Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/160

148

“I am fitted well to bear you,

And my floor is very spacious,

And a hundred men might row me,

And a thousand others stand there.”

So the aged Väinämöinen

Softly then began to carol,

Sang on one side of the vessel

Handsome youths, with hair brushed smoothly,

Hair smoothed down and hands all hardened,

And their feet were finely booted;

Sang on other side of vessel

Girls with tin upon their head-dress,

Head-dress tin, and belts of copper,

Golden rings upon their fingers;

And again sang Väinämöinen,

Till the seats were full of people,

Some were very aged people,

Men whose lives were nearly over,

But for these the space was scanty,

For the young folks came before them.

In the stern himself he seated,

Sat behind the birchwood vessel,

And he steered the vessel onward,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“Speed thou on through treeless regions,

O’er the wide expanse of water,

O’er the lake do thou float lightly,

As on waves a water-lily.”

Then he set the youths to rowing,

But he left the maidens resting;

Rowed the youths, and bent the oars,

Yet the vessel moved not onward.

Then he set the girls to rowing,

But he left the youths reposing;

Rowed the girls, and bent their fingers,

Yet the vessel moved not onward.

Then the old folks set to rowing,

While the young folks gazed upon them;

Rowed they till their heads were shaking,

Still the vessel moved not onward.