Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/53

Runo III]

Then his mother came and asked him

Wherefore was he sunk in sorrow.

“O my son, why weep so sadly?

O my darling, why so troubled,

With thy lips so dry and stiffened,

O’er thy mouth thy nose thus drooping?”

Said the youthful Joukahainen,

“O my mother, who hast borne me,

There is cause for what has happened,

For the sorcerer has o’ercome me.

Cause enough have I for weeping,

And the sorcerer’s brought me sorrow.

I myself must weep for ever,

And must pass my life in mourning,

For my very sister Aino,

She, my dearest mother’s daughter,

I have pledged to Väinämöinen,

As the consort of the minstrel,

To support his feeble footsteps,

And to wait upon him always.”

Joyous clapped her hands his mother,

Both her hands she rubbed together,

And she spoke the words which follow:

“Do not weep, my son, my dearest,

For thy tears are quite uncalled for.

Little cause have we to sorrow,

For the hope I long have cherished,

All my lifetime I have wished it,

And have hoped this high-born hero

Might akin to us be reckoned,

And the minstrel Väinämöinen

Might become my daughter’s husband.”

But when Joukahainen’s sister

Heard, she wept in deepest sorrow,

Wept one day, and wept a second,

At the threshold ever weeping,

Wept in overwhelming sorrow,

In the sadness of her spirit.

Then her mother said consoling,

“Wherefore weep, my little Aino?

Rh