Now the time passed quickly over,
And the years rolled quickly onward,
In the new sun’s shining lustre,
In the new moon’s softer beaming.
Still the Water-Mother floated,
Water-Mother, maid aerial,
Ever on the peaceful waters,
On the billows’ foamy surface,
With the moving waves before her,
And the heaven serene behind her.
When the ninth year had passed over,
And the summer tenth was passing,
From the sea her head she lifted,
And her forehead she uplifted,
And she then began Creation,
And she brought the world to order,
On the open ocean’s surface,
On the far extending waters.
Wheresoe’er her hand she pointed,
There she formed the jutting headlands;
Whereso’er her feet she rested,
There she formed the caves for fishes;
When she dived beneath the water,
There she formed the depths of the ocean;
When towards the lands he turned her,
There the level shores extended,
Where her feet to land extended,
Spots were formed for salmon-netting;
Where her head the land touched lightly,
There the curving bays extended.
Further from the land she floated,
And abode in open water,
And created rocks in ocean,
And the reefs that eyes behold not,
Still unborn was Vainamoinen;
Still unborn, the Bard Immortal.
— Kalevala, “The Birth of Vainamoinen”