Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 1, 1890.djvu/46

40 The "good for nothing" sat on a stone, the "useless fellow" slept on a rock. From it he slipt off suddenly down on the north side of a stone. Slaver dript from the beast's mouth—saliva from the 'toad's' jaws. Syöjätär remarked it—ate up the slaver on the stone, Spat it upon the waters—splashed it down upon the waves. The spittle moves upon the sea, the flat lump rolls upon the waves, The 'froth'—upon the mighty waters, Wind came and gathered it together, waves drifted it against a rock, Into the inside of an iron [coloured] reed, into the side of a thick grass. Hence its origin arose, its production was produced. Whence was life obtained for it, whence was its poison flung? Thence was life obtained for it, thence was the poison flung, From the fire of hell, from the flame of the evil power.

O underground black 'worm', O 'grub', the hue of death (Tuoni), I know thy stock with all thy bringing up. Syöjätär is thy mother, a water-devil thy parent. Syöjätär was rowing on the water, "fire-throat" was bobbing up and down In a copper boat wtthwith [sic] a red sail. Syöjätär spat on the water—let drop a lump upon the waves, A wind rocked it to and fro, a water current swayed it, Rocked it for six years, for seven summers, Upon the clear and open sea—the illimitable waves. The water stretched it long, the sun baked it soft, The water's surge directed it, the billows drive it ashore, The ocean breakers dash it against the sides of a thick tree.