Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/264

Scoured the smooth planks of the boarding,
And the flooring swept and polished.
“Now that I the house examine,
’Tis so changed I scarcely know it,
From what wood the room was fashioned,
How the roof has been constructed.
And the walls have been erected,
And the flooring been constructed.
“Side-walls are of bones of hedgehog,
Hinder-walls of bones of reindeer,160
Front-walls of the bones of glutton,
And of bones of lamb the crossbar.
All the beams are wood of apple,
And the posts of curving birchwood,
Round the stove rest water-lilies,
Scales of bream compose the ceiling.
“And one bench is formed of iron,
Others made from Saxon timber,
Gold-inlaid are all the tables;
Floor o’erspread with silken carpets.170
“And the stove is bright with copper,
And the stove-bench stone-constructed,
And the hearth composed of boulders,
And with Kaleva’s tree is boarded.”
Then the house the bridegroom entered,
Hastened on beneath the roof-tree,
And he spoke the words which follow:
“Grant, O Jumala, thy blessing
Underneath this noble roof-tree,
Underneath this roof so splendid.”180
Then said Pohjola’s old Mistress,
“Hail, all hail, to thee, who enters
In this room of small dimensions,
In this very lowly cottage,
In this wretched house of firwood,
In this house of pine constructed.
“O my little waiting-maiden,
Thou the village maid I hired,
Bring a piece of lighted birchbark,
To a tarry torch apply it,190