Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/215

Runo XLV]

Thereupon she grew most envious,

And for evermore reflected

On the death that she might fashion,

How she best might bring destruction

On the people in Väinöla,

And on Kalevala’s whole people.

Then she prayed aloud to Ukko,

And she thus implored the Thunderer:

“Ukko, thou of Gods the highest,

Slay thou Kaleva’s whole people,

Slay them with thy hail of iron,

With thy steely needles slay them,

Or by sickness let them perish,

Let the evil nation perish,

Let the men die in the farmyard,

On the cowshed floor the women.”

Lived in Tuonela a blind maid,

Loviatar, an aged woman,

She the worst of Tuoni’s daughters,

And of Mana’s maids most hideous,

She, the source of every evil,

Origin of woes a thousand,

With a face of perfect blackness,

And a skin of hue most hideous.

Then this daughter black of Tuoni,

Ulappala’s blind-eyed damsel,

Made her bed upon the pathway,

On the straw in evil country,

And her back she turned to windward,

Sideways to the bitter weather,

Backwards to the blast so freezing,

And the chilling winds of morning.

Then a great wind rose in fury,

From the east a mighty tempest,

Blew this wretched creature pregnant,

And she quickened from the tempest,

On a barren waste all treeless,

On the bare and grassless meadows.

And she bore a heavy burden,

Bore a heavy painful burden,