Kirsti and Liissan

Kirsti and Liissan lived in a house in the country with their mother and father. The house was snug and warm in the winter.




Close to their house was a hill. When the snow fell the hill became a wonderful place to go sledding. The two girls' favorite pastime was taking the sled to the top of the hill and sliding down the hill as fast as they could.

Every free moment that they had they would take their sled to the hill. They would climb the tall hill and then get onto the sled. Sometimes the sisters would ride together and sometimes they would lie on the sled and fly like the wind down the hill alone.






Kirsti was the oldest so when the girls slid down the hill together, she was the one in the back who would push off. Down the hill they would fly. Whee! It was a thrilling feeling.
Their sled run was getting very good. It hadn’t snowed in several days, so the area where they went sledding was getting hard and icy. It made the slide down the hill very fast. However, as it is with most things, the sliding down and climbing all of the way back up was getting a little routine and boring.

There was an old shed at the top of the hill. The girls had been told many times by their parents that they could not go near the shed. The shed was starting to lean and the girls’ parents were worried about their safety. Kirsti and Liissan had been told clearly that they should never climb onto the roof of the shed.
One afternoon the girls talked about climbing up onto the roof. The shed was in the perfect spot. If they lined up the sled just right, they would go flying off the edge of the roof and go sliding





down the hill. It would be the fastest run they had ever done.
In Finland it becomes dark very early in the winter. Kirsti and Liissan decided that they would wait until it was getting dark outside to climb onto the shed. They waited patiently for the sky to grow darker. They did not want anyone in their house see them climb onto the shed’s roof. When they thought it was dark enough, the girls climbed carefully onto the roof. Kirsti waited on the ground until Liissan was safely on top the roof. Then she carefully lifted up the sled as far as she could so that Liissan could grab it.
Finally they were ready. They were so excited but a little bit afraid too. They took deep breaths and Kirsti pushed off from behind. Whomp! The sled fell off the roof with two little girls and quite a bit of snow. Their great trip down the hill was a failure. They had not slid anywhere.
Neither one of them was hurt so they silently slide down the hill one last time and quietly walked home together.

The next morning when Kirsti and Liissan got up for breakfast, their parents asked them to talk to them. Once again Mother and Father told them how dangerous it was to play around the falling down shed. They knew that the girls had climbed on the shed the day before and they hoped the girls would never disobey them again. “Stay away from the shed, girls.”
The girls were puzzled. They had been so careful. How had their parents found out that they had climbed onto the roof?
Father put on his winter coat and boots. The girls did the same. Together they climbed to the top of the hill. There in the snow by the shed and on the remaining snow on the roof were two sets of small footprints.








Liissan and Kirsti did not stop sledding. Not that winter or for so many winters afterward. They still loved to fly down the hill over the clean white snow.
However, they never again played close to the shed. They had learned how important it was to listen to their parents. Eventually the old shed fell over and when it snowed it disappeared under a white blanket. Kirsti and Liissan never forgot about the time that they climbed onto the roof of the shed. They had learned that day to obey the rules their family made.