From the trees the leaves were scattered,
And the pine-trees lost their needles,
And the heather lost its flowerets,
And the grasses lost their tassels, 480
And the black ooze was uplifted
To the sparkling water's surface.
Still the winds were wildly blowing,
And the waves assailed the vessel,
Swept away the harp of pikebone,
And the kantele of fish-fins,
Joy for Vellamo's attendants,
And to Ahtola a pleasure.
Ahto on the waves perceived it,
On the waves his children saw it, 490
And they took the harp so charming,
And unto their home conveyed it.
Then the aged Väinämöinen
From his eyes wept tears of sadness,
And he spoke the words which follow:
"Thus has gone what I constructed,
And my cherished harp has vanished,
And is lost my life-long pleasure.
Never will it happen to me,
In the course of all my lifetime 500
To rejoice again in pike-teeth,
Or to play on bones of fishes."
Thereupon smith Ilmarinen
Felt the very greatest sadness,
And he spoke the words which follow:
"Woe to me, this day unhappy,
That upon the lake I travel,
On this wide expanse of water,
That I tread on wood that's rolling,
And on planks that shake beneath me. 510
Now my hair has seen the tempest,
And my hair begins to shudder,
And my beard ill days has witnessed,
Which it saw upon the water,
Yet have we but seldom witnessed,
Such a storm as rages round us,
Witnessed such tremendous breakers,
Or have seen such foam-capped billows.
Let the wind be now my refuge,
And the waves have mercy on me." 520
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Heard his words, and thus responded:
"In the boat's no place for weeping,
Room is none for lamentation,
Weeping helps not in misfortune,
Howling, not when days are evil."
Then he spoke the words which follow,
And he sang and thus expressed him:
"Water, now restrain thy children,
And, O wave, do thou restrain them. 530
Ahto, do thou calm the billows,
Vellamo, o'ercome the waters,
That they splash not on our timbers,
Nor may overwhelm my boat-ribs.
"Rise, O wind, aloft to heaven,
And among the clouds disport thee,
To thy race, where thou wast nurtured,
To thy family and kindred.
Do not harm this wooden vessel,
Sink thou not this boat of pinewood. 540
Rather fell burnt trees in clearings,
On the slopes o'erthrow the pine-trees."
Then the lively Lemminkainen,
He the handsome Kaukomieli,
Spoke aloud the words which follow:
"Come, O eagle, thou from Turja,
Do thou bring three feathers with thee,
Three, O eagle, two, O raven,
To protect this little vessel,
To protect this bad boat's timbers." 550
He himself enlarged the bulwarks,
Fixed the timbers in their places,
And to these fresh boards he added,
And to fathom-height he raised them,
Higher than the waves were leaping,
Nor upon his beard they splashed him.
All his work was now completed,
And the bulwarks raised protecting,
Though the winds might blow most fiercely,
And the waves might beat in fury, 560
And the foam be wildly seething,
And like hillocks be uprising.