Page 1 of 5 KALEVALA
Translated by
John Martin Crawford
Transcribed by
Echo of Snac
Page 2 of 5 RUNE I, PART III
BIRTH OF WAINAMOINEN
When she ceased her
supplications,
Scarce a moment
onward passes,
Ere a beauteous
duck descending,
Hastens toward the
water-mother,
Comes a-flying hither,
thither,
Page 3 of 5 Seeks herself a place
for nesting.
Flies she eastward,
flies she westward,
Circles northward,
circles southward,
Cannot find a grassy
hillock,
Not the smallest bit
of verdure;
Cannot find a spot
protected,
Page 4 of 5 Cannot find a place
befitting,
Where to make her
nest in safety.
Flying slowly, looking
round her,
She descries no
place for resting,
Thinking loud and
long debating,
And her words are
such as follow:
Page 5 of 5 "Build I in the winds my
dwelling,
On the floods my
place of nesting?
Surely would the
winds destroy it,
Far away the waves
would wash it."
