Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/70

50

And at length one day it happened,

Very early in the morning,

On his hook a fish was hanging,

And a salmon-trout was captured.

In the boat he drew it quickly,

And upon the planks he cast it.

Then he scanned the fish, and turned it,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“’Tis a fish, among the fishes,

For I never saw its equal,

Smoother is it than a powan,

Than a salmon-trout more yellow,

Greyer than a pike I deem it,

For a female fish too finless,

For a male ’tis far too scaleless;

Has no tresses, like a maiden,

Nor, like water-nymphs, ’tis belted;

Nor is earless like a pigeon;

It resembles most a salmon,

Or a perch from deepest water.”

In his waistband Väinämöinen

Bore a case-knife, silver-hafted,

And he drew the knife of sharpness,

Drew the case-knife, silver-hafted,

And prepared to slit the salmon,

And to cut the fish to pieces,

Thought to eat it for his breakfast,

Or a snack to make his luncheon,

To provide him with a dinner,

And a plenteous supper likewise.

As he would have slit the salmon,

And would cut the fish to pieces,

Sprang the salmon in the water,

For the beauteous fish jumped sideways

From the planking of the red boat,

From the boat of Väinämöinen.

Thereupon her head she lifted,

Raised her shoulders from the water,

On the fifth wave’s watery hillock,

From the sixth high wave emerging,