human
Hark ye, mother--oughtn't we to buy us a lamp?
gpt
A lamp? What sort of a lamp?
human
What! Don't you know that the storekeeper who lives in the market town has brought from St. Petersburg lamps that actually burn better than ten PAREA? [Footnote: A pare (pr. payray; Swed., perta; Ger., pergei) is a resinous pine chip, or splinter, used instead of torch or candle to light the poorer houses in Finland.] They've already got a lamp of the sort at the parsonage.
gpt
Oh, yes! Isn't it one of those things which shines in the middle of the room so that we can see to read in every corner, just as if it was broad daylight?
human
That's just it. There's oil that burns in it, and you only have to light it of an evening, and it burns on without going out till the next morning.
gpt
But how can the wet oil burn?
human
You might as well ask--how can brandy burn?
gpt
But it might set the whole place on fire. When brandy begins to burn you can't put it out, even with water.
human
How can the place be set on fire when the oil is shut up in a glass, and the fire as well?
gpt
In a glass? How can fire burn in a glass--won't it burst?
human
Won't what burst?
gpt
The glass.
human
Burst! No, it never bursts. It might burst, I grant you, if you screwed the fire up too high, but you're not obliged to do that.
gpt
Screw up the fire? Nay, dear, you're joking--how CAN you screw up fire?
human
Listen, now! When you turn the screw to the right, the wick mounts--the lamp, you know, has a wick, like any common candle, and a flame too--but if you turn the screw to the left, the flame gets smaller, and then, when you blow it, it goes out.
gpt
It goes out! Of course! I But I don't understand it a bit yet, however much you may explain--some sort of new-fangled gentlefolk arrangement, I suppose.
human
You'll understand it right enough when I've bought one.
gpt
How much does it cost?
human
Seven and a half marks, and the oil separate at one mark the can.
gpt
Seven and a half marks and the oil as well! Why, for that you might buy parea for many a long day--that is, of course, if you were inclined to waste money on such things at all, but when Pekka splits them not a penny is lost.
human
And you'll lose nothing by the lamp, either! Pare wood costs money too, and you can't find it everywhere on our land now as you used to. You have to get leave to look for such wood, and drag it hither to the bog from the most out-of-the-way places--and it's soon used up, too.