"
_Crawford's Translation, Rune XXI._
THE BIRTH OF THE HARP.
Wainamoinen, Ilmarinen, and the wizard Lemminkainen started to the
Northland to win back the Sampo forged for Louhi by Ilmarinen. On the way
their boat stuck on the shoulders of a great pike, which was killed by
Wainamoinen. The three then landed, ordered the pike to be cooked by the
maidens, and feasted until nothing remained of the fish but a heap of
bones.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Looked upon the pile of fragments,
On the fish-bones looked and pondered,
Spake these words in meditation:
"Wondrous things might be constructed
From the relics of this monster,
Were they in the blacksmith's furnace,
In the hands of the magician,
In the hands of Ilmarinen."
Spake the blacksmith of Wainola:
"Nothing fine can be constructed
From the bones and teeth of fishes
By the skilful forger-artist,
By the hands of the magician."
These the words of Wainamoinen:
"Something wondrous might be builded
From these jaws, and teeth, and fish-bones;
Might a magic harp be fashioned,
Could an artist be discovered
That could shape them to my wishes."
But he found no fish-bone artist
That could shape the harp of joyance
From the relics of their feasting,
From the jaw-bones of the monster,
To the will of the magician.
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