A SHOEMAKER'S APPRENTICE FROM TURKU
On a bitter Autumn morning a 13 year old Knut is shuffling along to the well with his wooden clogs clattering. Fog is rising from the Mätäjärvi and the boy is cold. Again he had to wake up too early. The girl servant Beata is angry, like she usually is in the mornings lighting the fire. After bringing the water in Knut must at first sweep the floors of the cottage and the workshop. Then he can quickly drink a bit of warm beer and grab a bite of bread.
The shoemaker master Hans and his wife have also woken up already. Soon one has to be working hard again. It is the week after Mikkeli’s day in 1403 AD. Knut has been apprenticing with the shoemaker for an entire year now. He has at least two or maybe three years of apprenticing left. By that time he has to have learnt all the skills necessary to make fine shoes. You have to choose just the right leather, know how to cut it in a right way and sew the pieces together beautifully. Most importantly you always have to obey Hans in all matters. That is what father and mother have said.
Master Hans complains that good shoes aren’t good enough for all the town’s people. The country folk want to make their own shoes blaming that the town shoes are too expensive. Let them walk in birch bark shoes, if that is good enough for them, says the master. If only we had a shed to use at the market, and the trade would go even better. The master’s wife Elin knows how to make leather belts and even purses that just came into fashion with her clever fingers. For now Knut has only observed this work, but he’ll have to learn that too, if God grants him the health and the life days.
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Anna Dauhter of Matts
