xt, the noise of armed men
running together grew louder and louder, and he knew that they would
soon reach him. So Lemminkainen changed himself into an eagle, and rose
up into the clouds. As he flew towards the south he met a gray hawk
flying northward, and called to it: 'O Gray Hawk, fly to Pohjola and
tell the warriors of the Northland that they will never catch the Eagle,
Lemminkainen, ere he reaches his home in distant Kalevala.'

Then he flew on home and taking on again his own form, he went to his
mother's house. When she saw the troubled look in his face, she guessed
that some great danger threatened him, and began to ask him if it were
this, or that, or the other that troubled him, but to all her questions
he answered 'no.' At length she bade him tell her, then, what his
trouble was, and he replied: 'All the men of Northland are sharpening
their swords and spears to kill thy unlucky son Ahti, for I have slain
the host of Pohjola, Louhi's husband, in a quarrel, and the men of
Northland will soon come hither to avenge it.'

His mother then reminded him how she had warned him of the journey and
its troubles, and asked him where he was going to take refuge.
Lemminkainen replied that he did not know, and asked his mother to help
him, and she answered: 'If I should turn thee into a tree, thou might be
cut down for firewood. Or if into a berry, the maidens might pluck thee.
Or if to a fish, thou would never have a happy life. But if thou wilt
swear to me not to go to war again for sixty years, then I will tell
thee of a distant isle, far off across the ocean, where thou mayst rest
in safety.'

So Lemminkainen gave his promise, on his honour, not to fight for sixty
years, and then his mother told him how to find the isle of refuge. He
must sail across nine seas and in the middle of the tenth he would come
to the island, where his father had once taken refuge long before. There
he must stay until the third year was come, and then he might return to
his home.

Lemminkainen took enough provisions in his boat for a long journey, and
then bidding farewell to his mother and his home he sailed away. When he
had raised the linen sails, he called up a fair wind to drive him
onward, and for three months he sailed on without a moment's rest, until
at length he reached the magic Isle of Refuge.

First, he asked the people of the island if there was room there for his
boat, and on receiving their consent he drew it up out of th