ence his wife secretly attends a village dance. When
the husband returns, his sister informs him his bride has broken her
promise, whereupon Lemminkainen vows it is time he too should break
his, and, harnessing his sleigh, starts off for Lapland to fight. On
arriving there he enters sundry houses, and finally meets in one of
them a minstrel, whose song he roughly criticises. Then, seizing the
man's harp, Lemminkainen chants all sorts of spells, until all present
are under their influence save a blind shepherd, whom Lemminkainen
allows to go, and who hastens down to the River of Death, declaring he
will there await the singer's arrival.

_Runes XIII and XIV._ Lemminkainen now asks Louhi for her second
daughter, whom she refuses to give him, declaring that after deserting
her first daughter he can obtain her second only by catching the wild
moose ranging in the fields of Hisi (Death), by bridling his
fire-breathing steed, and by killing with his first arrow the great
swan swimming on the River of Death. The first two tasks, although
bristling with difficulties, are safely accomplished by Lemminkainen,
but when he reaches the River of Death, the blind shepherd--who is
lying there in wait for him ruthlessly slays him, chops his body into
pieces, and casts them into the stream.

_Rune XV._ After vainly awaiting Lemminkainen's return, his aged
mother, seeing blood drip from his hair-brush, concludes evil must
have befallen her son. She therefore hastens northward, and threatens
to destroy Louhi's magic Sampo unless the sorceress will reveal what
has become of Lemminkainen. Louhi then confesses that she sent him
down to Hades to hunt the Death swan, so Lemminkainen's mother hastens
down to the River of Death, only to learn her son has perished.
Hastening back to the blacksmith Ilmarinen, the frantic mother
beseeches him to make her a rake with a handle five hundred fathoms
long, and armed with this implement begins to dredge the river.
Presently she fishes out one by one the garments and various fragments
of her son! Thanks to powerful incantations she restores Lemminkainen
to life, speech, and motion, whereupon the youth thanks her, and
graphically relates how he came to his death. But, although he is home
once more, Lemminkainen is always thinking of the beautiful maiden he
wooed, and he still longs to kill the swan swimming on the River of
Death!

_Runes XVI and XVII._ Leaving Lemminkainen, the poem now relates how
Wain