Kalevala (Kirby 1907)/Runo 47
Runo XLVII.—The Robbery of the Sun and Moon
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 Väinöla 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 Väinöla’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.
Then he stepped to cloudland’s borders,
On the borders of the heavens,60
Wearing now his pale blue stockings,
With the heels of varied colour,
And he went the moon to seek for,
And he went to find the sunlight,
Yet he could not find the moonlight,
Nor the sun he could discover.
In the air a light struck Ukko,
And a flame did Ukko kindle,
From his flaming sword he struck it,
Sparks he struck from off the sword-blade,70
From his nails he struck the fire,
From his limbs he made it crackle,
High above aloft in heaven,
On the starry plains of heaven.
When the fire had thus been kindled,
Then he took the spark of fire,
In his golden purse he thrust it,
Placed it in his silver casket,
And he bade the maiden rock it,
Told the maid of air to rock it,80
That a new moon might be fashioned,
And a new sun be constructed.
On the long cloud’s edge she sat her,
On the air-marge sat the maiden,
There it was she rocked the fire,
There she rocked the glowing brightness,
In a golden cradle rocked it,
With a silver cord she rocked it.
Then the silver props were shaken,
Rocked about the golden cradle,90
Moved the clouds and creaked the heavens,
And the props of heaven were swaying,
With the rocking of the fire,
And the rocking of the brightness.
Thus the maid the fire was rocking,
And she rocked the fire to brightness,
With her fingers moved the fire,
With her hands the fire she tended,
And the stupid maiden dropped it,
Dropped the flame the careless maiden,100
From her hands the fire dropped downward
From the fingers of its guardian.
Then the sky was cleft asunder,
All the air was filled with windows,
Burst asunder by the fire-sparks,
As the red drop quick descended,
And a gap gleamed forth in heaven,
As it through the clouds dropped downward,
Through nine heavens the drop descended,
Through six spangled vaults of heaven.110
Said the aged Väinämöinen,
“Smith and brother, Ilmarinen,
Let us go and gaze around us,
And the cause perchance discover,
What the fire that just descended,
What the strange flame that has fallen
From the lofty height of heaven,
And to earth beneath descended.
Of the moon ’tis perhaps a fragment,
Of the sun perchance a segment.”120
Thereupon set forth the heroes,
And they wandered on, reflecting
How they might perchance discover,
How they might succeed in finding,
Where the fire had just descended,
Where the brightness had dropped downward.
And a river flowed before them,
And became a lake extensive,
And the aged Väinämöinen
Straight began a boat to fashion,130
In the wood he worked upon it,
And beside him Ilmarinen
Made a rudder out of firwood,
Made it from a log of pinewood.
Thus the boat at length was ready,
Rowlocks, rudder all completed,
And they pushed it in the water,
And they rowed and steered it onward,
All along the river Neva,
Steering round the Cape of Neva.140
Ilmatar, the lovely damsel,
Eldest Daughter of Creation,
Then advanced to meet the heroes,
And in words like these addressed them:
“Who among mankind may ye be?
By what names do people call you?”
Said the aged Väinämöinen,
“You may look on us as sailors.
I am aged Väinämöinen,
Ilmarinen, smith, is with me,150
But inform us of your kindred;
By what name do people call you?“
Then the matron made them answer,
“I am oldest of all women,
Of the air the oldest damsel,
And the first of all the mothers.
Five times now have I been married,
Six times as a bride attired.
Whither do you take your journey,
Whither, heroes, are you going?”160
Said the aged Väinämöinen,
And he spoke the words which follow:
“All our fires have been extinguished,
And their flames died down in darkness,
Long already were we fireless,
And in darkness were we hidden,
But at length have we determined
That the fire we ought to seek for,
Which has just dropped down from heaven,
From above the clouds has fallen.”170
Then the woman gave them answer,
And she spoke the words which follow:
“Hard it is to track the fire,
And the bright flame to discover.
It has evil wrought already,
And the flame has crime committed,
For the red spark has shot downward,
And the red ball has descended
From the realms of the Creator,
Where it was by Ukko kindled,180
Through the level plains of heaven,
Through the void aerial spaces,
Downwards through the sooty smoke-hole,
Downward through the seasoned roof-tree
Of the new-built house of Tuuri,
Of a wretched roofless dwelling.
“When the fire at length came thither,
In the new-built house of Tuuri,
Evil deeds he then accomplished,
Shocking deeds he then accomplished,190
Burning up the maidens’ bosoms,
Tearing at the breasts of maidens,
And the knees of boys destroying,
And the master’s beard consuming.
“And her child the mother suckled,
In a cradle of misfortune.
Thither, too, the fire rushed onward,
And its evil work accomplished,
In the cradle burned the baby,
Burning, too, the mother’s bosom,200
And the child went off to Mana,
And the boy went straight to Tuoni.
Thus it was the infant perished,
And was cast into destruction,
In the red flame’s fiery torture,
In the anguish of its glowing.
“Great the knowledge of the mother,
And to Manala she went not.
Means she knew to ban the fire,
And to drive away its glowing,210
Through the little eye of needle,
And across the back of axe-blade,
Through the sheath of glowing sword-blade,
Past the ploughed land did she drive it.”
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Heard her words, and then made answer:
“Whither has the fire retreated,
Whither did the pest take refuge,
Was it in the field of Tuuri,
In a lake, or in a forest?”220
Then the matron made him answer,
And she spoke the words which follow:
“When from thence the fire departed,
And the flame went wandering onward,
First it burned o’er many districts,
Many districts, many marshes,
Rushed at last into the water,
In the billows of Lake Alue,
And the fire rose up all flaming,
And the sparks arose all crackling.230
“Three times in the nights of summer,
Nine times in the nights of autumn,
Rose the lake the height of fir-trees,
Roaring rose above the lake-banks,
With the strength of furious fire,
With the strength of heat all flaming.
“On the bank were thrown the fishes,
On the rocks the perch were stranded,
And the fishes looked around them,
And the perch were all reflecting240
How they could continue living.
Perch were weeping for their dwellings,
Fish were weeping for their homesteads,
Perches for their rocky castles.
“And the perch with back all crooked,
Tried to seize the streak of fire,
But the perch was not successful;
Seized upon it the blue powan.
Down he gulped the streak of fire,
And extinguished thus its brightness.250
“Then retired the Lake of Alue,
And fell back from all its margins,
Sinking to its former level
In a single night of summer.
“When a little time passed over,
Fire-pain seized on the devourer,
Anguish came upon the swallower,
Grievous suffering on the eater.
“Up and down the fish swam turning,
Swam for one day and a second,260
All along the powan’s island,
Clefts in rocks where flock the salmon,
To the points of capes a thousand,
Bays among a hundred islands.
Every cape made declaration,
Every island spoke in thiswise:
“‘Nowhere in these sluggish waters,
In the narrow Lake of Alue,
Can the wretched fish be swallowed,
Or the hapless one may perish270
In the torture of the fire,
In the anguish of its glowing.’
“But a salmon-trout o’erheard it,
And the powan blue he swallowed.
When a little time passed over,
Fire-pain seized on the devourer,
Anguish came upon the swallower,
Grievous suffering on the eater.
“Up and down the fish swam turning,
Swam for one day and a second,280
Through the clefts where flock the salmon,
And the depths where sport the fishes,
To the points of capes a thousand,
Bays among a hundred islands.
Every cape made declaration,
Every island spoke in thiswise:
“‘Nowhere in these sluggish waters,
In the narrow Lake of Alue,
Can the wretched fish be swallowed,
Or the hapless one may perish290
In the pain of burning fire,
In the anguish of its glowing.’
“But a grey pike hurried forward,
And the salmon-trout he swallowed.
When a little time passed over,
Fire-pain seized on the devourer,
Anguish came upon the swallower,
Grievous suffering on the eater.
“Up and down the fish swam turning,
Swam for one day and a second,300
Past the cliffs where flock the seagulls,
And the rocks where sport the seamews,
To the points of capes a thousand,
Bays among a hundred islands.
Every cape made declaration,
Every island spoke in thiswise:
“‘Nowhere in these sluggish waters,
In the narrow Lake of Alue,
Can the wretched fish be swallowed,
Or the hapless one may perish310
In the pain of burning fire,
In the anguish of its glowing.’”
Then the aged Väinämöinen,
Secondly, smith Ilmarinen,
Wove a net of bast constructed,
Which from juniper they gathered,
Steeped it in the juice of willow,
And of sallow-bark they made it.
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast
Sent the women to the drag-net;320
To the net there went the women,
Sisters came to draw the drag-net;
And he steered, and glided onward
Past the capes and round the islands,
To the clefts where flock the salmon,
And along the powan’s island,
Where the red-brown reeds are waving,
And among the beauteous rushes.
Eager now to make a capture,
Then he cast the net and sunk it,330
But he cast the net out twisted,
And in wrong direction drew it,
And the fish they could not capture,
Though with eagerness they laboured.
In the water went the brothers,
To the net the men proceeded,
And they swung it and they pushed it,
And they pulled it and they dragged it,
Through the deeps, and rocky places,
Drew it o’er Kalevala’s shingle;340
But the fish they could not capture;
Not the fish so greatly needed.
Came the grey pike never near them,
Neither on the placid water,
Nor upon its ample surface;
Fish are small, and nets not many.
Now the fish were all complaining;
Said one pike unto another,
And the powan asked the ide-fish,
And one salmon asked another:350
“Can the famous men have perished,
Perished Kaleva’s great children,
They who drag the net of linen,
And of yarn have made the fish-net,
With long poles who beat the water,
With long sticks who move the waters?”
Old and famous Väinämöinen
Answered in the words which follow:
“No, the heroes have not perished,
Kaleva’s great race has died not,360
When one dies, is born another,
And the best of staves they carry,
Longer sticks to sound the water,
And their nets are twice as fearful.”