Yinkin was as usual lying in his comfortable nook chasing many kinds of animals in a pleasant dream. Suddenly he was woken by a charming scent. He noticed that he had overslept the lunchtime and hunger struck him. He sniffed the stuffy air and tried to locate the source of that divine smell. Clearly it came from outside and he quietly slipped into fresh autumn afternoon.

Yinkin quickly noticed an apple pie which had been put on the window-sill of a nearby house to cool. Quite conveniently everyone seemed to be at work in the fields and cottages. Yinkin made his way to the window extremely cautiously and peeped inside. Kesta was there preoccupied by her cookings in the kitchen. Carefully Yinkin took a small piece of the pie with his paw. It was absolutely delicious and he couldn't resist taking another one. After eating half of the pie he was finally satisfied. Carefully he covered all his tracks and returned to his corner for a well deserved after-dinner nap.

Just when he was about to fall asleep the door flew open. Kesta stormed in with such a look in her face that one might have thought the whole banquet was spoilt. Yinkin jumped up knowing that he had been caught. There was no place to run in such small a house and after a small rumble Yinkin found himself tightly in Kesta's grip. Kesta's and loudly hissing Yinkin's way took to a nearby pond. And the pond was the end of Yinkin's way.

After floundering ashore miserable-looking Yinkin pondered his situation. Obviously someone had seen him under Kesta's window. Crossed Yinkin decided to find this telltale and give him a sound lesson.

He sneaked around the village watching and listening to passers-by. By Ernalda's house he heard his name mentioned and he jumped quickly into a nearby bush. He saw Ernalda and Uralda gathering laundry from the line and chatting. However the women were speaking very quietly and Yinkin couldn't quite hear what they were talking about. He had to get closer. Luckily both women were so concentrated on gossiping that Yinkin had no trouble sneaking behind a huge laundry basket. He leaped into the basket and dug himself in among the laundry. Now he heard that Ernalda and Uralda were seemingly amused talking about how Kesta had taught Yinkin to touch her cookings. However, they didn't mention a word about his betrayer. The laundry on the lines was getting dangerously few and Yinkin dug himself carefully up from the basket, leaped out and sneaked away feeling very disappointed.

In deep thoughts he returned again to his comfy nook fretting about his bad luck. Not for long could he remain in his thoughts as the door flew open again. Ernalda stepped in more furious than ever. Yinkin really wished he was somewhere really far away when Ernalda's gleaming eyes caught him. After a desperate attempt of escape he found himself in Ernalda's tight squeeze. Miserably he resigned himself to his fate when Ernalda tossed him into cows' watering bucket and cursed him into the deepest of hells if he went anywhere near his mistress' laundry again.

Now Yinkin guessed who had betrayed him and took the shortest path towards Eurmal's cottage. He flung the door open and demanded the settling of accounts in a loud voice. Eurmal, however, burst into great laughter and rolled on the floor for a while. Then he got up, slapped dumbfounded Yinkin on the back and explained to him that just like everyone knew when Eurmal had been around by the smell, they also knew that Yinkin had been around from the way he sowed his hair everywhere.

Yinkin cursed himself for his own stupidity and slipped away from Eurmal who was still laughing. On his way home he came up with a cunning plan how the falling hair would never again expose him. He slipped into his warm nook, settled down and started to lick the loose hair off from his coat. Feeling very pleased to himself he fell asleep dreaming again of many wild adventures.

Author: Matias Rasi