` That may be , but perhaps she dreams , ' answered the king . ` Anyway , I will speak to her also . ' Then he signed to one of his attendants , who followed the path that the boy had taken to the hut . Soon the man returned , with the girl walking behind him . And as soon as she reached the tree it bowed itself to the earth before her , and she stretched out her hand and picked some of its leaves and flowers and gave them to the king . ` The maiden who can work such wonders is fitted to be the wife of the greatest chief , ' he said , and so he married her , and took her with him across the sea to his own home , where they lived happily for ever after . From ` Folk Lore , ' by A. F. Mackenzie . The Sea King 's Gift There was once a fisherman who was called Salmon , and his Christian name was Matte . He lived by the shore of the big sea ; where else could he live ? He had a wife called Maie ; could you find a better name for her ? In winter they dwelt in a little cottage by the shore , but in spring they flitted to a red rock out in the sea and stayed there the whole summer until it was autumn . The cottage on the rock was even smaller than the other ; it had a wooden bolt instead of an iron lock to the door , a stone hearth , a flagstaff , and a weather-cock on the roof . The rock was called Ahtola , and was not larger than the market-place of a town . Between the crevices there grew a little rowan tree and four alder bushes . Heaven only knows how they ever came there ; perhaps they were brought by the winter storms . Besides that , there flourished some tufts of velvety grass , some scattered reeds , two plants of the yellow herb called tansy , four of a red flower , and a pretty white one ; but the treasures of the rock consisted of three roots of garlic , which Maie had put in a cleft . Rock walls sheltered them on the north side , and the sun shone on them on the south . This does not seem much , but it sufficed Maie for a herb plot . All good things go in threes , so Matte and his wife fished for salmon in spring , for herring in summer , and for cod in winter . When on Saturdays the weather was fine and the wind favourable , they sailed to the nearest town , sold their fish , and went to church on Sunday .
But it often happened that for weeks at a time they were quite alone on the rock XXXXX , and had nothing to look at except their little yellow-brown dog , which bore the grand name of Prince , their grass tufts , their bushes and blooms , the sea bays and fish , a stormy sky and the blue , white-crested waves .
Ahtola Christian King Mackenzie Maie Matte Salmon alder flagstaff storms