Rajan lapset : Kertomus

"Fatal fingers" by William Le Queux is a novel written in the early 20th century. From its opening, it reads as a borderland family drama set on a Karelian farm, following the boy Asko, his parents Hilkka and Gregor, Gregor’s mother Jelisaveta, and Asko’s new lapphund puppy, Nikke. The story foregrounds identity, faith, and inheritance—Orthodox roots versus Lutheran life, parental expectations versus personal longing—against growing unease along the nearby frontier. The opening of the book introduces eight-year-old Asko, who thrills at receiving a lapphund pup, Nikke, as his mother returns home through the winter dusk; in Tyrni’s warm pirtit the puppy skirmishes with the house cat, falls ill, and forges a surprising peace. The focus then widens to Gregor: son of the wandering singer Nikita and the devout Jelisaveta, raised among graves and Orthodox rites, now master of Tyrni through marriage to the commanding Hilkka, yet inwardly torn between homeland, faith, and duty. Night chores reveal his quiet longing and midsummer memory of first love, while the stern former patriarch Jaakko brings generational friction and pride. As summer ripens, fields hum with work, a passing aircraft hints at cross-border ventures, and the gentle monk Isä Iirak arrives; around the table he voices wary compassion for the mounting Aunus fervor, blesses departing youths, and prays for mercy. The section closes as he enters the chapel and Jelisaveta begins a halting confession about love, loss, and the son who has drifted from her ways. (This is an automatically generated summary.)