Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/45

Runo III]

But for bearded men unsuited,

And for married men unfitted.

Tell me words of deepest wisdom,

Tell me now of things eternal.”

Then the youthful Joukahainen

Answered in the words which follow:

“Well I know whence comes the titmouse,

That the titmouse is a birdie,

And a snake the hissing viper,

And the ruffe a fish in water.

And I know that hard is iron,

And that mud when black is bitter.

Painful, too, is boiling water,

And the heat of fire is hurtful,

Water is the oldest medicine,

Cataract’s foam a magic potion;

The Creator’s self a sorcerer,

Jumala the Great Magician.

“From the rock springs forth the water,

And the fire from heaven descendeth,

And from ore we get the iron,

And in hills we find the copper.

“Marshy country is the oldest,

And the first of trees the willow.

Pine-roots were the oldest houses,

And the earliest pots were stone ones.”

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Answered in the words which follow:

“Is there more that you can tell me,

Or is this the end of nonsense?”

Said the youthful Joukahainen,

“Many little things I wot of,

And the time I well remember

When ’twas I who ploughed the ocean,

Hollowed out the depths of ocean,

And I dug the caves for fishes,

And I sunk the deep abysses,

When the lakes I first created,

And I heaped the hills together,

And the rocky mountains fashioned.