Runo XXXIII: The Death of Ilmarinen's Wife

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,Put his lunch into his wallet,Drove the cows along the marshes,While across the heath he wandered,And he spoke as he was going,And repeated on his journey,"Woe to me, a youth unhappy,And a youth of wretched fortune!Wheresoe'er I turn my footsteps,Nought but idleness awaits me;I must watch the tails of oxen,And must watch the calves I follow,Always tramping through the marshes,Through the worst of level country."

Then upon the ground he rested,On a sunny slope he sat him,And he then composed these verses,And expressed himself in singing:"Sun of Jumala, O shine thou,Of the Lord, thou wheel, shine warmly,On the warder of the smith's herd,And upon the wretched shepherd,Not on Ilmarinen's household,Least of all upon the mistress,For the mistress lives luxurious,And the wheaten-bread she slices,And the finest cakes devours,And she spreads them o'er with butter,Gives the wretched shepherd dry bread,Dry crusts only for his chewing,Only oaten-cake she gives me,Even this with chaff she mixes,Even straw she scatters through it,Gives for food the bark of fir-tree,Water in a birch-bark bucket,Upscooped 'mid the grassy hillocks.March, O sun, and wheat, O wander,Sink in Jumala's own season,Hasten, sun, among the pine-trees,Wander, wheat, into the bushes,'Mid the junipers, O hasten,Fly thou to the plains of alder,Lead thou then the herdsman homeward,Give him butter from the barrel,Let him eat the freshest butter,Over all the cakes extending."

But the wife of IlmarinenWhile the shepherd was lamenting,And while Kullervo was singing,Ate the butter from the barrel,And she ate the freshest butter,And upon the cakes she spread it,And hot soup had she made ready,But for Kullervo cold cabbage,Whence the dog the fat had eaten,And the black dog made a meal from,And the spotted dog been sated,And the brown dog had sufficient.

From the branch there sang a birdling,Sang a small bird from the bushes,"Time 'tis for the servant's supper,O thou orphan boy, 'tis evening."

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,Looked, and saw the sun was sinking,And he said the words which follow:"Now the time has come for eating,Yes, the time has come for eating,Time it is to take refreshment."

So to rest he drove the cattle,On the heath he drove the cattle,And he sat him on a hillock,And upon a green hill sat him.From his back he took his wallet,Took the cake from out the wallet,And he turned it round and eyed it,And he spoke the words which follow:"Many a cake is outside handsome,And the crust looks smooth from outside,But within is only fir-bark,Only chaff beneath the surface."

From the sheath he took his knife out,And to cut the cake attempted.On the stone the knife struck sharply,And against the stone was broken.From the knife the point was broken;And the knife itself was broken.

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,Looked, and saw the knife was broken,And at length he burst out weeping,And he said the words which follow:"Save this knife I'd no companion,Nought to love except this iron,'Twas an heirloom from my father,And the aged man had used it.Now against a stone 'tis broken,'Gainst a piece of rock 'tis shatteredIn the cake of that vile mistress,Baked there by that wicked woman.

"How shall I for this reward her,Woman's prank, and damsel's mockery,And destroy the base old woman,And that wicked wench, the bakeress?"

Then a crow cawed from the bushes,Cawed the crow, and croaked the raven."O thou wretched golden buckle,Kalervo's surviving offspring,Wherefore art thou so unhappy,Wherefore is thy heart so troubled?Take a switch from out the bushes,And a birch from forest-valley,Drive the foul beasts in the marshes,Chase the cows to the morasses,Half to largest wolves deliver,Half to bears amid the forest.

"Call thou all the wolves together,All the bears do thou assemble,Change the wolves to little cattle,Make the bears the larger cattle,Lead them then like cattle homeward,Lead them home like brindled cattle;Thus repay the woman's jesting,And the wicked woman's insult."

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,Uttered then the words which follow:"Wait thou, wait thou, whore of Hiisi,For my father's knife I'm weeping,Soon wilt thou thyself be weeping,And be weeping for thy milchkine."

From the bush a switch he gathered,Juniper as whip for cattle,Drove the cows into the marshes,And the oxen in the thickets,Half of these the wolves devoured,To the bears he gave the others,And he sang the wolves to cattle,And he changed the bears to oxen,Made the first the little cattle,Made the last the larger cattle.

In the south the sun was sinking,In the west the sun descended,Bending down towards the pine-treesAt the time of cattle-milking.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,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.

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,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,To the lane I brought your cattle,In the shed the cows are standing;Come you forth to smoke the cattle,And come out to milk the cattle."

Then did Ilmarinen's housewifeBid the mother milk the cattle."Mother, go and milk the cattle,Do thou go to tend the cattle,For I think I cannot finishKneading dough as I would have it."

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,Answered in the words which follow:"Ever do the thrifty housewives,Ever do the careful housewivesGo the first to milk the cattle,Set themselves to milk the cattle."

Then did Ilmarinen's housewifeHasten forth to smoke the cattle,And she went to milk the cattle,And surveyed the herd before her,Gazed upon the horned cattle,And she spoke the words which follow:"Beauteous is the herd to gaze on,Very sleek the horned cattle,They have all been rubbed with lynx-skinAnd the wool of sheep of forest,Well-filled, too, are all their udders,And expanded with their fulness."

So she stooped her down to milk them,And she sat her down for milking,Pulled a first time and a second,And attempted it a third time,And the wolf sprang fiercely at her,And the bear came fiercely after.At her mouth the wolf was tearing,And the bear tore through her tendons,Halfway through her calves they bit her,And they broke across her shinbones.

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspringThus repaid the damsel's jesting,Damsel's jesting, woman's mocking,Thus repaid the wicked woman.

Ilmarinen's wife illustriousThen herself was brought to weeping,And she spoke the words which follow:"Ill thou dost, O wicked herdsman,Driving bears unto the homestead,To the yard these wolves gigantic."

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspringHeard, and thus he made her answer:"Ill I did, a wicked herd-boy,Not so great as wicked mistress.In my cake a stone she baked me,Baked a lump of rock within it,On the stone my knife struck sharply,'Gainst the rock my knife was shattered;'Twas the knife of mine own father,Of our race a cherished heirloom."

Then said Ilmarinen's housewife,"O thou herd-boy, dearest herd-boy,Wilt thou alter thy intention,And recall thy words of magic,And release me from the wolf's jaws,From the bear's claws now release me?Better shirts will I then give you,And will give you handsome aprons,Give you wheaten-bread, and butter,And the sweetest milk for drinking,For a year no work will give you,Give you light work in the second.

"If you haste not to release me,Come not quickly to my rescue,Death will quickly fall upon me,And to earth shall I be altered."

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,Answered in the words which follow:"If you die, so may you perish,If you perish, may you perish!Room there is in earth to hold you,Room in Kalma's home for lost ones,For the mightiest there to slumber,For the proudest to repose them."

Then said Ilmarinen's housewife,"Ukko, thou, of Gods the highest,Haste to bend thy mighty crossbow,Of thy bows the best select thou,Take thou then a bolt of copper,And adjust it to the crossbow,Shoot thou then a flaming arrow,Shoot thou forth the bolt of copper,Shoot it quickly through the arm-pits,Shoot it that it split the shoulders.Thus let Kalervo's son perish,Shoot thou dead this wicked creature,Shoot him with the steel-tipped arrow,Shoot him with thy bolt of copper."

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,Uttered then the words which follow:"Ukko, thou, of Gods the highest,Shoot me not as she has prayed thee,Shoot the wife of Ilmarinen,Do thou kill this wicked woman,Ere from off this spot she riseth,Or can move herself from off it."

Then did Ilmarinen's housewife,Wife of that most skilful craftsman,On the spot at once fall dying,Fell, as falls the soot from kettle,In the yard before her homestead,In the narrow yard she perished.

Thus it was the young wife perished,Thus the fairest housewife perished,Whom the smith so long had yearned for,And for six long years was sought for,As the joy of Ilmarinen,Pride of him, the smith so famous.