Then he sent a servant forward,
Back he came, and thus reported:
"Kullervo not yet has perished,
Nor has died upon the gallows.
Pictures on the tree he's carving,
In his hands he holds a graver.
All the tree is filled with pictures,
All the oak-tree filled with carvings; 190
Here are men, and here are sword-blades,
And the spears are leaning by them."

Where should Untamo seek aidance,
'Gainst this boy, the most unhappy?
Whatsoever deaths he planned him,
Or he planned for his destruction,
In the jaws of death he fell not,
Nor could he be brought to ruin.

And at length he grew full weary
Of his efforts to destroy him, 200
So he reared up Kullervoinen
As a slave beneath his orders.

Thereupon said Untamoinen,
And he spoke the words which follow:
"If you live as it is fitting,
Always acting as is proper,
In my house I will retain you,
And the work of servants give you.
I will pay you wages for it,
As I think that you deserve it, 210
For your waist a pretty girdle,
Or upon your ear a buffet."

So when Kullervo was taller,
And had grown about a span-length,
Then he found some work to give him,
That he should prepare to labour.
'Twas to rock a little infant,
Rock a child with little fingers.
"Watch with every care the infant,
Give it food, and eat some also, 220
Wash his napkins in the river,
Wash his little clothes and cleanse them."

So he watched one day, a second,
Broke his hands, and gouged his eyes out,
And at length upon the third day,
Let the infant die of sickness,
Cast the napkins in the river,
And he burned the baby's cradle.

Untamo thereon reflected,
"Such a one is quite unfitted 230
To attend to little children,
Rock the babes with little fingers.
Now I know not where to send him,
Nor what work I ought to give him.
Perhaps he ought to clear the forest?"
So he went to clear the forest.

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring
Answered in the words which follow:
"Now I first a man can deem me,
When my hands the axe are wielding. 240
I am handsomer to gaze on,
Far more noble than aforetime,
Five men's strength I feel within me
And I equal six in valour."

Then he went into the smithy,
And he spoke the words which follow:
"O thou smith, my dearest brother,
Forge me now a little hatchet,
Such an axe as fits a hero,
Iron tool for skilful workman, 250
For I go to clear the forest,
And to fell the slender birch-trees."

So the smith forged what he needed,
And an axe he forged him quickly;
Such an axe as fits a hero,
Iron tool for skilful workman.