Woo the maiden fair and lovely,
Choose a wife for worth and beauty.” 
This the anxious mother’s answer: 
“Lemminkainen, son beloved,
Listen to advice maternal: 
Do not go to distant Sahri,
To her tribe of many branches;
All the maidens there will taunt thee,
All the women will deride thee.” 
Lemminkainen, little hearing,
Answers thus his mother’s pleading: 
“I will still the sneers of women,
Silence all the taunts of maidens,
I will crush their haughty bosoms,
Smite the hands and cheeks of infants;
Surely this will check their insults,
Fitting ending to derision!”
This the answer of’ the mother: 
“Woe is me, my son beloved! 
Woe is me, my life hard-fated! 
Shouldst thou taunt the Sahri daughters. 
Or insult the maids of virtue,
Shouldst thou laugh them to derision,
There will rise a great contention,
Fierce the battle that will follow. 
All the hosts of Sahri-suitors,
Armed in thousands will attack thee,
And will slay thee for thy folly.” 
Nothing listing, Lemminkainen,
Heeding not his mother’s warning,
Led his war-horse from the stables,
Quickly hitched the fiery charger,
Fleetly drove upon his journey,
To the distant Sahri-village,
There to woo the Sahri-flower,
There to win the Bride of Beauty. 
All the aged Sahri-women,
All the young and lovely maidens
Laughed to scorn the coming stranger
Driving careless through the alleys,
Wildly driving through the court-yard,
Now upsetting in the gate-way,
Breaking shaft, and hame, and runner. 
Then the fearless Lemminkainen,
Mouth awry and visage wrinkled,
Shook his sable locks and answered: 
“Never in my recollection
Have I heard or seen such treatment,
Never have I been derided,
Never suffered sneers of women,
Never suffered scorn of virgins,
Not in my immortal life-time. 
Is there any place befitting
On the Sahri-plains and pastures,
Where to join in songs and dances? 
Is there here a hall for pleasure,
Where the Sahri-maidens linger,
Merry maids with braided tresses?”
Thereupon the Sahri-maidens
Answered from their promontory.,
“Room enough is there in Sahri,
Room upon the Sahri-pastures,
Room for pleasure-halls and dances;
Sing and dance upon our meadows,
Be a shepherd on the mountains,
Shepherd-boys have room for dancing;
Indolent the Sahri-children,
But the colts are fat and frisky.” 
Little caring, Lemminkainen
Entered service there as shepherd,
In the daytime on the pastures,
In the evening, making merry
At the games of lively maidens,
At the dances with the virgins,
With the maids with braided tresses. 
Thus it was that Lemminkainen,
Thus the shepherd, Kaukomieli,
Quickly hushed the women’s laughter,
Quickly quenched the taunts of maidens,
Quickly silenced their derision. 
All the dames and Sahri-daughters