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Runo XLVIX]
Moons and Suns
249

And the girls took likewise counsel,
And their cousins too considered;
And they hastened to the smithy,
And they spoke the words which follow:
“Smith, from ’neath the wall arise thou,
From the hearthstone rise, O craftsman,30
That a new moon thou may’st forge us,
And a new sun thou may’st make us.
Ill it is without the moonlight,
Strange it is without the sunlight.”
From the hearth arose the craftsman,
From beneath the wall the craftsman,
That a new moon he might forge them,
And a new sun he might make them,
And a moon of gold constructed,
And a sun he made of silver.40
Came the aged Väinämöinen,
And beside the door he sat him,
And he spoke the words which follow:
“O thou smith, my dearest brother,
What art thou in smithy forging,
Hammering thus without cessation?”
Thereupon smith Ilmarinen
Answered in the words that follow:
“Out of gold a moon I’m shaping,
And a sun of silver making,50
In the sky I then will place them,
Over six of starry heavens.”
Then the aged Väinämöinen
Answered in the words that follow:
“O thou smith, O Ilmarinen,
What you make is wholly useless.
Gold will never shine like moonlight,
Silver will not shine like sunlight.”
Thus the smith a moon constructed,
And a sun completely finished,60
Eagerly he raised them upward,
Raised them to the best position,
Raised the moon to fir-tree’s summit,
Set the sun upon a pine-tree.