Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/156

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Then did Hiisi’s elk grow furious,

And the reindeer kicked out wildly,

And it spoke the words which follow:

“Lempo’s self shall reckon with you,

If you sleep beside a maiden,

And beside a girl should tarry.”

Then it gave a mighty struggle,

And it snapped the birchen collar,

And it broke the pole of maple,

And the pen of oak burst open,

And began to hurry forwards,

And the elk rushed wildly onwards,

Over land and over marshes,

Over slopes o’ergrown with bushes,

Till the eyes no more could see it,

And the ears no longer hear it.

Thereupon the ruddy rascal

Grew both sorrowful and angry,

Very vexed and very angry,

And would chase the elk of Hiisi,

But as he was rushing forward,

In a hole he broke his left shoe,

And his snowshoe fell to pieces,

On the ground he broke the right one,

Broke the tips from off his snowshoes,

And the frames across the joinings.

While rushed on the elk of Hiisi,

Till its head he saw no longer.

Then the lively Lemminkainen,

Bowed his head in deep depression,

Gazed upon the broken snowshoes,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“Nevermore in all his lifetime

May another hunter venture

Confidently to the forest,

Chasing Hiisi’s elk on snowshoes!

Since I went, O me unhappy,

And have spoilt the best of snowshoes,

And the splendid frames have shattered,

And my spearpoint likewise broken.”