The Promise

While Katri might have successfully dodged the bullet of adverse employment action from being sidelined with a cold due to Ulla coming to grips with the final agony of her daughter Leena, Martii Halme cannot escape the reality that he does not have the optimal configuration to successfully meet the hefty physiological demands of herding cattle like Katri does nor the stormy family politics he is forced to prosecute with Helena at home -- the commute thereof wielded as the backdrop of another impromptu geography lesson about Finland. Katri becomes the genesis of analytical and speculative expository concourse that evening when Pekka comes to Räikkölä-ke to appraise Katri's status and reflects on his prologue with Katri while Teemu and Ulla compare perspectives of the situation along with possible solutions if there is no improvement; while this is nothing insignificant in its own right, it is quite tame compared to when Helena objurgates Martii regarding the exhaustive epilogue of having to chase wayward bovines all day while predicting that he will require the entire next day in order to recuperate. What ultimately ensues is not exactly Helena's prediction but a close second -- Martii oversleeping the next morning and having to power-row across the lake to Räikkölä-ke against Helena's protests and threats to blow the whistle; what Helena overlooks is that while Martii is not being exactly honest and open with it, it is an act of absolute integrity and maturity to keep a promise.