Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/176

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And obliquely through the water,

And at length upon the third time,

Up she drew a lifeless carcass,

With the mighty rake of iron.

Yet it was no lifeless carcass,

But the lively Lemminkainen,

He the handsome Kaukomieli,

Sticking fast upon the rake-prongs,

Sticking by his nameless finger,

And the toes upon his left foot.

Thus she fished up Lemminkainen,

Kaleva’s great offspring lifted,

On the rake all shod with copper,

To the light above the water.

Yet were many fragments wanting,

Half his head, a hand was wanting,

Many other little fragments,

And his very life was wanting.

As his mother pondered o’er it,

Thus she spoke while sorely weeping:

“Can a man from this be fashioned,

And a hero new created?”

But by chance a raven heard her,

And he answered her in thiswise:

“No man can from this be fashioned,

Not from what you have discovered,

For his eyes the powan’s eaten,

And the pike has cleft his shoulders.

Cast the man into the water,

Back in Tuonela’s deep river,

Perhaps a cod may thence be fashioned,

Or a whale from thence developed.”

Lemminkainen’s mother would not

Cast her son into the water,

But again began her raking,

With the mighty rake of copper,

All through Tuonela’s deep river,

First along it, then across it,

And his head and hand discovered,

And the fragments of his backbone.