“Is there any in this household,
Who can heal the wounds of iron,
Who can check this rushing bloodstream,
And can stay the dark red torrent?”270
By the stove an old man rested,
On the stove-bed lay a greybeard,
From the stove the old man mumbled,
And the greybeard cried in answer,
“Stemmed before were greater torrents,
Greater floods than this were hindered,
By three words of the Creator,
By the mighty words primeval.
Brooks and streams were checked from flowing,
Mighty streams in cataracts falling,280
Bays were formed in rocky headlands,
Tongues of land were linked together.”
Runo IX.—The Origin of Iron
Argument
Väinämöinen repeats to the old man the legend of the origin of iron (1-266). The old man reviles the iron and repeats spells for the stopping of blood, and the flow of blood is stayed (267-416). The old man directs his son to prepare a salve, and dresses and binds up the wound. Väinämöinen is cured, and thanks Jumala for his merciful assistance (417-586).
Then the aged Väinämöinen
In the sledge at once stood upright,
From the sledge he sprang unaided,
And courageously stood upright.
To the room he hastened quickly,
And beneath the roof he hurried.
There they brought a silver beaker,
And a golden goblet likewise,
But they proved by far too little,
Holding but the smallest measure10
Of the blood of aged Väinö,
From the hero’s foot that spouted.
