Give the bride a ring of gold,
A dress of silk, and wealth untold;
And to the bridegroom, he would give
More skill than to all smiths that live.
Let us therefore crave his blessing,
All our prayers to him addressing.”
Thus did the people feast, and thus did the mighty Minstrel sing on Ilmarinen’s happy wedding day. All day, all the long night, the guests sat at the table, eating and making merry and listening to the songs and pleasant speeches that were made in honor of the bride, the bridegroom, and the noble hostess.
Much good advice was given to her who had lately been the Maid of Beauty but was now the Bride of Beauty: how she should keep her husband’s house in order; how she should obey and serve him; how she should love and cherish her mother-in-law and all the members of [[252]]her family. Much sage counsel also did the hero, Ilmarinen, receive: how he should always be very gentle to the dove that he had captured; how he should not forget to praise her industry in the kitchen, at the loom, in the hay field; how he should never upbraid her in hissing tones, or beat her with a slave whip; but how he should stand like a wall before her to protect and defend when others were unkind. [[253]]