--- title: The Slave Boy — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · full text with trees · page 2 description: The Slave Boy, «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: Happy, happy Ilmarinen! --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/29/page/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/) / The Slave Boy # The Slave Boy · page 2 [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/29/) **2** The noon hour came, the sun began its downward course.[72](../../72/ "tree and pragmatics") In the farmhouse the Smith’s mother, Dame Lokka, was sitting in sweet content.[73](../../73/ "tree and pragmatics") On her right sat Anniki, the maid of the morning, and on her left was Ilmarinen’s wife and mistress whom he had won in the far-off North Land.[74](../../74/ "tree and pragmatics") Joy beamed in every face and pulsed in every heart.[75](../../75/ "tree and pragmatics") The table was spread and the mid-day meal was served—white bread fresh from the bake-oven, choice butter and yellow cream from the dairy, tid-bits of beef and smoked salmon.[76](../../76/ "tree and pragmatics") How good was everything\![77](../../77/ "tree and pragmatics") “Praise be to Jumala for all these blessings!” said Dame Lokka, fervently.[78](../../78/ "tree and pragmatics") “Praise be to Jumala!” echoed both the daughters.[79](../../79/ "tree and pragmatics") Meanwhile the slave, Kullervo, was still sitting on his lonely hummock, keeping watch over the cattle and nursing his evil thoughts.[80](../../80/ "tree and pragmatics") The crows among the pines cawed loudly; the grasshoppers at his feet chirped mockingly.[81](../../81/ "tree and pragmatics") “Wake up, sad slave boy\![82](../../82/ "tree and pragmatics") The day is past the noon,” croaked an old crow.[83](../../83/ "tree and pragmatics") And a thrush in the thicket of bushes sang, “O orphan boy, the luncheon hour has come\![84](../../84/ "tree and pragmatics") Take the fine cake from the basket where the old cook so kindly placed it.[85](../../85/ "tree and pragmatics") Eat it.[86](../../86/ "tree and pragmatics") Feast upon it and forget your sorrow.”[87](../../87/ "tree and pragmatics") Kullervo was hungry, for his breakfast had been light.[88](../../88/ "tree and pragmatics") He picked the oak leaves from the basket and took the round, buttered cake in his hands.[89](../../89/ "tree and pragmatics") It was heavy, and he eyed it closely.[90](../../90/ "tree and pragmatics") He turned it over and examined the under side.[91](../../91/ "tree and pragmatics") “It looks good, it smells sweet,” he said.[92](../../92/ "tree and pragmatics") “But the handsomest of people are sometimes rotten at heart, and the handsomest of cakes are sometimes unfit to be eaten.”[93](../../93/ "tree and pragmatics") He took his hunting knife from the sheath that hung at his belt.[94](../../94/ "tree and pragmatics") It was but half a knife, the edge nicked deeply, the point broken off.[95](../../95/ "tree and pragmatics") But its temper was good, for it had been forged by a master smith in the days when men did honest work.[96](../../96/ "tree and pragmatics") Kullervo cut through the upper crust of the cake, he cut through the wheaten layer at the top; but when the knife struck the stone in the centre it broke short off at the hilt and only the handle remained in his grasp.[97](../../97/ "tree and pragmatics") The slave looked at it, and as the blade fell to the ground he burst out weeping.[98](../../98/ "tree and pragmatics") “Oh, sorrow upon sorrow!” he moaned.[99](../../99/ "tree and pragmatics") “This knife was my only friend.[100](../../100/ "tree and pragmatics") I had no one to love but this iron, so true, so ready to help.[101](../../101/ "tree and pragmatics") It was once my father’s knife, and well it served him in the chase and in the fight.[102](../../102/ "tree and pragmatics") And now it is broken by this cake of stone which Ilmarinen’s women have given me for food.”[103](../../103/ "tree and pragmatics") He picked up the broken blade and tried to fit it in the handle.[104](../../104/ "tree and pragmatics") It was vain; both blade and handle were useless.[105](../../105/ "tree and pragmatics") With a cry of despair he flung them far from him; with a cry of wrath he threw the stone-filled cake still farther, and it fell with a thud among the bushes.[106](../../106/ "tree and pragmatics") Then up flew a pair of ravens, one lighting upon a blasted pine and one taking shelter in a grove of oaks.[107](../../107/ "tree and pragmatics") “Caw! caw!” cried the one in the pine.[108](../../108/ "tree and pragmatics") “What can ail the wretched slave boy?”[109](../../109/ "tree and pragmatics") “He is angry,” answered the other.[110](../../110/ "tree and pragmatics") “His mistress has treated him badly.[111](../../111/ "tree and pragmatics") She has given him a stone for bread.”[112](../../112/ "tree and pragmatics") “It is thus that the rich feed the poor,” said the one in the pine.[113](../../113/ "tree and pragmatics") “But what will the slave do about it?”[114](../../114/ "tree and pragmatics") “If he is wise he will pay them well for their cruel jest,” cawed the one in the oak.[115](../../115/ "tree and pragmatics") “He will seek revenge, he will have it.[116](../../116/ "tree and pragmatics") Caw! caw! caw!”[117](../../117/ "tree and pragmatics") Kullervo leaped up and stood upon the hummock.[118](../../118/ "tree and pragmatics") He stretched out his arms and shook his clenched fists in the face of the sky.[119](../../119/ "tree and pragmatics") “Hear me, Jumala!” he cried.[120](../../120/ "tree and pragmatics") “O Jumala, friend of the friendless, help me.[121](../../121/ "tree and pragmatics") I will have revenge.[122](../../122/ "tree and pragmatics") I will pay those women well for the sorrow they have made me feel.[123](../../123/ "tree and pragmatics") The slave will whip the master, and the master shall serve the slave.”[124](../../124/ "tree and pragmatics") All the savagery that had been lurking in his blue eyes burst forth, as lightning bursts from the drifting clouds.[125](../../125/ "tree and pragmatics") He ran to the woody thicket and broke off a long branch of hemlock to serve him as a whip.[126](../../126/ "tree and pragmatics") Slashing it this way and that, he rushed hither and thither collecting his herd.[127](../../127/ "tree and pragmatics") With great ado he drove the lazy milkers far into the savage woods.[128](../../128/ "tree and pragmatics") He gathered the yearlings together and, after much shouting and cursing, chased them into the tangled thickets where the wild beasts had their lairs.[129](../../129/ "tree and pragmatics") Out of the shady places wolves leaped up, howling, snarling, snapping their teeth.[130](../../130/ "tree and pragmatics") The bears were roused from their lurking holes and came forth growling, their tongues lolling out.[131](../../131/ "tree and pragmatics") The gentle milk cows, the timid yearlings, even the stolid oxen, were overcome with fear.[132](../../132/ "tree and pragmatics") They ran together in groups, trembling and helpless.[133](../../133/ "tree and pragmatics") Instantly the wild beasts leaped upon them with bared claws and gnashing teeth.[134](../../134/ "tree and pragmatics") If any escaped the wolves, they were seized by the bears; if any fled from the bears, they were devoured by the wolves.[135](../../135/ "tree and pragmatics") The whole herd perished.[136](../../136/ "tree and pragmatics") From a safe seat in the crotch of a pine the slave boy looked on and watched the slaughter; and he laughed a wild, discordant, triumphant laugh.[137](../../137/ "tree and pragmatics") Then, clapping his hands together and knocking his knees against the trunk of the tree, he began to sing.[138](../../138/ "tree and pragmatics") He sang a wild, strange song of enchantment—a song he had learned from a witch woman in the land of mists and shadows.[139](../../139/ "tree and pragmatics") And as he sang, behold, a wonderful thing occurred: all the wolves so lately feasting were changed into sleek, fat yearlings, and all the bears so lately gorging themselves became fine milk cows with mild, soft eyes and pendent udders.[140](../../140/ "tree and pragmatics") The slave boy descended from the tree, still singing, still shouting, still working the magic spell.[141](../../141/ "tree and pragmatics") The beasts with one accord looked up to him as their master.[142](../../142/ "tree and pragmatics") One after another, they marched slowly and orderly out of the marshes and out of the woods, the false milk cows going foremost calmly chewing their cuds, and the false yearlings gambolling behind.[143](../../143/ "tree and pragmatics") The sun was now well down towards the western hills, and the evening milking time was nigh at hand.[144](../../144/ "tree and pragmatics") Homeward, over the hills and along the well-known pathways, the slave boy drove his herd.[145](../../145/ "tree and pragmatics") With noiseless steps he ran among the beasts, breathing words of magic, words of cunning in their ears.[146](../../146/ "tree and pragmatics") “Spare not the mistress when she comes out to milk you,” he whispered to one.[147](../../147/ "tree and pragmatics") “Seize the maidens when they come with pails to milk you,” he said to others.[148](../../148/ "tree and pragmatics") “Seek the old cook in the kitchen and remind her of her cake,” he muttered to still another.[149](../../149/ "tree and pragmatics") “Be bold, be fierce, be very hungry,” he counselled them all.[150](../../150/ "tree and pragmatics") The sun was still above the hills when he drove the herd into the farmyard.[151](../../151/ "tree and pragmatics") He put the milkers inside the paddock, the yearlings following after.[152](../../152/ "tree and pragmatics") Then he closed the gate without locking it and climbed up on the fence.[153](../../153/ "tree and pragmatics") From his belt he unloosed his herdsman’s whistle, a whistle carved from an ox’s horn; he put it to his lips and blew it loudly, shrilly.[154](../../154/ "tree and pragmatics") It was the signal by which the mistress and her milkmaids would know that the cows had been brought home and were ready for the milking.[155](../../155/ "tree and pragmatics") Five times—yes, six—Kullervo blew a long, piercing blast which might have been heard half-way across the sea.[156](../../156/ "tree and pragmatics") Then, as the last echoes died, he leaped nimbly to the ground and ran out of the farmyard.[157](../../157/ "tree and pragmatics") Half crouching, he slunk away behind hedges and bushes until his ungainly form was lost to sight among the evening shadows.[158](../../158/ "tree and pragmatics") Never more would his feet cross the threshold of Ilmarinen’s dwelling.[159](../../159/ "tree and pragmatics") [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/29/) **2** - ← previous: [page 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/29/) - next →: [A Dreadful Vengeance](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/30/) - ↑ back to [The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/)