[1] Another term for the same phenomenon is metsänkätkö — literally "the forest's secret place for hiding things.
In other cases they might have walked endlessly through unfamiliar terrain, or were rendered completely paralyzed, unable to move or speak.
When he finally gave up and returned to his work, the first tree stump he struck with his axe transformed back into his cow.
The cause of metsänpeitto was sometimes credited to maahiset (singular: maahinen) who were supernatural small human-like beings imagined to live underground — literally earthlings or earth-dwellers[5] (often translated as "gnomes").
A lost person could sometimes free oneself by reversing one's garments[3] — turning their jacket inside out, by switching their shoes to the wrong feet, or by watching world upside down through their own legs.