Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/30

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Ukko surely will destroy it,

With his nails, all steely-pointed,

With a mighty hail of iron.”

Thus was Lemminkainen talking,

But the serpent heeded nothing,

And continued always hissing,

Darting out its tongue for ever,

And its mouth was always hissing

At the head of Lemminkainen.

Then the lively Lemminkainen

Of an ancient spell bethought him,

Which the old crone once had taught him,

Which his mother once had taught him.

Said the lively Lemminkainen,

Spoke the handsome Kaukomieli,

“If you do not heed my singing,

And it is not quite sufficient,

Still you will swell up with anguish

When an ill day comes upon you.

Thou wilt burst in two, O vile one,

O thou toad, in three will burst thou,

If I should seek out your mother,

And should search for your ancestress.

Well I know thy birth, vile creature,

Whence thou comest, earthly horror,

For Syöjätär was your mother,

And the sea-fiend was your parent.

“Syöjätär she spat in water,

In the waves she left the spittle,

By the wind ’twas rocked thereafter,

Tossed upon the water-current,

Thus for six years it was shaken,

Thus for seven whole summers drifted,

On the ocean’s shining surface,

And upon the swelling billows.

Thus for long the water stretched it,

By the sun ’twas warmed and softened,

To the land the billows drove it,

On the beach a wave upcast it.

“Walked three Daughters of Creation