Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/149

Runo XII]

There to burn as if ’mid fire,

And to scatter sparks around them.

Then the lively Lemminkainen

Sang his songs against the swordsmen.

Sang the heroes with their weapons,

Sang the young men, sang the old men,

And the men of age between them,

And his songs spared one man only,

And he was a wicked cowherd,

Old, with eyes both closed and sightless.

Märkahättu then, the cowherd,

Spoke the very words which follow:

“O thou lively son of Lempi,

Thou hast banned the young and old men,

Banned the men of age between them,

Wherefore hast not banned me likewise?”

Said the lively Lemminkainen,

“Therefore ’tis that I have spared thee,

That thou dost appear so wretched,

Pitiful without my magic.

In the days when thou wast younger,

Thou wast worst of all the cowherds,

Hast destroyed thy mother’s children,

And disgraced thy very sister,

All the horses hast thou crippled,

All the foals hast thou outwearied,

In the swamps or stony places,

Plashing through the muddy waters.”

Märkahättu then, the cowherd,

Greatly vexed, and greatly angry,

Through the open door went quickly,

Through the yard to open country,

Ran to Tuonela’s deep river,

To the dreadful river’s whirlpool,

Waited there for Kaukomieli,

Waited there for Lemminkainen,

Till on his return from Pohja,

He should make his journey homeward.

Rh