Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/22

2

While our dear ones hearken to us,

And our loved ones are instructed,

While the young are standing round us,

Of the rising generation,

Let them learn the words of magic,

And recall our songs and legends,

Of the belt of Väinämöinen,

Of the forge of Ilmarinen,

And of Kaukomieli’s sword-point,

And of Joukahainen’s crossbow:

Of the utmost bounds of Pohja,

And of Kalevala's wide heathlands.

These my father sang aforetime,

As he carved his hatchet’s handle,

And my mother taught me likewise,

As she turned around her spindle,

When upon the floor, an infant,

At her knees she saw me tumbling,

As a helpless child, milk-bearded,

As a babe with mouth all milky.

Tales about the Sampo failed not,

Nor the magic spells of Louhi.

Old at length became the Sampo;

Louhi vanished with her magic;

Vipunen while singing perished;

Lemminkainen in his follies.

There are many other legends;

Songs I learned of magic import;

Some beside the pathway gathered;

Others broken from the heather;

Others wrested from the bushes;

Others taken from the saplings,

Gathered from the springing verdure,

Or collected from the by-ways,

As I passed along as herd-boy,

As a child in cattle-pastures,

On the hillocks, rich in honey,

On the hills, for ever golden,

After Muurikki, the black one,

By the side of dappled Kimmo.