an evil station,
On a plain among the willows.

"Perfect happiness and pleasure
Others always are expecting,
When arrives the beauteous summer,
In the warm days of the summer.
But my fate is different, wretched,
Nought but wretchedness awaits me; 110
And my bark is peeling from me,
Down are hewed my leafy branches.

"Often unto me defenceless
Oft to me, unhappy creature,
In the short spring come the children,
Quickly to the spot they hurry,
And with sharpened knives they score me,
Draw my sap from out my body,
And in summer wicked herdsmen,
Strip from me my white bark-girdle, 120
Cups and plates therefrom constructing,
Baskets too, for holding berries.

"Often unto me defenceless,
Oft to me, unhappy creature,
Come the girls beneath my branches,
Come beneath, and dance around me.
From my crown they cut the branches,
And they bind them into besoms.

"Often too, am I, defenceless,
Oft am I, unhappy creature, 130
Hewed away to make a clearing,
Cut to pieces into faggots.
Thrice already in this summer,
In the warm days of the summer,
Unto me have come the woodmen,
And have hewed me with their axes,
Hewed the crown from me unhappy,
And my weak life has departed.

"This has been my joy in summer,
In the warm days of the summer, 140
But no better was the winter,
Nor the time of snow more pleasant.

"And in former times already,
Has my face been changed by trouble,
And my head has drooped with sadness,
And my cheeks have paled with sorrow,
Thinking o'er the days of evil,
Pondering o'er the times of evil.

"And the wind brought ills upon me,
And the frost brought bitter sorrows. 150
Tore the wind my green cloak from me,
Frost my pretty dress from off me.
Thus am I of all the poorest,
And a most unhappy birch-tree,
Standing stripped of all my clothing,
As a naked trunk I stand here,
And in cold I shake and tremble,
And in frost I stand lamenting."

Said the aged Vaeinaemoeinen,
"Weep no more, O verdant birch-tree! 160
Leafy sapling, weep no longer,
Thou, equipped with whitest girdle,
For a pleasant future waits thee,
New and charming joys await thee.
Soon shalt thou with joy be w