Eriskummainen kantele [English translation]

Truly they lie

They speak utter nonsense

Who say that music,

Reckon that the kantele

Was carved by Väinämöisen

Fashioned by a God

Out of a great pike's shoulders

From a water dog's hooked bones

No, music was made from grief

Moulded from sorrow

Its belly out of hard days

Its soundboard from endless woes

Its strings gathered from torments

And its pegs from other ills

So my kantele will not play

Will not rejoice at all

No, music will not play to please

Or give off the right sort of joy

For it was fashioned from cares

Moulded from sorrow.