Is our sauna tonttu upset?

Did our sauna tonttu miss us?

One hot and mosquito-wild summer, we stopped taking saunas. But on a fall evening, I fired up the (electric) stove and came back an hour later to enjoy my first steam in a couple of months. As I opened the door, a cloud of smoke engulfed me.

Alarmed, my dear Bill came back to inspect — and found  smoke, though somewhat less than I had described. We called the local fire department.

They brought a full contingent: a house fire can be very serious business. Their thorough inspection brought us relief — and a smile to the firemen’s faces. After they removed the safety grate atop the kiuas and a few of the rocks, they found the cause — a partially-burnt stash of sunflower seed hulls.

A mousetrap confirmed our culprit: a kangaroo mouse had visited the sauna and, while sitting on the grate, had eaten sunflower seeds and dropped hulls onto the rocks.

The smoke smell gradually disappeared. But was it really a kangaroo mouse? Maybe our sauna tonttu was angry at being forgotten.

Has your sauna tonttu  left you messages?

Nikki

Sauna elf

I learned the legend about the sauna tonttu — the sauna elf — from Mauri from Finland, with whom I corresponded while researching the book.

This elf,  a little old bearded guy,  lives below the sauna benches and protects it. You’re supposed to leave some wood burning for the sauna elf, who also needs his share. He gets very angry if bathers don’t behave themselves — they are too noisy or throw too much water, for example. Then he makes the sauna less enjoyable and, in extreme cases, will burn the sauna down and move elsewhere.
                              ~ (Chapter 4: How to Take a Sauna)

Lore says that the elf, male or female, dresses in grayish brown to match the environment. But that few people can see elves — only if the elf wishes.
   

Nikki