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“From the stove scrape all the rust off,

From the ceiling wipe the soot off,

And the ceiling-props remember,

Nor should’st thou forget the rafters,

That the house be all in order,

And a fitting place to live in.

“Hear, O maiden, what I tell thee,

What I say, and what I tell thee,

Do not go without thy clothing,

Nor without thy shift disport thee,

Move about without thy linen,

Or without thy shoes go shuffling:

Greatly shocked would be thy bridegroom,

And thy youthful husband grumble.

“In the yard there grows a rowan,

Thou with reverent care should’st tend it,

Holy is the tree there growing,

Holy likewise are its branches,

On its boughs the leaves are holy,

And its berries yet more holy,

For a damsel may discover,

And an orphan thence learn teaching,

How to please her youthful husband,

To her bridegroom’s heart draw nearer.

“Let thy ears be keen as mouse-ears,

Let thy feet as hare’s be rapid,

And thy young neck proudly arching,

And thy fair neck proudly bending,

Like the juniper uprising,

Or the cherry’s verdant summit.

“Likewise hold thyself discreetly,

Always ponder and consider;

Never venture thou to rest thee

On the bench at length extended,

Nor upon thy bed to rest thee,

There to yield thee to thy slumbers.

“Comes the brother from his ploughing,

Or the father from the storehouse,

Or thy husband from his labour,

He, thy fair one, from the clearing,