Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/313

Runo XXIV]

Or the mouth of wolf attacked her,

Or the forest bear has mauled her,

Or was perhaps the wolf her husband,

Was the bear perchance her consort?’“

By the stove there lay an old man,

By the hearth there sat a beggar;

From the stove there spoke the old man,

From the hearth there spoke the beggar.

“Never may’st thou, luckless husband,

Listen to thy wife’s opinion,

Tongue of lark, and whim of women,

Like myself, a youth unhappy,

For both bread and meat I bought her,

Bought her butter, ale I bought her,

Every sort of fish I bought her,

Bought her all sorts of provisions,

Home-brewed ale the best I bought her,

Likewise wheat from foreign countries.

“But she let it not content her,

Nor did it improve her temper,

For one day the room she entered,

And she grasped my hair, and tore it,

And her face was quite distorted,

And her eyes were wildly rolling,

Always scolding in her fury,

To her heart’s contentment scolding,

Heaping foul abuse upon me,

Roaring at me as a sluggard.

“But I knew another method,

Knew another way to tame her,

So I peeled myself a birch-shoot,

When she came, and called me birdie;

But when juniper I gathered,

Then she stooped, and called me darling;

When I lifted rods of willow,

On my neck she fell embracing.”

Now the hapless girl was sighing,

Sighing much, and sobbing sadly;

Presently she broke out weeping,

And she spoke the words which follow: