Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/307

Runo XXIV]

They who reared their lovely daughter

To the charming bride beside thee.

“Stainless sits the maid beside thee,

Maiden bright to thee united,

Pledged to thee in all her beauty,

Fair one under thy protection,

Charming girl upon thy bosom,

At thy side so sweetly blushing,

Girl with strength to help in threshing,

Or to help thee in the hayfield,

Skilful, too, to do the washing,

Quick to bleach the clothes to whiteness,

Skilful, too, the thread in spinning,

Rapid, too, the cloth when weaving.

“And I hear her loom resounding,

As upon the hill the cuckoo,

And I see her shuttle darting,

As the ermine through a thicket,

And the reel she twists as quickly

As the squirrel’s mouth a fir-cone.

Never sound has slept the village,

Nor the country people slumbered,

For her loom’s incessant clatter,

And the whizzing of the shuttle.

“O thou loved and youthful bridegroom,

Handsomest of all the people,

Forge thou now a scythe of sharpness,

Fix the best of handles on it,

Carve it, sitting in the doorway,

Hammer it upon a tree-stump.

When there comes the time of sunshine,

Take thy young wife to the meadow,

Look thou where the grass is rustling,

And the harder grass is crackling,

And the reeds are gently murmuring,

And the sorrel gently rustling,

Also note where stand the hillocks,

And the shoots from stumps arising.

“When another day is dawning,

Let her have a weaver’s shuttle,