Argument
The moon and sun descend to listen to Väinämöinen's playing. The Mistress of Pohjola succeeds in capturing them, hides them in a mountain, and steals the fire from the homes of Kalevala (1-40). Ukko, the Supreme God, is surprised at the darkness in the sky, and kindles fire for a new moon and a new sun (41-82). The fire falls to the ground, and Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen go to search for it (83-126). The Virgin of the Air informs them that the fire has fallen into Lake Alue, and has been swallowed by a fish (127-312). Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen try to catch the fish with a net of bast, but without success (313-364).
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
On his kantele was playing,
Long he played, and long was singing,
And was ever full of gladness.
In the moon's house heard they playing
Came delight to the sun's window,
And the moon came from his dwelling,
Standing on a crooked birch-tree,
And the sun came from his castle,
Sitting on a fir-tree's summit, 10
To the kantele to listen,
Filled with wonder and rejoicing.
Louhi, Pohjola's old Mistress,
Old and gap-toothed dame of Pohja,
Set to work the sun to capture,
In her hands the moon seized likewise.
From the birch the moon she captured,
And the sun from fir-tree's summit;
Straightway to her home she brought them,
To the gloomy land of Pohja. 20
Then she hid the moon from shining,
In the mottled rocks she hid him,
Sang the sun to shine no longer,
Hidden in a steel-hard mountain;
And she spoke the words which follow:
"Never more again in freedom
Shall the moon arise for shining,
Nor the sun be free for shining,
If I come not to release them,
If I do not go to fetch them, 30
When I bring nine stallions with me,
Which a single mare has littered."
When the moon away was carried,
And the sun had been imprisoned
Deep in Pohjola's stone mountain,
In the rocks as hard as iron,
Then she stole away the brightness,
And from Väinölä the fires,
And she left the houses fireless,
And the rooms no flame illumined. 40
Therefore was the night unending,
And for long was utter darkness,
Night in Kalevala for ever,
And in Väinölä's fair dwellings,
Likewise in the heavens was darkness,
Darkness round the seat of Ukko.
Life without the fire was weary,
And without the light a burden,
Unto all mankind 'twas dismal,
And to Ukko's self 'twas dismal. 50
Ukko, then, of Gods the highest,
In the air the great Creator,
Now began to feel most strangely,
And he pondered and reflected,
What strange thing the moon had darkened,
How the sun had been obstructed,
That the moon would shine no longer,
And the sun had ceased his shining.