Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/281

Runo XXII]

Fallen down upon the pathway,

And beneath her arm a mallet.”

Then the poor girl broke out sobbing,

And awhile she sobbed and panted,

And she soon commenced her weeping,

Pouring forth her tears in torrents.

Then she wept of tears a handful,

Filled her fists with tears of longing,

Wet she wept her father’s dwelling,

Pools of tears upon the flooring,

And she spoke the words which follow,

And expressed herself in thiswise:

“O my sisters, dearest to me,

Of my life the dear companions,

All companions of my childhood,

Listen now to what I tell you.

’Tis beyond my comprehension

Why I feel such deep oppression,

Making now my life so heavy,

Why this trouble weighs upon me,

Why this darkness rests upon me;

How I should express my sorrow.

“Otherwise I thought and fancied,

Wished it different, all my lifetime,

Thought to go as goes the cuckoo,

Crying ‘Cuckoo ’ from the hill-tops,

Now the day I have attained to,

Come the time that I had wished for;

But I go not like the cuckoo.

Crying ‘Cuckoo’ from the hill-tops,

More as duck amid the billows,

On the wide bay’s open waters,

Swimming in the freezing water,

Shivering in the icy water.

“Woe, my father and my mother,

Woe, alas, my aged parents!

Whither would you now dismiss me,

Drive a wretched maid to sorrow,

Make me thus to weep for sorrow,

Overburdened thus with trouble,