--- title: A Dreadful Vengeance — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · full text with trees description: A Dreadful Vengeance, «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: Beside the door of Ilmarinen’s dwelling the women of the household were assembled. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/30/) [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/) / A Dreadful Vengeance # A Dreadful Vengeance A Dreadful Vengeance of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin: the whole text, 84 sentences and 1218 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. Beside the door of Ilmarinen’s dwelling the women of the household were assembled.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") Dame Lokka, best and busiest of matrons, was planning the evening meal.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") Sister Anniki, maid of the morning, was assorting the week’s washing and toying with the ribbons in her hair.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") And she who had been the Maid of Beauty—she who was now the wife and helpmate of the master Smith—was busy at the churn.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") Suddenly the sound of the slave boy’s whistle—the herdsman’s whistle—aroused and startled them.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") The sound filled the air with its shrill but welcome music, and was echoed sharply from the hills and the forest beyond.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") Again it was heard, and again and again, each time more distinct, more persistent, less musical.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") “Praise Jumala!” cried the wife and helpmate.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") “There is the herdsman’s horn.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") The cows are at home and it is milking time.”[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") “The slave boy has tended the cows well, I hope,” said Dame Lokka.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") “If he has not lost any of them he shall have a good supper to-night.”[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") “But why does he blow so loudly?” said Anniki, holding her head.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") “The sound is deafening.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") My ears are surely split and my head will burst from the unearthly noise.”[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") “Never mind, sister,” said the wife and helpmate, gently, soothingly.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") “That was the last blast and we shall not hear another.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") Does your head ache?[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") You shall have the first cup of milk that is taken from Brown Bossy to-night.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") I myself will milk her, and I will give it to you, warm and frothing and fit for a queen.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") Surely that will heal your ear-drums, surely that will ease your throbbing head.”[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") Then she called cheerily to her milkmaids: “Come, girls, the cows are in the paddock and it is milking time\![22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") Fetch the new pails and fetch also my milking stool.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") Let us get at our task before the daylight fades.”[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") The milkmaids came—three young serving-girls, rosy-faced, red-lipped, and ruddy with health.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") Methinks I see them even now, tripping lightly from the doorway, each with a sweet-smelling cedar-wood pail, and the foremost with a three-legged stool for the mistress.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") Along the garden walk, between rows of blue and yellow flowers, they pass joyously.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") In their blue gowns and white aprons, their long braided hair falling far down their backs—how handsome they are\![28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") The wife and helpmate goes before, queenly as when men called her the Maid of Beauty.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") Anniki, the sister, comes after, thirsty and impatient for the cup of fresh and frothing milk.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") They walk across the farmyard; they open the great gate into the paddock; they enter and look around them.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") “Ha! how sleek the milkers are to-night!” says the wife and helpmate.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") “Their hides shine as though they had been rubbed down with lynx-skin brushes and smoothed with lamb’s wool dipped in oil.”[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") “And how full they are!” says Anniki, the sister.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") “They have eaten so much they can hardly breathe.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") Surely the slave boy knows where to find the best pastures for the herd.”[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") “Yes, and see how large their udders are!” says one of the milkmaids.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") “Methinks our pails are too small to contain such quantities of milk.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") The whole milk-house will be flooded.”[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") “But look!” suddenly cries the second milkmaid.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") “What ails the yearlings?[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") They stare at us so and their eyes glow like balls of fire.”[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") “Oh, I am afraid\![43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") I am afraid!” whispers the third milkmaid, shrinking back into the shadows.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") The brave mistress laughs at her fears.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") “It is only the light of the setting sun shining in their eyes,” she says.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") “Surely no harm can come from these gentle creatures.”[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") But sister Anniki shivers with cold and draws nearer, her cheeks pale and her limbs trembling.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") “Bring hither my stool,” says the wife and helpmate, “and give me the new pail of polished cedar.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") Here is Brown Bossy, patiently waiting to give a cup of milk to Anniki.[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") I will milk her first, and do each of you girls choose a cow.[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") The yearlings will not disturb you.”[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") She places her stool by the side of the great brown beast; she takes the new milk-pail in her hands; she sits down; she bends forward to begin the milking.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") Suddenly a great shout, a whoop, a scream is heard far down the road.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") It is not the shouting of a lone traveller; it is not the whooping of a home-coming ploughboy; it is not the screaming of a frightened woman.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") The milkmaids hear it and are overcome with terror.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") Sister Anniki turns to flee through the open gateway.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") But the wife and mistress stamps her foot with anger.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") “How silly!” she cries.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") “It is only the cry of an owl or the call of a lone wolf in the darkening woods.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") Get to your milking!”[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") Her own hand trembles as she reaches for the teat.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") Quickly the dreadful sound is repeated, deafening the ears, freezing the blood of both mistress and maidens.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") It is the savage whoop of the slave Kullervo, bidding the beasts perform the dreadful business which he alone has planned.[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") Instantly the broad-horned, mild-eyed creature which has played the part of Brown Bossy becomes a huge bear, grim and terrible; instantly all the milkers are turned to growling beasts; instantly the bright-eyed yearlings resume their proper forms and become fierce wolves snapping and snarling and eager for blood.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") Oh, the savage uproar\![66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") Oh, the terror, brief but indescribable\![67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") The milkmaids with their white aprons and braided hair vanish like snow-flakes in a turbulent flood of waters.[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") The wife and helpmate, she who erstwhile was the Maid of Beauty, is swept away in the storm, is swallowed up, and naught but a blood-stained lock of hair remains to tell of her fate.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") And Anniki, maid of the morning, flees shrieking through the gateway, is seized by cruel jaws, is devoured—no magic skill of hers availing to avert her doom.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") Ah, me! that it should be my task to tell of this strange tragedy so brief but terrible\![71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") No minstrel’s song can depict that scene so fraught with woe, so horrible to contemplate.[72](72/ "tree and pragmatics") The maddened, hungry wolves ran out of the paddock, out of the farmyard; the hideous bears rushed after them.[73](73/ "tree and pragmatics") They ran hither and thither devouring every living thing.[74](74/ "tree and pragmatics") Like a destroying flood they invaded the farmhouse, breaking down the doors, overturning the tables and benches, filling every room with their horrid presence.[75](75/ "tree and pragmatics") In the kitchen they found the old cook, the wench who had caused this unheard-of disaster.[76](76/ "tree and pragmatics") She was praying to Jumala, but Jumala did not save her.[77](77/ "tree and pragmatics") In her own chamber Dame Lokka, the best loved of matrons, fell before the pitiless tide.[78](78/ "tree and pragmatics") Not one of the household escaped the jaws of the furious beasts.[79](79/ "tree and pragmatics") Women and men, children, birds and fowls, dogs and horses, all perished.[80](80/ "tree and pragmatics") Even the gardens and the fields were overrun and trampled into worthlessness.[81](81/ "tree and pragmatics") The once prosperous home of Ilmarinen became in a single night an uninhabited waste.[82](82/ "tree and pragmatics") Ah! if only the master, Ilmarinen, had been there\![83](83/ "tree and pragmatics") But what could even he have done in that storm so fierce, so irresistible, so overwhelming?[84](84/ "tree and pragmatics") - ← previous: [The Slave Boy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/29/) - next →: [The Golden Maiden](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/31/) - ↑ back to [The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/)