Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/57

Runo XXIX]

Then the island-maidens wondered,

And the girls were all astounded

At the songs of Lemminkainen,

And the craft of that great hero.

Said the lively Lemminkainen,

Spoke the handsome Kaukomieli,

“I have sung a song most splendid,

But perchance might sing a better,

If beneath a roof I sang it,

At the end of the deal table.

If a house you cannot give me,

There to rest upon the planking,

I will hum my tunes in forest,

Toss my songs among the bushes.”

Said the maidens of the island,

Answered after full reflection:

“There are houses you may enter,

Handsome halls that you may dwell in,

Safe from cold to sing your verses,

In the open speak your magic.”

Then the lively Lemminkainen,

Entered in a house directly,

Where he sang a row of pint-pots,

At the end of the long table.

All the pots with ale were brimming,

And the cans with mead the finest,

Filled as full as one could fill them,

Dishes filled to overflowing.

In the pots was beer in plenty,

And the mead in covered tankards,

Butter too, in great abundance,

Pork was likewise there in plenty,

For the feast of Lemminkainen,

And for Kaukomieli’s pleasure.

Kauko was of finest manners,

Nor to eat was he accustomed,

Only with a knife of silver,

Fitted with a golden handle.

So he sang a knife of silver,

And a golden-hafted knife-blade,