Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/159

Runo XXXIX]

Will you make, unrowed, your journey,

Unassisted by the oars,

By the rudder undirected,

When the sails no breeze is filling?”

Answer made the wooden vessel,

Thus replied the boat with rowlocks:

“None of all my race so noble,

Nor the host of other vessels,

Speed along unrowed by fingers,

Unassisted by the oars,

By the rudder undirected,

When the sails no breeze is filling.”

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Answered in the words which follow:

“Can you speed if some one rows you,

If assisted by the oars,

By the rudder if directed,

When the sails the breeze is filling?“

Answered then the wooden vessel,

Thus replied the boat with rowlocks:

“Yes, my race would hasten onward,

All the other boats my brothers,

Speed along if rowed by fingers,

If assisted by the oars,

By the rudder if directed,

When the sails the breeze is filling.”

Then the aged Väinämöinen

Left his horse upon the sandhills,

On a tree he fixed the halter,

Tied the reins upon the branches,

Pushed the boat into the water,

Sang the vessel in the billows,

And he asked the wooden vessel,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“O thou boat, of shape so curving,

O thou wooden boat with rowlocks,

Art thou just as fit to bear us,

As thyself art fair to gaze on?”

Answered thus the wooden vessel,

Thus replied the boat with rowlocks: