Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/29

Runo XXVI]

Would not instantly move onward

To the snake with eyes a hundred,

And the snake with tongues a thousand.

Spoke the lively Lemminkainen,

Said the handsome Kaukomieli:

“Serpent black and subterranean,

Worm whose hue is that of Tuoni,

Thou amidst the grass who lurkest,

At the roots of Lempo’s foliage,

Gliding all among the hillocks,

Creeping all among the tree-roots,

Who has brought thee from the stubble,

From the grass-roots has aroused thee,

Creeping here on ground all open,

Creeping there upon the pathway?

Who has sent thee from thy nettles.

Who has ordered and provoked thee

That thy head thou liftest threatening,

And thy neck thou stiffly raisest?

Was’t thy father or thy mother,

Or the eldest of thy brothers,

Or the youngest of thy sisters,

Or some other near relation?

“Close thy mouth, thy head conceal thou,

Hide thou quick thy tongue within it,

Coil thyself together tightly,

Roll thyself into a circle,

Give me way, though but a half-way,

Let the traveller make his journey,

Or begone from out the pathway.

Creep, thou vile one, in the bushes,

In the holes among the heathland,

And among the moss conceal thee,

Glide away, like ball of worsted,

Like a withered stick of aspen.

Hide thy head among the grass-roots,

Hide thyself among the hillocks,

’Neath the turf thy mouth conceal thou,

Make thy dwelling in a hillock.

If you lift your head from out it,

Rh