The Forest of Tapio

Peter Wright

In the first dawn, when the forest rose from the earth, a spirit was born among the pines. Tapio, lord of the forest, stretched taller than tree-tops his beard trailing moss his crown fair, needles glittering with dew. He was the master of all creatures

Enter Lemminkainen, our hero of the story. He could do whatever he wanted. He taught at least. And he was given an impossible task by the ruler of the north, Lohi. Lohi tasked Lemminkainen, “Go and find Hesi.” The Hesi was this spiritual elk. Lemminkainen said, “Yes, I will do it. I am brave. I’m strong. I will go.” Hesi lived here in the forest, but

Lemminkainen came to the forest and said, I can do it my way. I will do it. I will do it. But he found this difficult. It was a struggle. He was trapped in the forest. He didn’t know where to go, what to do. He got cold and the forest started to close in on him. Closing in on him, he started to cry in despair. Please, please, master of the forest. And Tapioca listened.

He listened to the despair and he said, OK, the forest shall allow you be here. Learn from it. And Lemminkainen listened. He began to listen. And Heesee was there, this mythical creature and giant elk. Heesee was able to evade Lemminkainen. It was easy for Lemminkainen. It was very easy for Heesee.

But Lemminkainen said, Hey, where are you? And Hesi would disappear. He would disappear. Lemminkainen would come again and to no avail. It was like chasing shadows. Hesi was always one step ahead. Lemminkainen couldn’t get to him. He got frustrated. And then he began to listen how the forest spoke. And with that, he could listen to the trees. And they told him,

How to be. And when Heathy was in sight, Lemminkainen knew what to do.