Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/236

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Did you with the spear attack him,

Was he overcome with arrows?”

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Answered in the words which follow:

“Very gracious was the forest,

Gracious wood, and forest lavish,

And the greenwood’s lord was joyous,

And propitious friendly Tapio.

“Mielikki, the forest’s Mistress,

Tellervo, the maid of Tapio,

Fair-haired damsel of the forest,

Little damsel of the forest,

Went along the path to guide me,

And to raise the landmarks for me,

By the roadside posts erected,

And directed all my journey,

And the trees she blazed before me,

Marks she set upon the mountains,

To the door of noble Otso,

To the borders of his dwelling.

“When I reached the place I sought for,

And arrived upon its borders,

With the spear I smote not Otso,

And I shot no arrows at him.

He himself lurched from the archway,

Tumbled from the pine-tree’s summit,

And the branches broke his breastbone,

Others ripped his belly open.”

Then he spoke the words which follow,

And in words like these expressed him:

“O my Otso, O my dearest,

O my birdling, O my darling,

Now resign to us thy headland,

Lay aside thine eye-teeth likewise,

Cast away the few teeth left thee,

And thy wide jaws give us also,

Yet thou needest not be angry,

That I come to thee in thiswise,

And thy bones and skull have broken,

And have dashed thy teeth together.