The very first gift that her stepmother gave:
"Nine years you shall bear your unborn babe."

Kari has gone to Lord Peder's room:
"How long must a woman bear a child in her womb?"

- In secret my sorrows wake me -

"Forty weeks with child she must go
- So long bore Mary Our Lord long ago."

When nine long years had almost passed,
She longed to return to her father at last.

Herr Peder has called for his good grey steed
And bidden his young men ride with speed:

"Pass very gently o'er the bridge as you ride,
In case men be roused from their beds in the night."

"Pass very gently through the village streets,
In case barking dogs waken men from their sleep.

When that she came to her father's home,
Before her stood her father alone.

"Glad is my heart at this that I see,
I see that my daughter has come home to me."

"Father dear, this is no time for glee,
Rejoicing is not what I bring with me.

"Once I departed, a brisk young maid,
And now I am returning, as heavy as lead

"When I departed a maiden was I -
And now I am returning, now I must die."

Translation by Alistar Cochrane