Two girls, Reta and Ram, were sitting on a cliff watching the shiny and sparkling sea. It gave livelihood to their small village and to all the people on the island. It gave seals and pikes to them but it also brought storms and strong winds which they had to fight against desperately during the wintertime. The surrounding forest protected them. It also gave them livelihood - sometimes an elk, sometimes a bear - if you were a good hunter.

Ram’s family came to the island from overseas. One morning they had arrived in their flat-bottom rowboats bringing new habits and skills with them. In the beginning the village people had kept back from the newcomers but then they realized that together they were stronger. On their hunting trips there was
someone who could orientate following the stars and someone who smelled better the flocks of forest animals.

Reta fingered the tripwires hanging from her belt and she knew that she and Ram had to leave for their daily duties. They had to set traps and examine the ones they had set yesterday. If the elf of forest had been generous, they would probably get a few plump wild fowls. Even one bird would give enough food for the whole family. The girls jumped over the rocks and they arrived at a swamp. Soft moss sunk under Reta’s bare feet and Ram’s soft leather shoes were soaking wet.

They found the first trap, but it was empty. The red lingonberries, which the girls had set as baits, were untouched. But in the second trap there was something – a beautiful young black grouse! Reta hung the grouse expertly on her waist. Ram admired Reta, who was able to catch even a lynx with her bare hands, in case she needed a good skin. Because they had got very little catch so far, the girls checked also the rest of the traps and set some new ones. They took the black grouse to their dwelling place, called kota, where it would be prepared later.

Ram and Reta went on to their mother’s pottery. It lay hidden among some alders. Ram was allowed to play there and do things of clay, as there was plenty of it. As a matter of fact Ram needed a great deal of practice, if she wanted to become as skilful a potter as her mother. Ram’s mother was the most talented potter on the island. Her pots were so skilfully made and beautifully decorated that merchants regarded her pots as valuable objects of exchange. Sometimes they paid for the pots as much as for the bits of flint or battle-axes. Ram cut two pieces of clay, one for herself and one for Reta, and they started to work. Reta knew that a girl, who could not make a pot for storing food, would be rather helpless.

Catching a black grouse wouldn’t be of much use, if there wasn’t a dish where to cook it.  Ram kneaded the lump of clay. After that she moulded a long string of clay and coiled it round and round to make a pot. Finally also Reta got her pot ready. This way they went on practising pot making with patience.