Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/105

Runo IX]

For the blue steel’s smelting mixture,

And the tempering of the Iron.’

“Thereupon the steel he lifted,

In he plunged the luckless Iron,

As from out the fire he took it,

And he took it from the anvil.

“Then indeed the steel was angry,

And the Iron was seized with fury.

And its oath the wretch has broken,

Like a dog has soiled its honour,

Brutally its brother bitten,

Striking at its own relations,

Let the blood rush forth in torrents,

From the wound in torrents gushing.”

From the stove the old man mumbled,

(Shook his beard, his head he nodded)

“Now I know whence comes the Iron,

And of steel the evil customs.

“O thou most unhappy Iron,

Wretched Iron, slag most worthless,

Steel thou art of evil witchcraft,

Thou hast been for nought developed,

But to turn to evil courses,

In the greatness of thy power.

“Once thou wast devoid of greatness;

Neither wast thou great nor little,

Neither noted for thy beauty,

Nor remarkable for evil,

When as milk thou wast created,

When the sweet milk trickled over

From the breasts of youthful maidens,

From the maidens’ swelling bosoms,

On the borders of the cloudland,

’Neath the broad expanse of heaven.

“Thou wast then devoid of greatness,

Thou wast neither great nor little,

When thou in the mud wast resting,

Sunk below the sparkling water,

Overspreading all the marshland,

At the base of rocky mountains,