and
his subjects, for bow Of northern lights
shone in the sky and illuminated the
scene.
| ALI around the king stood millions of
fgoblins, trolls and brownies, tiny gray
creatures, who had come from remotest
parts Of the world to worship the sun.
This they did from fear, not love, for
trolls and COLLINS hate the sun and al
ways hope that he will never return
when they see him disappear at the end
of summer.
! Farther off stood all the animals of
Lapland, thousands and thousands Of
them of all sizes-from the bear, the
wolf and the glutton to the little noun
tain rat and the brisk, tiny reindeer
flea. No gnats appeared, however.
They had all been frozen.
Sampo was greatly astonished at what
he saw. Unobserved, he slipped from
derous stone to watch the proceedings.
The mountain king shook his head
and the snow whirled about him. The
northern lights shone around his head
like crown of glory, sending long,
weird streamers across the deep blue
sky. They whizzed and sparkled, ex-
banded and drew together, fading some
times, then again darting out like
lightning over the snowclad mountains.
This performance amused the king. He
clapped with his icy hands until the
sound echoed like thunder, causing the
trolls to scream with joy and the ami
mails to howl with fear. At this the
king vas still more delighted, and he
shouted across the Gesert:
"This is to my mind. Eternal dark
ness Eternal night! May they never
endr'
"May they never endl'' repeated all
the trolls at the top of their voices.
Then arose dispute among the ami
mails. All the beasts Of prey agreed
with the trolls, but the reindeer and
other gentle creatures felt that they
should like to have summer back again,
although they disliked the gnats that
would certainly return with it. One
creature alone was ready to welcome
summer quite unreservedly. This was
the reindeer flea. She piped out as
loudly as she could:
IF you please, your majesty, have
we not come here to worship the sun,
and to watch for his coming?''
'Nonsensep' growled a polar bear.
"Our meeting here springs from stupid
old custom. The sooner it ends the bet
ter. In my opinion the sun has set for
ever. He il dead!''
| AT these words the animals suffered.
but the trolls and COLLINS were much
pleased with them, and reiterated them
gayly, shaking with laughter to such
an extent that their tiny caps fell off
their heads. Then the king roared in a
voice like thunder:
''Yea! Dead is the sun! Now must
the whole world worship me, the king
OF eternal night and eternal winterl'
| Sampo, sitting behind the Store, was
SO greatly enraged by this speech that
he came forth from his hiding place, ex-
claiming:
"That, o king. is lie as big as your
self! The sun is not dead, for only yes
terday saw his forerunner. He will be
here very shortly, bringing sweet sum-
mer with him and thawing the icicles
in your funny, frozen beardp'
The kings brow grew black as a
thundercloud- Forgetful of the law, he
lifted his tremendous arm to strike Sam
pc, but at that moment the northern
light faded. A red streak shot suddenly
across the sky, shining with such bril-