to join his mate.

Wainamoinen found himself upon a bare, rocky point of land, without a
trace of human life about it, nor any path through the woods by which it
was surrounded. And he wept bitterly, for he was far from home, covered
with wounds from his battle with the winds and waters, and faint with
hunger: three days and three nights he wept without ceasing.

Now the fair and lovely daughter of old Louhi had laid a wager with the
Sun, that she would rise before him the next morning. And so she did,
and had time to shear six lambs before the Sun had left his couch
beneath the ocean. And after this she swept up the floor of the stable
with a birch broom, and collecting the sweepings on a copper shovel, she
carried them to the meadow near the seashore. There she heard the sound
of some one weeping, and hastening back she told her mother of it.

Then Louhi, ancient mistress of the Northland, hurried out from her
house and down to the seashore. There she heard the sound of weeping,
and quickly pushed off from the shore in a boat and rowed to where the
weeping Wainamoinen sat.

When she came to him she said to him: 'What folly hast thou done to be
in so sad a state?'

Wainamoinen replied: 'It is indeed folly that has brought me into this
trouble. I was happy enough at home before I went on this expedition.'

Then Louhi asked him to tell her who he was of all the great heroes.

Wainamoinen replied: 'Formerly I was honoured as a great singer and
magician: I was called the "Singer of Kalevala," the wise Wainamoinen.'

Then Louhi said: 'Rise, O hero, from thy lowly couch among the willows,
come with me to my home and there tell me the story of thy adventures.'
So she took the starving hero into her boat and rowed him to the shore,
and took him to her house. There she gave him food, and the warmth and
rest and shelter soon restored to him all his strength. Then Louhi asked
him to relate his adventures, and he told her all that had happened to
him.

When he had finished Louhi said to him: 'Weep no more, Wainamoinen, for
thou shalt be welcome in our homes, thou shalt live with us and eat our
salmon and other fish.'

Wainamoinen thanked her for her kindness, but added: 'One's own country
and table and home are the best and dearest. May the great god, Ukko,
the Creator, grant that I may once more reach my dear home and country.
It is better to drink clear water from a birchen cup in one's own home,
than in foreign lands