Hello, it's me, Lily, a frog who lives in a pond and loves to tell stories.

I'm in the mood for a once upon a time and they lived happily ever after story.

Oh, whoops, I've told you the ending.

Oh well, the fun part is finding out how they get there.

I have a book of fairy tales from Finland on my bookshelf and here is my favorite one.

The forest bride, rewritten, rearranged and told for tales from the lily pad by Marlene Worfell.

Once upon a time there was an old farmer who lived in the Finnish countryside.

His farm was prosperous and he had a full barn, three sons and a good wife.

When his good wife died, his farm seemed poor without her.

The fields were less green in the summer and less golden in the fall.

The cows didn't make as much milk and the butter wasn't as rich.

The farmhouse stopped smelling like fresh baked bread and soon his clothes grew ragged and his cupboards bare.

So he told his three sons, you are men now and it is time you find wives.

He gave each of his sons an axe and told them to chop down a tree.

When the tree falls, follow the direction at points and keep going until you find a sweetheart.

Then report back to me, the older brothers were happy with their father's command.

They wanted to walk over the hills and through the valleys to find sweethearts.

The oldest brother knew which direction he wanted his tree to fall in.

Across the field to the next farm over, a woman his age lived there who he knew from school.

She was clever and pretty and kind so he chopped down his tree so that it would point straight towards her.

And it did.

The middle brother also knew which direction to fell his tree towards the city.

...