Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/34

14

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Answered in the words which follow:

“You have hardly been created,

Neither made, nor so proportioned,

As to fell this mighty oak-tree,

Overthrow the tree stupendous.”

Scarcely had the words been spoken,

While his gaze was fixed upon him,

When the man transformed before him,

And became a mighty hero.

While his feet the earth were stamping,

To the clouds his head he lifted,

To his knees his beard was flowing,

To his spurs his locks descended.

Fathom-wide his eyes were parted,

Fathom-wide his trousers measured;

Round his knee the girth was greater,

And around his hip ’twas doubled.

Then he sharpened keen the axe-blade,

Brought the polished blade to sharpness;

Six the stones on which he ground it,

Seven the stones on which he whet it.

Then the man stepped forward lightly,

Hastened on to do his mission;

Wide his trousers, and they fluttered

Round his legs as onward strode he,

And the first step taken, brought him

To the shore so soft and sandy;

With the second stride he landed

On the dun ground further inland,

And the third step brought him quickly,

Where the oak itself was rooted.

With his axe he smote the oak-tree,

With his sharpened blade he hewed it;

Once he smote it, twice he smote it,

And the third stroke wholly cleft it.

From the axe the flame was flashing,

Flame was bursting from the oak-tree,

As he strove to fell the oak-tree,

Overthrow the tree stupendous.