s hundred meshes,
Thus this wretched fish to slaughter,
And destroy the fish unhappy?"

So a little spot they found him,
Found a place not yet burned over,
In the wide extent of marshes,
There between two stumps they found it.

Thereupon they dug the roots out,
And 'twas there they found the flaxseed, 20
Guarded by the worm of Tuoni,
There protected by the earthworm.

There they found a heap of ashes;
Dry the ashes that they found there,
Of a wooden burned-up vessel,
Of a boat that once had burned there.
There it was they sowed the flaxseed,
In the loose ash did they sow it,
On the shore of Lake of Alue,
There they sowed it in the clayfield. 30

Presently the shoot rose upward,
And the flax grew thick and strongly,
Grew beyond their expectations,
In a single night of summer.
Then they steeped it in the night-time,
And they carded it by moonlight,
And they cleansed it and they stripped it,
And they beat it and they rubbed it,
With their tools of steel they scraped it,
And with all their strength they stripped it. 40
Then they took the flax to steeping,
And it soon began to soften,
And they hastened then to pound it,
Afterwards in haste they dried it.

Then into the house they brought it,
And they hastened then to strip it,
And they hastened next to beat it,
And they hastened then to break it.

Then with diligence they cleansed it,
In the twilight did they comb it, 50
And upon the loom arranged it,
Quicker brought it to the spindle,
In a single night of summer;
Thus between two days they worked it.

After this the sisters spun it,
And their brothers' wives were netting,
And the brothers worked the meshes,
And the fathers also aided.

Quickly did they turn the netter,
And the mesh with speed they twisted, 60
Till the net was quite completed,
And the cords were fixed upon it,
In a single night of summer,
Half another in addition.

Thus the net was quite completed,
And the cords were fixed upon it.
And its length was hundred fathoms,
And its breadth was hundreds seven;
Stones for weights were fastened to it,
Likewise proper floats provided. 70

With the net the youths were walking,
And at home the ol