The story with its focus on a returning former outcast and his individual triumph over small minded village oppression / envy, by 'Maiju Lassila' was a pseudonym of Algot(h) Untola, a turn of the twentieth century playwright and latterly newspaper editor during this nation's civil war (1918-19), in which he actively supported the eventual losing - 'Red' (Social Democratic Party) - side: after his arrest (as a 'rebel) he was murdered on the transport ship that the victorious side ('Whites') were transporting him.