Kalevala : the Epic Poem of Finland — Complete eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 494 pages of information about Kalevala .

Kalevala : the Epic Poem of Finland — Complete eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 494 pages of information about Kalevala .
Rowing on the Nawa-waters?”
Wainamoinen gave this answer: 
“This the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
I the ancient Wainamoinen. 
Tell us now thy name and station,
Whither going, whence thou comest,
Where thy tribe-folk live and linger? 
Spake the daughter of the Ether: 
“I the oldest of the women,
Am the first of Ether’s daughters,
Am the first of ancient mothers;
Seven times have I been wedded. 
To the heroes of creation. 
Whither do ye strangers journey? 
Answered thus old Wainamoinen: 
“Fire has left Wainola’s hearth-stones,
Light has disappeared from Northland;
Have been sitting long in darkness,
Cold and darkness our companions;
Now we journey to discover
What the fire that fell from heaven,
Falling from the cloud’s red lining,
To the deeps of earth and ocean.” 
Ilmatar returned this answer: 
“Hard the flame is to discover,
Hard indeed to find the Fire-child;
Has committed many mischiefs,
Nothing good has he accomplished;
Quick the fire-ball fell from ether,
From the red rims of the cloudlets,
From the plains of the Creator,
Through the ever-moving heavens,
Through the purple ether-spaces,
Through the blackened flues of Turi,
To Palwoinen’s rooms uncovered. 
When the fire had reached the chambers
Of Palwoinen, son of evil,
He began his wicked workings,
He engaged in lawless actions,
Raged against the blushing maidens,
Fired the youth to evil conduct,
Singed the beards of men and heroes. 
“Where the mother nursed her baby,
In the cold and cheerless cradle,
Thither flew the wicked Fire-child,
There to perpetrate some mischief;
In the cradle burned the infant,
By the infant burned the mother,
That the babe might visit Mana,
In the kingdom of Tuoni;
Said the child was born for dying,
Only destined for destruction,
Through the tortures of the Fire-child. 
Greater knowledge had the mother,
Did not journey to Manala,
Knew the word to check the red-flame,
How to banish the intruder
Through the eyelet of a needle,
Through the death-hole of the hatchet.” 
Then the ancient Wainamoinen
Questioned Ilmatar as follows: 
“Whither did the Fire-child wander,
Whither did the red-flame hasten,
From the border-fields of Turi,
To the woods, or to the waters? 
Straightway Ilmatar thus answers: 
“When the fire had fled from Turi,
From the castles of Palwoinen,
Through the eyelet of the needle,
Through the death-hole of the hatchet,
First it burned the fields, and forests,
Burned the lowlands, and the heather;
Then it sought the mighty waters,
Sought the Alue-sea and river,
And the waters hissed and sputtered
In their anger at the Fire-child,
Fiery red the boiling Alue! 
“Three times in the nights of, summer,
Nine times in the nights of autumn,
Boil the waters to the tree-tops,
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Kalevala : the Epic Poem of Finland — Complete from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.