“Will you make me a pair of gold earrings with blue stones in them?”
“If your secret is worth so much.”
“And a brooch of woven silver?”
“I will make it.”
“And a golden comb for my hair?”
“I promise it.”
“Then, if you will surely keep your promise, I will tell you all that I know, and tell you truly. Is it a bargain?”
Ilmarinen looked down into his sister’s dark eyes and answered, “If what you tell me is worth anything I will give you all that you have asked for—finger rings, earrings, brooch, comb, and five or six beautiful girdles. If you are fooling [[182]]me, you shall have no trinket nor ring nor precious jewel—for I will teach you not to hinder me with trifles.”
“I bring you no trifles,” said Anniki; “and I shall hold you to your promise.”
Then, in a few words plainly spoken, she told her brother all that she had seen and heard that morning. She told him of the Minstrel’s magic boat, and of the voyage which he had planned, and of his cunning scheme to gain possession of the Maid of Beauty. “And now, brother,” she added, “why do you toil here in the smoke and the heat while your false friend is hurrying northward to rob you of the treasure that ought to be your own?”