Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/43

Runo III]

Broken are the horses’ collars,

And the wooden runners likewise;

You have smashed my sledge to pieces,

Broke the sledge in which I travelled.”

Then the youthful Joukahainen

Answered in the words which follow: 110

“I am youthful Joukahainen;

But yourself should also tell me,

What your race, and what your nation,

And from what vile stock you issue.”

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Told his name without concealment,

And began to speak as follows:

“Youth, if you are Joukahainen,

You should move aside a little,

For remember, you are younger.”

But the youthful Joukahainen

Answered in the words which follow:

“Here of youthfulness we reck not;

Nought doth youth or age concern us,

He who highest stands in knowledge,

He whose wisdom is the greatest,

Let him keep the path before him,

And the other yield the passage.

If you are old Väinämöinen,

And the oldest of the minstrels,

Let us give ourselves to singing,

Let us now repeat our sayings,

That the one may teach the other,

And the one surpass the other.”

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Answered in the words which follow:

“What can I myself accomplish

As a wise man or a singer?

I have passed my life in quiet,

Here among these very moorlands,

On the borders of my home-field

I have heard the cuckoo calling.

But apart from this at present,

I will ask you to inform me