Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/296

276

“List again to what I tell thee,

And again impress upon thee.

When at length this house thou leavest,

And thou comest to the other,

Do thou not forget thy mother,

Or despise thy dearest mother,

For it was thy mother reared thee,

And her beauteous breasts that nursed thee,

From her own delightful body,

From her form of perfect whiteness.

Many nights has she lain sleepless,

Many meals has she forgotten,

While she rocked thee in thy cradle,

Watching fondly o’er her infant.

“She who should forget her mother,

Or despise her dearest mother,

Ne’er to Manala should travel,

Nor to Tuonela go cheerful.

There in Manala is anguish,

Hard in Tuonela the reckoning,

If she has forgot her mother,

Or despised her dearest mother.

Tuoni’s daughters come reproaching,

Mana’s maidens all come mocking:

‘Why hast thou forgot thy mother,

Or despised thy dearest mother?

Great the sufferings of thy mother,

Great her sufferings when she bore thee,

Lying groaning in the bathroom,

On a couch of straw extended,

When she gave thee thy existence,

Giving birth to thee, the vile one!”

On the ground there sat an old crone,

Sat an old dame ’neath her mantle,

Wanderer o’er the village threshold,

Wanderer through the country’s footpaths,

And she spoke the words which follow,

And in words like these expressed her:

“To his mate the cock was singing,

Sang the hen’s child to his fair one,