When the aged Väinämöinen
Thus upon his harp was playing, 250
Fine his hands, his fingers tender,
And his fingers curving outwards,
Then rang out the wood so speckled,
Sang the sapling green full loudly,
Loudly called the golden cuckoo,
And rejoiced the hair of maiden.
Thus played Väinämöinen's fingers,
And the harp-strings loud resounded,
Mountains shook and plains resounded,
All the rocky hills resounded, 260
In the waves the stones were rocking,
In the water moved the gravel,
And the pine-trees were rejoicing,
On the heath the stumps were skipping.
All of Kaleva's step-daughters,
All the fair ones flocked together,
And in streams they rushed together,
Like a river in its flowing.
Merry laughed the younger women,
And the mothers all were joyful, 270
As they heard the music playing,
And they wondered at their pleasure.
Likewise many men were present,
In their hands their caps all holding,
All the old dames in the party
To their sides their hands were holding,
And the maidens' eyes shed tear-drops,
On the ground the boys were kneeling,
To the kantele all listening,
And they wondered at their pleasure. 280
With one voice they all were singing,
With one tongue they all repeated:
"Never have we heard aforetime,
Heard before such charming music,
In the course of all our lifetime,
When the brilliant moon was shining."
Far was heard the charming music,
In six villages they heard it,
There was not a single creature
But it hurried forth to listen, 290
And to hear the charming music
From the kantele resounding.
All the wild beasts of the forest
Upright on their claws were resting
To the kantele to listen,
And they wondered at their pleasure.
All the birds in air then flying,
Perched upon the neighbouring branches,
All the fish that swam the waters,
To the margin hastened quickly, 300
And the worms in earth then creeping,
Up above the ground then hastened,
And they turned themselves and listened,
Listened to the charming music,
In the kantele rejoicing,
And in Väinämöinen's singing.
Then the aged Väinämöinen
Played in his most charming manner,
Most melodiously resounding;
And he played one day, a second, 310
Playing on, without cessation,
Every morning after breakfast,
Girded with the selfsame girdle,
And the same shirt always wearing.
When he in his house was playing,
In his house of fir constructed,
All the roofs resounded loudly,
And the boards resounded likewise,
Ceilings sang, the doors were creaking,
All the windows were rejoicing, 320
And the hearthstones all were moving,
Birchwood columns sang in answer.
When he walked among the pinewoods,
And he wandered through the firwoods,
All the pines bowed down before him,
To the very ground the fir-trees;
On the grass the cones rolled round him,
On the roots the needles scattered.