On December 17, 1905, a boy was born in a small place called Kiiskinen in southern Finland. The area was part of the Rautjärvi municipality.
His name was Simo Häyhä.
Simo was the seventh of eight children in his family.
His father, Juho Häyhä, owned a farm called Mattila. His mother, Katriina, helped run the farm and took care of the children. The family worked hard every day.
Life on a farm in Finland was not easy.
The family woke up early in the morning to begin their work. There were animals to feed, wood to cut, and land to take care of. When Simo was old enough, he helped his family with these jobs.
Simo also went to school in a nearby village called Miettilä. After school, he returned home to help his family work on the farm.
Simo was known as a quiet child.
He did not talk very much compared to the other children. Many times he listened instead of speaking.
Even though he was quiet, he liked to spend time outside. The forests around his home were large, and he often walked through them.
Over time, he began to enjoy hunting.
He practiced using a rifle and spent many hours learning how to shoot well. At first he missed many shots. But he kept practicing.
Slowly, he became very good.
He also learned to stay still for long periods of time. When hunting animals, he needed to wait and watch carefully.
Simo liked this kind of work. He did not rush. He took his time.
As he grew older, he practiced shooting more often. It became one of his favorite things to do.
People in the area began to notice that he was very good at hitting targets.
But Simo did not like attention. Even when he did well at something, he stayed quiet.
Most of the time he just focused on improving his skills.
He helped his family.
He went to school.
He practiced shooting.
And he spent time in the forests near his home.
At the time, Simo did not know that his skill with a rifle would become very important one day.
But for now, he was just a quiet boy living on a farm in Finland.