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210
Kalevala
[Runo XLV

Take the sufferings from the suffering,
And the ulcers from the ulcered,
That the sick may fall in slumber,
And the weak may rise from weakness,290
And the sufferer hope recover,
And our mourning have an ending.
“Put the sufferings in a barrel,
And with copper hasps enclose them,
Carry thou away the sufferings,
And do thou cast down the tortures,
In the midst of Torture-Mountain,
On the peak of Mount of Suffering,
Do thou there boil up the tortures
In the very smallest kettle,300
Larger not than round a finger,
And no wider than a thumb-breadth.
“There’s a stone in midmost mountain,
’Mid the stone there is an opening,
Which has there been bored by auger,
Where the auger has transpierced it.
Do thou thrust therein the sufferings,
Overcome these painful ulcers,
Crush thou in these raging tortures,
Do thou end our days of suffering,310
That by night they may be harmless,
And be harmless in the daytime.”
Then the aged Väinämöinen,
He the great primeval sorcerer,
Salved o’er all the ulcered places,
And the open wounds anointed,
With nine various salves anointed,
With eight magic drugs he rubbed them,
And he spoke the words which follow,
And in words like these expressed him:320
“Ukko, thou of Gods the highest,
O thou aged man in heaven!
Let a cloud appear to eastward,
Let another rise from north-west,
Send thou from the west another,
Grant us honey, grant us water,