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So she told them what had happened, but they grew angry and would not keep her in their house, for they did not believe the story about the berry. Poor Mariatta was now obliged to wander about without a shelter from the cold winds. At length she sent a servant, who had remained faithful to her and had accompanied her, to a village of Pohjola to ask for shelter from an old man named Ruotus.
He lies sleeping yonder in the Swampland. So Mariatta hastened to the spot that the Sun had pointed out and there found her babe sleeping peacefully in the water among the rushes. Then she returned with the babe to her father's house, and this time he received her and allowed her to live there in peace.
But the berry rolled from her lips down into her bosom, and said to her: 'Thou shalt have a son, and he shall become a mighty man and drive forth the old magician Wainamoinen. Then Mariatta took the flocks home and was so silent and still that her parents noticed it and asked her what was the matter.
For it is thy son who hath made me and set me here in the bitter cold. And next Mariatta asked the Moon, and received the same answer as the North-star had given. Then she went to the Sun and asked him. And the Sun said: 'I know very well where thy son is hidden, for he made me and put me here to shine with my silver light.
So Mariatta was obliged to go to the stable in the dense forest far off from every human being, and there she begged the Hisi-horse to keep her warm by his fiery breath. The Hisi-horse was kinder to her than men had been, for he let her lie down comfortably in his manger, and kept her warm with his fiery breath.
'But I'm so glad that Wainamoinen always got the best of it, she added. 'There was one time when he was defeated, however, said Father Mikko, 'and now I shall tell it you. It is the last story, and is about Wainamoinen's departure from Kalevala. So he began. There lived a fair and lovely maiden in Kalevala, called Mariatta.
She was the loveliest and purest of virgins, and tended her parents' flocks upon the mountain sides. Here one day, as she was watching the sheep, she heard a voice calling to her, and on looking round she found that it was a bright red berry calling to her, and asking her to pluck it. Mariatta did not know that this was a magic berry, so she picked it and put it to her lips to eat it.
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