Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/85

Runo XXXI]

Then did Untamo grow angry.

“Where then can I place the infant,

That we bring him to destruction,

And that death may overtake him?”

So upon a tree they hanged him,

Strung him up upon an oak-tree.

Two nights and a third passed over,

And upon the dawn thereafter,

Untamo again reflected:

“Time it is to look around us,

Whether Kullervo has fallen,

Or is dead upon the gallows.”

Then he sent a servant forward,

Back he came, and thus reported:

“Kullervo not yet has perished,

Nor has died upon the gallows.

Pictures on the tree he’s carving,

In his hands he holds a graver.

All the tree is filled with pictures,

All the oak-tree filled with carvings;

Here are men, and here are sword-blades,

And the spears are leaning by them.”

Where should Untamo seek aidance,

’Gainst this boy, the most unhappy?

Whatsoever deaths he planned him,

Or he planned for his destruction,

In the jaws of death he fell not,

Nor could he be brought to ruin.

And at length he grew full weary

Of his efforts to destroy him,

So he reared up Kullervoinen

As a slave beneath his orders.

Thereupon said Untamoinen,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“If you live as it is fitting,

Always acting as is proper,

In my house I will retain you,

And the work of servants give you.

I will pay you wages for it,

As I think that you deserve it,