What is nature? What is the nature of beasts, of man? What is the nature of nature?

Jakko Krimälainen knew, and he writes:

I saw this morning a most peculiar thing…

What did you see, Jakko? On the lake an iced pyre, on the snowy heath some deer, from the billows a cursed maiden:

I come to you with heathen words
from strange and foreign shore;
I’ve sailed for days and days and nights
to share this ancient lore:

In Wallachia’s lands a sorcerer
of grand, hideous power
chants and calculates his curses,
curses you this hour!