were all astounded
At the songs of Lemminkainen,
And the craft of that great hero.

Said the lively Lemminkainen,
Spoke the handsome Kaukomieli,
"I have sung a song most splendid,
But perchance might sing a better,
If beneath a roof I sang it,
At the end of the deal table. 190
If a house you cannot give me,
There to rest upon the planking,
I will hum my tunes in forest,
Toss my songs among the bushes."

Said the maidens of the island,
Answered after full reflection:
"There are houses you may enter,
Handsome halls that you may dwell in,
Safe from cold to sing your verses,
In the open speak your magic." 200

Then the lively Lemminkainen,
Entered in a house directly,
Where he sang a row of pint-pots,
At the end of the long table.
All the pots with ale were brimming,
And the cans with mead the finest,
Filled as full as one could fill them,
Dishes filled to overflowing.
In the pots was beer in plenty,
And the mead in covered tankards, 210
Butter too, in great abundance,
Pork was likewise there in plenty,
For the feast of Lemminkainen,
And for Kaukomieli's pleasure.

Kauko was of finest manners,
Nor to eat was he accustomed,
Only with a knife of silver,
Fitted with a golden handle.

So he sang a knife of silver,
And a golden-hafted knife-blade, 220
And he ate till he was sated,
Drank the ale in full contentment.

Then the lively Lemminkainen,
Roamed about through every village,
For the island-maidens' pleasure,
To delight the braidless damsels,
And where'er his head was turning,
There he found a mouth for kissing,
Wheresoe'er his hand was outstretched,
There he found a hand to clasp it. 230

And at night he went to rest him,
Hiding in the darkest corner;
There was not a single village
Where he did not find ten homesteads,
There was not a single homestead
Where he did not find ten daughters,
There was none among the daughters,
None among the mother's children,
By whose side he did not stretch him,
On whose arm he did not rest him. 240

Thus a thousand brides he found there,
Rested by a hundred widows;
Two in half-a-score remained not,
Three in a completed hundred,