Then the lively Lemminkainen,
Hurriedly a stroke delivered,
With his sword he struck the hero,
Quickly with the sword he struck him.

Full and fair he struck the hero,
Struck his head from off his shoulders, 380
And the skull from neck he severed,
As from off the stalk a turnip,
Or an ear of corn is severed,
From a fish a fin divided.
In the yard the head went rolling,
And the skull in the enclosure,
As when it is struck by arrow
Falls the capercail from tree-top.

In the ground stood stakes a hundred,
In the yard there stood a thousand, 390
On the stakes were heads a hundred,
Only one stake still was headless.
Then the lively Lemminkainen
Took the head of the poor fellow;
From the ground the skull he lifted,
And upon the stake he set it.

Then did Ahti Saarelainen,
He the handsome Kaukomieli,
Once again the house re-enter,
And he spoke the words which follow: 400
"Wicked maid, now bring me water,
That I wash my hands and cleanse them,
From the blood of wicked Master,
From the gore of man of evil."

Furious was the Crone of Pohja,
Wild with wrath and indignation,
And at once she sang up swordsmen,
Heroes well equipped for battle.
Up she sang a hundred swordsmen,
Sang a thousand weapon-bearers, 410
Lemminkainen's head to capture,
From the neck of Kaukomieli.

Now the time seemed really coming,
Fitting time for his departure,
Terror came at length upon him,
And too hard the task before him;
From the house the youthful Ahti
Lemminkainen quick departed,
From the feast prepared at Pohja,
From the unannounced carousal. 420

RUNO XXVIII.--LEMMINKAINEN AND HIS MOTHER

_Argument_

Lemminkainen escapes with all speed from Pohjola, comes home and asks
his mother where he can hide himself from the people of Pohjola, who
will soon attack him in his home, a hundred to one (1-164). His mother
reproaches him for his expedition to Pohjola, suggests various places of
concealment, and at length advises him to go far across the lakes to a
distant island, where his father once lived in peace during a year of
great war (165-294).

Then did Ahti Saarelainen,
He the lively Lemminkainen,
Haste to reach a place for hiding,
Hasten quickly to remove him