Runo XIII.—Hiisi’s Elk
Argument
Lemminkainen asks the old woman of Pohja for her daughter, but she demands that he should first capture the Elk of Hiisi on snowshoes (1-30). Lemminkainen starts off in high spirits to hunt the elk, but it escapes, and he breaks his snowshoes and spear (31-270).
Then the lively Lemminkainen
Said to Pohjola’s old Mistress,
“Give me, old one, now your maiden,
Bring me here your lovely daughter,
She the best of all among them,
She the tallest of the maidens.”
Then did Pohjola’s old Mistress
Answer in the words which follow:
“Nay, I will not give my maiden,
And you shall not have my daughter,10
Not the best or worst among them,
Not the tallest, not the shortest,
For you have a wife already,
Long the mistress of your household.”
Said the lively Lemminkainen,
“Kylli in the town lies fettered,
At the steps before the village,
By the gate where strangers enter,
So a better wife I wish for,
Therefore give me now your daughter,20
She the fairest of your daughters,
Lovely with unbraided tresses.”
Then said Pohjola’s old Mistress,
“Never will I give my daughter
To a vain and worthless fellow,
To a hero good for nothing.
Therefore you may woo my daughter,
Win the far-famed flower-crowned maiden,
If you hunt the elk on snowshoes,
In the distant field of Hiisi.”30
