Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/128

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None among them pleased the maiden,

And she answered all as follows:

“’Tis for nought your gold you squander,

And your silver waste for nothing.

Never will I go to Viro,

Neither go, nor in the future

Row a boat through Viro’s waters,

Nor will move a punt from Saari,

Nor will eat the fish of Viro,

Nor the fish-soup eat of Viro.

“Nor to Ingerland I’ll travel,

Nor its slopes and shores will visit.

There is hunger, nought but hunger,

Want of trees, and want of timber,

Want of water, want of wheatfields,

There is even want of ryebread.”

Then the lively Lemminkainen,

He the handsome Kaukomieli,

Now resolved to make a journey

And to woo the Flower of Saari,

Seek at home the peerless fair one,

With her beauteous locks unbraided.

But his mother would dissuade him,

And the aged woman warned him:

“Do not seek, my son, my darling,

Thus to wed above your station.

There are none would think you noble

Of the mighty race of Saari.”

Said the lively Lemminkainen,

Said the handsome Kaukomieli,

“If my house is not as noble,

Nor my race esteemed so mighty,

For my handsome shape they’ll choose me,

For my noble form will take me.”

But his mother still opposed her

Unto Lemminkainen’s journey,

To the mighty race of Saari,

To the clan of vast possessions.

“There the maidens all will scorn you,

And the women ridicule you.”