Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/166

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So that men the least instructed,

E’en the inexperienced find it.

“Melatar, thou gracious matron!

Of thy favour, take the rudder,

That with which thou guid’st the vessel,

Safely through the streams enchanted,

To the house that lies beyond them,

And beneath the sorcerer’s windows.

“If this is not yet sufficient,

Ukko, Jumala in heaven,

With thy sword direct the vessel,

With thy naked sword direct it,

That the wooden boat speed onward,

Journey on, the pinewood vessel.”

Then the aged Väinämöinen,

Steered the vessel swiftly forward,

Through the river-rocks he steered it,

Steered it through the foaming waters,

And the wooden vessel wedged not,

Nor the wise man’s boat was grounded.

But as they their voyage continued

Once again in open water,

Suddenly the vessel halted,

Stopped the boat upon its journey,

In its place remained it fastened,

And the vessel rocked no longer.

Thereupon smith Ilmarinen,

With the lively Lemminkainen,

Pushed into the lake the rudder,

In the waves the spar of pinewood,

And they tried to loose the vessel,

And to free the wooden vessel,

But they could not move the vessel,

Nor release the wooden vessel.

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Uttered then the words which follow:

“O thou lively son of Lempi,

Stoop thou down, and look around thee.

Look what stops the boat from moving,

Look what keeps the vessel moveless