Runo XXXIX.—The Expedition against Pohjola
Argument
Väinämöinen persuades Ilmarinen to go with him to Pohjola to bring away the Sampo. Ilmarinen consents, and the heroes start off on their journey in a boat (1-330). Lemminkainen hails them from the shore, and on hearing where they are going, proposes to join them, and is accepted as a third comrade (331-426).
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Uttered then the words which follow:
“O thou smith, O Ilmarinen,
Unto Pohjola we’ll travel,
And will seize this splendid Sampo,
And behold its pictured cover.”
Thereupon smith Ilmarinen
Answered in the words which follow:
“No, we cannot seize the Sampo,
Cannot bring the pictured cover,10
From the gloomy land of Pohja,
Sariola for ever misty.
There the Sampo has been carried,
And removed the pictured cover
Unto Pohjola’s stone mountain,
And within the hill of copper.
There by nine locks is it fastened,
And three roots have sprouted from it,
Firmly fixed, nine fathoms deeply.
In the earth the first is rooted,20
By the water’s edge the second,
And the third within the home-hill.”
Said the aged Väinämöinen,
“O thou smith, my dearest brother,
Unto Pohjola we’ll travel,
And will carry off the Sampo.
Let us build a ship enormous,
Fit to carry off the Sampo,
And convey the pictured cover,
Forth from Pohjola’s stone mountain,30
