e never seen them since. But now, my
daughter, go and adorn thyself with gold and silk ribbons; put a
necklace of pearls around thy neck, and a golden cross upon thy bosom;
dress thyself in pure white linen; put on the richest frock that is
there and tie it with a belt of gold; put silk stockings on thy feet and
the finest of shoes. Then come back to us that we may admire thee, for
thou wilt be more beautiful than the sunlight, more lovely than the
moonbeams.'

But Aino would not be consoled, and kept on weeping. 'How happy I was in
my childhood,' she sang, 'when I used to roam the fields and gather
flowers, but now my heart is full of grief and all my life is filled
with darkness. It would have been better for me if I had died a
child;--then my mother would have wept a little, and my father and
sisters and brothers mourned a little while, and then all their sorrow
would have been ended.'

Aino wept for three days more, and then her mother once more asked her
why she wept so, and Aino replied: 'I weep, O mother, because thou hast
promised me to the aged Wainamoinen, to be his comforter and caretaker
in his old age. Far better if thou hadst sent me to the bottom of the
sea, to live with the fishes and to become a mermaid and ride on the
waves. This had been far better than to be an old man's slave and
darling.'

When she had said this she left her mother and hastened to the
storehouse on the hill. There she opened the largest box and took off
six lids, and at the bottom found six golden belts and seven silk
dresses. She chose the best of all the treasures there and adorned
herself like a queen, with rings and jewels and gold ornaments of every
sort.

When she was fully arrayed she left the storehouse and wandered over
fields and meadows and on through the dim and gloomy fir-forest, singing
as she went: 'Woe is me, poor broken-hearted Aino! My grief is so heavy
that I can no longer live. I must leave this earth and go to Manala, the
country of departed spirits. Father, mother, brothers, sisters, weep for
me no longer, for I am going to live beneath the sea, in the lovely
grottos, on a couch of sea-moss.'

For three long weary days Aino wandered, and as the cold night came on
she at last reached the seashore. There she sank down, weary, on a rock,
and sat there alone in the black night, listening to the solemn music of
the wind and the waves, as they sang her funeral melody. When at last
the day dawned Aino beheld t