r with my hanger,
With my sword will I despatch her."

But the sword perceived his object,
Understood the hero's language,
And it spoke the words which follow:
"Not for this was I constructed,
That I should despatch the women,
And the weak I thus should slaughter."

Thereupon smith Ilmarinen
Presently commenced his singing, 280
And began to speak in anger,
Sung his wife into a seamew,
Thenceforth round the cliffs to clamour,
Scream upon the rocks in water,
Moan around the jutting headlands,
Struggle with the winds against her.

After this smith Ilmarinen
In his sledge again dashed forward,
And the sledge drove rattling onward,
Head bowed down in great depression, 290
Back he journeyed to his country,
Till he reached the well-known regions.

Vaeinaemoeinen, old and steadfast,
Came upon the road to meet him,
And began to speak as follows:
"Ilmarinen, smith and brother,
Wherefore is your mood so gloomy,
Wherefore is your cap pushed sideways,
As from Pohjola thou comest?
How at Pohjola exist they?" 300

Said the smith, said Ilmarinen,
"How at Pohjola exist they?
There the Sampo grinds for ever,
And revolves the pictured cover,
And one day it grinds provisions,
Grinds for sale upon the second,
On the third what needs the household.

"Thus I speak, and tell you truly,
And again repeat it to you,
How at Pohjola exist they, 310
When at Pohjola's the Sampo!
There is ploughing, there is sowing,
There is every kind of increase,
And their welfare is eternal."

Said the aged Vaeinaemoeinen,
"Ilmarinen, smith and brother,
Where hast thou thy wife abandoned,
Where thy youthful bride so famous,
That you here return without her,
Ever driving homeward wifeless?" 320

Thereupon smith Ilmarinen,
Answered in the words which follow:
"Such a wife she was, I sang her
To the sea-cliffs as a seamew;
Now she screams aloud as seagull,
Shrieks aloud without cessation,
Moans about the rocks in water,
And around the cliffs she clamours."

RUNO XXXIX.--THE EXPEDITION AGAINST POHJOLA

_Argument_

Vaeinaemoeinen persuades Ilmarinen to go with him to Pohjola to bring away
the Sampo. Ilmarinen consents, and the he