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96
Kalevala
[Runo XXXIII

Then the dusty wicked herd-boy,
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
Homeward drove the bears before him,
And the wolf-flock to the farmyard,
And the bears he thus commanded,
And the wolves he thus instructed:
“Tear the mistress’ thighs asunder,
See that through her calves you bite her,150
When she comes to look around her,
And she bends her down to milk you.”
Then he made a pipe of cow-bone,
And a whistle made of ox-horn,
From Tuomikki’s leg a cow-horn,
And a flute from heel of Kirjo,
Then upon the horn blew loudly,
And upon his pipe made music.
Thrice upon the hill he blew it,
Six times at the pathway’s opening.160
Then did Ilmarinen’s housewife,
Wife of smith, an active woman,
Who for milk had long been waiting,
And expecting summer butter,
Hear the music on the marshes,
And upon the heath the cattle,
And she spoke the words which follow,
And expressed herself in thiswise:
“Praise to Jumala be given,
Sounds the pipe, the herd is coming,170
Whence obtained the slave the cow-horn,
That he made a horn to blow on?
Wherefore does he thus come playing,
Blowing tunes upon the cow-horn,
Blowing till he bursts the eardrums,
And he gives me quite a headache?”
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
Answered in the words which follow:
“In the swamp the horn was lying,
From the sand I brought the cow-horn,180
To the lane I brought your cattle,
In the shed the cows are standing;