s the maiden shone with silver,
Or the maiden's gold was famous.
Has our sun been shining on you,
Or the moon afar been shining?"

From the floor the child made answer,
And the growing child responded:
"Therefore did your darling know it,
And your fostling learned to know it. 420
In the far-famed maidens' dwelling,
In the home where dwells the fair one;
Good report rejoiced the father,
When he launched his largest vessel;
But rejoices more the mother,
When the largest loaf is baking,
And the wheaten bread is baking,
That the guests may feast profusely.

"Thus it was your darling knew it,
Far around the strangers knew it, 430
How the young maid grew in stature,
And how tall grew up the maiden.
Once I went into the courtyard,
And I wandered to the storehouse,
Very early in the morning,
In the earliest morning hours,
And the soot in streaks ascended,
And the smoke in clouds rose upward,
From the far-famed maiden's dwelling,
From the blooming maiden's homestead, 440
And the maid herself was grinding,
Busy working at the handmill;
Rung the mill like call of cuckoo,
And the pestle quacked like wild geese,
And the sieve like bird was singing,
And the stones like beads were rattling.

"Forth a second time I wandered,
And into the field I wandered,
In the meadow was the maiden,
Stooping o'er the yellow heather; 450
Working at the red-stained dye-pots,
Boiling up the yellow kettles.

"When I wandered forth a third time
Sat the maid beneath the window,
There I heard the maiden weaving,
In her hands the comb was sounding,
And I heard the shuttle flying,
As in cleft of rock the ermine,
And the comb-teeth heard I sounding,
As the wooden shaft was moving, 460
And the weaver's beam was turning,
Like a squirrel in the tree-tops."

Then did Pohjola's old Mistress
Answer in the words which follow:
"Bravo, bravo, dearest maiden,
Have I not for ever told thee,
Not to sing among the pine-trees,
Not to sing amid the valleys,
Not to arch thy neck too proudly,
Nor thy white arms leave uncovered, 470
Nor thy young and beauteous bosom,
Nor thy shape so round and graceful?

"I have warned thee all the autumn,
An