Rubyheart

Kaarina Helakisa 2009: Rubiinisydän
illustrated by Nina Haiko

The king of the forest gives a ruby heart to one child every year for inventing a way to keep the dragons happy. The dragons feed on the flowers and plants and hold iron eggs that if they were dropped on the forest, would destroy it completely.

This year a litte girl with hay hair wants to have the ruby. The most modest of the flowers, twinflower promises to help. The girl writes letters to the other children in the other forests and they all decide to bury the dragons in their caves with stones and stop feeding them. The king gives the girl the ruby heart, which she then splits and the birds takes the smaller ruby hearts to all the children in the other forests. The dragons won't be eating the flowers anymore.

This book has been translated in English.