“By the fire-place lay a gray-beard, On the hearth-stone lay a beggar, And the old man spake as follows: “Never, never, hero-husband, Follow thou thy young wife’s wishes, Follow not her inclinations, As, alas! I did, regretful; Bought my bride the bread of barley, Veal, and beer, and best of butter, Fish and fowl of all descriptions, Beer I bought, home-brewed and sparkling, Wheat from all the distant nations, All the dainties of the Northland; All of this was unavailing, Gave my wife no satisfaction, Often came she to my chamber, Tore my sable locks in frenzy, With a visage fierce and frightful, With her eyeballs flashing anger, Scolding on and scolding ever, Ever speaking words of evil, Using epithets the vilest, Thought me but a block for chopping. Then I sought for other measures, Used on her my last resources, Cut a birch-whip in the forest, And she spake in tones endearing; Cut a juniper or willow, And she called me ‘hero-darling’; When with lash my wife I threatened, Hung she on my neck with kisses.””
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
Take a Chine or Knuckle, and joynt it, put it in a Pipkin with some strong broth, and when it boils, scum it, and put in some French Barley, being first boiled in two or three waters, with some large Mace, and a faggot of sweet herbs bound up, and close hard tied, some Raisins, Damask Prunes, and Currans, or no Prunes, and Marigold-flowers; boil it to an indifferent thickness, and serve it on sippets.
Sources: The passage is from Unknown, Kalevala : the Epic Poem of Finland — Complete, tr. Crawford, John Martin, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from May, The accomplisht cook of 1660, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — burgundy cloth, sheaf stamp.