Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/190

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So he pondered and reflected,

“I should find such words by hundreds

In the dark abodes of Tuoni,

In the eternal home of Mana.”

Then to Tuonela he journeyed,

Sought the words in Mana’s kingdom,

And with rapid steps he hastened,

Wandered for a week through bushes,

Through bird-cherry for a second,

And through juniper the third week,

Straight to Manala’s dread island,

And the gleaming hills of Tuoni.

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Raised his voice, and shouted loudly

There by Tuonela’s deep river,

There in Manala’s abysses:

“Bring a boat, O Tuoni’s daughter,

Row across, O child of Mana,

That the stream I may pass over,

And that I may cross the river.”

Tuoni’s short and stunted daughter,

She the dwarfish maid of Mana,

At the time her clothes was washing,

And her clothes she there was beating,

At the river dark of Tuoni,

And in Manala’s deep waters.

And she answered him in thiswise,

And she spoke the words which follow:

“Hence a boat shall come to fetch you,

When you shall explain the reason

Why to Manala you travel,

Though disease has not subdued you,

Nor has death thus overcome you,

Nor some other fate o’erwhelmed you.”

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Answered in the words which follow:

“It was Tuoni brought me hither,

Mana dragged me from my country.”

Tuoni’s short and stunted daughter,

She the dwarfish maid of Mana,