Pilpasuo

Pilpasuo is the widest wetland in Oulu and protected by Natura 2000. It has ditches but now people are working to get it back to its virgin state.

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Once upon a time there was a huge wetland which was surrounded by a deep, dark forest. There lived hundreds of birds and animals, others in the moor and others in the woods. But there also lived a bunch of weird creatures that are now forgotten. Nowadays they live only in our stories, or at least we believe so. These creatures are known as the Woodland sprites. They're goblins, fairies, spirits, elves and other small and inconspicuous things and they like to live in peace. So, they lived in the moor and in the woods, in a perfect harmony with nature and animals. Sometimes people came and picked up some berries and mushrooms, but they never disturbed the Woodland sprites and sprites never disturbed them.

One day some men came to the wetland but they weren't after berries. One little elf saw them and got a bad feeling about it, but the days passed by and nothing happened. Little elf forgot it all and lived his life. But then the machines arrived. The machines of doom, like little elf started to call them.

Foxes, squirrels, ducks, black woodpeckers, snakes, frogs and all other birds and animals fled. The machines were destroying wetland and chopping trees down. Little elf ran to the oldests and told them everything he had seen. It was time the Woodland sprites to gather. Long long time ago they did have a leader, but god of Woodland had disappeared and haven't seen since, so now they had to survive on their own. They talked and talked and finally decided that they should fight back and give a hard lesson to people. Young goblins were blood-thirsty but wise oldests said that the blood will not be bled because the sprites aren't as cruel as people.

 

So the Woodlans sprites went to the war. They broke in to the machines and trashed their dashboards and stole their papers. Some animals came back and joined the vengeance. Vipers hissed and bit and curlews shitted on people's heads. Damage wasn't so big but it annoyed men. The sprites shifted the gear. They attacked harder but only in the night when it was gloomy. Wetland itself striked too. The machines which were diging trenches sinked soggy spots and thousands and thousands of mosquitos teased men so hard it was almost impossible to be outside. But it was beavers that made the final touch. Falling trees were too much for men to handle. People gave up and left and finally wetland and its woods were free. Rest of the animals and birds came back and the Woodland sprites had a great feast.

Nowadays people do come to wetland and woods, but only to pick up berries and mushrooms and to hike. People do no harm to the sprites and the sprites let people be too. Nature has its own scars and they're still to be seen. But they'll heal and in the end wetland and deep, dark forest will be the same as it use to be, but nature never forgets.

"Be all and end all."

 (Shakespeare)

- Pykällys

Hepoköngäs

Hepoköngäs was formally called Hevompersie which means horse's arse. Why on earth they changed the name, one just cannot understand.

Anyhow, here's the story!

We stopped our carriage and smelled the early evening air. It was fresh, in the middle of nowhere. The trees were so big and old and we could sense the magic. Our wolves smelled incautious prey and ran off, trying to catch it. We took our backpacks and started our journey, the paid driver turned the carriages and left, leaving us alone in the twilight.
 
While we were walking on the path, silently, trying to hear everything abnormal we almost missed a moving light.
“Look” I said, nodding towards the trees. The light moved again. Its going was erratic, almost jumpy. We looked each other.
“Don’t leave from the path” my friend repeated the advice we got from the driver.  “Don’t step into the wild forest.”
“What’s the worst thing that can happen?” I asked since I wanted to see who was carrying the light. My friend felt uneasy for my decision but followed me anyway. The forest felt much darker right after the first step off the path and bad feeling rushed in our veins.
“I don’t like it” my friend said and I tried to smile calming but everything I was capable at the moment was weird, wolf like grimace.
“Aaaand that weirdest face you’ve ever done” my friend said annoyed. “That’s not the easiest achievement, knowing your rubber-like face.” But the calming effect was nevertheless accomplished and my friend took another step. We ended up following the light in the dark all the way to the 79 feet long waterfall. We were on the top of that, standing in the edge of the cliff.
“Well, the damn sure thing is, we can’t jump” I said, looking down. The cliff came down a bit gentle sloping. Not that much it could be easy to walk or climb down but it still ruled out the jumping down.
“Oh, look! There are the wolves, they’re trying to catch the reindeer…” my friend pointed down to the shore of the pond. It was hard to see, but moon cave enough light for us. Also, it felt like the pond and the fall glowed it own mysterious light. But we couldn’t be sure; it was like the fall was trying to hide it from us.
”Let’s go” I said and started to follow the cliff. “There might be easier way to us to get down there.” The moving light had disappeared; we never got the chance to know what was the thing that carried it.
 

And right after I had thought of those words, the mysterious light appeared again.
“C’moon, let’s go. This time it won’t get away” I decided and my friend didn’t have much of a choice than to follow me as I was practically running after the light. I was desperate to catch it. I don’t know how and I don’t know why. I just needed to catch it.
“Wait!” my friend shouted, getting out of breath. “I don’t think you should be-” He never got the chance to finish his sentence. He slipped and fell in the rapid river and I didn’t even notice at first.
I just couldn’t get my eyes of the light. Not before it jumped behind the tree and disappeared.
“It went this way” I shouted. I couldn’t hear the answer but it didn’t matter. I looked literally under every rock and turned the place upside down yet I couldn’t find the light.
“C’moon you son-of-a-bitch, show yourself! SHOW YOURSELF!” But yelling didn’t help and it didn't even ease my mind. I finally fall sitting, gasping, and look around. It was the moment when I understood I was alone.
“Jack?” I asked but not even the pitch black forest answered to me. “Jack!” I shouted, forced myself to get up and started running back, screaming my friends name. I got back to the end of cliff and looked down. Then I looked up, since it felt bad to look down.  I felt sick, so horribly sick I wanted to throw up. And I had to look down again, that I could be sure that it really was there. And it was, when I was hoping so bad it’d only be dream, a hallucination or something. But no, nobody answered my praying that night. I fell on my knees.
“Oh Jack” I cried. “I’m so terribly sorry…” The wind took my words, pitching softly the surface of the red pond.

 I sat there, crying like a baby, until it was almost the crack of the dawn. When it suddenly hit me. There’s no freaking way, the whole pond would be colored bloody red, not by a one man. I got up again and ran, ran like my life depends on it. When there was a first safe crossover in the river, I wade to the other side of the river and through the forest, since there were easy way to get down. I didn’t care about the pain in my chest or stomach. I didn’t notice my feet were bleeding since I didn’t dodge the rocks and branches.
 
I got down and I started looking about the body. I just had to see it. I had to be sure.
In the first light of dawn, I saw a backpack. Rocks had it torn so Jack’s belongings were all over the shore. I kept going, leaving the things lying as they were, trying to get the glimpse of the Jack’s body. I just needed to see it, see if it really were true that he’s dead.
 

And when I saw his jacket on the shore, all bloody, covering the dead body, I forgot to breath. Why I wanted to see I couldn’t understand. It was way too brutal, I felt sick again and I threw up. It took awhile before I could move up closer to him. I reached toward his jacket and pulled it away quickly. I gulped and I was shaking. I started to laugh and I couldn’t stop it. I just stood there and laughed, while the sun was getting higher and higher.
“Oh Jack” I finally whispered and started running again, towards the fall. It couldn’t be, but it was! It had to be! Under the jacket was part of the dead reindeer, no Jack, no Jack at all. I looked up by the fall and saw him. Standing right next to the fall, tall as he was and grinning to me, waiving. I felt such a relief and tried to scream his name, but not a sound came out of my throat. Jack started to laugh and pointed something behind me. I heard a low growling and turned around slowly. I saw our wolves, all bloody, all angry, getting ready to attact.
“No” I tried to say, but I still couldn’t make a sound. The other wolf jumped-
 
And I woke up. In my own bed, puffing and all sweaty.

 I'm full of words, but I have never said they'd be anything classy.

-Källi-