Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/204

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“On the heath the bear awaken,

And the fierce cat in the bushes,

From the wood the curving-clawed one,

’Neath the pines the wide-toothed monster,

But to range the paths of Pohja,

And to prey on Pohja’s cattle.”

Then did Pohjola’s old Mistress

Answer in the words which follow:

“Now my might has all departed,

And my strength has greatly weakened.

By the lake my wealth was taken,

By the waves was crushed the Sampo.”

Then she hastened homeward weeping,

Back to Pohjola lamenting.

Nothing worthy to be mentioned

Of the Sampo brought she homeward,

Nothing but a little fragment,

By her nameless finger carried,

But a fragment of the cover,

Which to Sariola she carried:

Hence the poverty of Pohja,

And the starving life of Lapland.

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Went back likewise to his country,

But he took the Sampo’s fragments,

And the fragments of the cover,

From the lakeshore where he found them,

From the fine sand of the margin.

And he sowed the Sampo’s fragments,

And the pieces of the cover,

Out upon the jutting headland,

On the misty island’s summit,

That they there might grow and flourish,

Might increase and yield their produce,

As the ale obtained from barley,

As the bread that rye is yielding.

Then the aged Väinämöinen

Spoke aloud the words which follow:

“Grant, O Jumala, Creator,

That we now may live in comfort,