Whether need of gold should tempt thee,
Or the love of silver urge thee." 240

Vaeinaemoeinen, old and steadfast,
He the great primeval minstrel,
Thought his doom had come upon him,
And he felt his bane approaching;
From the lake he drew the rudder,
Took the oak-spar from the billows,
And with this he struck the monster,
On the claws he struck the eagle,
All the other claws he shattered,
There remained the smallest only. 250

From her wings the youths dropped downward,
In the lake the men splashed downward,
From beneath her wings a hundred,
From her tail a thousand heroes;
Down there dropped the eagle likewise,
Crashing down upon the boat-ribs,
As from tree the capercailzie,
Or from fir-branch drops the squirrel.

Then she tried to seize the Sampo,
Seized it with her nameless finger, 260
From the boat she dragged the Sampo,
Down she pulled the pictured cover,
From the red boat's hold she pulled it,
'Mid the blue lake's waters cast it,
And the Sampo broke to pieces,
And was smashed the pictured cover.

Then the fragments all were scattered,
And the Sampo's larger pieces
Sank beneath the peaceful waters
To the black ooze at the bottom; 270
Thence there springs the water's riches,
And the wealth of Ahto's people.
Nevermore in all his lifetime,
While the golden moon is shining,
Shall the wealth of Ahto fail him,
Neither shall his watery honours.

Other pieces were remaining,
Rather small those other fragments,
On the blue lake's surface floating,
Tossing on the broad lake's billows, 280
And the wind for ever rocked them,
And the billows drove them onward.

And the wind still rocked the fragments,
And the lake-waves ever tossed them,
On the blue lake's surface floating,
Tossing on the broad lake's billows;
To the land the wind impelled them,
To the shore the billows drove them.

Vaeinaemoeinen, old and steadfast,
In the surf beheld them floating, 290
Through the breakers shoreward driving,
Then on shore upcast by billows,
Saw the fragments of the Sampo,
Splinters of the pictured cover.

Very greatly did it please him,
And he spoke the words which follow:
"From these seeds the plant is sprout