Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/219

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Boil, another designated,

And as Itch proclaimed another,

Thrust another forth as Cancer,

And as Plague she formed another.

One remained, and he was nameless,

In the straw the lowest lying,

Therefore did she send him onward,

As a sorcerer on the waters,

Also to bewitch the lowlands,

Everywhere to practise malice.

Louhi, Pohjola’s old Mistress,

Sent the others forth to journey

To the cloud-encompassed headland,

And the shady island’s summit,

Sent in rage these evil monsters,

These diseases all unheard of,

Forth to Väinöla she sent them,

Kaleva’s great race to slaughter.

Sickened Väinöla’s own people,

Kaleva’s descendants sickened,

With diseases all unheard of,

And whose names were known to no one,

And the floors beneath them rotted,

And the sheet above corrupted.

Then the aged Väinämöinen,

He the great primeval sorcerer,

Went to drive away the evil,

And his people’s lives to succour,

Forth he went to war with Tuoni,

And against disease to struggle.

Thereupon he warmed the bathroom,

And the stones prepared to heat it,

And the finest wood provided,

Faggots, too, he laid in water;

Water brought in covered vessels,

Bath-whisks also, well-protected,

Warmed the bath-whisks to perfection,

And the hundred twigs he softened.

Then he raised a warmth like honey,

Raised a heat as sweet as honey,