« lo out I lugged the large pally that had the cat baked in it, and
.c j it to the officer, who was lb well pleaicd, that he invited
a the other peafant and me to take a cup o f coffee with him ;
** and lb we did; and he gave us a glafs o f punch after it, and a
bumper o f excellent brandy belides; after w hich we took our
** leave, and went our ways.”
“ Thus ends the peafant’s tale which he told to his neighbours
" o f Paldamo, and which I, Vauoiicn, have put into verfe for the
delight o f all that fhall hear i t : and I fuppofe I ihall get much
« fuch a prefent for my compofition as the firft commilTary o f the
« cuftoms had for his civility— one o f puls’s hind leg s; for the
officer eat the other, as you muft next hear.
“ The commilTary Ritzi, for fo this officer was named who had
« received this noble prefent, was fat down to his fupper, and the
« Paldamo-pafty was placed before him. He firft cut oft' a llice
« o f the cruft, which he tailed, and found very relilhing and
“ good: he next pulled out one o f the cat’s hind legs. T o be
“ fure he fcratched his mouth with the claws; but that he
“ thought might be the pike’s teeth, for he fuppofed that the
“ pafty had a large jack in it, and the cat’s hind leg before him
“ was the jole o f the jack. A t length he opened the pafty, but
« w hat was his aftonilhment when he beheld a pafty with a baked
“ cat in it, ikin, fur and a l l !
tt pjg ftamped, he raved, he fwore— and at laft he broke out
“ into thefe reflections— W h o could have thought that a peafant
-- o f Paldamo would have prefented the firft commilTary o f the
“ cuftoms
« cuftoms with a cat baked in a pafty ! W h a t a wretch is man !
“ W h o knows not, i f he live to grow in years, what he may
“ chance to eat before he dies, when I, a young man, was very
41 near devouring a cat with her Ikin and fur on.
» Thus endeth this tale, which I, the before-mentioned Va-
“ nonen, have compofed, and which all allow to end well, and
“ with great ingenuity.” *
* I will fubjoin a verfion in Englifh rhyme of the fame poem, in w h ic h the literal
meaning of the original has likewife been as faithfully retained as poffible. It
thus forms a droll fort of a ballad.
THE PALDAMO-PASTY:
A Finnijh Tale, by the Peafant Vandnen.
A ftory, I remember well,
I once did hear, which now I’ll te ll;
For I, Vandnen, (you all know it,
A peafant, and, what’s more, a poet),
Did veriify it in a ftvle,
That all who hear fay ’tis worth while:
How that of cuftoms the Commis
Was trick’d (none better trick’d could be)
With ftv’ry pafty. of a cat,
That moufe had often kill’d, and rat.
’Twas at Paldamo that a fet
Of jovial peafants once were met;
When ent’ring into merry chat,
Of neighb’ring towns, and this and that 5
They all agreed, and did declare,
Knaves of more cunning any where,
In any town the country round,
Than Uleaborg’s con’d not be found;
And