Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/71

Runo XXX]

On the lake that borders Pohja,

On the deep and open water,

And she said the words which follow,

Thus she spoke and thus commanded:

“O my Frost, my boy so little,

O thou foster-child I nurtured!

Go thou forth where I shall bid thee,

Where I bid thee, and I send thee.

Freeze the boat of that great scoundrel,

Boat of lively Lemminkainen,

On the lake’s extended surface,

On the deep and open water,

Freeze thou too the master in it,

Freeze thou in the boat the rascal,

That he nevermore escape thee,

In the course of all his lifetime,

If myself I do not loose him,

If myself I do not free him.”

Then the Frost, that wicked fellow,

And a youth the most malicious,

Went upon the lake to freeze it,

And upon the waves he brooded.

Forth he went, as he was ordered,

And upon the land he wandered,

Bit the leaves from off the branches,

Grass from off the flowerless meadows.

Then he came upon his journey

To the lake that borders Pohja,

To the endless waste of water,

And upon the first night only

Froze the bays and froze the lakelets,

Hurried forward on the seashore,

But the lake was still unfrozen,

And the waves were still unstiffened.

If a small finch swam the water,

On the waves a water-wagtail,

Still its claws remained unfrozen,

And its little head unstiffened.

On the second night, however,

He began to work more strongly,