Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/233

Runo XLVI]

“Where was Otso born and nurtured,

Whence was formed his hide so shaggy,

Was he born perchance in straw-bed,

Was he born near stove in bathroom?”

Then the aged Väinämöinen

Answered in the words which follow:

“Otso was not born in straw-bed.

Nor was born on chaff in malt-house;

There was Otso brought to being,

There was born the honey-pawed one,

Near the moon, in gleams of sunshine,

And upon the Great Bear’s shoulders,

There beside the Air’s fair maiden,

Near the daughter of Creation.

“On Air’s borders walked a maiden,

Through mid heaven there walked a damsel,

Through the rifted clouds she wandered,

On the borders of the heavens,

Clad in stockings, blue in colour,

And with shoes most gaily coloured,

In her hand a wool-filled satchel,

’Neath her arm a hair-filled basket.

Wool she cast upon the waters,

Hair she threw among the billows,

And the wind arose and tossed it,

And the air unceasing rocked it,

And the breeze on water rocked it,

To the shore the waves impelled it,

To the edge of honeyed forest,

To the end of honeyed headland.

“Mielikki, the forest’s Mistress,

Tapiola’s accomplished matron,

Took the wool from out the water,

Took the soft wool from the billows.

Then she wrapped it all together,

With a handsome band she wrapped it,

Put it in her maple basket,

In a beauteous cradle laid it,

Then she lifted up the bundle,

And the golden chains she carried