Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/106

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Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,

Looked, and saw the sun was sinking,

And he said the words which follow:

“Now the time has come for eating,

Yes, the time has come for eating,

Time it is to take refreshment.”

So to rest he drove the cattle,

On the heath he drove the cattle,

And he sat him on a hillock,

And upon a green hill sat him.

From his back he took his wallet,

Took the cake from out the wallet,

And he turned it round and eyed it,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“Many a cake is outside handsome,

And the crust looks smooth from outside,

But within is only fir-bark,

Only chaff beneath the surface.”

From the sheath he took his knife out,

And to cut the cake attempted.

On the stone the knife struck sharply,

And against the stone was broken.

From the knife the point was broken;

And the knife itself was broken.

Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,

Looked, and saw the knife was broken,

And at length he burst out weeping,

And he said the words which follow:

“Save this knife I’d no companion,

Nought to love except this iron,

’Twas an heirloom from my father,

And the aged man had used it.

Now against a stone ’tis broken,

’Gainst a piece of rock ’tis shattered

In the cake of that vile mistress,

Baked there by that wicked woman.

“How shall I for this reward her,

Woman’s prank, and damsel’s mockery,

And destroy the base old woman,

And that wicked wench, the bakeress?”