Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/170

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On the comb she looked at evening,

On the brush she looked at morning,

And at length one day it happened,

In the early morning hours,

Blood from out the comb was oozing,

From the brush was gore distilling.

Kyllikki, the lovely housewife,

Uttered then the words which follow:

“Lo, my husband has departed,

And my handsome Kauko wandered

In a country void of houses,

And throughout some trackless desert.

Blood from out the comb is oozing,

Gore is from the brush distilling.”

Then did Lemminkainen’s mother

See herself the comb was bleeding,

And began to weep with sorrow.

“O alas, my day is wretched,

And my life is most unhappy,

For my son has met misfortune,

And my child all unprotected,

On an evil day was nurtured.

On the poor lad came destruction,

Lost is darling Lemminkainen,

From the comb the blood is trickling,

And the brush with blood is dripping.”

In her hands her skirt she gathered,

With her arms her dress she lifted,

And at once commenced her journey,

Hurried on upon her journey.

Mountains thundered ’neath her footsteps,

Valleys rose and hills were levelled,

And the high ground sank before her,

And the low ground rose before her.

Thus to Pohjola she journeyed,

Asking where her son had wandered,

And she asked in words which follow:

“Tell me, Pohjola’s old Mistress,

Whither sent you Lemminkainen,

Whither has my son departed?”