Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/209

Runo XLIV]

And my bark is peeling from me,

Down are hewed my leafy branches.

“Often unto me defenceless

Oft to me, unhappy creature,

In the short spring come the children,

Quickly to the spot they hurry,

And with sharpened knives they score me,

Draw my sap from out my body,

And in summer wicked herdsmen,

Strip from me my white bark-girdle,

Cups and plates therefrom constructing,

Baskets too, for holding berries.

“Often unto me defenceless,

Oft to me, unhappy creature,

Come the girls beneath my branches,

Come beneath, and dance around me.

From my crown they cut the branches,

And they bind them into besoms.

“Often too, am I, defenceless,

Oft am I, unhappy creature,

Hewed away to make a clearing,

Cut to pieces into faggots.

Thrice already in this summer,

In the warm days of the summer,

Unto me have come the woodmen,

And have hewed me with their axes,

Hewed the crown from me unhappy,

And my weak life has departed.

“This has been my joy in summer,

In the warm days of the summer,

But no better was the winter,

Nor the time of snow more pleasant.

“And in former times already,

Has my face been changed by trouble,

And my head has drooped with sadness,

And my cheeks have paled with sorrow,

Thinking o’er the days of evil,

Pondering o’er the times of evil.

“And the wind brought ills upon me,

And the frost brought bitter sorrows.