One of his attendants asked the woodsmen and the ten of them shouted out at the top of their voices:
“We are Mighty Mikko’s men!”
Mikko said nothing and the King and all the Court were impressed anew with his modesty.
A little farther on they met the twenty grooms with their hundred prancing horses. When the grooms were questioned, they answered with a shout:
“We are Mighty Mikko’s men!”
“The Fox certainly spoke the truth,” the King thought to himself, “when he told me of Mikko’s riches!”
A little later the thirty shepherds when they were questioned made answer in a chorus that was deafening to hear:
“We are Mighty Mikko’s men!”
The sight of the thousand sheep that belonged to his son-in-law made the King feel poor and humble in comparison and the courtiers whispered among themselves:
“For all his simple manner, Mighty Mikko must be a richer, more powerful lord than the King himself! In fact it is only a very great lord indeed who could be so simple!”