The Kalevala, Elias Lönnrot [easy novels to read TXT] 📗

The Kalevala

By
Elias Lönnrot.

Translated by
John Martin Crawford.

Table of Contents Titlepage Imprint Dedication Preface The Kalevala Proem Rune I: Birth of Wainamoinen Rune II: Wainamoinen’s Sowing Rune III: Wainamoinen and Youkahainen Rune IV: The Fate of Aino Rune V: Wainamoinen’s Lamentation Rune VI: Wainamoinen’s Hapless Journey Rune VII: Wainioinen’s Rescue Rune VIII: Maiden of the Rainbow Rune IX: Origin of Iron Rune X: Ilmarinen Forges the Sampo Rune XI: Lemminkainen’s Lament Rune XII: Kyllikki’s Broken Vow Rune XIII: Lemminkainen’s Second Wooing Rune XIV: Death of Lemminkainen Rune XV: Lemminkainen’s Restoration Rune XVI: Wainamoinen’s Boat-Building Rune XVII: Wainamoinen Finds the Lost-Word Rune XVIII: The Rival Suitors Rune XIX: Ilmarinen’s Wooing Rune XX: The Brewing of Beer Rune XXI: Ilmarinen’s Wedding-Feast Rune XXII: The Bride’s Farewell Rune XXIII: Osmotar the Bride-Adviser Rune XXIV: The Bride’s Farewell Rune XXV: Wainamoinen’s Wedding-Songs Rune XXVI: Origin of the Serpent Rune XXVII: The Unwelcome Guest Rune XXVIII: The Mother’s Counsel Rune XXIX: The Isle of Refuge Rune XXX: The Frost-Fiend Rune XXXI: Kullerwoinen Son of Evil Rune XXXII: Kullervo as a Shepherd Rune XXXIII: Kullervo and the Cheat-Cake Rune XXXIV: Kullervo Finds His Tribe-Folk Rune XXXV: Kullervo’s Evil Deeds Rune XXXVI: Kullerwoinen’s Victory and Death Rune XXXVII: Ilmarinen’s Bride of Gold Rune XXXVIII: Ilmarinen’s Fruitless Wooing Rune XXXIX: Wainamoinen’s Sailing Rune XL: Birth of the Harp Rune XLI: Wainamoinen’s Harp-Songs Rune XLII: Capture of the Sampo Rune XLIII: The Sampo Lost in the Sea Rune XLIV: Birth of the Second Harp Rune XLV: Birth of the Nine Diseases Rune XLVI: Otso the Honey-Eater Rune XLVII: Louhi Steals Sun, Moon, and Fire Rune XLVIII: Capture of the Fire-Fish Rune XLIX: Restoration of the Sun and Moon Rune L: Mariatta—Wainamoinen’s Departure Epilogue Colophon Uncopyright Imprint

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To
Dr. J. D. Buck,
an encouraging and unselfish friend, and to his affectionate family,
these pages are gratefully inscribed.

Preface

The following translation was undertaken from a desire to lay before the English-speaking people the full treasury of epical beauty, folklore, and mythology comprised in the Kalevala, the national epic of the Finns. A brief description of this peculiar people, and of their ethical, linguistic, social, and religious life, seems to be called for here in order that the following poem may be the better understood.

Finland (Finnish, Suomi or Suomenmaa, the swampy region, of which Finland, or Fen-land is said to be a Swedish translation,) is at present a Grand-Duchy in the northwestern part of the Russian empire, bordering on Olenetz, Archangel, Sweden, Norway, and the Baltic Sea, its area being more than 144,000 square miles, and inhabited by some 2,000,000 of people, the last remnants of a race driven back from the East, at a very early day, by advancing tribes. The Finlanders live in a land of marshes and mountains, lakes and rivers, seas, gulfs, islands, and inlets, and they call themselves Suomilainen, Fen-dwellers. The climate is more severe than that of Sweden. The mean yearly temperature in the north is about 27° F, and about 38° F, at Helsingfors, the capital of Finland. In the southern districts the winter is seven months long, and in the northern provinces the sun disappears entirely during the months of December and January.

The inhabitants are strong and hardy, with bright, intelligent faces, high cheekbones, yellow hair in early life, and with brown hair in mature age. With regard to their social habits, morals, and manners, all travellers are unanimous in speaking well of them. Their temper is universally mild; they are slow to anger, and when angry they keep silence. They are happy-hearted, affectionate to one another, and honorable and honest in their dealings with strangers. They are a cleanly people, being much given to the use of vapor-baths. This trait is a conspicuous note of their character from their earliest history to the present day. Often in the runes of the Kalevala reference is made to the “cleansing and healing virtues of the vapors of the heated bathroom.”

The skull of the Finn belongs to the brachycephalic (short-headed) class of Retzius. Indeed the Finn-organization has generally been regarded as Mongol, though Mongol of a modified type. His color is swarthy, and his eyes are gray. He is not inhospitable, but not over-easy of access; nor is he a friend of new fashions. Steady, careful, laborious, he is valuable in the mine, valuable in the field, valuable oil shipboard, and, withal, a brave soldier on land.

The Finns are a very ancient people. It is claimed, too, that they began earlier than any other European nation to collect and preserve their ancient folklore. Tacitus, writing in the very beginning of the second century of the Christian era,