Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/68

48

And the mother spoke as follows,

As she listened to the cuckoo:

“Never may a hapless mother

Listen to the cuckoo crying!

When I hear the cuckoo calling,

Heavy beats my heart within me.

From my eyes the tears are falling,

O’er my cheeks are waters rolling,

And the drops like peas are swelling,

Than the largest broad-beans larger.

By an ell my life is shortened,

By a span-length I am older,

And my strength has wholly failed me,

Since I heard the cuckoo calling.”

the tidings were repeated,

And the news was widely rumoured,

How the youthful maid had perished,

And the fair one had departed.

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Deeply sorrowed at the tidings;

Wept at evening, wept at morning,

Spent the livelong night in weeping,

For the fair one who had perished,

For the maiden who had slumbered,

In the muddy lake downsunken

To the depths below the billows.