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be an old man's comfort, As a solace to the old man, 240 To support his feeble footsteps, And to wait upon him always. Better were it had you sent me Deeply down beneath the billows, There to be the powan's sister, And companion of the fishes. In the lake 'tis surely better There beneath the waves to sojourn, There to be the powan's sister. And companion of the fishes, 250 Than to be an old man's comfort. To support his aged footsteps, So that I can mend his stockings, And may be a staff to prop him." Then she sought the mountain storehouse, And the inner room she entered; And the finest chest she opened, Raised the painted lid with clangour, And she found six golden girdles, Seven blue robes of finest textures, 260 And she robed her in the finest, And completed her adornment. Set the gold upon her temples, On her hair the shining silver, On her brow the sky-blue ribands, On her head the bands of scarlet. Then she wandered from the storehouses, And across the fields she wandered, Past the marshes, and the heathlands, Through the shady, gloomy forests. 270 Thus she sang, as on she hastened, Thus she spoke, as on she wandered: "All my heart is filled with trouble; On my head a stone is loaded. But my trouble would not vex me, And the weight would less oppress me, If I perished, hapless maiden, Ending thus my life of sorrow, In the burden of my trouble, In the sadness of my sorrow. 280 "Now my time perchance approaches, From this weary world to hasten, Time to seek the world of Mana, Time to Tuonela to hasten, For my father will not mourn me, Nor my mother will lament me, Nor my sister's cheeks be moistened, Nor my brother's eyes be tearful, If I sank beneath the waters, Sinking where the fish are sporting, 290 To the depths beneath the billows, Down amid the oozy blackness." On she went, one day, a second, And at length, upon the third day, Came she to a lake's broad margin, To the bank, o'ergrown with rushes. And she reached it in the night-time, And she halted in the darkness. In the evening wept the maiden, Through the darksome night lamented,
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