FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99  
100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   >>   >|  
ted, On the ground a beauteous berry, Even as a scarlet cranberry, Then I had not heard these horrors, Would not now have known these terrors." Soon as she had finished speaking, And her speech had scarce completed, Quickly from the sledge she darted, And she rushed into the river, 260 In the furious foaming cataract, And amid the raging whirlpool, There she found the death she sought for, There at length did death o'ertake her, Found in Tuonela a refuge, In the waves she found compassion. Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring, From his sledge at once descended, And began to weep full loudly, With a piteous lamentation. 270 "Woe my day, O me unhappy, Woe to me, and all my household, For indeed my very sister, I my mother's child have outraged! Woe my father, woe my mother, Woe to you, my aged parents, To what purpose have you reared me, Reared me up to be so wretched! Far more happy were my fortune, Had I ne'er been born or nurtured, 280 Never in the air been strengthened, Never in this world had entered. Wrongly I by death was treated, Nor disease has acted wisely, That they did not fall upon me, And when two nights old destroy me." With his knife he loosed the collar, From the sledge the chains he severed, On the horse's back he vaulted, On the whitefront steed he galloped, 290 But a little way he galloped, But a little course had traversed, When he reached his father's dwelling, Reached the grass-plot of his father. In the yard he found his mother, "O my mother who hast borne me, O that thou, my dearest mother, E'en as soon as thou hadst borne me, In the bath-room smoke hadst laid me, And the bath-house doors had bolted, 300 That amid the smoke I smothered, And when two nights old had perished, Smothered me among the blankets, With the curtain thou hadst choked me, Thrust the cradle in the fire, Pushed it in the burning embers. "If the village folk had asked thee, 'Why is in the room no cradle? Wherefore have you locked the bath-house?' Then might this have been the answer: 310 'In the fire I burned the cradle, Where on hearth the fire is glowing, While I made the malt in bath-
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99  
100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

mother

 

father

 
sledge
 

cradle

 

galloped

 

nights

 

Reached

 

traversed

 

reached

 
dwelling

collar
 

wisely

 

treated

 
disease
 
destroy
 

vaulted

 

whitefront

 
severed
 

chains

 
loosed

dearest

 
burning
 
embers
 

Pushed

 

Thrust

 

blankets

 
curtain
 

choked

 

village

 
Wherefore

locked
 

answer

 

burned

 

Smothered

 

perished

 

hearth

 

glowing

 

bolted

 

smothered

 
whirlpool

sought
 
length
 

raging

 

cataract

 

furious

 
foaming
 

ertake

 

Kalervo

 

offspring

 

descended