Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Answered in the words which follow:
"If you will not share the Sampo,
Give us half to carry with us,
Then the Sampo, all entire,
To our vessel will we carry."
Louhi, Pohjola's old Mistress,
Heard him with the greatest anger, 60
Called together all her people,
Summoned all her youthful swordsmen,
Bade them all to aim their weapons
At the head of Väinämöinen.
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Took the kantele and played it,
Down he sat and played upon it,
And began a tune delightful.
All who listened to his playing
Heard it with delight and wonder, 70
And the men were all delighted,
And the women's mouths were laughing.
Tears from heroes' eyes were falling,
Boys upon the ground were kneeling.
At the last their strength forsook them,
And the people all were wearied,
All the listeners sank in slumber,
On the ground sank all beholders,
Slept the old and slept the youthful,
All at Väinämöinen's playing. 80
Then the crafty Väinämöinen,
He the great primeval minstrel,
Put his hand into his pocket,
And he drew his purse from out it,
And sleep-needles took he from it,
And their eyes he plunged in slumber,
And their eyelashes crossed tightly,
Locked their eyelids close together,
Sank the people all in slumber.
Into sleep he plunged the heroes, 90
And they sank in lasting slumber,
And he plunged in lasting slumber
All the host of Pohja's people,
All the people of the village.
Then he went to fetch the Sampo,
And behold its pictured cover,
There in Pohjola's stone mountain,
And within the hill of copper.
Nine the locks that there secured it,
Bars secured it, ten in number. 100
Then the aged Väinämöinen
Gently set himself to singing
At the copper mountain's entrance,
There beside the stony fortress,
And the castle doors were shaken,
And the iron hinges trembled.
Thereupon smith Ilmarinen,
Aided by the other heroes,
Overspread the locks with butter,
And with bacon rubbed the hinges, 110
That the doors should make no jarring,
And the hinges make no creaking.
Then the locks he turned with fingers,
And the bars and bolts he lifted,
And he broke the locks to pieces,
And the mighty doors were opened.
Then the aged Väinämöinen
Spoke aloud the words which follow:
"O thou lively son of Lempi,
Of my friends the most illustrious, 120
Come thou here to take the Sampo,
And to seize the pictured cover."
Then the lively Lemminkainen,
He the handsome Kaukomieli,
Always eager, though unbidden,
Ready, though men did not praise him,
Came to carry off the Sampo,
And to seize the pictured cover,
And he said as he was coming,
Boasted as he hastened forward, 130
"O, I am a man of mettle,
And a hero-son of Ukko!
I can surely move the Sampo,
And can seize its pictured cover,
Standing on my right foot only,
If I touch it with my shoe-heel."