Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/77

Runo VI]

Sometimes lurking by the pathway,

Sometimes watching in the meadow,

On his back his well-filled quiver,

’Neath his arm his crossbow ready.

Then he waited further onwards,

Lurking near another building,

On the cape that juts out sharply,

Where the tongue of land curves outward,

Near a waterfall, all foaming,

Past the banks of sacred rivers.

And at length one day it happened,

Very early in the morning,

As he turned his eyes to westward,

And he turned his head to eastward

Something dark he spied on ocean,

Something blue upon the billows.

“Is a cloud in east arising,

Or the dawn of day appearing?”

In the east no cloud was rising,

Nor the dawn of day appearing.

’Twas the aged Väinämöinen,

’Twas the ever-famous minstrel,

Who to Pohjola was hasting,

As to Pimentola he journeyed,

Mounted on his straw-hued courser,

Like a pea-stalk in his colour.

Then the youthful Joukahainen,

He, the meagre son of Lapland,

Spanned in haste his mighty crossbow,

And he aimed the splendid weapon

At the head of Väinämöinen,

Thus to kill Suvantolainen.

Then his mother came and asked him,

And the aged one inquired,

“Wherefore do you span your weapon,

Bending thus the iron crossbow?”

Then the youthful Joukahainen

Answered in the words which follow:

“Therefore do I span the weapon,

Bending thus the iron crossbow,