"Will you come with me, Annuka, fair maid of Åbo?"
"I do not want to, and I will not come," she answers.
Annuka, the maid of Åbo, sits at the end of the bridge, and waits for a man after her own mind, a man with tender words.
Out of the sea comes a man, a watery form out of the depths of the waves with an iron helmet, an iron cloak upon his shoulders, iron gloves upon his hands, iron money in his pockets, and iron bridal trinkets.
"Will you come with me, Annuka, fair maid of Åbo?"
"I do not want to, and I will not come," she answers.
And then came a poor man, whose only wealth was bread. It is not gold, nor silver, nor copper, nor iron, but bread that is the staff of life. This is emblematical, to show that money does not make happiness, and so Annuka, the maid of Åbo, takes him, and sings—
"Now I am coming to you, my husband. Annuka, the maid of Åbo, will be happy now, and happy evermore."
Many old Finnish songs repeat themselves like this, and most of them are very sad.
Our dear old woman was moved to tears as she sang in her squeaky voice, and rocked herself to and fro.