oked sadly at his broken
shoes and arrows and stick, and said to himself: 'How shall I ever
succeed in my hunt, now that my shoes are broken, and the reindeer is
once more free?'

[Illustration]

LEMMINKAINEN'S DEATH

For a long time Lemminkainen sat considering whether he should give up
the chase and return to Kalevala, or still keep on after the
Hisi-reindeer. At length he regained hope and courage, and having sung
an incantation that made his snow-shoes and arrows and staff whole
again, he started off once more.

This time he turned his steps to the home of Tapio, the god of the
forest, and as he went he began to sing wondrous songs to Tapio and his
wife Mielikki, begging them to help him, and promising them great stores
of gold and silver if they would do so.

At last he arrived at Tapio's palace, which had window-frames of gold,
and the palace itself was of ivory. And within it Mielikki and her
daughters were dressed in golden garments, and wore gold and gems in
their hair, and pearls round their necks. And they all promised to help
Lemminkainen, and went off to drive the reindeer up to the palace so
that he might catch it. Nor had he long to wait before whole troops of
reindeer came flocking into the palace courtyard, and Lemminkainen saw
among them the Hisi-deer, and caught it.

Then Lemminkainen sang a song of triumph, and having paid to Tapio's
wife, Mielikki, the gold and silver he had promised, he hastened off
with the reindeer to Louhi's home. But when he gave the Hisi-deer to
her, she said: 'I will give thee my fairest daughter if thou wilt catch
and bridle for me the fiery Hisi-horse, that breathes smoke and fire
from his mouth and nostrils.'

So Lemminkainen went off, taking with him a golden bridle to put on the
horse. For three days he wandered without catching sight of the
Hisi-horse, but on the third day he climbed to the top of a very high
mountain, and from thence he spied the steed on the plain amongst the
fir-trees, breathing smoke and flames from his mouth and nostrils and
eyes.

When Lemminkainen saw him he prayed to great Ukko to send a shower of
icy hail upon the fiery Hisi-steed, and presently a great shower of hail
rained down, and every hailstone was larger than a man's head. After
the hail was over, Lemminkainen came up to the fiery horse and coaxed
him to let the golden bridle be slipped over his head. Then off they
went like the wind, the horse obeying Lemminkainen per