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Runo XLII]
Capture of the Sampo
171

At the copper mountain’s entrance,
There beside the stony fortress,
And the castle doors were shaken,
And the iron hinges trembled.
Thereupon smith Ilmarinen,
Aided by the other heroes,
Overspread the locks with butter,
And with bacon rubbed the hinges,110
That the doors should make no jarring,
And the hinges make no creaking.
Then the locks he turned with fingers,
And the bars and bolts he lifted,
And he broke the locks to pieces,
And the mighty doors were opened.
Then the aged Väinämöinen
Spoke aloud the words which follow:
“O thou lively son of Lempi,
Of my friends the most illustrious,120
Come thou here to take the Sampo,
And to seize the pictured cover.”
Then the lively Lemminkainen,
He the handsome Kaukomieli,
Always eager, though unbidden,
Ready, though men did not praise him,
Came to carry off the Sampo,
And to seize the pictured cover,
And he said as he was coming,
Boasted as he hastened forward,130
“O, I am a man of mettle,
And a hero-son of Ukko!
I can surely move the Sampo,
And can seize its pictured cover,
Standing on my right foot only,
If I touch it with my shoe-heel.”
Lemminkainen pushed against it,
Turned himself, and pushed against it,
Pushed his arms and breast against it,
On the ground his knees down-pressing,140
But he could not move the Sampo,
Could not stir the pictured cover,