Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/276

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Like the gloomy nights of autumn,

Or the dusky day of winter,

Or, as I might better say it,

Darker than the nights of autumn!”

Then an old crone of the household,

In the house for long abiding,

Answered in the words which follow:

“Quiet, quiet, youthful maiden!

Dost remember, how I told thee,

And a hundred times repeated,

Take no pleasure in a lover,

In a lover’s mouth rejoice not,

Do not let his eyes bewitch thee,

Nor his handsome feet admire?

Though his mouth speaks charming converse,

And his eyes are fair to gaze on,

Yet upon his chin is Lempo;

In his mouth there lurks destruction.

“Thus I always counsel maidens,

And to all their kind I counsel,

Though great people come as suitors,

Mighty men should come as wooers,

Yet return them all this answer;

And on thy side speak unto them,

In such words as these address them,

And in thiswise speak unto them:

‘Not the least would it beseem me,

Not beseem me, or become me,

As a daughter-in-law to yield me,

As a slave to yield my freedom.

Such a pretty girl as I am,

Suits it not to live as slave-girl,

To depart consent I never,

To submit to rule of others.

If another word you utter,

I will give you two in answer,

If you by my hair would pull me,

And you by my locks would drag me,

From my hair I’d quickly shake you,

From my locks dishevelled drive you.’