Have you seen an elephant ear plant in a window in Porvoo? I have. Where? In Fredrika’s window garden. In this house, long ago. Here I also saw the night princess and the giant monstera. They were incredibly fine houseplants that Fredrika cared for with great love. She collected flower seeds and received cuttings as gifts, from which she grew new plants. She made them flourish and bloom. She was a true fairy of plants, flowers, and trees.

One autumn, things almost went terribly wrong. Fredrika had collected flower seeds to plant them the following spring. She put the seeds in a wooden cup and took them to the cool room, the flower chamber. The room also contained seeds and bulbs of rare plants that grew in the south, brought as souvenirs from Italy by her sons.

Fredrika’s husband, the poet Runeberg, had a pet mouse that he fed and talked to kindly. One night, the mouse managed to sneak into the flower chamber. I happened to walk past the house just then and heard someone moving in the flower room. I have very good hearing. I peeked in through the window and what did I see! The mouse was eating Fredrika’s flower seeds. I quickly ran to Fredrika’s bedroom window and knocked so hard that Fredrika would wake up. But no matter how much I knocked and banged, Fredrika just slept soundly. What to do now? Soon the mouse would have eaten all the seeds.

Then I remembered the attic of the house. I could get to the attic through a small hole that only I knew about. From the attic, I climbed down the wooden stairs into the house. I hurried. I went to Fredrika’s bed and gently whispered in her ear. I had never shown myself to a human before, but now it was an emergency. I had to! The seeds were in danger of being destroyed. It took a while for Fredrika to wake up.

“What? Who spoke?” she said. She rubbed her eyes, looked at me, pinched herself on the cheek, looked at me again, rubbed her eyes again, and said, “Am I still dreaming? There is an… elf… Elf! Is this a dream?”

I quickly introduced myself and explained why I had woken her up. As a wise woman, she immediately understood the seriousness of the situation. Fredrika hurried to the flower room. Luckily, the mouse had not managed to eat all the seeds, most of them were saved. Fredrika was probably angry with Runeberg for not giving his pet enough food. The little one was so hungry that it had to go to the other end of the house to find something to eat.

So, that’s how we met and became friends. Fredrika was a skilled baker and once she offered me a taste of a delicacy she had made. It contained almond and raspberry jam and some strong aroma that I didn’t recognize; it was the best thing I have ever tasted. Apparently, her husband liked it too, and that’s why it’s called Runeberg’s tart.

Fredrika gave me the recipe for the tart and from that day on, I have collected Fredrika’s recipes in a little book. The book is very important to me. I have also learned to bake.

Would you like to taste it?