Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/263

Runo XXI]

Cover then the bridegroom’s courser

With a cloth of silver fabric,

And a mat of golden texture,

And a horse-wrap decked with copper.

“Now my little village laddies,

To the house conduct the bridegroom,

Gently lift his hat from off him,

From his hands his gloves take likewise.

“I would fain see if the bridegroom

Presently the house can enter,

Ere the doors are lifted from it,

And they have removed the doorposts,

And have lifted up the crossbars,

And the threshold has been sunken,

And the nearer walls are broken,

And the floor-planks have been shifted.

“But the house suits not the bridegroom,

Nor the great gift suits the dwelling,

Till the doors are lifted from it,

And they have removed the doorposts,

And have lifted up the crossbars,

And the threshold has been sunken,

And the nearer walls been broken,

And the flooring-planks been shifted,

For the bridegroom’s head is longer,

And the bridegroom’s ears are higher.

“Let the crossbars then be lifted,

That his head the roof may touch not,

Let the threshold now be sunken,

That his footsoles may not touch it,

Let them now set back the doorposts,

That the doors may open widely,

When at length the bridegroom enters,

When the noble youth approaches.

“Praise, O Jumala most gracious,

For the bridegroom now has entered.

I would now the house examine,

Cast my gaze around within it,

See that washed are all the tables,

And the benches swabbed with water,