"'Earth, form!' God cried, and down the slime He threw,
And from this handful formed the level plain.
Within the Devil's mouth the other too,
Became so large he spat it out again,
Where from the ground it raised the hills up soon!-
From His own substance God a handful chose,
And shaped it saying: 'Form now, Sun and Moon!'
To light the Earth their gold and silver rose."
"Such was the beauty of the Sun and Earth,
God loved them both and gave the Gods' Sons life,
And to the Daughters of the Sun gave birth.
The largest one the Moon took as his wife:
The many thousand stars their children are.-
The Gods' first Sons were godlike heroes all,
And Earth's broad lands divided near and far,
Among themselves they took them in their thrall."
"The sons of Perkons -five stout youths all told-
Then built the spirits' beautiful abode.
He fashioned for the Sun fine steeds of gold,
Which through the sky from dawn to dusk it rode,
Then in a boat returned to morning shore;
Sailed through the night, and in the dawning rose,
The while the sea its horses swimming bore
-Which Antrimps as his dwelling-place now chose."
The Devil rebels against God
"Soon Patrimps gave the Earth its verdant loam,
And springtime's spirit added flowers and grains;
The way paved Pakols to the soul's last home.-
But many things changed through the Devil's pains,
And were not as they had been at the start.-
All stones were soft and God gave firm commands
To shun them while He gave them form apart,
And shaped them all at once from shifting sands."
"But here the Devil sought his Lord to mock,
To find out through what means God would condemn,
If he should tread upon the yielding rock.
He sought great stones and firmly stepped on them,
And in that moment all the rocks grew hard!-
Upon the Daugava's bank yet stands a stone,
That still today the folk can clear regard,
And as the 'Devil's Footprint' now is known."
"In ancient times, on trees no branches lay,
With only trunks, straight standing they were made.
The Devil had a scythe for reaping hay,
While Perkons' sons forged God a chisel blade.
God took this scythe one day-the Devil slept-
And with it hay in masses in He brought.-
Not knowing God had scythed, with tool inept
To use a chisel too the Devil sought."
"The grass still stood.-Unfit as reaping hook,
The chisel was in anger cast away.
The blade then struck a tree and hold firm took.
Since then strong branches all the trees display."
"The Devil had fine cattle but unhorned,
With rounded solid hooves and bluish hair.
God built himself a byre; the Devil scorned:
'What use a byre when yet no cows are there?'
God answered then that cows he would provide!
Next night he took them from the Devil's lair,
And gave them all sharp horns, and coloured hide,
And cloven hooves-the Devil's pen was bare."
"The Devil went and God's new byre soon found.
The cows were there, but strange he found the sight
Of cloven hooves, bent horns, and all around
Were spotted cows and beasts with faces white!"