Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/81

Runo VII]

But his mother made him answer,

“Very evil hast thou acted,

Thus to shoot at Väinämöinen

And to o’erthrow Kalevalainen.

Of Suvantola the hero,

Kalevala’s most famous hero.”

, old and steadfast,

Swam upon the open ocean,

Drifting like a fallen pine-tree,

Like a rotten branch of fir-tree,

During six days of the summer,

And for six nights in succession,

While the sea spread wide before him,

And the sky was clear above him.

Thus he swam for two nights longer,

And for two days long and dreary.

When the ninth night darkened round him,

And the eighth day had passed over,

Sudden anguish came upon him,

And his pain grew ever greater.

From his toes his nails were dropping,

And the joints from off his fingers.