Let me tell you about my friend the jackdaw and how I got to know him.

It was a beautiful winter day when I decided to go on an adventure to a secret cove in Emsalö. The severe frost had turned my cheeks red for weeks, and the sea was covered with a thick layer of ice. The ice was almost snow-free. I put my house key in my pants pocket and a sandwich in the other pocket. I decided to ice skate to Emsalö because we elves are incredibly fast ice skaters, and I particularly enjoy ice skating.

In the secret cove, there are enormous boulders close to each other. There are many. Incredibly many! I often visit them in the summer as well. I call the boulders the giant’s stone buns because each one is made of the same gray dough. There are small buns and larger buns. Some are flat buns, and some are beautifully risen, just like the ones I make.

I jump from one stone bun to another with long leaps. Why? Because it’s fun, and we elves have plenty of jumping power. At the same time, I keep an eye on whether everything is okay in the forest.

That day, it got dark quickly. The cloak of darkness fell over the cove, but luckily the moon was full, and it illuminated the stones and the entire forest. I sat on the largest stone bun and watched the exciting blue shadows that had appeared around me. My nose was running, and I took a handkerchief from my pants pocket and blew my nose, and then I heard a clang! Something fell out of my pocket. Was it my house key that fell into the blue shadow?

I jumped down and searched everywhere. The key was nowhere to be seen. The blue shadow had swallowed it. Finally, I couldn’t search anymore and jumped back onto my stone bun. I felt miserable. What should I do now?

Then I felt someone touch my back, and behind me, I heard: “Kja, kja, kjaar.” I turned around, and there in front of me was a jackdaw with my key in its beak. Oh, the joy and happiness I felt. Where had that bird come from, and how had it found my key?

The jackdaw told me it lived in the bell tower of Porvoo Cathedral. It had decided to go on an adventure just like me, but the severe frost had drained its strength. It was cold and couldn’t fly back. It had been sitting on a tree branch watching my jumps. When the moonlight had eaten up the blue shadow, it noticed something shiny in the snow where my feet had trodden and guessed that it was what I was looking for.

I gave the jackdaw half of my sandwich as thanks and put it under my hat to warm it up. Well, it didn’t fit very well under the hat, but it still traveled back to the city with me. Since that day, the jackdaw has been my dear friend. We always have a party on the largest stone bun in the secret cove when there is a full moon, and in winter, we bring food for the birds there.