--- title: Mistress and Minstrel — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · full text with trees description: Mistress and Minstrel, «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: “You must rise early in the morning,” said Dame Louhi, the Wise Woman of the North. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old No…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/) / Mistress and Minstrel # Mistress and Minstrel Mistress and Minstrel of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin: the whole text, 169 sentences and 2467 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. “You must rise early in the morning,” said Dame Louhi, the Wise Woman of the North.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") She stood at the door of her chamber and looked back into the low-raftered hall where her daughter was spinning.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") Her face was wrinkled and grim, her thin lips were puckered over her toothless mouth, her gray-green eyes sparkled beneath her shaggy eyebrows.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") She paused and listened.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") No answer came from her busy daughter.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") The day was almost ended.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") Already the swallows were asleep under the eaves, the reindeer were lying down in their paddock, all the underlings of Dame Louhi’s household had retired to rest.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") So near was her dwelling to the sea that she could hear the waves lapping on the beach and the ice-floes crunching and grinding and pounding against the shore.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") But other sounds there were none.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") The Mistress, Dame Louhi, grew impatient.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") She stamped her foot angrily, and loudly repeated her command: “You must rise early in the morning, my daughter.”[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") This time the maiden heard her.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") She ceased twirling her spindle, and sweetly answered, “Yes, mother, for there is a great deal to be done to-morrow.”[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") The Mistress was satisfied; and as she turned to enter her chamber you should have seen how unlike the mother was the fair daughter whom men called the Maid of Beauty.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") Nature had given to the maiden all the loveliness that had been denied to the dame.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") And she was not only surpassingly beautiful, but she was wise and skilful and very industrious.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") The housekeeping in the roomy dwelling beside the sea would have been shabbily attended to had it not been for her daily care; and the sun would have shone but seldom in the Frozen Land \[B\] had not the Maid of Beauty encouraged it with her smiles.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") So, on the morrow, long before any one else had risen, she was up and bustling hither and thither, attending to this thing and that and putting the house in order.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") She went out to the sheepfold and sheared six fat lambs.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") She spun their six white fleeces into snowy yarn, and of the yarn she wove enough cloth for six warm garments.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") Then she went into the kitchen and rekindled the fire upon the hearth.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") She swept the floor and dusted the long benches.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") She scrubbed the birchwood tables till they were as white and glistening as the frost-covered meadows.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") She made the rooms neat and tidy and set the breakfast things to cooking.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") By this time the day was dawning; the sky in the east was becoming flecked with yellow and red; the cock was crowing, wild ducks were quacking by the shore, sparrows were chirping under the eaves.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") The maiden paused and listened—listened long and intently.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") She heard the joyful sounds of the morning; she heard the cold waves lapping and splashing upon the shore.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") She looked out of the door and saw the first rays of the sun dancing and glancing upon the uneasy surface of the sea.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") Away from the shore, she saw the broad meadows lying lonely and still under the lonely sky and beyond them the dark line which marked the beginning of the forest and the rugged land of mountains.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") Suddenly, as she looked and listened, she heard a wailing which was not the wailing of the sea.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") She held her breath and listened again.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") She heard a cry which was not the cry of a sea-bird.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") “Oh, mother,” she called, “what is that strange sound?[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") The wild geese never call so hoarsely; the waves never make such moaning.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") Listen, mother\![35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") What can it be?”[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") Wise old Louhi, grim and toothless, rose quickly and hastened to the door, chattering and mumbling and grumbling.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") She paused and listened, but the sound seemed very faint.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") She ran down to the landing-place before the house, and there she listened again.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") Soon the sound came to her ears, louder and more distinct, and yet hard to make out.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") Once, twice, thrice she heard the call; and then she knew what it meant.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") “It is a man’s voice,” she said.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") “Some hero has been shipwrecked near our shore.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") He is in distress; he calls for help.”[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") She leaped nimbly into her boat.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") She pushed it from the shore and rowed with speed out of the little inlet and around the rocky point which jutted far into the sea.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") The cries grew louder, the calls were more frequent as she urged her boat forward over the sullen, icy-cold waves.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") Soon she saw the shipwrecked man.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") He was not fighting the waves as she had supposed, but was clinging to the branches of a tree that had been uprooted and carried to sea.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") Ah, the sad plight of the poor man\![50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") He seemed wounded and helpless; his face was gaunt and pale; his eyes were filled with sadness and salt-water; he was shivering with cold and deep despair.[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") Shouting words of cheer, the Mistress hurried to him.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") She lifted him from the place of danger and seated him in her boat.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") Then with steady arms and mighty strokes she rowed homeward, nor did she pause until the boat’s keel grated on the beach before her door.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") She carried the stranger into the house; she placed him by the warm fire; she bathed his limbs, his face, his head in tepid water and wrapped him up in soft skins of the reindeer.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") For three long days—yes, for four summer days—she tended him as though he were her son, and no questions did she ask.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") Then, to her great joy, he sat up and soon grew well and strong.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") “Now, friend and fellow of the sea,” said the gray woman, “tell me your name.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") Tell me why and how you have come to our lovely land and to Pohyola, the sweetest of homes.”[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") The stranger, who also was old and gray, answered, “My name is Wainamoinen, and all the world knows me; for I am the first of minstrels, the prince of wizards, the man whom other men delight to honor.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") Luckless was the hour when I embarked on a ship to go fishing; still more luckless was it when a storm overturned the vessel.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") Nine days did the sea toss me—yes, ten days did the waves buffet me—ere I was cast upon these shores.”[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") “I welcome you, Wainamoinen!” cried the grim Mistress.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") “Welcome, welcome to this northern land\![64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") Your name is well known to me, and long have I honored it.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") Men call you the sweet singer of Hero Land, and they say that no other songs cheer the dreary hours of winter as yours do.[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") You shall stay here in Pohyola and sing to me and my people.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") My house shall be your home and this delightful land shall be your country.”[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") The gray-bearded Minstrel shook his head and sighed.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") He looked out and saw the lonely meadows and the snowy mountains and the cold gray sea.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") Then his eyes filled with tears and he wept.[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") “O singer of Hero Land, why are you so sad?” asked the woman.[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics") “Have I not been kind to you?[73](73/ "tree and pragmatics") Why, then, do you weep and gaze towards the sea?”[74](74/ "tree and pragmatics") “I weep for my own dear country; I am sick for my home,” answered the Minstrel.[75](75/ "tree and pragmatics") “I do not wish to remain in this Frozen Land.[76](76/ "tree and pragmatics") I am lonely and heart-broken.”[77](77/ "tree and pragmatics") “Cheer up, cheer up!” said Dame Louhi, trying to look pleasant.[78](78/ "tree and pragmatics") “Beautiful Pohyola shall be your country.[79](79/ "tree and pragmatics") This comfortable house shall be your home.[80](80/ "tree and pragmatics") My fireside shall be your fireside, and my friends shall be your friends.”[81](81/ "tree and pragmatics") But the Minstrel still wept.[82](82/ "tree and pragmatics") “Stay here and be our honored guest,” continued the Mistress.[83](83/ "tree and pragmatics") “You shall sleep in the warmest corner, you shall sit at the head of our table.[84](84/ "tree and pragmatics") Good food we will give you—choice bacon, fresh salmon from the sea, white cakes of barley, hot from the oven.[85](85/ "tree and pragmatics") Stay with us and cheer us with your sweet songs.”[86](86/ "tree and pragmatics") “Nay, nay!” moaned the sad Minstrel.[87](87/ "tree and pragmatics") “How can I sing in a strange land?[88](88/ "tree and pragmatics") My own country is the fairest; my own home is the dearest; my own table is the sweetest.[89](89/ "tree and pragmatics") All that I can ever do in this Frozen Land is to sigh and weep; and I shall sigh and weep till my eyes are out and my voice is gone forever.”[90](90/ "tree and pragmatics") “You are foolish,” then said the unlovely Mistress.[91](91/ "tree and pragmatics") “Pohyola is the fairest place in all the world, and you must learn to love it.”[92](92/ "tree and pragmatics") The Minstrel still shook his head and sighed.[93](93/ "tree and pragmatics") All his thoughts were with his home land.[94](94/ "tree and pragmatics") The summer passed swiftly, but to Wainamoinen the days were full of loneliness.[95](95/ "tree and pragmatics") He wandered over the silent meadows, he went out with the fishermen to catch salmon in the sea, he visited one place and another in the vast Frozen Land, vainly trying to forget his grief.[96](96/ "tree and pragmatics") And not once did he open his lips in song, for there was no music in his heart; and how shall a minstrel sing if his heart is empty?[97](97/ "tree and pragmatics") At length Dame Louhi relented.[98](98/ "tree and pragmatics") “How much will you give me if I send you back to your own country?” she asked.[99](99/ "tree and pragmatics") “Come, let us make a bargain.”[100](100/ "tree and pragmatics") “How much will I give?” answered he.[101](101/ "tree and pragmatics") “I have nothing here that is my own, but I promise to send you many rich treasures.[102](102/ "tree and pragmatics") I will send you gold, I will send you silver.”[103](103/ "tree and pragmatics") “But you claim to be a mighty wizard,” said Dame Louhi.[104](104/ "tree and pragmatics") “Show us some of your work in magic.”[105](105/ "tree and pragmatics") “Never was there a greater magician than I,” returned the Minstrel boastfully.[106](106/ "tree and pragmatics") “You have but to name some wonderful act and forthwith I will perform it.[107](107/ "tree and pragmatics") But first, I must have your promise to send me home.[108](108/ "tree and pragmatics") My heart is so full of the thought.”[109](109/ "tree and pragmatics") “Very well, then,” answered the gray woman.[110](110/ "tree and pragmatics") “If you will make the magic Sampo for me, I promise to send you home at once.[111](111/ "tree and pragmatics") It must be the real, the wonderful Sampo; I will have nothing else.”[112](112/ "tree and pragmatics") “The Sampo\![113](113/ "tree and pragmatics") What is that?”[114](114/ "tree and pragmatics") “Do you ask me what is the Sampo?[115](115/ "tree and pragmatics") Minstrels from the earliest times have sung of its power, and all the wizards of the North have tried their spells, hoping to make something equally precious and potent.[116](116/ "tree and pragmatics") And do you, a minstrel and a wizard, ask what it is?”[117](117/ "tree and pragmatics") The Minstrel was cunning, and he answered: “In my own country we call it by another name.[118](118/ "tree and pragmatics") If you will describe it I will tell you what that name is and also some strange things which no other minstrel knows.”[119](119/ "tree and pragmatics") The Mistress was off her guard.[120](120/ "tree and pragmatics") “The Sampo,” she said, “is the mill of fortune which wise men, since the beginning of things, have sought to invent.[121](121/ "tree and pragmatics") It is the magic mill which grinds out all sorts of treasures and gives wealth and power to its possessor.[122](122/ "tree and pragmatics") One has only to whisper his wishes to it and they will all come true.”[123](123/ "tree and pragmatics") \[C\][124](124/ "tree and pragmatics") “Ah!” answered the Minstrel.[125](125/ "tree and pragmatics") “In our country we call it the Stone of the Wise Men.”[126](126/ "tree and pragmatics") “That is a good name.[127](127/ "tree and pragmatics") And now, if I promise to send you safe home, will you try your magic power and forge me such a mill?[128](128/ "tree and pragmatics") Have you the skill to fit it with wheels and levers?[129](129/ "tree and pragmatics") Can you hammer into shape a becoming lid for it—a lid of rainbow colors?”[130](130/ "tree and pragmatics") Wainamoinen sat silent for a long time, shaking his head and thinking.[131](131/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he said:[132](132/ "tree and pragmatics") “It is a thing so strange and so difficult that I must have time to consider my strength.[133](133/ "tree and pragmatics") In three days you shall have my answer.”[134](134/ "tree and pragmatics") He went out alone, and for many tedious hours he walked up and down by the seashore pondering upon the subject.[135](135/ "tree and pragmatics") He repeated all the magic runes that he remembered, he recited spells to the winds and the waves and the gray-blue sky, he recalled all the words of power that he had learned from the sages of old.[136](136/ "tree and pragmatics") Then, at length, on the third day, he went back to the house where Dame Louhi was still sitting by her fireside.[137](137/ "tree and pragmatics") “I cannot make the Sampo for you,” he said.[138](138/ "tree and pragmatics") “My magic is not strong enough; my skill is not of the kind that forges mills of fortune.[139](139/ "tree and pragmatics") But I have a friend who can do wonderful things.[140](140/ "tree and pragmatics") It was he who shaped the sky that bends above our country; and, surely, to forge the Sampo is no more difficult than that.”[141](141/ "tree and pragmatics") “Ah, that is the man whom I am looking for,” cried the woman eagerly.[142](142/ "tree and pragmatics") “What is his name?[143](143/ "tree and pragmatics") Will you send him to me?”[144](144/ "tree and pragmatics") “His name is Ilmarinen, and he is dear to me as a brother,” answered the Minstrel.[145](145/ "tree and pragmatics") “He is the prince of all smiths, and there is nothing in magic or in smithing that he cannot do.[146](146/ "tree and pragmatics") If you will permit me to return to my dear home land, to the Land of Heroes, I will send him to you without delay.”[147](147/ "tree and pragmatics") “But suppose he doesn’t wish to come?”[148](148/ "tree and pragmatics") “Then I will send him against his will.[149](149/ "tree and pragmatics") My magic is strong enough to command him.”[150](150/ "tree and pragmatics") “Can I trust you?[151](151/ "tree and pragmatics") Do you promise?”[152](152/ "tree and pragmatics") “You have my word, and I will perform,” answered the Minstrel.[153](153/ "tree and pragmatics") “Never yet have I failed to do that which I have agreed to do.”[154](154/ "tree and pragmatics") “You shall go home, then, quickly,” said the gray woman.[155](155/ "tree and pragmatics") “You may promise the skilful smith a rare reward if he will forge the Sampo for me.[156](156/ "tree and pragmatics") I will even give him, if he so desire, my daughter for his wife—this I promise.”[157](157/ "tree and pragmatics") Forthwith she hurried to the paddock.[158](158/ "tree and pragmatics") She chose the fleetest reindeer and harnessed it to her birchwood sledge.[159](159/ "tree and pragmatics") She brought warm furs for the Minstrel to wrap around him.[160](160/ "tree and pragmatics") She put the whip and the long reins in his hands.[161](161/ "tree and pragmatics") “Now fare you well, and speed you to your home land!” she said.[162](162/ "tree and pragmatics") “Drive swiftly while the sun shines, but remember to keep your eyes upon your pathway, and do not look upward.[163](163/ "tree and pragmatics") If you should gaze towards the mountain top or the sky, sad misfortune will befall you.[164](164/ "tree and pragmatics") Fare you well, first of minstrels\![165](165/ "tree and pragmatics") Send me the wizard, the prince of smiths, and fail not, lest my curses follow you and blight your life.”[166](166/ "tree and pragmatics") The Minstrel cracked his whip joyfully, the reindeer sprang forward, the journey homeward was begun.[167](167/ "tree and pragmatics") Merrily did the birchwood runners whistle as they glided over the half-frozen earth.[168](168/ "tree and pragmatics") With a glad heart did Wainamoinen speed across the brown meadows and into the silent forest; his face beamed like the sunlight, his eyes glowed like twin stars, and a song was ready to burst from his lips.[169](169/ "tree and pragmatics") - ← previous: [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/1/) - next →: [The Maid of Beauty](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/3/) - ↑ back to [The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/)