The Production Of Steel

Ilmarinen, the master-blacksmith, the eternal metal-worker whose fame and wizardry were known over the seven seas, made arms and tools for all the people. The water was not strong enough to make his steel sharp, so he implored the bee to fetch him some honey from the field-flowers.

"Little bee, thou tiny birdling
Bring me honey on thy winglet
On thy tongue, I pray thee, bring me
Sweetness from the fragrant meadows,
From the little cups of flowers
From the tips of seven petals
That we thus may aid the water
To produce the steel from iron."

The cunning wasp overheard the command and flying much faster than the bee returned with some venom of a viper. Ilmarinen thought he had obtained honey, and commenced to harden the steel with the water which was mixed with poison. Thereafter, all the wounds produced by his arms and tools were mortal, killing even the brothers of those who used them.

While constructing a boat, the famous minstrel Wainamoinen, the wisdom-singer, severely injured his hand with a hatchet forged by Ilmarinen. When the blood gushed in streams from the wound, the singer desperately cried for help. An old man was passing by and with magic words stopped the flow of blood. The man then sent his young son for a healing honey-balm, made from the finest blooms of the fields.

"There to make a healing balsam,
From the herbs of tender fibre,
From the healing plants and flowers,
From the stalks secreting honey,
From the roots, and leaves, and blossoms."