Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/169

Runo XL]

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Drew from out the sheath his knife-blade,

From his side the cold sharp iron,

That the pike might be divided,

And he cut the fish to pieces,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“Let the youngest of the maidens,

Cook the pike that we have captured,

Let her mince it for our breakfast,

That on fish we make our dinner.”

Then the maidens set to cooking,

Ten there were who made the effort,

And they cooked the pike for eating,

And they minced it for their breakfast;

On the reefs the bones they scattered,

On the rocks they left the fishbones.

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Saw the bones where they were lying,

And he turned to look upon them,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“What might perhaps be fashioned from them,

From the pike’s teeth be constructed,

From the fragments of the jawbones,

Were they to the smithy taken,

To the skilful smith entrusted,

To the hands of one most skilful?”

Said the smith, said Ilmarinen,

“Nothing comes from what is useless,

Nothing can be made of fishbones,

By a smith in smithy working,

Though to skilful smith entrusted,

To the hands of one most skilful.”

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Answered in the words which follow:

“Yet a harp might be constructed

Even of the bones of fishes,

If there were a skilful workman,

Who could from the bones construct it.”

As no craftsman there was present,

And there was no skilful workman