Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/203

Runo XVII]

From the blue sea’s watery surface,

From the open sea’s broad surface,

From the black mud of the ocean,

From the depth of thousand fathoms,

From the fiercely rushing torrents,

From the seething of the whirlpool,

And from Rutja’s mighty cataract,

Where the waters rush most wildly,

From the further side of heaven,

Where the rainless clouds stretch furthest,

From the pathway of the spring-wind,

From the cradle of the tempests.

“From such regions hast thou journeyed

Thence hast thou proceeded, Torment,

To my heart of evil guiltless,

To my belly likewise sinless,

To devour and to torment me,

And to bite me and to tear me?

“Pine away, O hound of Hiisi,

Dog of Manala the vilest,

O thou demon, quit my body,

Pest of earth, O quit my liver,

Let my heart be undevoured,

Leave thou, too, my spleen uninjured,

Make no stoppage in my belly,

And my lungs forbear to traverse,

Do not pierce me through the navel,

And my loins forbear to injure,

And my backbone do not shatter,

Nor upon my sides torment me.

“If my strength as man should fail me,

Then will I invoke a greater,

Which shall rid me of the evil,

And shall drive away the horror.

“From the earth I call the Earth-Queen,

From the fields, the Lord primeval,

From the earth I call all swordsmen,

From the sands the hero-horsemen,

Call them to my aid and succour,

To my help and aid I call them,