Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/253

Runo XLVIII]

Then the aged Väinämöinen

Worked to make the net yet longer,

Wider yet the sides expanded,

Perhaps five hundred fathoms broader,

Netted full seven hundred fathoms,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“To the depths the nets we’ll carry,

And will now extend them further,

Once again will drag the water,

Thus another cast attempting.”

To the depths the nets they carried,

Further did they then convey them,

And again they dragged the water,

Thus another cast attempting.

Then the aged Väinämöinen

Spoke aloud the words which follow:

“Vellamo, O Water-Mother,

Old one with the lavish bosom,

Do thou change the shift upon thee,

Do thou change thy dress completely,

For thou hast a shift of rushes,

On thy head a cap of lake-foam,

Fashioned by the Wind’s fair daughter,

Which the billows’ daughter gave thee.

Now assume a shift of linen,

Of the finest flax that’s woven,

Which by Kuutar has been woven,

Paivatar has wrought when spinning.

“Ahto, master of the billows,

Ruler thou of caves a hundred,

Take thy pole in length five fathoms,

Take thy stake, in length full seven,

Thresh with this the open water,

And do thou stir up the lake-bed,

Stir thou all the heaps of refuse,

Drive thou on the shoals of fishes,

Where the net is spread to catch them,

And its hundred floats are swimming,

From the bays by fish frequented,

From the caves where hide the salmon,

Rh