Stories

Väinö Vistbacka had domesticated a fox kit in Niskakorpi, and the kit soon learned to be among people. It would try to sit on the lap of workers lodging in the house. The boisterous fox would also steal and tear the workers’ mittens.

Vainö’s son tells a story about his father and the fox, which was apparently fatal for the fox. One day Väinö had returned home exhausted from a work trip and immediately thrown himself on a bench, starting to sleep and snore loudly. The fox had come from behind the oven to sniff and wiggle its ears next to its master. “Then it jumped carefully beside Väinö and, with its head tilted, peeked into the gap-toothed mouth, probably thinking that lubrication would be needed there. Then it lifted its hind leg and sprayed its greetings into Väinö’s mouth. Vainö was probably just inhaling, so the fox’s offerings may have gone as far as his lungs. (…) – Damned fox! The old man grabbed the fox by its neck and took the shotgun from the rack while he thudded out to the stairs, where he threw the fox up in the air and shot it in flight. Only a while later, the old man was nearly crying and cursed having lost his head for such nonsense.” The fox was so dear to Väinö that he stuffed it and kept it on display (Lappi 2011).