The Welcome Pack
This set contains 4 tonttu characters with their own terrain pieces
You can find more background, history of tonttus and Finnish culture in our Dictionary
Tonttu of Home
Once on a summer’s day I was visiting an acquaintance and he told me about a young couple who moved in next door. These youths were from the city, but said the peacefulness of the countryside was what they longed for. An old log cottage built on a hill pleased the couple, but after living there for few weeks they seemed rather weary.
They claimed that a continuous banging from an old masonry oven was keeping them up at night and the whole thing should be demolished. An elderly lady from the village asked the couple if they had remembered to greet their home’s old dweller, the tonttu of their home. The youths laughed; nobody believes in those old stories anymore.
A few weeks had past, when the young couple boasted that they had replaced the old masonry oven with a modern electrical one. The joy did not last however, for the new oven started banging as well, but even twice as much as the old masonry one. They returned the new oven back to the store and bought another one, hoping they would finally be able to sleep. To their misfortune not only did the oven start banging again, but so did the walls and the roof. Finally, the youths decided the country life was not as quiet as they thought and returned to a life in the city.
Around the village it is still said, that the home tonttu of the old log cottage on the hill will keep banging until it gets back its old masonry oven it has slept on for decades.
Tonttu of Riihi
I once walked past a riihi where grain has been dried for decades, and a story I heard from a farmhand about a riihi tonttu that dwelled in the building occurred to me. Every time he guarded the fire drying the grain, he remembered to greet the tonttu of the riihi and to offer it some fresh milk. This was because once working on a farm elsewhere he had forgotten to be polite to the riihi’s tonttu and infuriated the tonttu set the grain on fire. The master of the house was outraged and made the farmhand swear to never underestimate a riihi tonttu, for it is greatly responsible for a home stead’s income. The lost grain could not be recovered and a new riihi needed to be built. After learning from this, the farmhand never forgot to be polite towards a riihi tonttu and soon noticed its benevolence for him too. Once a tonttu had guarded the riihi’s fire and kept it from spreading when the farmhand had fallen asleep after a long day's work.
Mill Tonttu
I once heard a shocking story of a shopkeeper, who needed flour for his shop during the Holidays. The shopkeeper arrived at a farm and demanded to have flour sold to him. The mistress of the farm reassured him, and said they would not have enough for themselves if they sold any. They could not make more either, because the tonttu of the mill was not to be disturbed during the Holidays. The shopkeeper became infuriated and said he will get the grain into the mill himself if the farmers will not do it. Despite oppositions, he went off to work in the mill. The millstones would not move an inch even though the wind was blowing. The shopkeeper went to see what the problem was and saw a small rock wedged between the millstones. Carefully he tried to push off the rock with a twig, but then figured it was too stuck to be removed without strength. He attempted to grab the rock, but right then the millstones moved crushing his hand between them. Luckily the owners of the farm arrived and were able to free the man from the millstones. “It was the tonttu!” the shopkeeper wailed as he was taken to a hospital. “I saw it! A little man sitting on the millstones when my hand got caught between!” He was not heard from again.
Sauna Tonttu
The most dreadful tale I have heard about tonttus is one about a sauna tonttu from my grandmother’s childhood home. The tonttu was particular about the behaviour of the people bathing; if you were bathing in the sauna too late at night, the löyly might be uncomfortable as the tonttu wanted to be already left in peace. One night however, a local vagabond had drunkenly ended up sleeping in the sauna. The sauna tonttu had been furious about the intruder and the next day when my grandmother’s father was going there to get warm water, he found the man skinned, with the skin hanging over the railing. The event shocked the entire village and my grandmother never touched alcohol in fear of the same happening to her. This is also the reason why she told us to only go to sauna sober. A sauna tonttu will not be pleased if his sanctuary is dishonoured. After all, sauna is only meant for bathing, giving birth and dying.
Tonttu of Home - Welcome Pack
Oven for Tonttu of Home - Welcome Pack
Riihi Tonttu - Welcome Pack
Stove for Riihi Tonttu - Welcome Pack
Mill Tonttu - Welcome Pack
Millstones for Mill Tonttu - Welcome Pack
Sauna Tonttu - Welcome Pack
Sauna Steps for Sauna Tonttu - Welcome Pack