e of his blood, and where an old man informs him he can be healed
if he will only "sing the origin of iron." Thereupon Wainamoinen
chants that Ukko, Creator of Heaven, having cut air and water asunder,
created three lovely maidens, whose milk, scattered over the earth,
supplied iron of three different hues. He adds that Fire then caught
Iron, and carried it off to its furnace, where Ilmarinen discovered a
way to harden it into steel by means of venom brought to him by the
bird of Hades.

This song finished, the old man checks the flow of blood, and sends
his daughters to collect various herbs, out of which he manufactures a
magic balsam which cures the cut immediately.

_Rune X and XI._ Wainamoinen now hastens back to Kalevala and
interviews his brother Ilmarinen, who refuses to journey northward or
to forge the magic Sampo. To induce the smith to do his will,
Wainamoinen persuades him to climb a lofty fir-tree, on whose branches
he claims to have hung the moon and the Great Bear. While Ilmarinen is
up in this tree, the wizard Wainamoinen causes a violent storm to blow
his brother off to the Northland, where, welcomed by Louhi, Ilmarinen
sets up his forge, and after four days' arduous work produces the
magic sampo.

"I will forge for thee the Sampo,
Hammer thee the lid in colors,
From the tips of white-swan feathers,
From the milk of greatest virtue,
From a single grain of barley,
From the finest wool of lambkins,
Since I forged the arch of heaven,
Forged the air a concave cover,
Ere the earth had a beginning."

The sorceress is so pleased with the Sampo--by means of which she
daily grinds out treasure untold--that, after hiding it away safely in
a mountain, she authorizes Ilmarinen to woo the Maid of Beauty, who
assures him also she never will marry. Saddened by this refusal,
Ilmarinen longs for home, whither he is wafted in Louhi's magic boat
of copper.

Meanwhile Wainamoinen has been building a magic boat in which to sail
northward. He is aided in this work by Lemminkainen, who, seeing the
Maid of Beauty, boldly kidnaps her. But the maiden consents to be his
spouse only if he will promise never to fight, a pledge he readily
gives in exchange for hers to forego all village dances. These vows
duly exchanged, the young couple are united, and all goes well as long
as both scrupulously keep their promise.

_Rune XII._ The time comes, however, when Lemminkainen goes fishing,
and during his abs