Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/46

38 Poor iron did not hide in old Väinämöinen's belt, In his tripartite scabbard — not there certainly. Poor iron did not hide Inside a youthful maiden's paps, under a growing maiden's arm, Upon a long bank of cloud, upon an oak tree's level head. Iron did not hide there, nor yet in yonder place Inside a blue ewe, in the belly of a copper sheep. In the bosom of a blue [v. red] pig. It certainly did not hide in the sea, under deep billows. Inside a blue guiniad, in the bosom of a red salmon. Nor yet exactly in the sky, above six speckled firmaments, {{dropinitial|{|2em}}Inside a blue fox, inside a golden tall-crowned hat, v. in the belly of a golden cock. There, then, iron hid, both hid and saved itself, In the interval between two stumps, under a birch tree's triple root. {{dropinitial|{|2em}}On a land devoid of knolls, on a land wholly unknown, v. In dark Pohjola, in Lapland's widely reaching bounds, Where a hazel grouse keeps her nest — a hen rears her young. A wolf raised mould from a swamp, a bear dug some from a heath. Iron-ore (F. rust) sprang up there, a bar of steel grew From where the wolf has raised its foot, from the dint of the bear's heel. It may have been brought to a smithy — may have been cast into a forge fire. Then iron was produced from it — steel was undoubtedly obtained. (d.) Formerly much land was burnt, much land, much swamp, In a summer bad for forest fires, in a hapless conflagration year. A little bit remained unburnt On a wild mountain top, on the greatest reach of swamp. One wretched man remained upon the spot unburnt. Already a little of him was burnt.