nd his mother was near the door skimming milk, and his brother and
sisters were also working near by. And all of them cried out that Kura
could not go to war, for he was but lately married, and they bade
Lemminkainen leave him.

But Kura himself jumped up from where he was lying before the fire, and
began to put on his armour in great haste. On his helmet were wolves of
bronze, and a horse on each javelin. Then Kura took his mighty spear,
and going forth into the court he hurled it towards the north; and it
flew on and on, whistling through the air, until at length it fell upon
the earth of the distant Northland. And after this Kura touched his
javelin against Lemminkainen's spear and promised to be his faithful
comrade in the expedition. So the two great warriors made all needful
preparation and set forth to sail to dismal Pohjola.

But Louhi knew by magic art that they were coming, and she called the
Black-frost to her, and gave him these commands: 'Hasten forth, O
Black-frost, and freeze all the wide sea. Freeze Lemminkainen's vessel
fast in the ice, and freeze the magician himself in his vessel, so that
he may never more awaken from his icy sleep until I myself may choose to
free him.'

So the Black-frost hastened off to do her bidding. And first he stripped
the leaves off the trees and took all the colour from the flowers on his
way to the seashore. When he reached the shore, the first night he
froze all the rivers that empty into the sea and the waters along the
shore, but he did not touch the open sea that night. But on the second
night he froze all the sea, and the ice kept growing thicker and thicker
all around Lemminkainen's vessel, until at last the Black-frost even
began to freeze Lemminkainen's hands and feet and ears.

But when Lemminkainen felt this he began to sing an incantation against
the Black-frost, saying: 'Black-frost, evil child of the Northland and
only son of Winter, thou mayst freeze the trees and waters and the very
stones,--but let me be in peace. Freeze the iron mountains till they
burst in sunder; freeze Wuoksi and Imatra, but do not try to harm me,
for I will sing thine origin and make thee powerless. For thou wert born
on the borders of the ever-dismal Northland, and wert fed by crawling
snakes. The Northwind rocked thee to sleep in the marshes, and thus thou
grew, a thing of evil, and at last the name of Frost was given thee. And
as thou became larger, thou didst learn to rend the tr