Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/101

Runo IX]

But it had not yet found safety

From the fierce hands of the Fire,

And a second time it wandered

To the dwelling of the Fire,

That it should be forged to weapons,

And to sword-blades should be fashioned.

“On the marshes wolves were running,

On the heath the bears came trooping.

’Neath the wolves’ feet quaked the marshes,

’Neath the bears the heath was shaken,

Thus was ore of iron uncovered,

And the bars of steel were noticed,

Where the claws of wolves had trodden,

And the paws of bears had trampled.

“Then was born smith Ilmarinen,

Thus was born, and thus was nurtured,

Born upon a hill of charcoal,

Reared upon a plain of charcoal,

In his hands a copper hammer,

And his little pincers likewise.

“Ilmari was born at night-time,

And at day he built his smithy,

Sought a place to build his smithy,

Where he could construct his bellows,

In the swamp he found a land-ridge,

And a small place in the marshes,

So he went to gaze upon it,

And examined the surroundings,

And erected there his bellows,

And his anvil there constructed.

“Then he hastened to the wolf-tracks,

And the bear-tracks also followed,

And the ore of iron he saw there,

And the lumps of steel he found there,

In the wolves’ enormous footprints;

Where the bears’ paws left their imprints.

Then he spoke the words which follow:

“‘O thou most unlucky Iron,

In an ill abode thou dwellest,

In a very lowly station,

Rh