most gracious, 30
Strengthen thou the hero's weakness,
And the weakling do thou cherish,
On these far-extending waters,
On the wide expanse of billows.

"Breathe, O wind, upon the vessel,
Drive, O wave, the boat before thee,
That I need not row with fingers,
Nor may thus disturb the waters,
On the wide expanse of ocean,
Out upon the open ocean." 40

Annikki, the ever-famous,
Night's fair daughter, maid of twilight,
Long before the day had risen,
Early in the morn had wakened,
And had washed her clothes and spread them,
And had rinsed and wrung the clothing,
Where the red steps reach the furthest,
Where the planking is the broadest,
Out upon the misty headland,
On the shady island's ending. 50

Then she turned and gazed around her,
In the cloudless air surrounding,
And she gazed aloft to heaven,
And from shore across the water,
And above the sun was shining,
And below the waves were gleaming.

O'er the waves her eyes were glancing,
To the south her head was turning,
To the mouth of Suomi's river,
Where the stream of Vainola opens. 60
On the sea a blotch she sighted,
Something blue among the billows.

Then she spoke the words which follow,
And in terms like these expressed her:
"What's this speck upon the ocean,
What this blue upon the billows?
If it be a flock of wild geese,
Or of other beauteous birdies,
Let them on their rushing pinions
Soar aloft amid the heavens. 70

"If it be a shoal of salmon,
Or a shoal of other fishes,
Let them leap as they are swimming,
Plunging then beneath the water.

"If it be a rocky island,
Or a stump amid the water,
Let the billows rise above it,
Or the waters drive it forward."

Now the boat came gliding onward,
And the new boat sailed on swiftly 80
Forward to the misty headland,
And the shady island's ending.

Annikki, the ever-famous,
Saw the vessel fast approaching,
Saw the hundred-boarded passing,
And she spoke the words which follow:
"If thou art my brother's vessels
Or the vessel of my father,
Then direct thy journey homeward,
To the shore the prow directing, 90
Where the landing-st