Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/338

318

Thence to bring you Tuoni’s auger,

And from Mana’s home to bring it,

That a new sledge you may fashion,

Or repair the sledge that’s broken.”

Then the aged Väinämöinen,

He the great primeval minstrel,

Went again to Tuoni’s country,

Journeyed to the home of Mana,

Fetched from Tuonela the auger,

Brought from Mana’s home the auger.

Then the aged Väinämöinen

Sang a blue wood up before him,

In the forest rose an oak-tree,

And a splendid mountain-ashtree,

And from these a sledge he fashioned,

And he shaped his runners from them,

And for shafts prepared them likewise,

And the frame he thus constructed,

Made a sledge to suit his purpose,

And a new sledge he constructed.

In the shafts the horse he harnessed,

Yoked before the sledge the chestnut,

In the sledge himself he seated,

And upon the seat he sat him,

And without the whip the courser,

Sped, by beaded whip unharassed,

To his long-accustomed fodder,

To the food that waited for him,

And he brought old Väinämöinen,

He the great primeval minstrel,

To his own door, widely open,

To the threshold brought him safely.