age is stationed,
While the stern is pointing from it.
If thou art a stranger vessel,
May'st thou swim at greater distance,
Towards another stage then hasten,
With the stern to this directed."

'Twas no vessel of her household,
Nor a boat from foreign regions,
But the boat of Vainamoinen,
Built by him, the bard primeval, 100
And the boat approached quite closely,
Onward sailed in hailing distance,
Till a word, and then a second,
And a third were heard distinctly.

Annikki, the ever-famous,
Night's fair daughter, maid of twilight,
Hailed the boat as it approached her:
"Whither goest thou, Vainamoinen,
Whither, hero of the waters,
Wherefore, pride of all the country?" 110

Then the aged Vainamoinen
From the boat made ready answer:
"I am going salmon-fishing,
Where the salmon-trout are spawning,
In the gloomy stream of Tuoni,
In the deep reed-bordered river."

Annikki, the ever-famous,
Answered in the words which follow:
"Tell me not such idle falsehoods!
Well I know the spawning season, 120
For aforetime oft my father
And my grandsire; too, before him,
Often went a salmon-fishing,
And the salmon-trout to capture.
In the boats the nets were lying,
And the boats were full of tackle,
Here lay nets, here lines were resting,
And the beating-poles beside them;
And beneath the seats were tridents,
In the stern, long staves were lying. 130
Whither goest thou, Vainamoinen,
Wherefore, O Uvantolainen?"

Said the aged Vainamoinen,
"Forth in search of geese I wander,
Where the bright-winged birds are sporting,
And the slimy fish are catching,
In the deep sound of the Saxons,
Where the sea is wide and open."

Annikki, the ever-famous,
Answered in the words which follow: 140
"Well I know who speaks me truly,
And can soon detect the liar,
For aforetime oft my father,
And my grandsire, too, before him,
Went abroad the geese to capture,
And to chase the red-beaked quarry,
And his bow was great, and tight-strung,
And the bow he drew was splendid,
And a black dog leashed securely,
In the stern was tightly tethered, 150
On the strand the hounds were running,
And the whelps across the shingle;
Speak the tr