Arranged the hay in cocks—into a hundred heaps,
Then piled it into a stack, heaped it into a thick rick.
The meadow was already mown—the hay laid out on upright poles,
(When) a Norwegian[1] Lapp came, by name the 'fiery' Tursas,[2]
(Who) flung the hay into a fire, tossed it into the flames.
A little ash resulted, a small quantity of ashes.
Whereupon the girls reflect, the maidens deliberate
Where the ashes may be gathered, the hot ash residue may be put:
"They are just short of ash, they stand in urgent need of lye
To wash the head of Päivä's[3] son—the good hero's eyes."
A wind came from the mountains—a heavy storm from the north-east [v. a chilly wind from Olonetz];
Thither the wind bore the ashes, the north-east wind gathered the ashes
From the misty headland point, from the foggy island cape
| 20 | To a 'fiery' rapids' brink, to a 'holy' river's banks. |
| v. To the edge of Lake Alue, to a sea bay's muddy strand. |
A wind brings the acorn of an oak—bore it from a distant land
To the 'fiery' rapids' brink, to the 'holy' river's banks,
Threw it on a good place—on a border of fat earth.
From it a sprout rose, an incomparable shoot sprang,
From it grew a splendid oak, an enormous tree[4] raised itself,
Its head strove towards the sky, its boughs spread outwards into space.
Variants.
20 To a pointless cape, to a level beaten plain.
- ↑ Turja.
- ↑ Tursas, 'a monster'. In riddles the word is applied to a pig (tursa means a nose). In the Kalevala, ii, 67, a Tursas rises from the sea.
- ↑ The sun.
- ↑ Rutimon raita. Rutimo is supposed to be the same as rotaimo, Lapp rota aibmo, 'the home of sickness', 'hell'. It is found in the Kalevala, ii, 185, Loitsurunoja, pp. 68a, 276b, 302a (bis), 304b, 333a, but at p. 317b it is replaced by ruheva [v. ruteva]. Raita properly means a kind of willow (Salix fragilis and S. pentandra).
