Kalevala : the Epic Poem of Finland   By: Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884)

THE

EPIC POEM OF FINLAND

INTO ENGLISH

BY

JOHN MARTIN CRAWFORD

[1888]

TO

DR. J.D. BUCK,

AN ENCOURAGING AND UNSELFISH FRIEND, AND TO HIS AFFECTIONATE FAMILY,

THESE PAGES ARE GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE

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. Wainamoinen'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. Wainainoinen'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

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 north western 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.