“N-n-no,” the Devil said, again swallowing his anger, “I’m not going to lose my temper, but I want you to understand, Erkki, that I think you’ve acted very badly in this!”
All that evening the Devil fumed and fussed about Erkki.
“We’ve got to get rid of that boy! That’s all there is about it!” he said to his wife.
Of course whenever Erkki was in sight the Devil tried to smile and look pleasant, but as soon as Erkki was gone he went back at once to his grievance. He declared emphatically:
“There’s no living in peace and comfort with such a boy around!”
“Well,” his wife said, “if you feel that way about it, why don’t you kill him to-night when he’s asleep? We could throw his body into the lake and no one be the wiser.”
“That’s a fine idea!” the Devil said. “Wake me up some time after midnight and I’ll do it!”
Now Erkki overheard this little plan, so that night he kept awake. When he knew from their snoring that the Devil and his wife were sound asleep, he slipped over to their bed, quietly lifted the Devil’s wife in his arms, and without awakening her placed her gently in his own bed. Then he put on some of her clothes and laid himself down beside the Devil in the wife’s place.
Presently he nudged the Devil awake.
“What do you want?” the Devil mumbled.