Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/82

62

Then the aged Väinämöinen

Spoke in words like those which follow:

“Woe to me, unhappy creature,

Overburdened with misfortune!

I have wandered from my country,

And my ancient home abandoned.

’Neath the open sky for ever,

Driven along in sun and moonlight,

Rocked about by winds for ever,

Tossed about by every billow,

On the wide expanse of water,

Out upon the open ocean,

Here I live a cold existence,

And ’tis painful thus to wallow,

Always tossing on the billows,

On the surface of the waters.

“Now, alas, I know no longer

How to lead this life of sadness

In this everlasting trouble,

In an age when all is fleeting.

Shall I rear in wind a dwelling,

Build a house upon the waters?

“If I rear in wind a dwelling,

Then the wind would not sustain it;

If I build a house on water,

Then the waves will drift it from me.”

Came a bird from Lapland flying,

From the north-east came an eagle,

Not the largest of the eagles,

Nor was he among the smallest,

With one wing he swept the water,

To the sky was swung the other;

On the sea his tail he rested,

On the cliffs his beak he rattled.

Slowly back and forwards flying,

Turning all around, and gazing,

Soon he saw old Väinämöinen

On the blue waves of the ocean.

“What has brought you here, O hero,

Wandering through the waves of ocean?”