ld her who they were, and that they had lost all fire and
light in Kalevala, so that they were come to seek the fire that they had
seen fall from the heavens. Then the Ether-maiden told them what had
happened, saying: 'After the Fire-child had begun to grow, he escaped
from us one day and bursting through the clouds he came down to
Pohjola. There he killed youths and babes and old people, until he was
driven away by a magic spell. He fled thence, burning fields and forests
on his way, until at length he plunged into a great lake, and made the
waters boil and rage. Then the fish held a council how to get rid of
him, and it was decided that one of them must swallow him. First the
salmon tried, but failed, and then the bold whiting made a dash and
succeeded in swallowing the evil Fire-child. After this the waters of
the lake grew quiet, and all went on as before.

'But soon the whiting was seized with terrible pains and began to swim
round in agony, begging for some one to kill him and put him out of his
sufferings. For a long time he swam about unheeded, but at last a trout
seized the whiting and swallowed him. For a while all was quiet again,
but then the trout began to suffer in his turn. Still every fish was
afraid to swallow him, until a pike darted up and ate up the trout. But
then the pike was seized with the same pains, and he is now swimming
about in great agony, but none will help him.'

When the Ether-maiden had finished her account of what had happened,
Wainamoinen and Ilmarinen wove a great net from seaweed, and hurrying to
the lake they began to draw the net all through it in order to catch
the Fire-fish. But the net was a poor one, and they failed to catch the
pike that had swallowed the other fish and the Fire-child.

Then the two magicians gave up their useless net, and, choosing an
island near by, they resolved to plant flax that they might make a
stronger and better net. They went to Tuoni's kingdom before they could
find the proper seed, and found it there under the care of a tiny
insect. When they had brought the seed from the Deathland, they planted
it on the shore, in the ashes of a ship that had been burnt there, and
in a single night the flax had grown up and ripened. Then they pulled
it, and washed and dried and combed it, and took it to the Kalevala
maidens to spin. Soon the spinning was done and the net was woven.

So the two great heroes took the flaxen net and hastened back to the
lake and