Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/243

Runo XIX]

“Bravo, bravo, dearest maiden,

Have I not for ever told thee,

Not to sing among the pine-trees,

Not to sing amid the valleys,

Not to arch thy neck too proudly,

Nor thy white arms leave uncovered,

Nor thy young and beauteous bosom,

Nor thy shape so round and graceful?

“I have warned thee all the autumn,

And besought thee all the summer,

Likewise in the spring have cautioned,

At the second springtide sowing,

To construct a secret dwelling,

With the windows small and hidden,

Where the maids may do their weaving,

And may work their looms in safety,

All unheard by Suomi’s gallants,

Suomi’s gallants, country lovers.”

From the floor the child made answer,

And the fortnight-old responded:

“Easily a horse is hidden

In the stall, with fine-tailed horses;

Hard it is to hide a maiden,

And to keep her long locks hidden.

Though you build of stone a castle,

And amid the sea shall rear it,

Though you keep your maidens in it,

And should rear your darlings in it,

Still the girls cannot be hidden,

Nor attain their perfect stature,

Undisturbed by lusty gallants,

Lusty gallants, country lovers.

Mighty men, with lofty helmets,

Men who shoe with steel their horses.“

Then the aged Väinämöinen

Head bowed down, and deeply grieving:

Wandered on his journey homeward,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“Woe is me, a wretched creature,

That I did not learn it sooner,