Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/192

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“Fire to Tuonela has brought me,

Flame to Manala conveyed me.”

Tuoni’s short and stunted daughter,

She the dwarfish maid of Mana,

Once again replied in answer:

“Well indeed I know the liar!

Had the fire to Tuoni brought you,

Flame to Manala conveyed you,

Would your hair be singed and frizzled,

And your beard be scorched severely.

“O thou aged Väinämöinen,

If you wish the boat to fetch you,

Tell me true, without evasion,

Make an end at last of lying,

Why to Manala you travel,

Though disease has not subdued you,

Nor has death thus overcome you,

Nor some other fate o’erwhelmed you.”

Said the aged Väinämöinen,

”True it is I lied a little,

And again I spoke a falsehood,

But at length I answer truly.

By my art a boat I fashioned,

By my songs a boat I builded,

And I sang one day, a second,

And at length upon the third day,

Broke my sledge as I was singing,

Broke the shaft as I was singing,

So I came for Tuoni’s gimlet,

Sought in Manala a borer,

That my sledge I thus might finish,

And with this might form my song-sledge.

Therefore bring your boat to this side,

Ferry me across the water,

And across the straight convey me,

Let me come across the river.”

Tuonetar abused him roundly,

Mana’s maiden scolded loudly:

“O thou fool, of all most foolish,

Man devoid of understanding.