That he would never do a wrong—not perpetrate atrocious deeds.
The Maker was himself the judge, the Maker's children—jurymen.
The forest mistress, Mielikki, the careful wife of Tapio's home,
Started to make a search for teeth, to make inquiries after claws
From hard-wooded rowans, from rough and dried-up junipers,
From tough and knotty roots, from resinous and hardened stumps.
From them she did not get a claw—she did not light upon a tooth.
A pine was growing on a heath, a fir stretched upwards on a knoll,
A silver bough was on the pine, a golden branch upon the fir.
The woman (kapo) seized them with her hands,
From them she put together claws,
Fastened them in the jaw-bones, planted them in the gums.
Then she let go her "little shock"—sent her darling out
To tramp the countries of the North—scurry through woody tracts.
She sent him forth to tramp a swamp—ramble through bushy copse,
To pass the sides of fields run wild—scramble o'er sandy heaths,
But no permission did she give to come where cattle range,
Within the sound of cattle-bells, on tracts where tinkling bells are heard.
Variants.
1-4The prominent bridegroom, George, son of the supreme man,
1-8Kuihtana[1] was moving upon the waters,
Dropt wool on the waters, kept dealing out tufts of wool,
Six years they moved about—bobbed up and down for seven summers,
Moved [lightly] as a hank of flax, rolled [lightly] as a shock of wool.
- ↑ "The emaciated or complaining creature." The name does not occur elsewhere that I know of. The word may be a mistake for Kuippana="long-necked", king of the forest, and supposed to be an alias of Tapio.
