Kalevala (Kirby 1907)/Runo 22
Runo XXII.—Tormenting of the Bride
Argument
The bride is prepared for her journey and is reminded of her past life and of the altered life that now lies before her (1-124). She becomes very sorrowful (125-184). They bring her to weeping (185-382). She weeps (383-448). They comfort her (449-522).
When the drinking-bout was ended,
And the feast at length was over,
At the festival at Pohja,
Bridal feast held at Pimentola,
Then said Pohjola’s old Mistress,
To the bridegroom, Ilmarinen,
“Wherefore sit’st thou, highly-born one,
Waitest thou, O pride of country?
Sit’st thou here to please the father,
Or for love of mother waitest,10
Or our dwelling to illumine,
Or the wedding guests to honour?
“Not for father’s pleasure wait’st thou,
Nor for love thou bear’st the mother,
Nor the dwelling to illumine,
Nor the wedding guests to honour:
Here thou sit’st for maiden’s pleasure,
For a young girl’s love delaying,
For the fair one whom thou long’st for,
“Bridegroom, dearest of my brothers,
Wait a week, and yet another;
For thy loved one is not ready,
And her toilet is not finished.
Only half her hair is plaited,
And a half is still unplaited.
“Bridegroom, dearest of my brothers,
Wait a week, and yet another,
For thy loved one is not ready,
And her toilet is not finished;30
One sleeve only is adjusted,
And unfitted still the other.
“Bridegroom, dearest of my brothers,
Wait a week, and yet another,
For thy loved one is not ready,
And her toilet is not finished.
For one foot is shod already,
But unshod remains the other.
“Bridegroom, dearest of my brothers,
Wait a week, and yet another,40
For thy loved one is not ready,
And her toilet is not finished.
For one hand is gloved already,
And ungloved is still the other.
“Bridegroom, dearest of my brothers,
Thou hast waited long unwearied;
For thy love at length is ready,
And thy duck has made her toilet.
“ Go thou forth. O plighted maiden,
Follow thou, O dove new-purchased!50
Near to thee is now thy union,
Nearer still is thy departure,
He who leads thee forth is with thee,
At the door is thy conductor,
And his horse the bit is champing,
And his sledge awaits the maiden.
“Thou wast fond of bridegroom’s money
Reaching forth thy hands most greedy
Glad to take the chain he offered,
And to fit the rings upon thee.60
Now the longed-for sledge is ready,
Eager mount the sledge so gaudy,
Travel quickly to the village,
Quickly speeding on thy journey.
“Hast thou never, youthful maiden,
On both sides surveyed the question,
Looked beyond the present moment,
When the bargain was concluded?
All thy life must thou be weeping,
And for many years lamenting,70
How thou left’st thy father’s household,
And thy native land abandoned,
From beside thy tender mother,
From the home of she who bore thee.
“O the happy life thou leddest,
In this household of thy father!
Like a wayside flower thou grewest,
Or upon the heath a strawberry,
Waking up to feast on butter,
Milk, when from thy bed arising,80
Wheaten-bread, from couch upstanding,
From thy straw, the fresh-made butter,
Or, if thou could eat no butter,
Strips of pork thou then could’st cut thee.
“Never yet wast thou in trouble,
Never hadst thou cause to worry,
To the fir-trees tossed thou trouble,
Worry to the stumps abandoned,
Care to pine-trees in the marshlands,
And upon the heaths the birch-trees.90
Like a leaflet thou wast fluttering,
As a butterfly wast fluttering,
Berry-like in native soil,
Or on open ground a raspberry.
“But thy home thou now art leaving,
To another home thou goest,
To another mother’s orders,
To the household of a stranger.
Different there from here thou’lt find it
In another house ’tis different;100
Other tunes the horns are blowing,
Other doors thou hearest jarring,
Other gates thou hearest creaking,
Other voices at the fishlines.
“There the doors thou hardly findest,
Strange unto thee are the gateways,
Not like household daughter art thou,
May not dare to blow the fire,
Nor the stove canst rightly heaten,
So that thou canst please the master.110
“Didst thou think, O youthful maiden,
Didst thou think, or didst imagine,
Only for a night to wander,
In the morn again returning?
’Tis not for one night thou goest,
Not for one night, not for two nights,
For a longer time thou goest.
Thou for months and days hast vanished,
Lifelong from thy father’s dwelling,
For the lifetime of thy mother,120
And the yard will then be longer,
And the threshold lifted higher,
If again thou ever comest,
To thy former home returning.”
Now the hapless girl was sighing,
Piteously she sighed and panted,
And her heart was filled with trouble,
In her eyes the tears were standing,
And at length she spoke as follows:
“Thus I thought, and thus imagined,130
And throughout my life imagined,
Said throughout my years of childhood,
Thou art not as maid a lady
In the wardship of thy parents,
In the meadows of thy father,
In thy aged mother’s dwelling.
Thou wilt only be a lady
When thy husband’s home thou seekest,
Resting one foot on the threshold,
In his sledge the other placing,140
Then thy head thou liftest higher,
And thy ears thou liftest higher.
“This throughout my life I wished for,
All my youthful days I hoped for,
And throughout the year I wished it,
Like the coming of the summer.
Now my hope has found fulfilment;
Near the time of my departure;
One foot resting on the threshold,
In my husband’s sledge the other,150
But I do not yet know rightly,
If my mind has not been altered.
Not with joyful thoughts I wander
Nor do I depart with pleasure
From the golden home beloved,
Where I passed my life in childhood,
Where I passed my days of girlhood,
Where my father lived before me.
Sadly I depart in sorrow,
Forth I go, most sadly longing,160
As into the night of autumn,
As on slippery ice in springtime,
When on ice no track remaineth,
On its smoothness rests no footprint.
“What may be the thoughts of others,
And of other brides the feelings?
Do not other brides encounter,
Bear within their hearts the trouble,
Such as I, unhappy, carry?
Blackest trouble rests upon me,170
Black as coal my heart within me,
Coal-black trouble weighs upon me.
“Such the feelings of the blessed,
Such the feelings of the happy;
As the spring day at its dawning,
Or the sunny spring-day morning;
But what thoughts do now torment me,
And what thoughts arise within me?
Like unto a pond’s flat margin,
Or of clouds the murky border;180
Like the gloomy nights of autumn,
Or the dusky day of winter,
Or, as I might better say it,
Darker than the nights of autumn!”
Then an old crone of the household,
In the house for long abiding,
Answered in the words which follow:
“Quiet, quiet, youthful maiden!
Dost remember, how I told thee,
And a hundred times repeated,190
Take no pleasure in a lover,
In a lover’s mouth rejoice not,
Do not let his eyes bewitch thee,
Nor his handsome feet admire?
Though his mouth speaks charming converse,
And his eyes are fair to gaze on,
Yet upon his chin is Lempo;
In his mouth there lurks destruction.
“Thus I always counsel maidens,
And to all their kind I counsel,200
Though great people come as suitors,
Mighty men should come as wooers,
Yet return them all this answer;
And on thy side speak unto them,
In such words as these address them,
And in thiswise speak unto them:
‘Not the least would it beseem me,
Not beseem me, or become me,
As a daughter-in-law to yield me,
As a slave to yield my freedom.210
Such a pretty girl as I am,
Suits it not to live as slave-girl,
To depart consent I never,
To submit to rule of others.
If another word you utter,
I will give you two in answer,
If you by my hair would pull me,
And you by my locks would drag me,
From my hair I’d quickly shake you,
From my locks dishevelled drive you.’220
“But to this thou hast not hearkened,
To my words thou hast not listened,
Wilfully thou sought’st the fire,
In the boiling tar hast cast thee.
Now the fox’s sledge awaits thee,
To the bear’s hug art thou going,
And the fox’s sledge will take thee,
Far away the bear convey thee,
Ever slave to other masters,
Ever slave of husband’s mother.230
“From thy home to school thou goest,
From thy father’s house to suffering.
Hard the school to which thou goest,
Long the pain to which thou goest.
Reins for thee are bought already,
Iron fetters all in order,
Not for others are they destined,
But alas, for thee, unhappy.
“Shortly wilt thou feel their harshness,
Helpless feel, and unprotected,240
For the father’s chin is wagging,
And the mother’s tongue is stormy;
And the brother’s words are coldness,
And the sister’s harsh reproaches.
“Hear, O maiden, what I tell thee,
What I speak, and what I tell thee,
In thy home thou wast a floweret,
And the joy of father’s household,
And thy father called thee Moonlight,
And thy mother called thee Sunshine,250
And thy brother Sparkling Water,
And thy sister called thee Blue-cloth.
To another home thou goest,
There to find a stranger mother.
Never is a stranger mother
Like the mother who has borne thee:
Seldom does she give good counsel,
Seldom gives the right instructions.
Sprig the father shouts against thee,
Slut the mother calls unto thee,260
And the brother calls thee Doorstep,
And the sister, Nasty Creature.
“Now the best that could await thee,
Best the fate that could await thee,
If as fog thou wert dispersing,
From the house like smoke departing,
Blown like leaf away that flutters,
As a spark away is drifted.
“But a bird that flies thou art not,
Nor a leaf away that flutters,270
Nor a spark in drafts that’s drifting,
Nor the smoke from house ascending.
“Lack-a-day, O maid, my sister!
Changed hast thou, and what art changing!
Thou hast changed thy much-loved father
For a father-in-law, a bad one;
Thou hast changed thy tender mother
For a mother-in-law most stringent;
Thou hast changed thy noble brother
For a brother-in-law so crook-necked,280
And exchanged thy gentle sister
For a sister-in-law all cross-eyed;
And hast changed thy couch of linen
For a sooty hearth to rest on;
And exchanged the clearest water
For the muddy margin-water,
And the sandy shore hast bartered
For the black mud at the bottom:
And thy pleasant meadow bartered
For a dreary waste of heathland;290
And thy hills of berries bartered
For the hard stumps of a clearing.
“Didst thou think, O youthful maiden,
Think, O dove, full-fledged at present,
Care would end and toil be lessened,
With the party of this evening,
When to rest thou shalt betake thee,
And to sleep thou art conducted?
“But to rest they will not lead thee,
Nor to sleep will they conduct thee;300
Nought awaits thee now but watching,
Nought awaits thee now save trouble,
Heavy thoughts will come upon the,
Saddened thoughts will overwhelm thee.
“Long as thou didst wear no head-dress,
Wert thou also free from trouble;
When no linen veil waved round thee,
Thou wast also free from sorrow.
Now the head-dress brings thee trouble,
Heavy thoughts the linen fabric,310
And the linen veil brings sorrow,
And the flax brings endless trouble.
“How may live at home a maiden?
Maid in father’s house abiding;
Like a monarch in his palace,
Only that the sword is wanting.
But a son’s wife’s fate is dismal!
With her husband she is living
As a prisoner lives in Russia,
Only that the jailor’s wanting.320
“Work she must in working season,
And her shoulders stoop with weakness,
And her body faints with weakness,
And with sweat her face is shining.
Then there comes another hour
When there’s need to make the fire,
And to put the hearth in order,
She must force her hands to do it.
“Long must seek, this girl unhappy,
Long the hapless one must seek for,330
Salmon’s mind, and tongue of perchling,
And her thoughts from perch in fishpond,
Mouth of bream, of chub the belly,
And from water-hen learn wisdom.
“’Tis beyond my comprehension,
Nine times can I not imagine,
To the mother’s much-loved daughters,
Best beloved of all her treasures,
Whence should come to them the spoiler,
Where the greedy one was nurtured,340
Eating flesh, and bones devouring,
To the wind their hair abandoning,
And their tresses wildly tossing,
To the wind of springtime gives them.
“Weep thou, weep thou, youthful maiden,
When thou weepest, weep thou sorely.
Weep thyself of tears a handful,
Fill thy fists with tears of longing,
Drop them in thy father’s dwelling,
Pools of tears upon the flooring,350
Till the room itself is flooded,
And above the floor in billows!
If thou weepest yet not freely
Thou shalt weep when thou returnest,
When to father’s house thou comest.
And shalt find thy aged father
Suffocated in the bathroom,
’Neath his arm a dried-up bath-whisk.
“Weep thou, weep thou, youthful maiden,
When thou weepest, weep thou sorely;360
If thou weepest not yet freely,
Thou shalt weep when thou returnest,
When to mother’s house thou comest,
And thou find’st thy aged mother
Suffocated in the cowshed,
In her dying lap a straw-sheaf.
“Weep thou, weep thou, youthful maiden,
When thou weepest, weep thou sorely.
If thou weepest yet not freely,
Thou shalt weep when thou returnest,370
When to this same house thou comest,
And thou find’st thy rosy brother
Fallen in the porch before it,
In the courtyard helpless fallen.
“Weep thou, weep thou, youthful maiden,
When thou weepest, weep thou sorely.
If thou weepest yet not freely,
Thou shalt weep when thou returnest,
When to this same house thou comest,
And thou find’st thy gentle sister380
Fallen down upon the pathway,
And beneath her arm a mallet.”
Then the poor girl broke out sobbing,
And awhile she sobbed and panted,
And she soon commenced her weeping,
Pouring forth her tears in torrents.
Then she wept of tears a handful,
Filled her fists with tears of longing,
Wet she wept her father’s dwelling,
Pools of tears upon the flooring,390
And she spoke the words which follow,
And expressed herself in thiswise:
“O my sisters, dearest to me,
Of my life the dear companions,
All companions of my childhood,
Listen now to what I tell you.
’Tis beyond my comprehension
Why I feel such deep oppression,
Making now my life so heavy,
Why this trouble weighs upon me,400
Why this darkness rests upon me;
How I should express my sorrow.
“Otherwise I thought and fancied,
Wished it different, all my lifetime,
Thought to go as goes the cuckoo,
Crying ‘Cuckoo ’ from the hill-tops,
Now the day I have attained to,
Come the time that I had wished for;
But I go not like the cuckoo.
Crying ‘Cuckoo’ from the hill-tops,410
More as duck amid the billows,
On the wide bay’s open waters,
Swimming in the freezing water,
Shivering in the icy water.
“Woe, my father and my mother,
Woe, alas, my aged parents!
Whither would you now dismiss me,
Drive a wretched maid to sorrow,
Make me thus to weep for sorrow,
Overburdened thus with trouble,420
With distress so heavy-burdened,
And with care so overloaded?
“Better, O unhappy mother,
Better, dearest who hast borne me,
O thou dear one, who hast suckled,
Nurtured me throughout my lifetime,
Hadst thou swaddled up a tree-stump,
And hadst bathed a little pebble,
Rather than have washed thy daughter,
And have swaddled up thy darling,430
For this time of great affliction,
And of this so grievous sorrow.
“Many speak unto me elsewise,
Many counsel me in thiswise:
‘Do not, fool, give way to sorrow,
Let not gloomy thoughts oppress thee.’
Do not, O ye noble people,
Do not speak to me in thiswise!
Far more troubles weigh upon me,
Than in a cascade are pebbles,440
Than in swampy ground the willows,
Or the heath upon the marshland.
Never can a horse pull forward,
And a shod horse struggle onward,
And the sledge sway not behind him,
And the collar shall not tremble.
Even thus I feel my trouble,
And oppressed by dark forebodings.”
From the floor there sang an infant,
From the hearth a growing infant.450
“Wherefore dost thou weep, O maiden,
Yielding to such grievous sorrow?
Cast thy troubles to the horses,
Sorrow to the sable gelding.
Leave complaints to mouths of iron.
Lamentations to the thick-heads,
Better heads indeed have horses,
Better heads, and bones much harder,
For their arching necks are firmer,
All their frame is greatly stronger.460
“No, thou hast no cause for weeping,
Nor to yield to grievous sorrow;
To the marsh they do not lead thee,
Push thee not into the ditches.
Leavest thou these fertile cornfields,
Yet to richer fields thou goest,
Though they take thee from the brewery,
Tis to where the ale’s abundant.
“If around thee now thou gazest,
Just beside thee where thou standest,470
There thy bridegroom stands to guard thee,
By thy side thy ruddy husband.
Good thy husband, good his horses,
All things needful fill his cellars,
And the grouse are loudly chirping,
On the sledge, as glides it onwards,
And the thrushes make rejoicing,
As they sing upon the traces,
And six golden cuckoos likewise
Flutter on the horse’s collar,480
Seven blue birds are also perching,
On the sledge’s frame, and singing.
“Do not yield thee thus to trouble,
O thou darling of thy mother!
For no evil fate awaits thee,
But in better case thou comest,
Sitting by thy farmer husband,
Underneath the ploughman’s mantle,
’Neath the chin of the bread-winner,
In the arms of skilful fisher,490
Warm from chasing elk on snowshoes,
And from bathing after bear-hunt.
“Thou hast found the best of husbands,
And hast won a mighty hero,
For his bow is never idle,
Neither on the pegs his quivers;
And the dogs in house he leaves not,
Nor in hay lets rest the puppies.
“Three times in this spring already,
In the earliest hours of morning,500
Has he stood before the fire,
Rising from his couch of bushes;
Three times in this spring already
On his eyes the dew has fallen,
And the shoots of pine-trees combed him,
And the branches brushed against him.
“All his people he exhorted,
To increase his flocks in number,
For indeed the bridegroom owneth
Flocks that wander through the birchwoods,510
Tramp their way among the sand-hills,
Seek for pasture in the valleys;
Hundreds of the horned cattle,
Thousands with their well-filled udders;
On the plains are stacks in plenty,
In the valley crops abundant,
Alder-woods for cornland suited,
Meadows where the barley’s springing,
Stony land for oats that’s suited,
Watered regions, fit for wheatfields.520
All rich gifts in peace await thee,
Pennies plentiful as pebbles.”