Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v2.djvu/254

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From the wide lake’s seething whirlpool,

And from the profound abysses,

Where the sun was never shining,

Undisturbed the sand for ever.”

From the lake a dwarf ascended,

From the waves arose a hero,

Stood upon the lake’s broad surface,

And he spoke the words which follow:

“Is there need to thresh the water,

With a long pole to disturb it?”

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Answered in the words that follow:

“There is need to thresh the water,

With a long pole to disturb it.”

Then the dwarf, the little hero,

Lifted from the bank a pine-tree,

Took a tall tree from the pinewood,

And prepared to thresh the water,

And he asked, and spoke as follows:

“Shall I thresh with strength sufficient,

Putting forth my utmost efforts,

Or as hard as may be needful?”

Old and prudent Väinämöinen

Answered in the words which follow:

“If you thresh as hard as needful,

You will have to do much threshing.”

Then the man, the little hero,

Set to work to thresh the water,

And he threshed as much as needful,

And he drove the shoals of fishes,

And into the net he drove them,

In the net with floats a hundred.

Rested now the smith his oars;

Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,

Now the net himself drew upward,

At the rope as he was pulling.

Said the aged Väinämöinen,

“We have caught a shoal of fishes,

In the net that I am lifting,

With a hundred floats provided.”