Poor iron did not hide in old Väinämöinen's belt,
In his tripartite scabbard — not there certainly.
Poor iron did not hide
Inside a youthful maiden's paps, under a growing maiden's arm,
Upon a long bank of cloud, upon an oak tree's level head.
Iron did not hide there, nor yet in yonder place
Inside a blue ewe, in the belly of a copper sheep.
In the bosom of a blue [v. red] pig.
It certainly did not hide in the sea, under deep billows.
Inside a blue guiniad,[1] in the bosom of a red salmon.
Nor yet exactly in the sky, above six speckled firmaments,
{Inside a blue fox, inside a golden tall-crowned hat,
v. in the belly of a golden cock.
There, then, iron hid, both hid and saved itself,
In the interval between two stumps, under a birch tree's triple root.
{On a land devoid of knolls, on a land wholly unknown,
v. In dark Pohjola, in Lapland's widely reaching bounds,
Where a hazel grouse keeps her nest — a hen rears her young.
A wolf raised mould from a swamp, a bear dug some from a heath.
Iron-ore (F. rust) sprang up there, a bar of steel grew
From where the wolf has raised its foot, from the dint of the bear's heel.
It may have been brought to a smithy — may have been cast into a forge fire.
Then iron was produced from it — steel was undoubtedly obtained.
(d.)
Formerly much land was burnt, much land, much swamp,
In a summer bad for forest fires, in a hapless conflagration year.
A little bit remained unburnt
On a wild mountain top, on the greatest reach of swamp.
One wretched man remained upon the spot unburnt.
Already a little of him was burnt.
- ↑ Salmo l. Corregonus lavaretus.
