Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/181

Runo XV]

Brimming o’er with precious ointment,

With the best of ointment brimming.

Then did Lemminkainen’s mother

Salve him with this precious ointment,

With nine kinds of ointment salved him,

And ten kinds of magic ointment;

Even yet there came no healing,

Still her toil was unavailing.

Then she spoke the words which follow,

And expressed herself in thiswise:

“O thou bee, thou bird aerial,

Fly thou forth again the third time,

Fly thou up aloft to heaven,

And through nine heavens fly thou swiftly.

There is honey in abundance,

In the wood as much as needed,

Which was charmed by the Creator,

By pure Jumala was breathed on,

When his children he anointed,

Wounded by the powers of evil.

In the honey dip thy pinions,

Soak thy plumage in the nectar,

Bring me honey on thy pinions,

In thy mantle from the forest,

As an ointment for the patient,

And anoint the bruises with it.”

But the bee, the bird of wisdom,

Answered her in words that follow:

“How can I perform thy bidding,

I a man so small and helpless?”

“Thou canst rise on high with swiftness,

Fly aloft with easy effort,

O’er the moon, below the daylight,

And amid the stars of heaven,

Flying windlike on the first day

Past the borders of Orion,

On the second day thou soarest

Even to the Great Bear’s shoulders,

On the third day soaring higher,

O’er the Seven Stars thou risest,

Rh