The best maiden of Pohjola
Was standing near a wall, was underneath the window front,
Engaged in melting virgin honey,
The honey hardened on her finger-points, with it she smeared [its] teeth.
A useful dog was the result, a neat, white-collared dog was got
That does not eat one up, that does not bite the very least.
Variants.
2. The choice [v. little] woman, Penitar[1] [v. Peniatar].
(b.)
I know of course dog's genesis, I guess a puppy's origin.
He was made on a dust heap—prepared on a meadow,
Begotten of eight fathers,[2] born of one mother.
Earth's mistress, Manuhutar,[3] knocked out a head from a knoll,
Procured legs from fence stakes—ears from a water-lily's leaves,
Struck out gums from the east [wind], formed the muzzle from wind.
Parts of (a) will be found in the old Kalevala, vii, 206, etc. In a variant added at the end of that edition it says: "That the blind old man of Uloppala—another name for Pohjola—slept with his own mother, threw himself powerless on her breasts, on the surface of a swamp, on a hillock, where muddy water moves." After this she becomes pregnant with a dog, as in the versions here given.
vi.—The Origin of the Elk.
Where was the elk born—the son of Rock[4] reared?
There was the elk born—the son of Rock reared
On the surface of a windy marsh,
In a dense clump of wild bird cherries—a thick grove of willows.
Its back is from a bent birch-tree,
