Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/98

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Quickly cut a branch of birch-tree,

Take a rod from out the bushes,

Likewise take a whip of cherry,

And of juniper to scourge them,

From the back of Tapio’s castle,

From among the slopes of alder.

Drive the herd towards the household,

At the time for bathroom-heating;

Homeward drive the household cattle,

Cows from Metsola’s great forest.

“Otso, apple of the forest,

With thy honey-paws so curving,

Let us make a peace between us,

Haste to make a peace between us,

So that always and for ever

In the days that we are living,

Thou wilt fell no hooféd cattle,

Nor wilt overthrow the milch-kine,

Through the finest of the summer,

In the good Creator’s summer.

“When thou hear’st the cow-bells ringing,

Or thou hear’st the cow-horn sounding,

Cast thee down among the hillocks,

Sleep thou there upon the meadow,

Thrust thine ears into the stubble,

Hide thy head among the hillocks,

Or conceal thee in the thickets,

To thy mossy lair retreat thou,

Go thou forth to other districts,

Flee away to other hillocks,

That thou mayst not hear the cow-bells,

Nor the talking of the herdsmen.

“O my Otso, O my darling,

Handsome one, with paws of honey,

I forbid thee to approach them,

Or molest the herd of cattle,

Neither with thy tongue to touch them,

Nor with ugly mouth to seize them,

With thy teeth to tear to pieces,

Neither with thy claws to scratch them.