Who shall dare to come to try him,
Test him, and pass sentence on him?
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
He the great primeval sorcerer,
He alone came forth to try him,
And to test him and pass sentence.
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Sentence gave in words that follow:
"As the boy from marsh has risen,
From the ground, and from a berry, 450
On the ground they now shall lay him,
Where the hills are thick with berries,
Or shall to the swamps conduct him,
On the trees his head to shatter."
Then the half-month old spoke loudly,
And the fortnight-old cried loudly:
"O thou old and wretched creature,
Wretched old man, void of insight,
O how stupid is your judgment,
How contemptible thy sentence! 460
Thou hast grievous crimes committed,
Likewise deeds of greatest folly,
Yet to swamps they did not lead thee,
Shattered not thy head on tree-trunks,
When thyself, in youthful folly,
Gave the child of thine own mother,
That thou thus mightst 'scape destruction,
And release thyself in thiswise.
"And again thou wast not carried,
And abandoned in the marshes, 470
When thyself in youthful folly,
Caused the young maids to be sunken,
In the depths beneath the billows,
To the black ooze at the bottom."
Then the old man quickly crossed him,
Quick baptized the child with water,
As the king of all Carelia,
And the lord of all the mighty.
Then was Väinämöinen angry,
Greatly shamed and greatly angry, 480
And prepared himself to journey
From the lake's extended margin,
And began his songs of magic,
For the last time sang them loudly,
Sang himself a boat of copper,
With a copper deck provided.
In the stern himself he seated,
Sailing o'er the sparkling billows,
Still he sang on his departure,
And he sang as he was sailing: 490
"May the time pass quickly o'er us,
One day passes, comes another,
And again shall I be needed.
Men will look for me, and miss me,
To construct another Sampo,
And another harp to make me,
Make another moon for gleaming,
And another sun for shining.
When the sun and moon are absent,
In the air no joy remaineth." 500
Then the aged Väinämöinen
Went upon his journey singing,
Sailing in his boat of copper,
In his vessel made of copper,
Sailed away to loftier regions,
To the land beneath the heavens.
There he rested with his vessel,
Rested weary, with his vessel,
But his kantele he left us,
Left his charming harp in Suomi, 510
For his people's lasting pleasure,
Mighty songs for Suomi's children.