Now thy flesh in earth has rotted, Fir-trees o"er thy head are growing, Juniper upon thy ankles, On thy finger-tips are willows.
"Thus my wretched doom has found me, And an ill reward has reached me, That my sword I dared to measure, And I dared to raise my weapons 510 There in Pohjola"s great castle, In the fields of Pimentola.
But my own race now has perished, Perished now is she who bore me."
Then he looked, and turned on all sides, And he saw a trace of footsteps, Where the gra.s.s was lightly trampled, And the heath was slightly broken.
Then he went the way they led him, And he found a little pathway; 520 To the forest led the pathway, And he went in that direction.
Thus he walked a verst, a second, Hurried through a stretch of country, And in darkest shades of forest, In the most concealed recesses, There he saw a hidden bath-house, Saw a little cottage hidden, In a cleft two rocks protected, In a nook between three fir-trees; 530 There he saw his tender mother, There beheld the aged woman.
Then the lively Lemminkainen, Felt rejoiced beyond all measure, And he spoke the words which follow, And in words like these expressed him: "O my very dearest mother, O my mother who hast nursed me, Thou art living still, O mother, Watchful still, my aged mother! 540 Yet I thought that thou had"st perished, And wast lost to me for ever, Perished underneath the sword-blades, Or beneath the spears had"st fallen, And I wept my pretty eyes out, And my handsome cheeks were ruined."
Then said Lemminkainen"s mother, "True it is that I am living, But was forced to fly my dwelling, And to seek a place of hiding 550 In this dark and gloomy forest, In the most concealed recesses, When came Pohjola to battle, Murderous hosts from distant countries, Seeking but for thee, unhappy, And our home they laid in ruins, And they burned the house to ashes, And they wasted all the holding."
Said the lively Lemminkainen: "O my mother who hast borne me, 560 Do not give thyself to sadness, Be not sad, and be not troubled.
We will now erect fresh buildings, Better buildings than the others, And will wage a war with Pohja, Overthrowing Lempo"s people."
Then did Lemminkainen"s mother Answer in the words which follow: "Long hast thou, my son, been absent, Long, my Kauko, hast been living 570 In a distant foreign country, Always in the doors of strangers, On a nameless promontory, And upon an unknown island."
Answered lively Lemminkainen, Said the handsome Kaukomieli: "There to dwell was very pleasant, Charming was it there to wander.
There the trees are crimson-shining, Red the trees, and blue the country, 580 And the pine-boughs shine like silver, And the flowers of heath all golden, And the mountains are of honey, And the rocks are made of hens" eggs, Flows the mead from withered pine-trees, Milk flows from the barren fir-trees, b.u.t.ter flows from corner-fences, From the posts the ale is flowing.
"There to dwell was very pleasant, Lovely was it to reside there; 590 Afterwards "twas bad to live there, And unfit for me to live there.
They were anxious for the maidens, And suspicious of the women, Lest the miserable wenches, And the fat and wicked creatures, Might by me be badly treated, Visited too much at night-time.
But I hid me from the maidens, And the women"s daughters guarded 600 Just as hides the wolf from porkers, Or the hawks from village poultry."
RUNO x.x.x.--LEMMINKAINEN AND TIERA
_Argument_
Lemminkainen goes to ask his former comrade-in-arms, Tiera, to join him in an expedition against Pohjola (1-122). The Mistress of Pohjola sends the Frost against them, who freezes the boat in the sea, and almost freezes the heroes themselves in the boat, but that Lemminkainen restrains it by powerful charms and invocations (123-316). Lemminkainen and his companion walk across the ice to the sh.o.r.e, wander about in the waste for a long time in a miserable plight, and at last make their way home (317-500).
Ahti, youth for ever youthful, Lemminkainen young and lively, Very early in the morning, In the very earliest morning, Sauntered downward to the boathouse, To the landing-stage he wandered.
There a wooden boat was weeping, Boat with iron rowlocks grieving; "Here am I, for sailing ready, But, O wretched one, rejected. 10 Ahti rows not forth to battle, For the s.p.a.ce of sixty summers, Neither for the l.u.s.t of silver, Or if need of gold should drive him."
Then the lively Lemminkainen Struck his glove upon the vessel, With his coloured glove he struck it, And he said the words which follow: "Care thou not, O deck of pinewood, Nor lament, O timber-sided. 20 Thou once more shalt go to battle, And shalt mingle in the combat, Shalt again be filled with warriors, Ere to-morrow shall be ended."
Then he went to seek his mother, And he said the words which follow: "Do not weep for me, O mother, Nor lament, thou aged woman, If I once again must wander, And again must go to battle; 30 For my mind resolve has taken, And a plan my brain has seized on, To destroy the folk of Pohja, And revenge me on the scoundrels."
To restrain him sought his mother, And the aged woman warned him: "Do not go, my son, my dearest, Thus "gainst Pohjola to combat!
There perchance might death o"ercome thee, And destruction fall upon thee." 40
Little troubled Lemminkainen, But he thought on his departure, And he started on his journey, And he spoke the words which follow: "Can I find another hero, Find a man, and find a swordsman, Who will join in Ahti"s battle, And with all his strength will aid me?
"Well is Tiera known unto me, Well with Kuura I"m acquainted, 50 He will be a second hero, He"s a hero and a swordsman, He will join in Ahti"s battle, And with all his strength will aid me."
Through the villages he wandered, Found his way to Tiera"s homestead, And he said on his arrival, Spoke the object of his coming: "O my Tiera, faithful comrade, Of my friends most loved and dearest, 60 Thinkest thou on days departed, On the life we lived aforetime, When we wandered forth together, To the fields of mighty battles?
There was not a single village Where ten houses were not numbered, There was none among the houses, Where ten heroes were not living, There was none among the heroes, Not a man, however valiant, 70 None who did not fall before us, By us twain who was not slaughtered."
At the window worked the father, And a spear-shaft he was carving; By the threshold stood the mother, Busy as she churned the b.u.t.ter; At the door the ruddy brothers, And they wrought a sledge"s framework; At the bridge-end stood the sisters, And the clothes they there were wringing. 80
From the window spoke the father, And the mother from the threshold, From the door the ruddy brothers, From the bridge-end spoke the sisters, "Tiera cannot go to battle, Nor may strike with spear in warfare.
Other duties call for Tiera, He has made a lifelong compact, For a young wife has he taken As the mistress of his household, 90 But untouched is she at present, Uncaressed is still her bosom."
By the stove was Tiera resting, By the stove-side Kuura rested, At the stove one foot he booted, And the other at the stove-bench, At the gate his belt he tightened, In the open girt it round him; Then did Tiera grasp his spear-shaft, Not the largest of the largest, 100 Nor the smallest of the smallest, But a spear of mid dimensions.
On the blade a steed was standing, On the side a foal was trotting, At the joint a wolf was howling, At the haft a bear was growling.
Thus his spear did Tiera brandish, And he brandished it to whirring, Hurled it then to fathom-deepness In the stiff clay of the cornfield, 110 In a bare spot of the meadow, In a flat spot free from hillocks.
Then his spear was placed by Tiera With the other spears of Ahti, And he went and made him ready Swift to join in Ahti"s battle.
Then did Ahti Saarelainen Push his boat into the water, Like a snake in gra.s.s when creeping, Even like a living serpent, 120 And he sailed away to north-west, On the lake that borders Pohja.
Then did Pohjola"s old Mistress Call the wicked Frost to aid her, On the lake that borders Pohja, On the deep and open water, And she said the words which follow, Thus she spoke and thus commanded: "O my Frost, my boy so little, O thou foster-child I nurtured! 130 Go thou forth where I shall bid thee, Where I bid thee, and I send thee.
Freeze the boat of that great scoundrel, Boat of lively Lemminkainen, On the lake"s extended surface, On the deep and open water, Freeze thou too the master in it, Freeze thou in the boat the rascal, That he nevermore escape thee, In the course of all his lifetime, 140 If myself I do not loose him, If myself I do not free him."
Then the Frost, that wicked fellow, And a youth the most malicious, Went upon the lake to freeze it, And upon the waves he brooded.
Forth he went, as he was ordered, And upon the land he wandered, Bit the leaves from off the branches, Gra.s.s from off the flowerless meadows. 150
Then he came upon his journey To the lake that borders Pohja, To the endless waste of water, And upon the first night only Froze the bays and froze the lakelets, Hurried forward on the seash.o.r.e, But the lake was still unfrozen, And the waves were still unstiffened.
If a small finch swam the water, On the waves a water-wagtail, 160 Still its claws remained unfrozen, And its little head unstiffened.
On the second night, however, He began to work more strongly, Growing insolent extremely, And he now grew most terrific, Then the ice on ice he loaded, And the great Frost still was freezing, And with ice he clothed the mountains, Scattered snow to height of spear-shaft, 170 Froze the boat upon the water, Ahti"s vessel on the billows; Then he would have frozen Ahti, And in ice his feet would fasten, And he seized upon his fingers, And beneath his toes attacked him.
Angry then was Lemminkainen, Very angry and indignant, Pushed the Frost into the fire, Pushed him in an iron furnace. 180
With his hands the Frost then seized he, Grasped him in his fists securely, And he spoke the words which follow, And in words like these expressed him: "Pakkanen, Puhuri"s offspring, Thou, the son of cold of winter, Do not make my fingers frozen, Nor my little toes thus stiffen.
Let my ears remain unhandled, Do not freeze my head upon me. 190
"There"s enough that may be frozen, Much is left you for your freezing, Though the skins of men you freeze not, Nor the forms of mother"s children.
Be the plains and marshes frozen, Freeze the stones to frozen coldness, Freeze the willows near the water, Grasp the aspen till it murmurs, Peel the bark from off the birch-tree, And the pine-trees break to pieces, 200 But the men you shall not trouble, Nor the hair of mother"s children.
"If this is not yet sufficient, Other things remain for freezing.
Thou may"st freeze the stones when heated, And the slabs of stone when glowing, Thou may"st freeze the iron mountains, And the rocks of steely hardness, And the mighty river Vuoksi, Or the Imatra terrific, 210 Stop the course of raging whirlpool, Foaming in its utmost fury.
"Shall I tell you of your lineage, And shall I make known your honours?
Surely do I know thy lineage, All I know of thine uprearing; For the Frost was born "mid willows, Nurtured in the sharpest weather, Near to Pohjola"s great homestead, Near the hall of Pimentola, 220 Sprung from father, ever crime-stained, And from a most wicked mother.
"Who was it the Frost who suckled, Bathed him in the glowing weather?
Milkless wholly was his mother, And his mother wholly breastless.
"Adders "twas the Frost who suckled, Adders suckled, serpents fed him, Suckled with their pointless nipples, Suckled with their dried-up udders, 230 And the Northwind rocked his cradle, And to rest the cold air soothed him, In the wretched willow-thicket, In the midst of quaking marshes.
"And the boy was reared up vicious, Led an evil life destructive, But as yet no name was given, To a boy so wholly worthless; When at length a name was given, Frost it was they called the scoundrel. 240
"Then he wandered by the hedges, Always dancing in the bushes, Wading through the swamps in summer On the broadest of the marshes, Roaring through the pines in winter, Crying out among the fir-trees, Crashing through the woods of birch-trees, Sweeping through the alder-thickets, Freezing all the trees and gra.s.ses, Making level all the meadows. 250 From the trees he bit the foliage, From the heather bit the blossoms, Cracked the bark from off the pine-trees, And the twigs from off the fir-trees.