Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/200

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“I have eaten much already,

And on ewes and goats have feasted,

And have barren heifers eaten,

And have also swine devoured,

But I ne’er had such a dinner,

Such a morsel never tasted.”

But the aged Väinämöinen,

Uttered then the words which follow:

“Now destruction falls upon me,

And an evil day o’ertakes me,

Prisoned here in Hiisi’s stable,

Here in Kalma’s narrow dungeon.”

So he pondered and reflected

How to live and how to struggle.

In his belt a knife had Väinö,

And the haft was formed of maple,

And from this a boat he fashioned,

And a boat he thus constructed,

And he rowed the boat, and urged it

Back and forth throughout the entrails,

Rowing through the narrow channels,

And exploring every passage.

Vipunen the old musician

Was not thus much incommoded;

Then the aged Väinämöinen

As a smith began to labour,

And began to work with iron.

With his shirt he made a smithy,

With his shirt-sleeves made his bellows,

With the fur he made the wind-bag,

With his trousers made the air-pipe,

And the opening with his stockings,

And he used his knee for anvil,

And his elbow for a hammer.

Then he quick began to hammer,

Actively he plied his hammer,

Through the livelong night, unresting,

Through the day without cessation

In the stomach of the wise one,

In the entrails of the mighty.