Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/163

Runo XIV]

Useful in my purse I found it,

Where it jingled in the darkness;

If thy gold thou wilt not barter,

Perhaps thou wilt exchange thy silver.”

Thus the lively Lemminkainen

For a week on snowshoes glided,

Sang a song throughout the forest,

There among the depths of jungle,

And appeased the forest’s mistress,

And the forest’s master likewise,

And delighted all the maidens,

Pleasing thus the girls of Tapio.

Then they hunted and drove onward

From its lair the elk of Hiisi,

Past the wooded hills of Tapio,

Past the bounds of Hiisi’s mountain,

To the man who waited for it,

To the sorcerer in his ambush.

Then the lively Lemminkainen

Lifted his lasso, and threw it

O’er the elk of Hiisi’s shoulders,

Round the camel’s neck he threw it,

That it should not kick in fury,

When upon its back he stroked it.

Then the lively Lemminkainen

Spoke aloud the words which follow:

“Lord of woods, of earth the master,

Fairest creature of the heathlands;

Mielikki, the forest’s mistress,

Loveliest of the game-dispensers!

Come to take the gold I promised,

Come ye now to choose the silver,

On the ground lay down your linen,

Spreading out of flax the finest,

Underneath the gold that glitters,

Underneath the shining silver,

That upon the ground it fall not,

Nor among the dirt is scattered.”

Then to Pohjola he journeyed,

And he said on his arrival: