Kalevala (Kirby 1907)/Runo 4
Runo IV.—The Fate of Aino
Argument
Väinämöinen meets Aino in the wood and addresses her (1-20). Aino hurries home weeping, and informs her mother (21-116). Her mother forbids her to weep, and tells her to rejoice, and to adorn herself handsomely (117-188). Aino continues to weep, and declares that she will never take a very old man as her husband (189-254). She wanders sorrowfully into the wild woods, and reaches the banks of a strange unknown lake, where she goes to bathe, and is lost in the water (255-370). The animals commission the hare to carry the tidings of Aino’s death to her home (371-434). Her mother weeps for her night and day (435-5l8).
Then the little maiden Aino,
Youthful Joukahainen’s sister,
Went for besoms to the greenwood,
Sought for bath-whisks in the bushes;
One she gathered for her father,
And a second for her mother,
And she gathered yet another,
For her young and ruddy brother.
As she turned her footsteps homeward,
Pushing through the alder-bushes,10
Came the aged Väinämöinen,
And he saw her in the thicket,
Finely clad among the herbage,
And he spoke the words which follow:
“Maiden, do not wear for others,
But for me alone, O maiden,
Round thy neck a beaded necklace,
And a cross upon thy bosom.
Plait for me thy beauteous tresses,
Bind thy hair with silken ribands.”20
But the young maid gave him answer,
“Not for thee, and not for others,
Rests the cross upon my bosom,
And my hair is bound with ribands.
Nought I care for sea-borne raiment;
Wheaten bread I do not value.
I will walk in home-spun garments,
And with crusts will still my hunger,
In my dearest father’s dwelling,
And beside my much-loved mother.”30
From her breast she took the crosslet,
Drew the rings from off her fingers,
From her neck the beaded necklace,
From her head the scarlet ribands.
Down upon the ground she threw them,
Scattered them among the bushes;
Then she hastened, ever weeping,
Loud lamenting, to the homestead.
At the window sat her father,
While he carved a hatchet-handle.40
“Wherefore weepest thou, my daughter,
Young, and yet so full of sadness?”
“Cause enough have I for weeping,
Cause for weeping and lamenting.
Therefore weep I, dearest father,
Weep, and feel so full of sorrow.
From my breast I lost the crosslet,
From my belt I dropped the buckle,
From my breast my silver crosslet,
From my waist the copper girdle.”50
At the gate, her brother sitting,
For the sledge was shaping runners.
“Wherefore weepest thou, my sister,
Young, and yet so full of sorrow?”
“Cause enough have I for weeping,
Cause for weeping and lamenting.
Therefore do I weep, poor brother,
Weep, and feel so full of sorrow.
Rings I lost from off my fingers,
From my neck my beaded necklace,60
And my finger-rings were golden,
And my necklace-beads were silver.”
At the window sat her sister,
As she wove a golden girdle.
“Wherefore weepest thou, poor sister,
Young, and yet so full of sorrow?”
“Cause enough have I for weeping,
Cause for weeping and lamenting.
Therefore do I weep, poor sister,
Weep and feel so full of sorrow.70
From my brow the gold has fallen,
From my hair I lost the silver,
Tore the blue bands from my temples,
From my head the scarlet braiding.”
On the threshold of the storehouse,
Skimming milk, she found her mother.
“Wherefore weepest thou, my daughter,
Young, and yet so full of sorrow?”
“O my mother, who hast borne me,
O my mother, who hast nursed me,80
Cause enough have I for anguish,
Cause enough for bitter sorrow.
Therefore do I weep, poor mother,
Therefore grieve I, O my mother,
To the wood I went for besoms,
Gathered bath-whisks from the bushes;
One I gathered for my father,
One I gathered for my mother,
And I gathered yet another,
For my young and ruddy brother.90
As I turned my footsteps homeward,
And across the heath was tripping,
From the dell there called Osmoinen,
From the field cried Kalevainen,
“Do not wear, fair maid, for others,
But for me alone, poor maiden,
Round thy neck a beaded necklace,
And a cross upon thy bosom.
Plait for me thy beauteous tresses,
Braid thy hair with silken ribands.”100
“From my breast I took the crosslet,
From my neck the beaded necklace,
Tore the blue bands from my temples,
From my head the scarlet ribands,
Then upon the ground I threw them,
Scattered them among the bushes,
And I answered him in this wise:
“Not for thee, and not for others,
Rests my cross upon my bosom,
And my hair is bound with ribands.110
Nought I care for sea-borne raiment,
Wheaten bread I do not value.
I will walk in home-spun garments,
And with crusts will still my hunger,
In my dearest father’s dwelling,
And beside my much-loved mother.”
And her mother answered thus wise,
Said the old crone to the maiden,
“Do not weep, my dearest daughter,
Do not grieve (and thou so youthful);120
Eat a whole year long fresh butter,
That your form may grow more rounded,
Eat thou pork the second season,
That your form may grow more charming,
And the third year eat thou cream-cakes,
That you may become more lovely.
Seek the storehouse on the mountain,
There the finest chamber open.
There are coffers piled on coffers,
Chests in heaps on chests are loaded,130
Open then the finest coffer,
Raise the painted lid with clangour,
There you’ll find six golden girdles,
Seven blue robes of finest texture,
Woven by the Moon’s own daughter,
By the Sun’s own daughter fashioned.
“In the days when I was youthful,
In my youthful days of girlhood,
In the wood I sought for berries,
Gathered raspberries on the mountain,140
Heard the moonlight’s daughter weaving,
And the sunlight’s daughter spinning,
There beside the wooded island,
On the borders of the greenwood.
"Thereupon I softly neared them,
And beside them took my station,
And began to ask them gently,
In the words that I repeat you:
‘Give you of your gold, O Kuutar,
And your silver give, Päivätär,150
To the maiden poorly dowered,
To the child who now implores you!’
“Then her gold did Kuutar give me,
And her silver gave Päivätär.
With the gold I decked my temples,
And adorned my head with silver,
Homeward like a flower I hastened,
Joyful, to my father’s dwelling.
“These I wore one day, a second,
Then upon the third day after160
Took the gold from off my temples,
From my head removed the silver,
Took them to the mountain storehouse;
In the chest with care I laid them,
There until this day I left them,
And since then I have not seen them.
“Or thy brows bind silken ribands,
On thy temples gold adornments,
Round thy neck a beaded necklace,
On thy breast a golden crosslet.170
Put thou on a shift of linen,
Of the finest flax that’s woven,
Lay thou on a robe of woollen,
Bind it with a silken girdle,
Then the finest silken stockings,
And of shoes the very finest,
Then in plaits thy hair arranging,
Bind it up with silken ribands,
Slip the gold rings on thy fingers,
Deck thy wrists with golden bracelets.180
After this return thou homewards
From thy visit to the storehouse,
As the joy of all thy kindred,
And of all thy race the fairest,
Like a floweret by the wayside,
Like a raspberry on the mountain,
Far more lovely than aforetime,
Fairer than in former seasons.”
Thus the mother urged her counsel,
Thus she spoke unto her daughter,190
But the daughter did not heed her,
Heeded not her mother’s counsel
From the house she wandered weeping,
From the homestead went in sorrow,
And she said the words which follow,
And expressed herself in this wise:
“What may be the joyous feelings,
And the thoughts of one rejoicing?
Such may be the joyous feelings,
And the thoughts of one rejoicing;200
Like the dancing of the water
On the waves when gently swelling.
What do mournful thoughts resemble?
What the long-tailed duck may ponder?
Such may mournful thoughts resenble,
Thus the long-tailed duck may ponder,
As ’neath frozen snow embedded,
Water deep in well imprisoned.
“Often now my life is clouded,
Often is my childhood troubled,210
And my thoughts like withered herbage,
As I wander through the bushes,
Wandering on through grassy meadows,
Pushing through the tangled thickes,
And my thoughts are pitch for blackness
And my heart than soot not brighter.
“Better fortune had befel me,
And it would have been more happy
Had I not been born and nurtured,
And had never grown in stature,220
Till I saw these days of sorrow,
And this joyless time o’ertook me,
Had I died in six nights only,
Or upon the eighth had perished.
Much I should not then have needed,
But a shroud a span-long only,
And of earth a tiny corner.
Little then had wept my mother,
Fewer tears had shed my father,
And my brother not a tearlet.”230
Thus she wept a day, a second,
And again her mother asked her,
“Wherefore dost thou weep, poor maiden,
Wherefore thus lament and sorrow?”
“Therefore weep I, hapless maiden,
Therefore do I weep for ever,
That yourself have pledged me, hapless,
And your daughter you have promised
Thus to be an old man’s comfort,
As a solace to the old man,240
To support his feeble footsteps,
And to wait upon him always.
Better were it had you sent me
Deeply down beneath the billows,
There to be the powan’s sister,
And companion of the fishes.
In the lake ’tis surely better
There beneath the waves to sojourn,
There to be the powan’s sister,
And companion of the fishes,250
Than to be an old man’s comfort,
To support his aged footsteps,
So that I can mend his stockings,
And may be a staff to prop him.”
Then she sought the mountain storehouse,
And the inner room she entered;
And the finest chest she opened,
Raised the painted lid with clangour,
And she found six golden girdles,
Seven blue robes of finest texture,260
And she robed her in the finest,
And completed her adornment.
Set the gold upon her temples,
On her hair the shining silver,
On her brow the sky-blue ribands,
On her head the bands of scarlet.
Then she wandered from the storehouse,
And across the fields she wandered,
Past the marshes, and the heathlands,
Through the shady, gloomy forests.270
Thus she sang, as on she hastened,
Thus she spoke, as on she wandered:
“All my heart is filled with trouble;
On my head a stone is loaded.
But my trouble would not vex me,
And the weight would less oppress me,
If I perished, hapless maiden,
Ending thus my life of sorrow,
In the burden of my trouble,
In the sadness of my sorrow.280
“Now my time perchance approaches,
From this weary world to hasten,
Time to seek the world of Mana,
Time to Tuonela to hasten,
For my father will not mourn me,
Nor my mother will lament me,
Nor my sister’s cheeks be moistened,
Nor my brother’s eyes be tearful,
If I sank beneath the waters,
Sinking where the fish are sporting,290
To the depths beneath the billows,
Down amid the oozy blackness.”
On she went, one day, a second,
And at length, upon the third day,
Came she to a lake’s broad margin,
To the bank, o’ergrown with rushes.
And she reached it in the night-time,
And she halted in the darkness.
In the evening wept the maiden,
Through the darksome night lamented,300
On the rocks that fringed the margin,
Where a bay spread wide before her.
At the earliest dawn of morning,
As she gazed from off a headland,
Just beyond she saw three maidens,
Bathing there amid the waters,
Aino made the fourth among them,
And the fifth a slender sapling.
Then her shift she cast on willows,
And her dress upon the aspens,310
On the open ground her stockings,
Threw her shoes upon the boulders,
On the sand her beads she scattered,
And her rings upon the shingle.
In the waves a rock was standing,
Brightly hued and golden shining;
And she swam and sought to reach it,
As a refuge in her trouble.
When at length she stood upon it,
And would rest upon the summit,320
On the stone of many colours,
On the rock so smooth and shining,
In the waves it sank beneath her,
Sinking to the very bottom.
With the rock, the maiden Aino
Sank beneath the water’s surface.
There the dove for ever vanished,
Thus the luckless maiden perished,
She herself exclaimed in dying,
When she felt that she was sinking:330
“To the lake I went to bathe me,
And to swim upon its surface,
But, like tender dove, I vanished,
Like a bird by death o’ertaken.
Never may my dearest father,
Never while his life endureth,
Cast his net amid the waters,
In these waves, so wide extending.
“To the shore I went to wash me,
To the lake I went to bathe me,340
But, like tender dove, I vanished,
Like a bird by death o’ertaken.
Never may my dearest mother,
Never while her life endureth,
Fetch the water for her baking,
From the wide bay near her dwelling.
“To the shore I went to wash me,
To the lake I went to bathe me,
But, like tender dove, I vanished,
Like a bird by death o’ertaken.350
Never may my dearest brother,
Never while his life endureth,
Water here his prancing courser,
Here upon the broad lake’s margin.
“To the shore I went to wash me,
To the lake I went to bathe me,
But, like tender dove, I vanished,
Like a bird by death o’ertaken.
Never may my dearest sister,
Never while her life endureth,360
Hither stay to wash her eyebrows,
On the bridge so near her dwelling.
In the lake the very water
Is as blood that leaves my veinlets;
Every fish that swims this water,
Is as flesh from off my body;
All the bushes on the margin
Are as ribs of me unhappy;
And the grass upon the margin
As my soiled and tangled tresses.”370
Thus the youthful maiden perished,
And the dove so lovely vanished.
Who shall now the tidings carry,
And repeat the mournful story,
At the dwelling of the maiden,
At the homestead of the fair one?
First the bear would take the tidings,
And repeat the mournful story ;
But the bear conveyed no tidings,
For he strayed among the cattle.380
Who shall now the tidings carry,
And repeat the mournful story,
At the dwelling of the maiden,
At the homestead of the fair one?
Then the wolf would take the message,
And repeat the mournful story;
But the wolf conveyed no tidings,
For among the sheep he wandered.
Who shall now the tidings carry,
And repeat the mournful story,390
At the dwelling of the maiden,
At the homestead of the fair one?
Then the fox would take the message,
And repeat the mournful story;
But the fox conveyed no tidings,
For among the geese he wandered.
Who shall now the tidings carry,
And repeat the mournful story,
At the dwelling of the maiden,
At the homestead of the fair one?400
’Twas the hare who took the tidings,
And conveyed the mournful story;
For the hare replied discreetly,
“I will not forget the message.”
Then the hare sprang quickly onward,
Sped the Long-ear with his story,
On his crooked legs he hastened,
With his cross-like mouth he hurried,
To the dwelling of the maiden,
To the homestead of the fair one.410
Thus he hastened to the bath-house
And he crouched upon the threshold.
Full of maidens is the bath-house,
In their hands the bath-whisks holding.
“Scamp, come here; and shall we boil you,
Or, O Broad-eye, shall we roast you,
Either for the master’s supper,
Or perchance the mistress’ breakfast,
For the luncheon of the daughter,
Or perchance the son to dine on?”420
Thereupon the hare responded,
And the Round-eye answered boldly,
“Would that Lempo might come hither
For the cooking in the kettle!
I am come to give you tidings,
And to bring a message to you.
Vanished from you is the fair one,
Perished has the tin-adorned one,
Sunken with her silver buckle,
Drowning with her belt of copper,430
Diving in the muddy water,
To the depths below the billows,
There to be the powan’s sister,
And companion of the fishes.”
Then her mother fell to weeping,
And her bitter tears flowed freely,
And she loud lamented, speaking
In her grief the words which follow:
“Never, O unhappy mothers,
Never while your life endureth,440
Never may you urge your daughters,
Or attempt to force your children
To a marriage that repels them,
Like myself, O wretched mother,
Urging vainly thus my daughter,
Thus my little dove I fostered.”
Thus the mother wept, lamenting,
And her bitter tears flowed freely
From her blue eyes in her sadness,
O’er her cheeks, so pale with sorrow.450
After one tear flowed another,
And her bitter tears flowed freely
From her cheeks, so pale with sorrow,
To her breast, so sadly heaving.
After one tear flowed another,
And her bitter tears flowed freely
From her breast, so sadly heaving,
On the borders of her garments.
After one tear flowed another,
And her bitter tears flowed freely460
From the borders of her garments
Down upon her scarlet stockings.
After one tear flowed another,
And her bitter tears flowed freely
Down from off her scarlet stockings
To her shoes, all gold-embroidered.
After one tear flowed another,
And her bitter tears flowed freely
From her shoes, all gold-embroidered,
On the ground where she was standing.470
As they flowed, the ground they moistened,
And they swelled to streams of water.
On the ground the streams were flowing,
And became the source of rivers;
Thence arose three mighty rivers
From the tears of bitter weeping,
Which were ever ceaseless flowing
From the weeping mother’s eyelids.
From each stream that thus was fashioned,
Rushed three waterfalls in fury,480
And amid each cataract’s flowing,
Three great rocks arose together,
And on every rocky summit
There arose a golden mountain,
And on every mountain summit
Up there sprang three beauteous birch-trees,
In the crown of every birch-tree,
Golden cuckoos three were perching.
All at once they called together,
And the first cried, “Sweetheart, sweetheart!”490
And the second, “Lover, lover!”
And the third cried, “Gladness, gladness!”
He who cried out, “Sweetheart, sweetheart!”
Sang his song for three months running,
For the young and loveless maiden,
Resting now beneath the water.
He who cried out, “Lover, lover!”
Sang his song for six months running,
Sang to the unhappy suitor,
Who must sorrow through his lifetime.500
He who cried out, “Gladness, gladness!”
Sang his song for all a lifetime;
Sang to the unhappy mother,
Who must daily weep for ever.
And the mother spoke as follows,
As she listened to the cuckoo:
“Never may a hapless mother
Listen to the cuckoo crying!
When I hear the cuckoo calling,
Heavy beats my heart within me.510
From my eyes the tears are falling,
O’er my cheeks are waters rolling,
And the drops like peas are swelling,
Than the largest broad-beans larger.
By an ell my life is shortened,
By a span-length I am older,
And my strength has wholly failed me,
Since I heard the cuckoo calling.”