So that night the Devil told Erkki to sleep in the threshing barn. Erkki carried his cot down to the threshing floor and then when it was dark he shifted it into the hay barn where he slept comfortably all night.
During the night the Devil set fire to the threshing barn. In the early dawn Erkki carried his cot back to the place of the threshing barn and in the morning when the Devil came out the first thing he saw was Erkki unharmed and peacefully sleeping among the smoking ruins.
“Mercy me, Erkki!” he shouted, shaking him awake, “have you been asleep all night?”
Erkki sat up and yawned.
“Yes, I’ve had a fine night’s sleep. But I did feel a little chilly.”
“Chilly!” the Devil gasped.
After that the Devil’s one thought was to get rid of Erkki.
“That boy’s getting on my nerves!” he told his wife. “I just can’t stand him much longer! What are we going to do about him?”
They discussed one plan after another and at last decided that the only way they’d ever get rid of him would be to move away and leave him behind.
“I’ll send him out to the forest to chop wood all day,” the Devil said, “and while he’s gone we’ll row ourselves and all our belongings out to an island and when he comes back he won’t know where we’ve gone.”