MASTERED 1 by desire impulsive, | |
| By a mighty inward urging, | |
| I am ready now for singing, | |
| Ready to begin the chanting | |
| Of our nation’s ancient folk-song, | 5 |
| Handed down from bygone ages. | |
| In my mouth the words are melting, | |
| From my lips the tones are gliding, | |
| From my tongue they wish to hasten; | |
| When my willing teeth are parted, | 10 |
| When my ready mouth is opened, | |
| Songs of ancient wit and wisdom | |
| Hasten from me not unwilling. | |
| Golden friend, and dearest brother, | |
| Brother dear of mine in childhood, | 15 |
| Come and sing with me the stories, | |
| Come and chant with me the legends, | |
| Legends of the times forgotten, | |
| Since we now are here together, | |
| Come together from our roamings. | 20 |
| Seldom do we come for singing, | |
| Seldom to the one, the other, | |
| O’er this cold and cruel country, | |
| O’er the poor soil of the Northland. | |
| Let us clasp our hands together, | 25 |
| That we thus may best remember. | |
| Join we now in merry singing, | |
| Chant we now the oldest folk-lore, | |
| That the dear ones all may hear them, | |
| That the well-inclined may hear them, | 30 |
| Of this rising generation. | |
| These are words in childhood taught me, | |
| Songs preserved from distant ages; | |
| Legends they that once were taken | |
| From the belt of Wainamoinen, | 35 |
| From the forge of Ilmarinen, | |
| From the sword of Kaukomieli, | |
| From the bow of Youkahainen, | |
| From the pastures of the Northland, | |
| From the meads of Kalevala. | 40 |
| These my dear old father sang me | |
| When at work with knife and hatchet: | |
| These my tender mother taught me | |
| When she twirled the flying spindle, | |
| When a child upon the matting | 45 |
| By her feet I rolled and tumbled. | |
| Incantations were not wanting | |
| Over Sampo and o’er Louhi, | |
| Sampo growing old in singing, | |
| Louhi ceasing her enchantment. | 50 |
| In the songs died wise Wipunen, | |
| At the games died Lemminkainen. | |
| There are many other legends, | |
| Incantations that were taught me, | |
| That I found along the wayside, | 55 |
| Gathered in the fragrant copses, | |
| Blown me from the forest branches, | |
| Culled among the plumes of pine-trees, | |
| Scented from the vines and flowers, | |
| Whispered to me as I followed | 60 |
| Flocks in land of honeyed meadows, | |
| Over hillocks green and golden, | |
| After sable-haired Murikki, | |
| And the many-colored Kimmo. | |
| Many runes the cold has told me, | 65 |
| Many lays the rain has brought me, | |
| Other songs the winds have sung me; | |
| Many birds from many forests, | |
| Oft have sung me lays in concord; | |
| Waves of sea, and ocean billows, | 70 |
| Music from the many waters, | |
| Music from the whole creation, | |
| Oft have been my guide and master. | |
| Sentences the trees created, | |
| Rolled together into bundles, | 75 |
| Moved them to my ancient dwelling, | |
| On the sledges to my cottage, | |
| Tied them to my garret rafters, | |
| Hung them on my dwelling-portals, | |
| Laid them in a chest of boxes, | 80 |
| Boxes lined with shining copper. | |
| Long they lay within my dwelling | |
| Through the chilling winds of winter, | |
| In my dwelling-place for ages. | |
| Shall I bring these songs together? | 85 |
| From the cold and frost collect them? | |
| Shall I bring this nest of boxes, | |
| Keepers of these golden legends, | |
| To the table in my cabin, | |
| Underneath the painted rafters, | 90 |
| In this house renowned and ancient? | |
| Shall I now these boxes open, | |
| Boxes filled with wondrous stories? | |
| Shall I now the end unfasten | |
| Of this ball of ancient wisdom? | 95 |
| These ancestral lays unravel? | |
| Let me sing an old-time legend, | |
| That shall echo forth the praises | |
| Of the beer that I have tasted, | |
| Of the sparkling beer of barley, | 100 |
| Bring to me a foaming goblet | |
| Of the barley of my fathers, | |
| Lest my singing grow too weary, | |
| Singing from the water only. | |
| Bring me too a cup of strong beer; | 105 |
| It will add to our enchantment, | |
| To the pleasure of the evening, | |
| Northland’s long and dreary evening, | |
| For the beauty of the day-dawn, | |
| For the pleasures of the morning, | 110 |
| The beginning of the new day. | |
