Kalevala : the Epic Poem of Finland — Complete. Anonymous

had he finished speaking,

       Scarcely had he moved his eyelids,

       Ere the pigmy full unfolding,

       Quick becomes a mighty giant.

       With one step he leaves the ocean,

       Plants himself, a mighty hero,

       On the forest-fields surrounding;

       With his head the clouds he pierces,

       To his knees his beard extending,

       And his locks fall to his ankles;

       Far apart appear his eyeballs,

       Far apart his feet are stationed.

       Farther still his mighty shoulders.

       Now begins his axe to sharpen,

       Quickly to an edge he whets it,

       Using six hard blocks of sandstone,

       And of softer whetstones, seven.

       Straightway to the oak-tree turning,

       Thither stalks the mighty giant,

       In his raiment long and roomy,

       Flapping in the winds of heaven;

       With his second step he totters

       On the land of darker color;

       With his third stop firmly planted,

       Reaches he the oak-tree's branches,

       Strikes the trunk with sharpened hatchet,

       With one mighty swing he strikes it,

       With a second blow he cuts it;

       As his blade descends the third time,

       From his axe the sparks fly upward,

       From the oak-tree fire outshooting;

       Ere the axe descends a fourth time,

       Yields the oak with hundred branches,

       Shaking earth and heaven in falling.

       Eastward far the trunk extending,

       Far to westward flew the tree-tops,

       To the South the leaves were scattered,

       To the North its hundred branches.

       Whosoe'er a branch has taken,

       Has obtained eternal welfare;

       Who secures himself a tree-top,

       He has gained the master magic;

       Who the foliage has gathered,

       Has delight that never ceases.

       Of the chips some had been scattered,

       Scattered also many splinters,

       On the blue back of the ocean,

       Of the ocean smooth and mirrored,

       Rocked there by the winds and waters,

       Like a boat upon the billows;

       Storm-winds blew them to the Northland,

       Some the ocean currents carried.

       Northland's fair and slender maiden,

       Washing on the shore a head-dress,

       Beating on the rocks her garments,

       Rinsing there her silken raiment,

       In the waters of Pohyola,

       There beheld the chips and splinters,

       Carried by the winds and waters.

       In a bag the chips she gathered,

       Took them to the ancient court-yard,

       There to make enchanted arrows,

       Arrows for the great magician,

       There to shape them into weapons,

       Weapons for the skilful archer,

       Since the mighty oak has fallen,

       Now has lost its hundred branches,

       That the North may see the sunshine,

       See the gentle gleam of moonlight,

       That the clouds may keep their courses,

       May extend the vault of heaven

       Over every lake and river,

       O'er the banks of every island.

       Groves arose in varied beauty,

       Beautifully grew the forests,

       And again, the vines and flowers.

       Birds again sang in the tree-tops,

       Noisily the merry thrushes,

       And the cuckoos in the birch-trees;

       On the mountains grew the berries,

       Golden flowers in the meadows,

       And the herbs of many colors,

       Many kinds of vegetation;

       But the barley is not growing.

       Wainamoinen, old and trusty,

       Goes away and well considers,

       By the borders of the waters,

       On the ocean's sandy margin,

       Finds six seeds of golden barley,

       Even seven ripened kernels,

       On the shore of upper Northland,

       In the sand upon the sea-shore,

       Hides them in his trusty pouches,

       Fashioned from the skin of squirrel,

       Some were made from skin of marten;

       Hastens forth the seeds to scatter,

       Quickly sows the barley kernels,

       On the brinks of Kalew-waters,

       On the Osma-hills and lowlands.

       Hark! the titmouse wildly crying,

       From the aspen, words as follow:

       "Osma's barley will not flourish,

       Not the barley of Wainola,

       If the soil be not made ready,

       If the forest be not levelled,

       And the branches burned to ashes."

       Wainamoinen, wise and ancient,

       Made himself an axe for chopping,

       Then began to clear the forest,

       Then began the trees to level,

       Felled the trees of all descriptions,

       Only left the birch-tree standing

       For the birds a place of resting,

       Where might sing the sweet-voiced cuckoo,

       Sacred bird in sacred branches.

       Down from heaven came the eagle,

       Through the air be came a-flying,

       That he might this thing consider;

       And he spake the words that follow:

       "Wherefore, ancient Wainamoinen,

       Hast thou left the slender birch-tree,

       Left the birch-tree only standing?"

       Wainamoinen thus made answer:

       "Therefore is the birch left standing,

       That the birds may liest within it,

       That the eagle there may rest him,

       There may sing the sacred cuckoo."

       Spake the eagle, thus replying:

       Good indeed, thy hero-judgment,

       That the birch-tree thou hast left us,

       Left the sacred birch-tree standing,