Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/111

Runo IX]

“Here I bring a perfect ointment,

And the magic salve is ready.

It could fuse the hills together,

In a single rock unite them.”

With his tongue the old man tried it,

With his mouth the liquid tasted,

And the ointment tasted perfect,

And the salve was most efficient.

This he smeared on Väinämöinen,

And with this he healed the sufferer;

Stroked him downward, stroked him upward,

Rubbed him also on the middle,

And he spoke the words which follow,

And expressed himself in this wise:

“’Tis not I who use my muscles,

But ’tis the Creator moves them;

With my own strength do not labour,

But with strength from the Almighty.

With my mouth I speak not to you;

Jumala’s own mouth speaks with you,

If my speech is sweet unto you,

Jumala’s own speech is sweeter.

Even if my hands are lovely,

The Creator’s hands are fairer.”

When the salve was rubbed upon him,

And the healing ointment touched him,

Almost fainting with the anguish,

Väinämöinen writhed and struggled.

Turning this way, turning that way,

Seeking ease, but never finding.

Then the old man banned the suffering,

Far away he drove the anguish,

To the central Hill of Tortures,

To the topmost Mount of Suffering,

There to fill the stones with anguish,

And the slabs of rock to torture.

Then he took a silken fabric,

And in strips he quickly cut it;

From the edge he tore the fragments,

And at once he formed a bandage;