It's Kalevala Day!

The Kalevala is the National Epic of Finland, and it's pretty gotdang long. Fins celebrate Kalevala Day on Feb. 28. So what? you ask. Well, Thee Ass Hooked Whitey has sniffed out some of the hardcore fishing action. Here's an excerpt. You can find a translation here. And thanks to Olli at Opax for the tip.

"Ahto, king of all the waters,
Ruler of a thousand grottoes,
Take a pole of seven fathoms,
Search with this the deepest waters,
Rummage well the lowest bottoms;
Stir up all the reeds and sea-weeds,
Hither drive a school of gray-pike,
Drive them to our magic fish-net,
From the haunts in pike abounding,
From the caverns, and the trout-holes,
From the whirlpools of the deep-sea,
From the bottomless abysses,
Where the sunshine never enters,
Where the moonlight never visits,
And the sands are never troubled."

Rose a pigmy from the waters,
From the floods a little hero,
Riding on a rolling billow,
And the pigmy spake these measures:
"Dost thou wish a worthy helper,
One to use the pole and frighten
Pike and salmon to thy fish-nets?"