Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/272

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But the eggs of hens ate never,

Over which the cocks were crowing,

And the flesh of ewe she ate not,

Had the ewe with ram been running.

If her mother sent her milking,

Yet she did not go to milking,

And she spoke the words which follow:

“Never such a maid as I am

Udders of the cows should handle,

Which with bulls have been disporting,

If no milk from calf is flowing,

Or from calf it is not running.”

If her father sent her sledging,

In a stallion’s sledge she went not,

If a mare her brother brought her,

Then these words the maiden uttered:

“Never will I sit in mares’ sledge,

Which with stallion has been running,

If no foals the sledge are drawing,

Which have numbered six months only.”

Marjatta the petted damsel,

She who always lived a virgin,

Always greeted as a maiden,

Modest maid with locks unbraided,

Went to lead the herds to pasture,

And beside the sheep was walking.

On the hill the sheep were straying,

To the top the lambs were climbing,

On the plain the maiden wandered,

Tripping through the alder bushes,

While there called the golden cuckoo,

And the silvery birds were singing.

Marjatta the petted damsel,

Looked around her and she listened,

Sitting on the hill of berries,

Resting on the sloping hillside,

And she spoke the words which follow,

And in words like these expressed her:

“Call thou on, O golden cuckoo,

Sing thou still, O bird of silver,