Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/83

Runo VII]

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Answered in the words which follow:

“This has brought the man to ocean,

Plunged the hero in the sea-waves.

I would seek the maid of Pohja,

Woo the maiden of Pimentola.

“On my journey swift I hasted,

On the ocean’s watery surface,

Till about the time of daybreak,

Came I, after many mornings,

Where is Luotola’s deep embayment,

Hard by Joukola’s rapid river,

When my horse was shot beneath me,

By an arrow launched against me.

“Thus I fell into the water,

In the waves I plunged my fingers,

And the wind impels me onward,

And the billows drift me forward.

“Then there came a gale from north-west,

From the east a mighty tempest,

Far away the tempest drove me,

Swimming from the land still further,

Many days have I been floating,

Many days have I been swimming,

On this wide expanse of water,

Out upon the open ocean.

And I cannot now conjecture,

Cannot guess, nor e’en imagine,

How I finally shall perish,

And what death shall overtake me

Whether I shall die of hunger,

Or shall sink beneath the waters.”

Said the bird of air, the eagle,

“Let thy heart be free from trouble;

Climb upon my back, and seat thee,

Standing up upon my wing-tips,

From the sea will I transport thee,

Wheresoever thou may’st fancy.

For the day I well remember,

And recall a happier season,