sh I'll transform me,
In the deepest waves a powan." 150

Thereupon smith Ilmarinen
Answered in the words which follow:
"Even so you will not 'scape me,
I myself as pike will follow."

Then the hapless girl lamented,
And bewailed, the copper-belted,
Struggled till she broke her fingers,
Struggled till her hands were twisted,
And she spoke the words which follow:
"If you will not now release me, 160
To the wood will I betake me,
Hiding in the rocks like ermine."

Thereupon smith Ilmarinen
Answered in the words which follow:
"Even thus you will not 'scape me,
For as otter I'll pursue you."

Then the hapless girl lamented,
And bewailed, the copper-belted,
Struggled till she broke her fingers,
Struggled till her hands were twisted, 170
And she spoke the words which follow:
"If you will not now release me,
As a lark I'll soar above you,
And behind the clouds will hide me."

Thereupon smith Ilmarinen,
Answered in the words which follow:
"Even thus you will not 'scape me,
For as eagle I'll pursue you."

But a little way they journeyed,
Short the distance they had traversed, 180
When the horse pricked ears to listen,
And the long-eared steed was shying.

Then her head the maiden lifted,
In the snow she saw fresh footprints,
And she thereupon inquired,
"What has passed across our pathway?"

Said the smith, said Ilmarinen,
"'Twas a hare that ran across it."

Then the hapless girl was sighing,
Much she sobbed, and much was sighing, 190
And she spoke the words which follow:
"Woe to me, unhappy creature!
Better surely had I found it,
And my lot were surely better
If the hare's track I could follow,
In the traces of the Crook-leg.
Than in sledge of such a suitor,
'Neath the rug of one so wrinkled,
For the hairs of hare are finer,
And his mouth-cleft is more handsome." 200

Thereupon smith Ilmarinen,
Bit his lips, his head turned sideways,
And the sledge drove rattling onward,
And a little way they journeyed,
When the horse pricked ears to listen,
And the long-eared steed was shying.

Then her head the maiden lifted,
In the snow she saw fresh footprints,
And she thereupon inquired,
"What has passed a