not running."

If her father sent her sledging,
In a stallion's sledge she went not,
If a mare her brother brought her,
Then these words the maiden uttered:
"Never will I sit in mares' sledge,
Which with stallion has been running, 40
If no foals the sledge are drawing,
Which have numbered six months only."

Marjatta the petted damsel,
She who always lived a virgin,
Always greeted as a maiden,
Modest maid with locks unbraided,
Went to lead the herds to pasture,
And beside the sheep was walking.

On the hill the sheep were straying,
To the top the lambs were climbing, 50
On the plain the maiden wandered,
Tripping through the alder bushes,
While there called the golden cuckoo,
And the silvery birds were singing.

Marjatta the petted damsel,
Looked around her and she listened,
Sitting on the hill of berries,
Resting on the sloping hillside,
And she spoke the words which follow,
And in words like these expressed her: 60
"Call thou on, O golden cuckoo,
Sing thou still, O bird of silver,
Sing thou from thy breast of silver!
Tell me true, O Saxon strawberry,
Shall I long remain unhooded,
Long among the flocks as herd-girl,
On the wide-extending heathlands,
And the far-extending woodlands,
For one summer, for two summers,
Or for five or six of summers, 70
Or perchance for ten long summers,
Or the time fulfilled already?"

Marjatta the petted damsel,
For a while lived on as herd-girl.
Evil is the life of shepherd,
Far too heavy for a maiden;
In the grass a snake is creeping,
In the grass the lizards wriggling.

But not there a snake was writhing,
Nor in grass the lizards wriggling. 80
From the hill there cried a berry,
From the heath there cried a cranberry,
"O thou maiden, come and pluck me,
Rosy-cheeked one, come and gather,
Come with breast of tin to pluck me,
With thy copper belt to choose me,
Ere the slug should come to eat me,
Or the black worm should disturb me.

"There are hundreds who have seen me,
Thousands more have sat beside me, 90
Girls by hundreds, wives by thousands,
Children, too, that none can number;
None among them yet has touched me,
None has gathered me, the wretched."