Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/43

Runo XXVII]

In the ground stood stakes a hundred,

In the yard there stood a thousand,

On the stakes were heads a hundred,

Only one stake still was headless.

Then the lively Lemminkainen

Took the head of the poor fellow;

From the ground the skull he lifted,

And upon the stake he set it.

Then did Ahti Saarelainen,

He the handsome Kaukomieli,

Once again the house re-enter,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“Wicked maid, now bring me water,

That I wash my hands and cleanse them,

From the blood of wicked Master,

From the gore of man of evil.”

Furious was the Crone of Pohja,

Wild with wrath and indignation,

And at once she sang up swordsmen,

Heroes well equipped for battle.

Up she sang a hundred swordsmen,

Sang a thousand weapon-bearers,

Lemminkainen’s head to capture,

From the neck of Kaukomieli.

Now the time seemed really coming,

Fitting time for his departure,

Terror came at length upon him,

And too hard the task before him;

From the house the youthful Ahti

Lemminkainen quick departed,

From the feast prepared at Pohja,

From the unannounced carousal.