Kalevala (Kirby 1907)/Runo 39
Runo XXXIX.—The Expedition against Pohjola
Argument
Väinämöinen persuades Ilmarinen to go with him to Pohjola to bring away the Sampo. Ilmarinen consents, and the heroes start off on their journey in a boat (1-330). Lemminkainen hails them from the shore, and on hearing where they are going, proposes to join them, and is accepted as a third comrade (331-426).
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Uttered then the words which follow:
“O thou smith, O Ilmarinen,
Unto Pohjola we’ll travel,
And will seize this splendid Sampo,
And behold its pictured cover.”
Thereupon smith Ilmarinen
Answered in the words which follow:
“No, we cannot seize the Sampo,
Cannot bring the pictured cover,10
From the gloomy land of Pohja,
Sariola for ever misty.
There the Sampo has been carried,
And removed the pictured cover
Unto Pohjola’s stone mountain,
And within the hill of copper.
There by nine locks is it fastened,
And three roots have sprouted from it,
Firmly fixed, nine fathoms deeply.
In the earth the first is rooted,20
By the water’s edge the second,
And the third within the home-hill.”
Said the aged Väinämöinen,
“O thou smith, my dearest brother,
Unto Pohjola we’ll travel,
And will carry off the Sampo.
Let us build a ship enormous,
Fit to carry off the Sampo,
And convey the pictured cover,
Forth from Pohjola’s stone mountain,30
From within the hill of copper,
And the ninefold locks that hold it.”
Said the smith, said Ilmarinen,
“Safest is by land the journey.
Lempo on the lake is brooding,
Death upon its mighty surface,
And the wind might drive us onward,
And the tempest might o’erturn us;
We might have to row with fingers,
And to use our hands for steering.”40
Said the aged Väinämöinen,
“Safest is by land the journey,
Safest, but the most fatiguing,
And moreover, full of windings.
Pleasant ’tis in boat on water,
Swaying as the boat glides onward,
Gliding o’er the sparkling water,
Driving o’er its shining surface,
While the wind the boat is rocking,
And the waves drive on the vessel,50
While the west-wind rocks it gently,
And the south-wind drives it onward,
But let this be as it may be,
If you do not like the lake-voyage,
We by land can journey thither,
And along the shore can journey.
“First a new sword do you forge me,
Make me now a keen-edged weapon,
So that I with beasts can struggle,
Chase away the folks of Pohja.60
Forth I go to seize the Sampo,
From the cold and dismal village,
From the gloomy land of Pohja,
Sariola for ever misty.”
Thereupon smith Ilmarinen
He the great primeval craftsman,
Cast some iron in the fire,
Steel upon the glowing charcoal,
And of gold he took a handful,
And of silver took a handful,70
Set the slaves to work the bellows,
And he made the labourers press them.
Worked the slaves the bellows strongly,
Well the labourers pressed the bellows,
Till like soup spread out the iron,
And like dough the steel was yielding,
And the silver shone like water,
And the gold swelled up like billows.
Thereupon smith Ilmarinen,
He the great primeval craftsman,80
Stooped to look into the furnace,
At the edges of the bellows,
And he saw a sword was forming,
With a hilt of gold constructed.
From the fire he took the weapon,
Took the work so finely fashioned,
From the furnace to the anvil,
To the hammer and the mallet,
Forged the sword as he would wish it,
And a blade the best of any,90
And with finest gold inlaid it,
And with silver he adorned it.
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Entered then to view the weapon,
And he found a keen-edged sword-blade.
Straightway in his hand he raised it,
And he turned it and surveyed it,
And he spoke the words which follow:
“Does this sword befit a hero,
Is the sword to bearer suited?“100
And the sword the hero suited,
Well did it befit the bearer.
On its point the moon was shining,
On its side the sun was shining,
On the haft the stars were gleaming,
At the tip a horse was neighing,
On the knob a cat was mewing,
On the sheath a dog was barking.
After this the sword he brandished,
And he cleft an iron mountain,110
And he spoke the words which follow:
“Thus, with such a blade as this is,
Can I cleave the mountains open,
Cleave the rocky hills asunder.”
After this did Ilmarinen
Speak aloud the words which follow:
“How shall I myself, unhappy,
How shall I, the weak, defend me,
And shall armour me, and belt me,
’Gainst the risks of land and water?120
Shall I clothe myself in armour,
In a coat of mail the strongest,
Gird a belt of steel around me?
Stronger is a man in armour,
In a coat of mail is better,
With a belt of steel more mighty.”
Then arrived the time for starting,
And preparing for departure;
First the aged Väinämöinen,
Secondly smith Ilmarinen,130
And they went to seek the courser,
And to find the yellow-maned one,
And the one-year old to bridle,
And to see the foal was rough-shod.
Then they went to seek the courser,
Went to seek him in the forest,
And they gazed around them keenly,
And they sought around the blue wood,
Found the horse among the bushes,
Found the yellow-maned in firwood.140
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Secondly smith Ilmarinen,
On his head the bit adjusted,
And the one-year old they bridled,
And they drove upon their journey.
On the shore drove both the heroes,
On the shore they heard lamenting,
From the haven heard complaining.
Then the aged Väinämöinen
Spoke aloud the words which follow:150
“Perhaps it is a girl complaining,
Or perchance a dove lamenting.
Shall we go to look about us,
Shall we nearer go to listen?”
Therefore to the spot they sauntered,
Nearer went to gaze around them,
But no maiden there was weeping,
And no dove was there lamenting,
But they found a vessel weeping,
And a boat was there lamenting.160
Said the aged Väinämöinen
As he went towards the vessel,
“Wherefore weep, O wooden vessel,
Boat with rowlocks, why lamentest?
Dost thou weep that thou art clumsy,
And art dreaming at thy moorings?”
Then the wooden boat made answer,
Thus replied the boat with rowlocks:
“Know, a vessel longs for water,
And its tarry sides desire it,170
As a maiden may be longing
For the fine home of a husband.
Therefore weeps the boat unhappy,
And the hapless boat lamenteth,
And I weep to speed through water,
And to float upon the billows.
“It was said when I was fashioned,
When my boards were sung together,
That I should become a warship,
And should be employed for warboat,180
And should bear the plunder homeward,
In my hold should carry treasure,
But I have not been in battle,
Neither have been stored with plunder.
“Other boats, and even bad ones,
Always wander forth to battle,
And are led to battle-struggle
Three times in the course of summer,
And return with money loaded,
In their hold they carry treasure,190
But for me, though well constructed,
Of a hundred boards constructed,
Here upon my rests I’m rotting,
Lying idly at my moorings,
And the worst worms of the country
Underneath my ribs are lurking,
While the birds, of all most horrid,
In my masts their nests are building,
All the toads from out the forest
Over all my deck are leaping.200
Twice it had been better for me,
Two or three times were it better
Had I been a mountain pine-tree,
Or upon the heath a fir-tree,
With a squirrel in my branches,
Underneath my boughs a puppy.”
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Answered in the words which follow:
“Do not weep, O wooden vessel,
Fret thyself, O boat with rowlocks! 210
Soon shalt thou go forth to battle,
There to mix in furious conflict.
Boat, who wast by builder fashioned,
’Twas this gift the builder gave thee,
That thy prow should reach the water,
And thy sides the billows traverse,
Even though no hand should touch thee,
Neither arm be thrust against thee,
Though no shoulder should direct thee,
And although no arm should guide thee.”220
Then replied the wooden vessel,
Answered thus the boat with rowlocks:
“None of all my race so mighty,
Neither will the boats, my brothers,
Move unpushed into the water,
Nor unrowed upon the billows,
If no hand is laid upon us,
And no arm should urge us forward.”
Said the aged Väinämöinen,
“If I push you in the water,230
Will you make, unrowed, your journey,
Unassisted by the oars,
By the rudder undirected,
When the sails no breeze is filling?”
Answer made the wooden vessel,
Thus replied the boat with rowlocks:
“None of all my race so noble,
Nor the host of other vessels,
Speed along unrowed by fingers,
Unassisted by the oars,240
By the rudder undirected,
When the sails no breeze is filling.”
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Answered in the words which follow:
“Can you speed if some one rows you,
If assisted by the oars,
By the rudder if directed,
When the sails the breeze is filling?“
Answered then the wooden vessel,
Thus replied the boat with rowlocks:250
“Yes, my race would hasten onward,
All the other boats my brothers,
Speed along if rowed by fingers,
If assisted by the oars,
By the rudder if directed,
When the sails the breeze is filling.”
Then the aged Väinämöinen
Left his horse upon the sandhills,
On a tree he fixed the halter,
Tied the reins upon the branches,260
Pushed the boat into the water,
Sang the vessel in the billows,
And he asked the wooden vessel,
And he spoke the words which follow:
“O thou boat, of shape so curving,
O thou wooden boat with rowlocks,
Art thou just as fit to bear us,
As thyself art fair to gaze on?”
Answered thus the wooden vessel,
Thus replied the boat with rowlocks:270
“I am fitted well to bear you,
And my floor is very spacious,
And a hundred men might row me,
And a thousand others stand there.”
So the aged Väinämöinen
Softly then began to carol,
Sang on one side of the vessel
Handsome youths, with hair brushed smoothly,
Hair smoothed down and hands all hardened,
And their feet were finely booted;280
Sang on other side of vessel
Girls with tin upon their head-dress,
Head-dress tin, and belts of copper,
Golden rings upon their fingers;
And again sang Väinämöinen,
Till the seats were full of people,
Some were very aged people,
Men whose lives were nearly over,
But for these the space was scanty,
For the young folks came before them.290
In the stern himself he seated,
Sat behind the birchwood vessel,
And he steered the vessel onward,
And he spoke the words which follow:
“Speed thou on through treeless regions,
O’er the wide expanse of water,
O’er the lake do thou float lightly,
As on waves a water-lily.”
Then he set the youths to rowing,
But he left the maidens resting;300
Rowed the youths, and bent the oars,
Yet the vessel moved not onward.
Then he set the girls to rowing,
But he left the youths reposing;
Rowed the girls, and bent their fingers,
Yet the vessel moved not onward.
Then the old folks set to rowing,
While the young folks gazed upon them;
Rowed they till their heads were shaking,
Still the vessel moved not onward.310
Thereupon smith Ilmarinen
Sat him down, and set to rowing;
Now moved on the wooden vessel,
Sped the boat and made good progress,
Far was heard the splash of oars,
Far the splashing of the rudder.
On he rowed, while splashed the water,
Cracked the seats, and shook the planking,
Clashed the mountain-ashwood oars,
Creaked like hazel-grouse the rudders,320
And their tips like cry of blackcock.
Like a swan the prow clove onward,
Croaked the stern as croaks a raven,
Hissed the rowlocks just as geese hiss.
And the aged Väinämöinen
Steered the vessel quickly onward,
From the stern of the red vessel,
With the aid of the strong rudder,
Till they saw a cliff before them,
And perceived a wretched village.330
On the cape was Ahti dwelling,
In its bend was Kauko living,
Weeping that the fish had failed him,
Weeping that the bread had failed him;
For the smallness of his storehouse,
Wept the scamp his wretched fortune.
At a boat’s planks he was working,
At a new boat’s keel was working,
On this hungry promontory,
And beside the wretched village.340
Very keen was Ahti’s hearing,
But his sight was even keener;
As he gazed afar to north-west,
And to south his head was turning,
Suddenly he saw a rainbow,
And a single cloud beyond it;
What he saw was not a rainbow,
Nor a little cloud beyond it;
But a boat that speeded swiftly,
And a vessel rushing onward350
O’er the broad lake’s shining surface,
Out upon the open water,
In the stern a noble hero,
And a handsome man was rowing.
Said the lively Lemminkainen,
“What this boat may be I know not,
Whose may be this handsome vessel,
Which is hither rowed from Suomi,
From the east, with strokes of oars,
And its rudder to the north-west.”360
Then with all his might he shouted,
Shouted, and continued shouting,
From the cape the hero shouted,
Shouted loudly o’er the water,
“Whose the boat that cleaves the water,
Whose the vessel on the billows?“
From the boat the men made answer,
And the women answered likewise,
“Who art thou, O forest-dweller,
Hero, breaking through the thicket,370
That thou dost not know this vessel,
Whose from Väinöla this vessel,
Dost not even know the steersman,
Nor the hero at the oars?”
Said the lively Lemminkainen,
“Now do I perceive the steersman,
And I recognize the oarsman.
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
In the vessel’s stern is sitting,
Ilmarinen at the oars.380
Whither then away, O heroes,
Whither do you journey, heroes?”
Said the aged Väinämöinen,
“To the northward do we journey,
Journey through the foaming billows,
And above the foam-flecked billows.
Forth we go to seize the Sampo,
Gaze upon its pictured cover,
There in Pohjola’s stone mountain,
And within the hill of copper.”390
Said the lively Lemminkainen,
“O thou aged Väinämöinen,
Take me with you as your comrade,
As the third among the heroes,
When you go to seize the Sampo,
Bear away the pictured cover.
Perhaps my manly sword may aid you,
In the combat may be useful,
As my hands may bear you witness,
And my shoulders witness to you.”400
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Took the man upon his journey,
In the boat he took the rascal,
And the lively Lemminkainen
Hurried on to climb upon it,
And he hastened quick to board it,
And his planks he carried with him
To the boat of Väinämöinen.
Said the aged Väinämöinen,
“In my boat is wood in plenty,410
Planks sufficient for the vessel,
And besides ’tis heavy laden.
Wherefore do you bring more planking,
Bringing timber to the vessel?”
Said the lively Lemminkainen,
“Foresight will not sink the vessel,
Nor o’erturns a prop the haystack.
Often on the lake of Pohja,
Does the wind destroy the planking,
When the sides are dashed together.”420
Said the aged Väinämöinen,
“Therefore in a ship for battle,
Are the sides composed of iron,
And the prow of steel constructed,
Lest the wind aside should turn it,
Storms should shatter it to pieces.”