Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/125

Runo X]

All the cuckoos vanish with them,

And the nightingales would migrate,

From the summit of this mountain,

From the summits of these uplands.

“Not as yet can I abandon

My delightful life as maiden,

And my innocent employments

In the glowing heat of summer.

All unplucked the mountain-berries,

And the lakeshore will be songless,

And unvisited the meadows,

And in woods I sport no longer.”

Thereupon smith Ilmarinen,

He the great primeval craftsman,

Sad, and with his head down-hanging,

And his cap in grief thrust sideways,

Presently began to ponder,

In his head long time debating

How he now should journey homeward,

To his own familiar country,

From the gloomy land of Pohja,

Sariola for ever misty.

Then said Pohjola’s old Mistress,

“O thou smith, O Ilmarinen

Wherefore is thy mind so saddened,

And thy cap in grief pushed sideways?

Are you thinking how to journey,

Homeward to your native country?”

Said the smith, e’en Ilmarinen,

“Yes, my thoughts are there directed

To my home that I may die there,

And may rest in scenes familiar.”

Then did Pohjola’s old Mistress

Set both meat and drink before him,

At the boat-stern then she placed him,

There to work the copper paddle,

And she bade the wind blow strongly,

And the north wind fiercely bluster.

Thus it was smith Ilmarinen

He the great primeval craftsman,