Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/337

Runo XXV]

“Easy to obtain was silver,

Gold among the guests was scattered,

In the grass were littered purses,

In the lanes were bags of money,

For the guests who were invited,

For the guests most greatly honoured.”

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Of the song the mighty pillar,

After this his sledge ascended,

Homeward drove upon his journey,

And he sang his songs for ever,

Sang, and chanted spells of magic,

Sang a song, and sang a second,

But, as he the third was singing,

Clashed against a rock the runners,

Crashed the shafts against a tree-stump,

And the sledge broke off his chanting,

And the runners stopped his singing,

And the shafts in fragments shattered,

And the boards broke all asunder.

Spoke the aged Väinämöinen,

In the very words which follow,

“Are there none among the youthful,

Of the rising generation,

Or perchance among the aged,

Of the sinking generation,

Who to Tuonela can wander,

And can go to Mana’s country,

Thence to fetch me Tuoni’s auger,

Bring me Mana’s mighty auger,

That a new sledge I may fashion,

Or repair my sledge that’s broken?”

But said all the younger people,

And the aged people answered:

“There are none among the youthful,

None at all among the aged,

None of race so highly noble,

None is such a mighty hero,

As to Tuonela to travel,

Journey to the land of Mana,