Kalevala, Volume I (of 2)

Page 1 of 159

[=a] indicates a with macron [)a] indicates a with breve [)e] indicates e with breve]

Everyman's Library Edited by Ernest Rhys

Romance

KALEVALA

Translated from the Finnish by

W. F. KIRBY, F.L.S., F.E.S.

In 2 Vols. Vol. 1

KALEVALA

The Land of the Heroes

VOLUME ONE

London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc.

All rights reserved Made in Great Britain at The Temple Press Letchworth and decorated by Eric Ravilious for J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. Aldine House Bedford St. London First Published in this Edition 1907 Reprinted 1914, 1923, 1936

INTRODUCTION

The _Kalevala_, or the Land of Heroes, as the word may be freely rendered, is the national epic of Finland, and as that country and its literature are still comparatively little known to English readers, some preliminary explanations are here necessary.

On reference to a map of Europe, it will be seen that the north-western portion of the Russian Empire forms almost a peninsula, surrounded, except on the Norwegian and Swedish frontiers, by two great arms of the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland; the two great lakes, Ladoga and Onega; the White Sea, and the Arctic Ocean. In the north of this peninsula is Lapland, and in the south, Finland.

The modern history of Finland begins with the year 1157, when the country was conquered from the original inhabitants by the Swedes, and Christianity was introduced. Later on, the Finns became Lutherans, and are a pious, industrious, and law-abiding people, the upper classes being highly educated.

During the wars between Sweden and Russia, under Peter the Great and his successors, much Finnish territory was wrested from Sweden, and St. Petersburg itself stands on what was formerly Finnish territory. When what was left of Finland was finally absorbed by Russia in 1809, special privileges were granted by Alexander I. to the Finns, which his successors confirmed, and which are highly valued by the people.

The upper classes speak Swedish and Finnish; and the lower classes chiefly Finnish. Finnish is upheld by many Finns from patriotic motives, and there is a considerable modern literature in both languages. Translations of most standard works by English and other authors are published in Finnish.

The Finns call their country _Suomi_ or Marshland; and it is often spoken of as the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. The language they speak belongs to a group called Finnish-Ugrian, or Altaic, and is allied to Lappish and Esthonian, and more distantly to Turkish and Hungarian, There are only twenty-one letters in the alphabet; the letter J is pronounced like Y (as a consonant), and Y almost as a short I. The first syllable of every word is accented. This renders it difficult to accommodate such words as _K[=a]l[)e]v[)a]l[=a]_ to the metre; but I have tried to do my best.

The Finlanders are very fond of old ballads, of which a great number have been collected, especially by Elias Lonnrot, to whom it occurred to arrange a selection into a connected poem, to which he gave the name of _Kalevala_. This he first published in 1835, in two small volumes containing twenty-five Runos or Cantos, but afterwards rearranged and expanded it to fifty Runos; in which form it was published in 1849; and this was speedily translated into other languages. Perhaps the best translations are Schiefner's German version (1852) and Collan's Swedish version (1864). Several volumes of selections and abridgments have also appeared in America and England; and an English translation by John Martin Crawford (in two volumes) was published in New York and London in 1889.

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Table of contents (by pages)

1: Kalevala, Volume I (of 2)
2: In which he is called Kalevipoeg
3: Joukahainen shoots the horse under him
4: Untamo brings Kullervo up as a slave
5: Hopeista huolittavi Kultaisesta sukkulasta
6: Old at length became the Sampo
7: On the crest of foaming billows
8: O'er her eggs the teal sat brooding
9: With his knees beyond the gateway
10: 340 Thus was ancient Vainamoinen
11: 100 Then the aged Vainamoinen
12: Gathered with it love unending
13: And the birch tree still unfallen
14: And unfelled the slender birch tree
15: That he might contend with Vaino
16: Kalevala's extended heathlands
17: And the firs on rocks of Horna
18: 300 Then he sang of Joukahainen
19: 390 Said the youthful Joukahainen
20: In the swamp he sang yet deeper
21: 510 Said the youthful Joukahainen
22: From my breast my silver crosslet
23: As she wove a golden girdle Wherefore weepest thou
24: ' Then her gold did Kuutar give me
25: Then she wandered from the storehouses
26: And the dove so lovely vanished
27: And her bitter tears flowed freely
28: There has Ahto fixed his country
29: And thus protested O thou aged Vainamoinen
30: Ne'er again throughout his lifetime
31: From the fairest maids of Pohja
32: Long he watched for Vainamoinen
33: 190 And it bore old Vainamoinen
34: And have o'erthrown Kalevalainen
35: Soon he saw old Vainamoinen On the blue waves of the ocean
36: Old and gap toothed dame of Pohja
37: And hastened onward To the spot where Vainamoinen
38: Who shall forge a Sampo for you
39: Then the aged Vainamoinen Whipped the horse
40: 'Tell me O thou little fieldfare
41: Lempo turned the edge against him
42: Who can check this rushing bloodstream
43: 100 'Neath the wolves' feet quaked the marshes
44: Carried homeward to the smithy
45: For the blue steel's smelting mixture
46: Carried thence into the smithy
47: To prepare the healing ointment
48: And the ointment tasted perfect
49: Ilmarinen refuses to go to Pohjola
50: Bordering on the field of Osmo
51: 130 First walked aged Vainamoinen
52: Old and gap toothed dame of Pohja
53: Lead the smith named Ilmarinen
54: Now was grinding the new Sampo
55: 470 From the gloomy land of Pohja
56: And from Ingerland came others
57: Then the Saari maidens answered
58: Said the handsome Kaukomieli Kyllikki
59: Pledge thyself by oaths eternal
60: Kyllikki then sought the village
61: She his favoured bride responded Ahti
62: There to meet the youths of Pohja
63: 230 By his side the hero girt it
64: 330 Little troubled Lemminkainen
65: With the songs of Lemminkainen
66: 50 I must chase the elk of Hiisi
67: Lyylikki then spoke as follows
68: Down was bowed the head of Kalma
69: Glide throughout the land of Hiisi
70: 90 And he saw the farms of Tapio
71: If there's brushwood on the pathway
72: He the chestnut steed of Hiisi
73: Thereupon prayed Lemminkainen Ukko
74: 440 Floated lively Lemminkainen
75: And my handsome Kauko wandered In a country void of houses
76: This indeed is shameless lying
77: 220 And in Manala the strong ones
78: Shaped the lively Lemminkainen
79: Duplicate the smaller bloodveins
80: Brimming o'er with precious ointment
81: 570 Who to Manala has sent thee
82: Vainamoinen finally escapes from Tuonela
83: 100 Then the aged Vainamoinen
84: If 'twas Tuoni brought you hither
85: What to Manala has brought you
86: There's in Tuonela a witch wife
87: Vipunen sings all his wisdom to Vainamoinen
88: Mouth of Antero Vipunen wisest
89: Vipunen the old musician Was not thus much incommoded
90: From the furthest bounds of Pohja
91: With their swords a hundred swordsmen
92: Cam'st thou from the heaths of Kalma
93: Rushing through the woods of Lempo
94: Then did Antero Vipunen open Wide expanding gums grimacing
95: She the peerless Bride of Pohja
96: Where the salmon trout are spawning
97: 220 Annikki the door then entered
98: Kneaded then the soap to lather
99: Then he spoke the words which follow Annikki
100: Then the snow did Ukko scatter
101: For he saw a red boat sailing Out amid the Bay of Lempi
102: Gave a maid her life in thiswise
103: Vainamoinen returns from Pohjola in low spirits
104: Hunt thou then the Bears of Tuoni
105: From the murky stream of Tuoni
106: Then came forth the pike of Tuoni
107: And have chained the bears of Tuoni
108: And the hawk with talons grasped her
109: In the household famed of Pohja
110: From afar an old man journeyed Virokannas from Carelia
111: In the fresh ploughed field of Osmo
112: Thus the marten she instructed
113: From the bloom of golden flowerets
114: 450 Half it filled the land of Pohja
115: And were stirred the pots of porridges
116: 600 Ahti dwells upon an island
117: From the tin decked breastband likewise
118: Let the crossbars then be lifted
119: Bring a piece of lighted birchbark
120: He the minstrel most illustrious
121: Then the aged Vainamoinen Of the song the lifelong pillar
122: And her toilet is not finished
123: And thy ears thou liftest higher
124: Hard the school to which thou goest
125: Wert thou also free from trouble
126: If thou weepest yet not freely
127: Do not speak to me in thiswise
128: When from out this house thou goest
129: If the cockcrow once has sounded
130: When thou'st visited the cowshed
131: And the handmill quickly turning
132: Wander there to fetch the faggots
133: Or despised thy dearest mother
134: Other chests awaiting threshing
135: With a slipshod shoe of birchbark
136: Past the cornfields of my brother
137: On his shoulders soot by fathoms
138: For the damsel fix the treadle
139: Never may'st thou lead thy dovekin
140: With the switch correct the damsel
141: And this ever charming homestead
142: From the dunghill of the farmyard
143: And the depths where swim the powans
144: Lokka then the kindest hostess
145: From his journey with the dovekin
146: And the hall has made it ready For the sweepers
147: From the freshest cherry thickets
148: Pleasant for a fair faced dovekin
149: 450 Underneath these famous rafters
150: 'Tis composed of malted barley
151: I will also praise the bridesmaid
152: Fetched from Tuonela the auger
153: NOTES TO RUNOS I XXV These are by the translator
154: A common ransom in Finnish and Esthonian stories
155: Is sometimes applied to Ilmatar
156: And a Star in the Esthonian poem
157: Which rarely occurs in the Kalevala
158: These infernal damsels play various parts in the Kalevala
159: In some of the legends of Sigurd and Brynhilda