Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/39

 Rh The maiden rocked the fire, swung the flame up and down, arranged the fire with her fingers, tended the flame with her hands. The fire fell from the stupid careless girl, from the hands of her that dandled it, the fingers of her that cherished it.

The fiery spark slipped suddenly, the ruddy drop whizzed, flashed through the heavens, fell through the clouds from above the nine heavens, through the six speckled firmaments. The fiery spark shot, the ruddy drop fell, from where the Creator, the Old man of the air, had struck fire, through the sooty chimney-hole, along the side of the dry ridge-beam into Tuuri’s new room, the roofless room of Palvonen. Then, when it had penetrated into Tuuri’s new room, it set itself to evil deeds, turned itself to acts of villainy. It tore his daughters’ breasts, the forearms of his little girls, injured the knees of the boys, burnt the beard of the master of the house. A mother was suckling her baby in a miserable cradle under the sooty chimney-hole. When the fire entered, it burnt the baby in the cradle right through the mother’s breasts.

Then it went its way, pursued its course, first of all burnt much land and swamp, sandy and deserted fields, and secluded forests terribly. Finally, it plashed into water, into the waves of Lake Alue [v. Alava, v. Alimo]. Thereby Lake Alue burst into flame, corruscated with sparks, when subjected to that raging fire, was stimulated to overflow its banks, welled over the forest firs so that its fish, its perch were left high and dry upon the dry bottom. Still, the fire was not quenched in the waves of Lake Alue. It attacked a clump of junipers, so the juniper-covered heath was burnt. It dashed suddenly at a clump of firs and burnt up the lovely fir-clump. Still it went rolling on, and burnt up half Bothnia [v. Sweden, half a mile of Russia], a projecting corner of the marches of Saxolax, and a portion [v. both halves] of Karelia.

Then it went into concealment to hide its infamy, threw itself down to repose under the root of two stumps, in the