<h2><SPAN name="chap23"></SPAN>RUNE XXIII.<br/> OSMOTAR THE BRIDE-ADVISER.</h2>
<p>Now the bride must be instructed,<br/>
Who will teach the Maid of Beauty,<br/>
Who instruct the Rainbow-daughter?<br/>
Osmotar, the wisdom-maiden,<br/>
Kalew’s fair and lovely virgin,<br/>
Osmotar will give instructions<br/>
To the bride of Ilmarinen,<br/>
To the orphaned bride of Pohya,<br/>
Teach her how to live in pleasure,<br/>
How to live and reign in glory,<br/>
Win her second mother’s praises,<br/>
Joyful in her husband’s dwelling.</p>
<p>Osmotar in modest accents<br/>
Thus the anxious bride addresses:<br/>
“Maid of Beauty, lovely sister,<br/>
Tender plant of Louhi’s gardens,<br/>
Hear thou what thy sister teaches,<br/>
Listen to her sage instructions:<br/>
Go thou hence, my much beloved,<br/>
Wander far away, my flower,<br/>
Travel on enwrapped in colors,<br/>
Glide away in silks and ribbons,<br/>
From this house renowned and ancient,<br/>
From thy father’s halls and court-yards<br/>
Haste thee to thy husband’s village,<br/>
Hasten to his mother’s household;<br/>
Strange, the rooms in other dwellings,<br/>
Strange, the modes in other hamlets.</p>
<p>“Full of thought must be thy going,<br/>
And thy work be well considered,<br/>
Quite unlike thy home in Northland,<br/>
On the meadows of thy father,<br/>
On the highlands of thy brother,<br/>
Singing through thy mother’s fenlands,<br/>
Culling daisies with thy sister.</p>
<p>“When thou goest from thy father<br/>
Thou canst take whatever pleases,<br/>
Only three things leave behind thee:<br/>
Leave thy day-dreams to thy sister,<br/>
Leave thou kindness for thy mother,<br/>
To thy brother leave thy labors,<br/>
Take all else that thou desirest.<br/>
Throw away thine incantations,<br/>
Cast thy sighing to the pine-trees,<br/>
And thy maidenhood to zephyrs,<br/>
Thy rejoicings to the couches,<br/>
Cast thy trinkets to the children,<br/>
And thy leisure to the gray-beards,<br/>
Cast all pleasures to thy playmates,<br/>
Let them take them to the woodlands,<br/>
Bury them beneath the mountain.</p>
<p>“Thou must hence acquire new habits,<br/>
Must forget thy former customs,<br/>
Mother-love must be forsaken,<br/>
Thou must love thy husband’s mother,<br/>
Lower must thy head be bended,<br/>
Kind words only must thou utter.</p>
<p>“Thou must hence acquire new habits,<br/>
Must forget thy former customs,<br/>
Father-love must be forsaken,<br/>
Thou must love thy husband’s father,<br/>
Lower must thy head be bended,<br/>
Kind words only must thou utter.</p>
<p>“Thou must hence acquire new habits,<br/>
Must forget thy former customs,<br/>
Brother-love must be forsaken,<br/>
Thou must love thy husband’s brother,<br/>
Lower must thy head be bended,<br/>
Kind words only must thou utter.</p>
<p>“Thou must hence acquire new habits<br/>
Must forget thy former customs,<br/>
Sister-love must be forsaken,<br/>
Thou must love thy husband’s sister,<br/>
Lower must thy head be bended,<br/>
Kind words only must thou utter.</p>
<p>“Never in the course of ages,<br/>
Never while the moonlight glimmers,<br/>
Wickedly approach thy household,<br/>
Nor unworthily, thy servants,<br/>
Nor thy courts with indiscretion;<br/>
Let thy dwellings sing good manners,<br/>
And thy walls re-echo virtue.<br/>
After mind the hero searches,<br/>
And the best of men seek honor,<br/>
Seek for honesty and wisdom;<br/>
If thy home should be immoral,<br/>
If thine inmates fail in virtue,<br/>
Then thy gray-beards would be black-dogs<br/>
In sheep’s clothing at thy firesides;<br/>
All thy women would be witches,<br/>
Wicked witches in thy chambers,<br/>
And thy brothers be as serpents<br/>
Crawling through thy husband’s mansion;<br/>
All thy sisters would be famous<br/>
For their evil thoughts and conduct.</p>
<p>“Equal honors must be given<br/>
To thy husband’s friends and kindred;<br/>
Lower must thy head be bended,<br/>
Than within thy mother’s dwelling,<br/>
Than within thy father’s guest-room,<br/>
When thou didst thy kindred honor.<br/>
Ever strive to give good counsel,<br/>
Wear a countenance of sunshine,<br/>
Bear a head upon thy shoulders<br/>
Filled with wise and ancient sayings;<br/>
Open bright thine eyes at morning<br/>
To behold the silver sunrise,<br/>
Sharpen well thine ears at evening,<br/>
Thus to hear the rooster crowing;<br/>
When he makes his second calling,<br/>
Straightway thou must rise from slumber,<br/>
Let the aged sleep in quiet;<br/>
Should the rooster fail to call thee,<br/>
Let the moonbeams touch thine eyelids,<br/>
Let the Great Bear be thy keeper;<br/>
Often go thou and consult them,<br/>
Call upon the Moon for counsel,<br/>
Ask the Bear for ancient wisdom,<br/>
From the stars divine thy future;<br/>
When the Great Bear faces southward,<br/>
When his tail is pointing northward,<br/>
This is time to break with slumber,<br/>
Seek for fire within the ashes,<br/>
Place a spark upon the tinder,<br/>
Blow the fire through all the fuel.<br/>
If no spark is in the ashes,<br/>
Then go wake thy hero-husband,<br/>
Speak these words to him on waking:<br/>
‘Give me fire, O my beloved,<br/>
Give a single spark, my husband,<br/>
Strike a little fire from flintstone,<br/>
Let it fall upon my tinder.’</p>
<p>“From the spark, O Bride of Beauty,<br/>
Light thy fires, and heat thine ovens,<br/>
In the holder, place the torch-light,<br/>
Find thy pathway to the stables,<br/>
There to fill the empty mangers;<br/>
If thy husband’s cows be lowing,<br/>
If thy brother’s steeds be neighing,<br/>
Then the cows await thy coming,<br/>
And the steeds for thee are calling,<br/>
Hasten, stooping through the hurdles,<br/>
Hasten through the yards and stables,<br/>
Feed thy husband’s cows with pleasure,<br/>
Feed with care the gentle lambkins,<br/>
Give the cows the best of clover,<br/>
Hay, and barley, to the horses,<br/>
Feed the calves of lowing mothers,<br/>
Feed the fowl that fly to meet thee.</p>
<p>“Never rest upon the haymow,<br/>
Never sleep within the hurdles,<br/>
When the kine are fed and tended,<br/>
When the flocks have all been watered;<br/>
Hasten thence, my pretty matron,<br/>
Like the snow-flakes to thy dwelling,<br/>
There a crying babe awaits thee,<br/>
Weeping in his couch neglected,<br/>
Cannot speak and tell his troubles,<br/>
Speechless babe, and weeping infant,<br/>
Cannot say that he is hungry,<br/>
Whether pain or cold distresses,<br/>
Greets with joy his mother’s footsteps.<br/>
Afterward repair in silence<br/>
To thy husband’s rooms and presence,<br/>
Early visit thou his chambers,<br/>
In thy hand a golden pitcher,<br/>
On thine arm a broom of birch-wood,<br/>
In thy teeth a lighted taper,<br/>
And thyself the fourth in order.<br/>
Sweep thou then thy hero’s dwelling,<br/>
Dust his benches and his tables,<br/>
Wash the flooring well with water.</p>
<p>“If the baby of thy sister<br/>
Play alone within his corner,<br/>
Show the little child attention,<br/>
Bathe his eyes and smoothe his ringlets,<br/>
Give the infant needed comforts;<br/>
Shouldst thou have no bread of barley,<br/>
In his hand adjust some trinket.</p>
<p>“Lastly, when the week has ended,<br/>
Give thy house a thorough cleansing,<br/>
Benches, tables, walls, and ceilings;<br/>
What of dust is on the windows,<br/>
Sweep away with broom of birch-twigs,<br/>
All thy rooms must first be sprinkled,<br/>
That the dust may not be scattered,<br/>
May not fill the halls and chambers.<br/>
Sweep the dust from every crevice,<br/>
Leave thou not a single atom;<br/>
Also sweep the chimney-corners,<br/>
Do not then forget the rafters,<br/>
Lest thy home should seem untidy,<br/>
Lest thy dwelling seem neglected.</p>
<p>“Hear, O maiden, what I tell thee,<br/>
Learn the tenor of my teaching:<br/>
Never dress in scanty raiment,<br/>
Let thy robes be plain and comely,<br/>
Ever wear the whitest linen,<br/>
On thy feet wear tidy fur-shoes,<br/>
For the glory of thy husband,<br/>
For the honor of thy hero.<br/>
Tend thou well the sacred sorb-tree,<br/>
Guard the mountain-ashes planted<br/>
In the court-yard, widely branching;<br/>
Beautiful the mountain-ashes,<br/>
Beautiful their leaves and flowers,<br/>
Still more beautiful the berries.<br/>
Thus the exiled one demonstrates<br/>
That she lives to please her husband,<br/>
Tries to make her hero happy.</p>
<p>“Like the mouse, have ears for hearing,<br/>
Like the hare, have feet for running,<br/>
Bend thy neck and turn thy visage<br/>
Like the juniper and aspen,<br/>
Thus to watch with care thy goings,<br/>
Thus to guard thy feet from stumbling,<br/>
That thou mayest walk in safety.</p>
<p>“When thy brother comes from plowing,<br/>
And thy father from his garners,<br/>
And thy husband from the woodlands,<br/>
From his chopping, thy beloved,<br/>
Give to each a water-basin,<br/>
Give to each a linen-towel,<br/>
Speak to each some pleasant greeting.</p>
<p>“When thy second mother hastens<br/>
To thy husband’s home and kindred,<br/>
In her hand a corn-meal measure,<br/>
Haste thou to the court to meet her,<br/>
Happy-hearted, bow before her,<br/>
Take the measure from her fingers,<br/>
Happy, bear it to thy husband.</p>
<p>“If thou shouldst not see distinctly<br/>
What demands thy next attention,<br/>
Ask at once thy hero’s mother:<br/>
‘Second mother, my beloved,<br/>
Name the task to be accomplished<br/>
By thy willing second daughter,<br/>
Tell me how to best perform it.’</p>
<p>“This should be the mother’s answer:<br/>
‘This the manner of thy workings,<br/>
Thus thy daily work accomplish:<br/>
Stamp with diligence and courage,<br/>
Grind with will and great endurance,<br/>
Set the millstones well in order,<br/>
Fill the barley-pans with water,<br/>
Knead with strength the dough for baking,<br/>
Place the fagots on the fire-place,<br/>
That thy ovens may be heated,<br/>
Bake in love the honey-biscuit,<br/>
Bake the larger loaves of barley,<br/>
Rinse to cleanliness thy platters,<br/>
Polish well thy drinking-vessels.</p>
<p>“If thou hearest from the mother,<br/>
From the mother of thy husband,<br/>
That the cask for meal is empty,<br/>
Take the barley from the garners,<br/>
Hasten to the rooms for grinding.<br/>
When thou grindest in the chambers,<br/>
Do not sing in glee and joyance,<br/>
Turn the grinding-stones in silence,<br/>
To the mill give up thy singing,<br/>
Let the side-holes furnish music;<br/>
Do not sigh as if unhappy,<br/>
Do not groan as if in trouble,<br/>
Lest the father think thee weary,<br/>
Lest thy husband’s mother fancy<br/>
That thy groans mean discontentment,<br/>
That thy sighing means displeasure.<br/>
Quickly sift the flour thou grindest,<br/>
Take it to the casks in buckets,<br/>
Bake thy hero’s bread with pleasure,<br/>
Knead the dough with care and patience,<br/>
That thy biscuits may be worthy,<br/>
That the dough be light and airy.</p>
<p>“Shouldst thou see a bucket empty,<br/>
Take the bucket on thy shoulder,<br/>
On thine arm a silver-dipper,<br/>
Hasten off to fill with water<br/>
From the crystal river flowing;<br/>
Gracefully thy bucket carry,<br/>
Bear it firmly by the handles,<br/>
Hasten houseward like the zephyrs,<br/>
Hasten like the air of autumn;<br/>
Do not tarry near the streamlet,<br/>
At the waters do not linger,<br/>
That the father may not fancy,<br/>
Nor the ancient dame imagine,<br/>
That thou hast beheld thine image,<br/>
Hast admired thy form and features,<br/>
Hast admired thy grace and beauty<br/>
In the mirror of the fountain,<br/>
In the crystal streamlet’s eddies.</p>
<p>“Shouldst thou journey to the woodlands,<br/>
There to gather aspen-fagots,<br/>
Do not go with noise and bustle,<br/>
Gather all thy sticks in silence,<br/>
Gather quietly the birch-wood,<br/>
That the father may not fancy,<br/>
And the mother not imagine,<br/>
That thy calling came from anger,<br/>
And thy noise from discontentment.</p>
<p>“If thou goest to the store-house<br/>
To obtain the flour of barley,<br/>
Do not tarry on thy journey,<br/>
On the threshold do not linger,<br/>
That the father may not fancy,<br/>
And the mother not imagine,<br/>
That the meal thou hast divided<br/>
With the women of the village.</p>
<p>“If thou goest to the river,<br/>
There to wash thy birchen platters,<br/>
There to cleanse thy pans and buckets,<br/>
Lest thy work be done in neatness,<br/>
Rinse the sides, and rinse the handles,<br/>
Rinse thy pitchers to perfection,<br/>
Spoons, and forks, and knives, and goblets,<br/>
Rinse with care thy cooking-vessels,<br/>
Closely watch the food-utensils,<br/>
That the dogs may not deface them,<br/>
That the kittens may not mar them,<br/>
That the eagles may not steal them,<br/>
That the children may not break them;<br/>
Many children in the village,<br/>
Many little heads and fingers,<br/>
That will need thy careful watching,<br/>
Lest they steal the things of value.</p>
<p>“When thou goest to thy bathing,<br/>
Have the brushes ready lying<br/>
In the bath-room clean and smokeless;<br/>
Do not, linger in the water,<br/>
At thy bathing do not tarry,<br/>
That the father may not fancy,<br/>
And the mother not imagine,<br/>
Thou art sleeping on the benches,<br/>
Rolling in the laps of comfort.</p>
<p>“From thy bath, when thou returnest,<br/>
To his bathing tempt the father,<br/>
Speak to him the words that follow:<br/>
‘Father of my hero-husband,<br/>
Clean are all the bath-room benches,<br/>
Everything in perfect order;<br/>
Go and bathe for thine enjoyment,<br/>
Pour the water all-sufficient,<br/>
I will lend thee needed service.’</p>
<p>“When the time has come for spinning,<br/>
When the hours arrive for weaving,<br/>
Do not ask the help of others,<br/>
Look not in the stream for knowledge,<br/>
For advice ask not the servants,<br/>
Nor the spindle from the sisters,<br/>
Nor the weaving-comb from strangers.<br/>
Thou thyself must do the spinning,<br/>
With thine own hand ply the shuttle,<br/>
Loosely wind the skeins of wool-yarn,<br/>
Tightly wind the balls of flax-thread,<br/>
Wind them deftly in the shuttle;<br/>
Fit the warp upon the rollers,<br/>
Beat the woof and warp together,<br/>
Swiftly ply the weaver’s shuttle,<br/>
Weave good cloth for all thy vestments,<br/>
Weave of woolen, webs for dresses<br/>
From the finest wool of lambkins,<br/>
One thread only in thy weaving.</p>
<p>“Hear thou what I now advise thee:<br/>
Brew thy beer from early barley,<br/>
From the barley’s new-grown kernels,<br/>
Brew it with the magic virtues,<br/>
Malt it with the sweets of honey,<br/>
Do not stir it with the birch-rod,<br/>
Stir it with thy skilful fingers;<br/>
When thou goest to the garners,<br/>
Do not let the seed bring evil,<br/>
Keep the dogs outside the brew-house,<br/>
Have no fear of wolves in hunger,<br/>
Nor the wild-beasts of the mountains,<br/>
When thou goest to thy brewing,<br/>
Shouldst thou wander forth at midnight.</p>
<p>“Should some stranger come to see thee,<br/>
Do not worry for his comfort;<br/>
Ever does the worthy household<br/>
Have provisions for the stranger,<br/>
Bits of meat, and bread, and biscuit,<br/>
Ample for the dinner-table;<br/>
Seat the stranger in thy dwelling,<br/>
Speak with him in friendly accents,<br/>
Entertain the guest with kindness,<br/>
While his dinner is preparing.<br/>
When the stranger leaves thy threshold,<br/>
When his farewell has been spoken,<br/>
Lead him only to the portals,<br/>
Do not step without the doorway,<br/>
That thy husband may not fancy,<br/>
And the mother not imagine,<br/>
Thou hast interest in strangers.</p>
<p>“Shouldst thou ever make a journey<br/>
To the centre of the village,<br/>
There to gain some needed object,<br/>
While thou speakest in the hamlet,<br/>
Let thy words be full of wisdom,<br/>
That thou shamest not thy kindred,<br/>
Nor disgrace thy husband’s household.</p>
<p>“Village-maidens oft will ask thee,<br/>
Mothers of the hamlet question:<br/>
‘Does thy husband’s mother greet thee<br/>
As in childhood thou wert greeted,<br/>
In thy happy home in Pohya?’<br/>
Do not answer in negation,<br/>
Say that she has always given<br/>
Thee the best of her provisions,<br/>
Given thee the kindest greetings,<br/>
Though it be but once a season.</p>
<p>“Listen well to what I tell thee:<br/>
As thou goest from thy father<br/>
To thy husband’s distant dwelling,<br/>
Thou must not forget thy mother,<br/>
Her that gave thee life and beauty,<br/>
Her that nurtured thee in childhood,<br/>
Many sleepless nights she nursed thee;<br/>
Often were her wants neglected,<br/>
Numberless the times she rocked thee;<br/>
Tender, true, and ever faithful,<br/>
Is the mother to her daughter.<br/>
She that can forget her mother,<br/>
Can neglect the one that nursed her,<br/>
Should not visit Mana’s castle,<br/>
In the kingdom of Tuoni;<br/>
In Manala she would suffer,<br/>
Suffer frightful retribution,<br/>
Should her mother be forgotten;<br/>
Should her dear one be neglected,<br/>
Mana’s daughters will torment her,<br/>
And Tuoni’s sons revile her,<br/>
They will ask her much as follows:<br/>
‘How couldst thou forget thy mother,<br/>
How neglect the one that nursed thee?<br/>
Great the pain thy mother suffered,<br/>
Great the trouble that thou gavest<br/>
When thy loving mother brought thee<br/>
Into life for good or evil,<br/>
When she gave thee earth-existence,<br/>
When she nursed thee but an infant,<br/>
When she fed thee in thy childhood,<br/>
When she taught thee what thou knowest,<br/>
Mana’s punishments upon thee,<br/>
Since thy mother is forgotten!’”</p>
<p>On the floor a witch was sitting,<br/>
Near the fire a beggar-woman,<br/>
One that knew the ways of people,<br/>
These the words the woman uttered:<br/>
“Thus the crow calls in the winter:<br/>
‘Would that I could be a singer,<br/>
And my voice be full of sweetness,<br/>
But, alas! my songs are worthless,<br/>
Cannot charm the weakest creature;<br/>
I must live without the singing,<br/>
Leave the songs to the musicians,<br/>
Those that live in golden houses,<br/>
In the homes of the beloved;<br/>
Homeless therefore I must wander,<br/>
Like a beggar in the corn-fields,<br/>
And with none to do me honor.’</p>
<p>“Hear now, sister, what I tell thee,<br/>
Enter thou thy husband’s dwelling,<br/>
Follow not his mind, nor fancies,<br/>
As my husband’s mind I followed;<br/>
As a flower was I when budding,<br/>
Sprouting like a rose in spring-time,<br/>
Growing like a slender maiden,<br/>
Like the honey-gem of glory,<br/>
Like the playmates of my childhood,<br/>
Like the goslings of my father,<br/>
Like the blue-ducks of my mother,<br/>
Like my brother’s water-younglings,<br/>
Like the bullfinch of my sister;<br/>
Grew I like the heather-flower,<br/>
Like the berry of the meadow,<br/>
Played upon the sandy sea-shore,<br/>
Rocked upon the fragrant upland,<br/>
Sang all day adown the valley,<br/>
Thrilled with song the hill and mountain,<br/>
Filled with mirth the glen and forest,<br/>
Lived and frolicked in the woodlands.</p>
<p>“Into traps are foxes driven<br/>
By the cruel pangs of hunger,<br/>
Into traps, the cunning ermine;<br/>
Thus are maidens wooed and wedded,<br/>
In their hunger for a husband.<br/>
Thus created is the virgin,<br/>
Thus intended is the daughter,<br/>
Subject to her hero-husband,<br/>
Subject also to his mother.</p>
<p>“Then to other fields I hastened,<br/>
Like a berry from the border,<br/>
Like a cranberry for roasting,<br/>
Like a strawberry for dinner;<br/>
All the elm-trees seemed to wound me,<br/>
All the aspens tried to cut me,<br/>
All the willows tried to seize me,<br/>
All the forest tried to slay me.<br/>
Thus I journeyed to my husband,<br/>
Thus I travelled to his dwelling,<br/>
Was conducted to his mother.<br/>
Then there were, as was reported,<br/>
Six compartments built of pine-wood,<br/>
Twelve the number of the chambers,<br/>
And the mansion filled with garrets,<br/>
Studding all the forest border,<br/>
Every by-way filled with flowers;<br/>
Streamlets bordered fields of barley,<br/>
Filled with wheat and corn, the islands,<br/>
Grain in plenty in the garners,<br/>
Rye unthrashed in great abundance,<br/>
Countless sums of gold and silver,<br/>
Other treasures without number.<br/>
When my journey I had ended,<br/>
When my hand at last was given,<br/>
Six supports were in his cabin,<br/>
Seven poles as rails for fencing.<br/>
Filled with anger were the bushes,<br/>
All the glens disfavor showing,<br/>
All the walks were lined with trouble,<br/>
Evil-tempered were the forests,<br/>
Hundred words of evil import,<br/>
Hundred others of unkindness.<br/>
Did not let this bring me sorrow,<br/>
Long I sought to merit praises,<br/>
Long I hoped to find some favor,<br/>
Strove most earnestly for kindness;<br/>
When they led me to the cottage,<br/>
There I tried some chips to gather,<br/>
Knocked my head against the portals<br/>
Of my husband’s lowly dwelling.</p>
<p>“At the door were eyes of strangers,<br/>
Sable eyes at the partition,<br/>
Green with envy in his cabin,<br/>
Evil heroes in the back-ground,<br/>
From each mouth the fire was streaming,<br/>
From each tongue the sparks out-flying,<br/>
Flying from my second father,<br/>
From his eyeballs of unkindness.<br/>
Did not let this bring me trouble,<br/>
Tried to live in peace and pleasure,<br/>
In the homestead of my husband;<br/>
In humility I suffered,<br/>
Skipped about with feet of rabbit,<br/>
Flew along with steps of ermine,<br/>
Late I laid my head to slumber,<br/>
Early rose as if a servant,<br/>
Could not win a touch of kindness,<br/>
Could not merit love nor honor,<br/>
Though I had dislodged the mountains,<br/>
Though the rocks had I torn open.</p>
<p>“Then I turned the heavy millstone,<br/>
Ground the flour with care and trouble,<br/>
Ground the barley-grains in patience,<br/>
That the mother might be nourished,<br/>
That her fury-throat might swallow<br/>
What might please her taste and fancy,<br/>
From her gold-enamelled platters,<br/>
From the corner of her table.</p>
<p>“As for me, the hapless daughter,<br/>
All my flour was from the siftings<br/>
On the table near the oven,<br/>
Ate I from the birchen ladle;<br/>
Oftentimes I brought the mosses<br/>
Gathered in the lowland meadows,<br/>
Baked them into loaves for eating;<br/>
Brought the water from the river,<br/>
Thirsty, sipped it from the dipper,<br/>
Ate of fish the worst in Northland,<br/>
Only smelts, and worthless swimmers,<br/>
Rocking in my boat of birch-bark;<br/>
Never ate I fish or biscuit<br/>
From my second mother’s fingers.</p>
<p>“Blades I gathered in the summers,<br/>
Twisted barley-stalks in winter,<br/>
Like the laborers of heroes,<br/>
Like the servants sold in bondage.<br/>
In the thresh-house of my husband,<br/>
Evermore to me was given<br/>
Flail the heaviest and longest,<br/>
And to me the longest lever,<br/>
On the shore the strongest beater,<br/>
And the largest rake in haying;<br/>
No one thought my burden heavy,<br/>
No one thought that I could suffer,<br/>
Though the best of heroes faltered,<br/>
And the strongest women weakened.</p>
<p>“Thus did I, a youthful housewife,<br/>
At the right time, all my duties,<br/>
Drenched myself in perspiration,<br/>
Hoped for better times to follow;<br/>
But I only rose to labor,<br/>
Knowing neither rest nor pleasure.<br/>
I was blamed by all the household,<br/>
With ungrateful tongues derided,<br/>
Now about my awkward manners,<br/>
Now about my reputation,<br/>
Censuring my name and station.<br/>
Words unkind were heaped upon me,<br/>
Fell like hail on me unhappy,<br/>
Like the frightful flash of lightning,<br/>
Like the heavy hail of spring-time.<br/>
I did not despair entirely,<br/>
Would have lived to labor longer<br/>
Underneath the tongue of malice,<br/>
But the old-one spoiled my temper,<br/>
Roused my deepest ire and hatred;<br/>
Then my husband grew a wild-bear,<br/>
Grew a savage wolf of Hisi.</p>
<p>“Only then I turned to weeping,<br/>
And reflected in my chamber,<br/>
Thought of all my former pleasures<br/>
Of the happy days of childhood,<br/>
Of my father’s joyful firesides,<br/>
Of my mother’s peaceful cottage,<br/>
Then began I thus to murmur:<br/>
‘Well thou knowest, ancient mother,<br/>
How to make thy sweet bud blossom,<br/>
How to train thy tender shootlet;<br/>
Did not know where to ingraft it,<br/>
Placed, alas! the little scion<br/>
In the very worst of places,<br/>
On an unproductive hillock,<br/>
In the hardest limb of cherry,<br/>
Where it could not grow and flourish,<br/>
There to waste its life, in weeping,<br/>
Hapless in her lasting sorrow.<br/>
Worthier had been my conduct,<br/>
In the regions that are better,<br/>
In the court-yards that are wider,<br/>
In compartments that are larger,<br/>
Living with a loving husband,<br/>
Living with a stronger hero.<br/>
Shoe of birch-bark was my suitor,<br/>
Shoe of Laplanders, my husband;<br/>
Had the body of a raven,<br/>
Voice and visage like the jackdaw,<br/>
Mouth and claws were from the black-wolf,<br/>
The remainder from the wild-bear.<br/>
Had I known that mine affianced<br/>
Was a fount of pain and evil,<br/>
To the hill-side I had wandered,<br/>
Been a pine-tree on the highway,<br/>
Been a linden on the border,<br/>
Like the black-earth made my visage,<br/>
Grown a beard of ugly bristles,<br/>
Head of loam and eyes of lightning,<br/>
For my ears the knots of birches,<br/>
For my limbs the trunks of aspens.’</p>
<p>“This the manner of my singing<br/>
In the hearing of my husband,<br/>
Thus I sang my cares and murmurs<br/>
Thus my hero near the portals<br/>
Heard the wail of my displeasure,<br/>
Then he hastened to my chamber;<br/>
Straightway knew I by his footsteps,<br/>
Well concluded he was angry,<br/>
Knew it by his steps implanted;<br/>
All the winds were still in slumber,<br/>
Yet his sable locks stood endwise,<br/>
Fluttered round his head in fury,<br/>
While his horrid mouth stood open;<br/>
To and fro his eyes were rolling,<br/>
In one hand a branch of willow,<br/>
In the other, club of alder;<br/>
Struck at me with might of malice,<br/>
Aimed the cudgel at my forehead.</p>
<p>“When the evening had descended,<br/>
When my husband thought of slumber<br/>
Took he in his hand a whip-stalk,<br/>
With a whip-lash made of deer-skin,<br/>
Was not made for any other,<br/>
Only made for me unhappy.</p>
<p>“When at last I begged for mercy,<br/>
When I sought a place for resting,<br/>
By his side I courted slumber,<br/>
Merciless, my husband seized me,<br/>
Struck me with his arm of envy,<br/>
Beat me with the whip of torture,<br/>
Deer-skin-lash and stalk of birch-wood.<br/>
From his couch I leaped impulsive,<br/>
In the coldest night of winter,<br/>
But the husband fleetly followed,<br/>
Caught me at the outer portals,<br/>
Grasped me by my streaming tresses,<br/>
Tore my ringlets from my forehead,<br/>
Cast in curls upon the night-winds<br/>
To the freezing winds of winter.<br/>
What the aid that I could ask for,<br/>
Who could free me from my torment?<br/>
Made I shoes of magic metals,<br/>
Made the straps of steel and copper,<br/>
Waited long without the dwelling,<br/>
Long I listened at the portals,<br/>
Hoping he would end his ravings,<br/>
Hoping he would sink to slumber,<br/>
But he did not seek for resting,<br/>
Did not wish to still his fury.<br/>
Finally the cold benumbed me;<br/>
As an outcast from his cabin,<br/>
I was forced to walk and wander,<br/>
When I, freezing, well reflected,<br/>
This the substance of my thinking:<br/>
‘I will not endure this torture,<br/>
Will not bear this thing forever,<br/>
Will not bear this cruel treatment,<br/>
Such contempt I will not suffer<br/>
In the wicked tribe of Hisi,<br/>
In this nest of evil Piru.’</p>
<p>“Then I said, ‘Farewell forever!’<br/>
To my husband’s home and kindred,<br/>
To my much-loved home and husband;<br/>
Started forth upon a journey<br/>
To my father’s distant hamlet,<br/>
Over swamps and over snow-fields,<br/>
Wandered over towering mountains,<br/>
Over hills and through the valleys,<br/>
To my brother’s welcome meadows,<br/>
To my sister’s home and birthplace.</p>
<p>“There were rustling withered pine-trees,<br/>
Finely-feathered firs were fading,<br/>
Countless ravens there were cawing,<br/>
All the jackdaws harshly singing,<br/>
This the chorus of the ravens:<br/>
‘Thou hast here a home no longer,<br/>
This is not the happy homestead<br/>
Of thy merry days of childhood.’</p>
<p>“Heeding not this woodland chorus,<br/>
Straight I journeyed to the dwelling<br/>
Of my childhood’s friend and brother,<br/>
Where the portals spake in concord,<br/>
And the hills and valleys answered,<br/>
This their saddened song and echo:<br/>
‘Wherefore dost thou journey hither,<br/>
Comest thou for joy or sorrow,<br/>
To thy father’s old dominions?<br/>
Here unhappiness awaits thee,<br/>
Long departed is thy father,<br/>
Dead and gone to visit Ukko,<br/>
Dead and gone thy faithful mother,<br/>
And thy brother is a stranger,<br/>
While his wife is chill and heartless!’</p>
<p>“Heeding not these many warnings,<br/>
Straightway to my brother’s cottage<br/>
Were my weary feet directed,<br/>
Laid my hand upon the door-latch<br/>
Of my brother’s dismal cottage,<br/>
But the latch was cold and lifeless.<br/>
When I wandered to the chamber,<br/>
When I waited at the doorway,<br/>
There I saw the heartless hostess,<br/>
But she did not give me greeting,<br/>
Did not give her hand in welcome;<br/>
Proud, alas! was I unhappy,<br/>
Did not make the first advances,<br/>
Did not offer her my friendship,<br/>
And my hand I did not proffer;<br/>
Laid my hand upon the oven,<br/>
All its former warmth departed!<br/>
On the coal I laid my fingers,<br/>
All the latent heat had left it.<br/>
On the rest-bench lay my brother,<br/>
Lay outstretched before the fire-place,<br/>
Heaps of soot upon his shoulders,<br/>
Heaps of ashes on his forehead.<br/>
Thus the brother asked the stranger,<br/>
Questioned thus his guest politely:<br/>
‘Tell me what thy name and station,<br/>
Whence thou comest o’er the waters!’<br/>
“This the answer that I gave him:<br/>
‘Hast thou then forgot thy sister,<br/>
Does my brother not remember,<br/>
Not recall his mother’s daughter?<br/>
We are children of one mother,<br/>
Of one bird were we the fledgelings,<br/>
In one nest were hatched and nurtured.’”</p>
<p>“Then the brother fell to weeping,<br/>
From his eyes great tear-drops flowing,<br/>
To his wife the brother whispered,<br/>
Whispered thus unto the housewife:<br/>
‘Bring thou beer to give my sister,<br/>
Quench her thirst and cheer her spirits.’</p>
<p>“Full of envy, brought the sister<br/>
Only water filled with evil,<br/>
Water for the infant’s eyelids,<br/>
Soap and water from the bath-room.</p>
<p>“To his wife the brother whispered,<br/>
Whispered thus unto the housewife:<br/>
‘Bring thou salmon for my sister,<br/>
For my sister so long absent,<br/>
Thus to still her pangs of hunger.’</p>
<p>“Thereupon the wife obeying,<br/>
Brought, in envy, only cabbage<br/>
That the children had been eating,<br/>
And the house-dogs had been licking,<br/>
Leavings of the black-dog’s breakfast.</p>
<p>“Then I left my brother’s dwelling,<br/>
Hastened to the ancient homestead,<br/>
To my mother’s home deserted;<br/>
Onward, onward did I wander,<br/>
Hastened onward by the cold-sea,<br/>
Dragged my body on in anguish,<br/>
To the cottage-doors of strangers,<br/>
To the unfamiliar portals,<br/>
For the care of the neglected,<br/>
For the needy of the village,<br/>
For the children poor and orphaned.</p>
<p>“There are many wicked people,<br/>
Many slanderers of women,<br/>
Many women evil-minded,<br/>
That malign their sex through envy.<br/>
Many they with lips of evil,<br/>
That belie the best of maidens,<br/>
Prove the innocent are guilty<br/>
Of the worst of misdemeanors,<br/>
Speak aloud in tones unceasing,<br/>
Speak, alas! with wicked motives,<br/>
Spread the follies of their neighbors<br/>
Through the tongues of self-pollution.<br/>
Very few, indeed, the people<br/>
That will feed the poor and hungry,<br/>
That will bid the stranger welcome;<br/>
Very few to treat her kindly,<br/>
Innocent, and lone, and needy,<br/>
Few to offer her a shelter<br/>
From the chilling storms of winter,<br/>
When her skirts with ice are stiffened,<br/>
Coats of ice her only raiment!</p>
<p>“Never in my days of childhood,<br/>
Never in my maiden life-time,<br/>
Never would believe the story,<br/>
Though a hundred tongues had told it,<br/>
Though a thousand voices sang it,<br/>
That such evil things could happen,<br/>
That such misery could follow,<br/>
Such misfortune could befall one<br/>
Who has tried to do her duty,<br/>
Who has tried to live uprightly,<br/>
Tried to make her people happy.”</p>
<p>Thus the young bride was instructed,<br/>
Beauteous Maiden of the Rainbow,<br/>
Thus by Osmotar, the teacher.</p>
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