--- title: The Bridegroom’s Triumph — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · full text with trees description: The Bridegroom’s Triumph, «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: The short summer was ended and the days were growing cold. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/26/) [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/) / The Bridegroom’s Triumph # The Bridegroom’s Triumph The Bridegroom’s Triumph of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin: the whole text, 80 sentences and 1260 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. The short summer was ended and the days were growing cold.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") The song of the cuckoo was hushed, and the wild geese in the inlets were huddling together and preparing for flight.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") The cranberries had disappeared from the marshes.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") The meadows were purple and golden, but fast putting on their accustomed robes of dreary brown.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") In the long, low dwelling by the sea the fires had been rekindled, for the air was crisp with frost and the wind of the North was blowing strong.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") Upon her couch the Mistress was reclining, grim and gray, toothless and unlovely, as of yore.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") Beside the hearth sat Wainamoinen, the prince of minstrels, sad of face, but resigned and wisely contented.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") And at her loom the Maid of Beauty plied her daily task, weaving fine blankets for winter wear, and sighing as she looked from her narrow window and out upon the lonely sea and the lonelier land.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") “Will he ever come?” she murmured, half aloud though speaking to herself; and her mother, Dame Louhi, from her couch echoed her words, “Will he ever come?”[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") Then suddenly up spoke a little child who was sitting on the floor—a little child too young to walk, too small to know the meaning of his words:[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") “I see an eagle coming to our house.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") He is a great eagle, a beautiful eagle.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") With one wing he fans the air, with the other he flaps the sea.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") He is coming nearer and nearer; he is hovering above our dwelling.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") Now he rests upon the roof.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") He is whetting his beak.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") He is looking down at our doves.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") Soon he will fly right into our house.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") He will seize the best one of all our birdlings—the rosiest, the whitest, the sweetest-voiced, the shapeliest.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") He will fly away with her; he will carry her far, far away into his own country, there to live with him forever.”[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") “What does the child mean?” queried the Mistress, rising half-way from her couch beside the fire.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") “Surely, never have I heard an infant speak in this way.”[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") “He speaks in riddles,” answered Wainamoinen, “yet he speaks wisdom and truth.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") No doubt we shall understand him soon.”[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") “True! true!” croaked Sakko, the earth woman, from her snug corner beyond the hearth.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") “See you not that dark cloud hovering in the sky?[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") It is the wing of the mighty eagle.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") See you not the shadow that has fallen on our threshold?[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") It is the shadow of the eagle’s noble form.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") He is peering in.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") He is looking for the birdling that is his own!”[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") The Minstrel rose from his seat and went quickly to the door.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") He threw it wide open and looked out.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") The Mistress also rose, slowly, painfully, her stiffened joints creaking.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") The Maid of Beauty rose from her loom, joyful because her task was finished.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") All three looked out through the narrow door.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") Before them was the bare ground, sloping gently towards the shore and the smooth gray surface of the little inlet; above them was the cloud-flecked sky, cold and cheerless, without sign of bird or other living creature.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") The child on the floor laughed.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") They looked a second time, and from the meadow pathway they saw the hero coming, even Ilmarinen the Smith, the mightiest of all wizards.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") Gaunt and tall he was, and pale and wan from long toil and endless wanderings.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") His garments were soiled and torn, his feet were bare and scarred with wounds, his head was uncovered.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") But his step was firm as the step of a conqueror, and his eyes glowed brightly with joy as the eyes of one who has been victorious in battle.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") And on his shoulders he carried the monstrous head of the Pike.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") “Welcome, welcome, friend and brother!” cried Wainamoinen, rushing out eagerly, boisterously, to meet him.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") “Long indeed have we waited for you.”[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") “Welcome, welcome, hero of the later day!” muttered Sakko, small of stature, weak of body, wisest of earth women.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") “Bravely have you proved yourself a hero, thrice bravely have you shown your wizard power.”[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") And Louhi, the gray old Mistress, also cheerily cried, “Welcome, welcome\![48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") You have won the prize, Ilmarinen; your courage has been tested, your wisdom has been tried, and now you shall be rewarded.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") The duckling that I have cherished shall be yours, to sit on your knee, to nestle dove-like in your arms, to be the queen of your household, the mistress of your kitchen.”[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") But where was the Maid of Beauty?[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") She was not with those who stood at the door to welcome the conquering hero.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") Her seat at the fireside was empty; her place at the loom was vacant.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") She was hiding in her own room, her body all a-tremble, her face bathed in tears.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") Proudly and joyfully then did the hero enter the low-roofed dwelling.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") “O Jumala!” he murmured.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") “O giver of good gifts, grant thy blessing to this house\![57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") Bless all that live beneath this roof!”[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") “All hail, all hail!” cried the Mistress earnestly, but with voice cracked and broken.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") “Welcome to the great large man who deigns to enter this lowly cottage, this poor little house of wood, this humble hut so unworthy of the presence of one so noble!”[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") Then she called to her waiting-maiden, and bade her hasten to bring a light, that all might see the hero and be glad.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") “Kindle the fattest knot of pine and fetch it hither blazing,” she said.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") “Fetch it quickly that we may see the hero’s eyes whether they are blue or grayish, whether they are green or brownish.”[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") The waiting-maiden ran quickly to obey.[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") She lighted a pine-knot that was always ready, and brought it blazing to her mistress.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") “Ah! no, no!” shouted the aged wise one, grim and gray in the flickering light.[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") “See how the ugly torch flares and sputters, and how the black smoke rises in clouds above it.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") The hero’s face will be smutted, his eyes will be filled with soot.[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") Take the cheap thing away and bring us better torches, torches made of white wax, cleanly and beautiful.”[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") The maiden obeyed.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") She brought torches of the purest wax, white and clear, and held them before the Mistress, before the waiting hero.[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") “Now I see his eyes!” cried the wise one.[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics") “They are neither blue nor whitish.[73](73/ "tree and pragmatics") They are not green, they are not gray; but they are brownish like the sea-foam in the shadow of a rock, brownish like a bulrush in the early days of winter.”[74](74/ "tree and pragmatics") Then Ilmarinen took the head of the Great Pike from his shoulders and set it upon the floor by the side of the hearth.[75](75/ "tree and pragmatics") And all that were in the house admired its size and its wonderful shape and the mighty teeth that were set in the mighty jaws.[76](76/ "tree and pragmatics") But most of all, they wondered at the manner in which the bones were laid, this way and that, and knit firmly into a framework both neat and strong.[77](77/ "tree and pragmatics") “It will serve you as a throne, O mother of my Maid of Beauty!” said Ilmarinen.[78](78/ "tree and pragmatics") “I will dress it, and polish the bones, and make of it a great chair wherein you can sit on winter evenings, feeling yourself the queen of all that is around you.”[79](79/ "tree and pragmatics") Then, while food was brought to him and the people of the household both high and low sat round him listening, he told the story of his adventure by the shore of Tuonela’s river.[80](80/ "tree and pragmatics") - ← previous: [The Great Pike](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/25/) - next →: [The Wedding Feast](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/27/) - ↑ back to [The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/)