Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/210

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“Here I find a pleasant dwelling,

Here I dwell in much contentment,

And for bread the liver serves me,

And the fat with drink supplies me,

And the lungs are good for cooking,

And the fat is best for eating.

“Therefore will I sink my smithy

In thy heart for ever deeper,

And will strike my hammer harder,

Pounding on the tenderest places,

That in all thy life thou never

Freedom from the ill may’st hope for,

If thy spells thou dost not teach me,

All thy magic spells shalt teach me,

Till thy spells I learn in fulness,

And a thousand spells have gathered;

Till no spells are hidden from me,

Nor the spells of magic hidden,

That in caves their power is lost not,

Even though the wizards perish.”

Vipunen, in songs so famous,

He the sage so old in wisdom,

In whose mouth was mighty magic,

Power unbounded in his bosom,

Opened then his mouth of wisdom,

Of his spells the casket opened,

Sang his mighty spells of magic,

Chanted forth of all the greatest,

Magic songs of the Creation,

From the very earliest ages,

Songs that all the children sing not,

Even heroes understand not,

In these dreary days of evil,

In the days that now are passing.

Words of origin he chanted,

All his spells he sang in order,

At the will of the Creator,

At behest of the Almighty,

How himself the air he fashioned,

And from air the water parted,

And the earth was formed from water,