THE GREAT PIKE
“Ah! Who is this?” cried the Wise Woman, rising quickly. Surprise leaped from her narrow eyes, disappointment sat in her loveless face. “Is this the young man who went out to plough our field?”
“The field is ploughed,” humbly answered Ilmarinen. “I have performed my task and now I come to claim my own—the Maid of Beauty for whom I have waited and toiled.”
“Who saw you plough the field of serpents? Who saw you perform the dreadful task? Am I to believe your word alone?” And wise Dame Louhi spoke harshly, gruffly, as one who has never been defeated or denied.
Then, from the dark corner beyond the hearth-stones, suddenly a voice croaked like the voice of a sea-bird breasting the storm. And out of the gloom emerged the dwarfish form of old Sakko, the last and the wisest of all earth women. [[226]]
“I will be the hero’s witness,” she croaked. “Unknown to him, I was hidden close beside the field of deadly serpents. I saw the young man perform his task, and he performed it well. Twelve broad furrows he made towards the east, towards the west; twelve other furrows he made towards the north, towards the south. The ground was heaped up, deep trenches were made. The serpents reared their heads, they ran out of their holes, hissing and dismayed; they were overwhelmed and destroyed; not one remains. Give the hero his prize. Give him the duckling for whom he has risked so much.”
“No, no!” answered Dame Louhi, graver, grimmer than ever before. “Any man can kill snakes. Shall this poor Smith have my daughter for performing so paltry a task as that? No! no! But there is another task which perhaps he would like to try—an undertaking worthy of a hero, although I fear too difficult for this young man!” She spoke tauntingly, bitterly, unkindly.
Then Ilmarinen’s boastfulness returned, and he answered proudly, fearlessly: “Never yet was there anything too difficult for me. Did I not hammer out the sky and set the stars where [[227]]they belong? Did I not find Iron in his hiding places and subdue him? Did I not forge the Sampo and shape its lid of rainbow colors? Harder things than these will I do if only you will surely give me your daughter.”
“Listen then,” said the cunning Mistress. “In the dark and sluggish river that surrounds the land of Tuonela there lives a monstrous fish, a pike so huge, so scaly, so fierce that all the fishes of the sea obey him. Hundreds of brave fishermen have sought to snare him, but not one has lived to tell his story. Go, now, and capture this king of fishes. Take him without using net or tackle and bring his head to me. Then I will surely give you my daughter; you shall have the blue-winged duckling; you shall wait no longer, toil no longer, but be at once rewarded with your prize.”
The hero heard and deep dejection came upon him. He hung his head, he turned away and walked slowly, silently out into the darkening twilight. He sat down on the rocks by the shore and looked out over the cold and pitiless sea.