Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/199

Runo XLIII]

And she poised herself and hovered,

To attack old Väinämöinen;

In the clouds one wing was flapping,

In the water splashed the other.

Then the fairest Water-Mother

Spoke aloud the words which follow:

“O thou aged Väinämöinen,

Turn thy head beneath the sunrise,

Do thou turn thine eyes to north-west,

Look a little now behind thee.”

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Turned his head beneath the sunrise,

And he turned his eyes to north-west,

Looked a little just behind him.

Onward came the crone of Pohja,

And the wondrous bird was hovering

Like a hawk about his shoulders,

With the body of an eagle.

Soon she came near Väinämöinen,

And she flew upon the masthead,

Clambered out upon the sailyard,

And upon the pole she sat her,

And the boat was nearly sinking,

And the vessel’s side lurched downward.

Thereupon smith Ilmarinen

Sought from Jumala assistance,

And invoking the Creator,

Then he spoke the words which follow:

“Save us, O thou good Creator,

Gracious Jumala, protect us,

That the son may not be hurried,

Nor the mother’s child hurled downward,

From among the living creatures,

From the creatures whom thou rulest.

“Ukko, Jumala the Highest,

Thou our Father in the heavens,

Cast a fiery robe around me,

Over me a shirt of fire,

That I thus may fight protected,

And may thus contend protected,