Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/243

Runo XLVII]

Then the silver props were shaken,

Rocked about the golden cradle,

Moved the clouds and creaked the heavens,

And the props of heaven were swaying,

With the rocking of the fire,

And the rocking of the brightness.

Thus the maid the fire was rocking,

And she rocked the fire to brightness,

With her fingers moved the fire,

With her hands the fire she tended,

And the stupid maiden dropped it,

Dropped the flame the careless maiden,

From her hands the fire dropped downward

From the fingers of its guardian.

Then the sky was cleft asunder,

All the air was filled with windows,

Burst asunder by the fire-sparks,

As the red drop quick descended,

And a gap gleamed forth in heaven,

As it through the clouds dropped downward,

Through nine heavens the drop descended,

Through six spangled vaults of heaven.

Said the aged Väinämöinen,

“Smith and brother, Ilmarinen,

Let us go and gaze around us,

And the cause perchance discover,

What the fire that just descended,

What the strange flame that has fallen

From the lofty height of heaven,

And to earth beneath descended.

Of the moon ’tis perhaps a fragment,

Of the sun perchance a segment.”

Thereupon set forth the heroes,

And they wandered on, reflecting

How they might perchance discover,

How they might succeed in finding,

Where the fire had just descended,

Where the brightness had dropped downward.

And a river flowed before them,

And became a lake extensive,