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Title: Finnish Legends for English Children
Author: Eivind, R.
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Finnish Legends for English Children" ***
THE CHILDREN'S LIBRARY
[Illustration: Snail]
FINNISH LEGENDS
[Illustration: Witch & Moon]
[Illustration: Butterfly]
_THE CHILDREN'S LIBRARY._
THE BROWN OWL.
THE CHINA CUP.
STORIES FROM FAIRYLAND.
TALES FROM THE MABINOGION.
THE STORY OF A PUPPET.
THE LITTLE PRINCESS.
IRISH FAIRY TALES.
AN ENCHANTED GARDEN.
LA BELLE NIVERNAISE.
THE FEATHER.
FINN AND HIS COMPANIONS.
NUTCRACKER AND MOUSE-KING.
THE PENTAMERONE.
FINNISH LEGENDS.
(_Others in the Press._)
[Illustration: FINNISH KOTA.]
FINNISH LEGENDS
FOR
ENGLISH CHILDREN
BY
R. EIVIND
_SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS_
LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN
1893
[Illustration: T. Fisher Unwin Printer's Mark]
[Illustration]
PREFACE
The following stories cover almost all of the songs of the Kalevala, the
epic of the Finnish people. They will lead the English child into a new
region in the fairy world, yet one where he will recognise many an old
friend in a new form. The very fact that they _do_ open up a new portion
of the world of the marvellous, will, it is hoped, render them all the
more acceptable, and perhaps, when the child who reads them grows up to
manhood, will inspire an actual interest in the race that has composed
them.
And this race and their land will repay study, for nowhere will one find
a more beautiful land than Finland, nor a braver, truer, and more
liberty-loving people than the Finns, although, alas, their love for
liberty may soon be reduced to an apparently hopeless longing for a lost
ideal. For the iron hand of Russian despotism has already begun to close
on Finland with its relentless grasp, and, in spite of former oaths and
promises from the Russian Tsars, the future of Finland looks blacker and
blacker as time goes on. Yet it is often the unforeseen that happens,
and let us trust that this may be so in Finland's case, and that a
brighter future may soon dawn, and the dark clouds that now are
threatening may be once more dispersed.
* * * * *
In these stories Mr. T. M. Crawford's metrical translation of the
Kalevala has been quite closely followed, even to the adoption of his
Anglicised, or rather Anglo-Swedish, forms for proper names, though in
some instances the original Finnish form has been reverted to. This was
done reluctantly, but the actual Finnish forms would seem formidable to
children in many instances, and would probably be pronounced even
farther from the original than as they are given here. It is to be
hoped, moreover, that those who may now read these stories will later
on read an actual translation of the Kalevala, and this is an
additional reason for adopting the terminology of the only English
translation as yet made.[1]
[1] A Finnish newspaper recently states that Mr. C. is now at work on an
improved translation.
As this book is only intended for children, it would be out of place to
discuss the age, etc., of the Kalevala. Only it would seem proper to
state, that while the incantations and some other portions of the text
are certainly very old, some of them no doubt dating from a period prior
to the separation of the Finns and Hungarians, yet, as Professor Yrjö
Koskinen remarks, "The Kalevala in its present state is without doubt
the work of the _Karelian_ tribe of Finns, and probably dates from
_after_ their arrival in Northern and North-Western Russia." This will
of itself largely justify the making _Kalevala_ synonymous with the
present _Finland_, _Pohjola_ with the present Lapland, Karjala with the
present _Karjala_ (Anglice, _Karelia_) in South-Eastern Finland, etc.
But even if this were not so, yet the advantage of such localisation in
a book for children is of itself obvious.
As the land and people with which the stories are concerned is so
unknown to English children, it has seemed best to have some sort of
introduction and framework in which to present them, and therefore
"Father Mikko" was chosen as the story-teller.
If this little volume may in any degree awake some interest in the
Finnish people its author will be amply satisfied, and its end will have
been attained.
R. EIVIND.
_April 1893._
[Illustration]
CONTENTS
PAGE
FATHER MIKKO 1
THE WORLD'S CREATION AND THE BIRTH
OF WAINAMOINEN 8
THE PLANTING OF THE TREES 11
WAINAMOINEN AND YOUKAHAINEN 15
AINO'S FATE 21
WAINAMOINEN'S SEARCH FOR AINO 28
WAINAMOINEN'S UNLUCKY JOURNEY 32
WAINAMOINEN'S RESCUE 36
THE RAINBOW-MAIDEN 41
ILMARINEN FORGES THE SAMPO 50
LEMMINKAINEN AND KYLLIKKI 59
KYLLIKKI'S BROKEN VOW 64
LEMMINKAINEN'S SECOND WOOING 69
LEMMINKAINEN'S DEATH 73
LEMMINKAINEN'S RESTORATION 77
WAINAMOINEN'S BOAT-BUILDING 86
WAINAMOINEN FINDS THE LOST WORDS 93
THE RIVAL SUITORS 99
ILMARINEN'S WOOING 106
THE BREWING OF BEER 111
ILMARINEN'S WEDDING FEAST 118
THE ORIGIN OF THE SERPENT 124
THE UNWELCOME GUEST 131
THE ISLE OF REFUGE 136
THE FROST-FIEND 144
KULLERVO'S BIRTH 151
KULLERVO AND ILMARINEN'S WIFE 156
KULLERVO'S LIFE AND DEATH 160
ILMARINEN'S BRIDE OF GOLD 166
ILMARINEN'S FRUITLESS WOOING 170
WAINAMOINEN'S EXPEDITION AND THE
BIRTH OF THE KANTELE (HARP) 173
THE CAPTURE OF THE SAMPO 181
THE SAMPO IS LOST IN THE SEA 186
THE BIRTH OF THE SECOND KANTELE 190
LOUHI ATTEMPTS REVENGE 194
LOUHI STEALS THE SUN, THE MOON, AND
FIRE 199
THE RESTORATION OF THE SUN AND MOON 205
MARIATTA AND WAINAMOINEN'S DEPARTURE 210
[Illustration]
TABLE OF PROPER NAMES WITH PRONUNCIATION
_Ahti_ (āch´-tee). Another name for Lemminkainen.
_Ahto_ (āch´-to). God of the sea.
_Ainikki_ (āë´nik-kĕe). Sister of Lemminkainen.
_Aino_ (āë´no). Sister of Youkahainen.
_Annikki_ (an´-nĭk-kee). Sister of Ilmarinen.
_Hisi_ (hee´-see). Evil spirit; also called Lempo.
_Iku Turso_ (ee´-koo-tūr´-so). A sea-monster.
_Ilmarinen_ (il´-mā-ree´-nĕn). The famous smith.
_Ilmatar_ (il´-mă-tar). A daughter of the ether, mother of
Wainamoinen.
_Imatra_ (ee´-mā-tră). Celebrated waterfall on the river Wuoksi,
near Viborg.
_Kalerwoinen_ (kal´-er-woi´-nĕn) (_or_ Kalervo). Father of Kullervo.
_Kalevala_ (kā´-lay-vā´-lā). The land of heroes. The home of
the Finns. The name of the Finnish epic poem.
_Karjala_ (kar´-yā-lā). The home of a Finnish tribe--a portion of
Finland (called also _Karelen_ in Swedish).
_Kullervo_ (kŭl´-ler-vō). Slayer of the Rainbow-maiden.
_Kura_ (kū´-ra). Ahti's companion to the Northland.
_Lakko_ (lāk´-ko). Ilmarinen's mother.
_Lemminkainen_ (lĕm´-min-kāë´-nēn). Also called _Ahti_. Son of
_Lempo_.
_Lempo_ (lĕm´-po). Same as _Hisi_; also the father of Lemminkainen.
_Louhi_ (loo´-chee). Mistress of Pohjola.
_Lowjatar_ (low´-yā-tar). Tuoni's daughter; mother of the nine
diseases.
_Lylikki_ (ly´-lĭk-kee). Maker of snow-shoes in Pohjola.
_Mana_ (mā´-nā). Also called Tuoni; god of death.
_Manala_ (mā´-nā-lā). Also called Tuonela; the abode of Mana;
the Deathland.
_Mariatta_ (Mar´-ĭat´-tă). The virgin mother of Wainamoinen's
conqueror.
_Mielikki_ (meay´-lĭk-kee). The forest-goddess.
_Osmotar_ (os´-mō-tar). The wise maiden who first made beer.
_Otso_ (ot´-sō). The bear.
_Piltti_ (pilt´-tee). Mariatta's maid-servant.
_Pohjola_ (pōch´-yō-lā). The Northland.
_Ruotus_ (rū-ō´-tŭs). A man who gives Mariatta shelter in his
stable.
_Sampo_ (sām´-pō). The magic mill forged by Ilmarinen, which
brought wealth and happiness to its possessor.
_Suonetar_ (swō´-nĕ-tăr). The goddess of the veins.
_Suoyatar_ (swō´-yă-tăr). The mother of the serpent.
_Tapio_ (ta´-pĕ-ō). The forest-god.
_Tuonela_ (tuo´-nay-la). The abode of Tuoni; the Deathland; Manala.
_Tuonetar_ (tuo´-nay-tar). The goddess of Tuonela.
_Tuoni_ (tuo´-nee). The god of the Deathland; Mana.
_Ukko_ (ūk´-k(ō). The greatest god of the Finns.
_Untamo_ (ūn´-tā-mō). Kalervo's brother.
_Wainamoinen_ (wāë´-nā-moy´-nĕn). The chief hero of the
Kalevala; son of Kapé.
_Wipunen_ (wĭ´-pū-nen). The dead magician from whom Wainamoinen
obtained the three lost words.
_Wirokannas_ (wee´-rō-kan´-năs). The priest who baptized
Mariatta's son.
_Wuoksi_ (wūōk´-see). A river in South-Eastern Finland, connecting
Lakes Saima and Ladoga.
_Youkahainen_ (yoo´-ka-chāë´-nĕn). A great minstrel and magician
of Pohjola.
* * * * *
Remarks.--The Finnish _h_ is pronounced as a guttural; nearly as Ger.
_ch_ in _ich_. This is represented by _ch_ in the above list.
Every vowel should be pronounced by itself--not run together so as to
make a totally different resultant sound, _e.g._ _Aino_ should be
pronounced not _ī-nō_, but _ā´-ee-nō_, the _ā_ and _ee_
being close together, with the greatest stress upon the _ā_, etc.
_i_ corresponds to English _y_ in _year_.
[Illustration]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FINNISH KOTA _Frontispiece_
SLEIGHING IN FINLAND _Facing page_ 7
INTERIOR OF LAPP HUT " 37
A LAPLAND WIZARD " 93
LAPP WOMEN IN HOLIDAY COSTUME " 118
MIMI IN HOLIDAY DRESS " 151
A WATERFALL " 181
[Illustration]
FATHER MIKKO
Far up in the ice-bound north, where the sun is almost invisible in
winter, and where the summer nights are bright as day, there lies a land
which we call Finland; but the people who live there call it _Suomenmaa_
now, and long, long ago they used to call it _Kalevala_ (which means the
_land of heroes_). And north of Finland lies Lapland, which the Finns
now call _Lappi_, but in the olden days they called it Pohjola (that is,
_Northland_). There the night lasts for whole weeks and months about
Christmas, and in the summer again they have no night at all for many
weeks. For more than half the year their country is wrapped in snow and
frost, and yet they are both of them a kind-hearted people, and among
the most honest and truthful in the world.
* * * * *
One dark winter's day an old man was driving in a sledge through the fir
forest in the northern part of Finland. He was so well wrapped up in
sheep-skin robes that he looked more like a huge bundle of rugs, with a
cord round the middle, than anything else, and the great white
sheep-skin cap which he wore hid all the upper part of his face, while
the lower part was buried in the high collar of his coat. All one could
see was a pair of bright blue eyes with frost-fringed eyelashes,
blinking at the snow that was thrown up every now and then by his
horse's feet.
He was a travelling merchant from away up in the north-western part of
Russia, and had been in southern Finland to sell his wares, at the
winter fairs that are held every year in the Finnish towns and villages.
Now he was on his way home, and had come up through Kuopio, and had got
on past Kajana already, but now it had just begun to snow, and as the
storm grew worse, he pressed on to reach the cabin of a friend who lived
not far ahead; and he intended to stay there until the storm should
subside and the weather be fit for travelling once more.
It was not long before he reached the cabin, and getting out of his
sledge slowly, being stiff from the cold and the cramped position, he
knocked on the door with his whip-handle. It was opened at once, and he
was invited in without even waiting to see who it was, and was given the
welcome that is always given in that country to a wearied traveller. But
when he had taken his wraps off there was a general cry of recognition,
and a second even more hearty welcome.
'Welcome, Father Mikko!'
'What good fortune has brought you hither?'
'Come up to the fire,' and a chorus of cries from two little children,
who greeted 'Pappa Mikko' with delight as an old and welcome
acquaintance. Then the father of the family went out and attended to
Father Mikko's horse and sledge, and in a few minutes was back again and
joined the old man by the fire. Next his wife brought out the
brandy-bottle and two glasses, and after her husband had filled them, he
and Father Mikko drank each other's health very formally, for that is
the first thing one must do when a guest comes in that country. You must
touch your glass against your friend's, and say 'good health,' and
raising it to your lips drink it straight off, and all the time you must
look each other straight in the eyes.
When this important formality was finished the four members of the
family and Father Mikko made themselves comfortable around the fire,
and they began to ask him how things had prospered with him since they
had seen him last, and to tell him about themselves--how Erik, the
father of the family, had been sick, and the harvest had been extra good
that year, and one of the cows had a calf, and all the things that
happen to people in the country.
And then he told them of what was going on in the towns where he had
been, and how every one was beginning to get ready for Christmas. And he
turned to the two little children and told them about the children in
the towns--how they had had such a lovely time at 'Little Christmas,'[2]
at the house he was staying in. How the little ones had a tiny little
tree with wee wax candles on it exactly like the big tree they were to
have at Christmas, and how, when he left, all the children had begun to
be impatient for Christmas Eve, with its presents and Christmas fish and
porridge.
[2] A children's festival about one week before the real Christmas.
After the old man had ended his account it was dinner-time, and they all
ate with splendid appetites, while Father Mikko declared that the
herring and potatoes and rye-bread and beer made a far better dinner
than any he had had in the big cities in the south--not even in
Helsingfors had he had a better. Then when dinner was over, and they
had all gathered round the fire again, little Mimi climbed up into
'Pappa Mikko's' lap, and begged him to tell them '_all_ the stories he
had ever heard, from the very beginning of the world all the way down.'
And her father and mother joined with her in her request, for in their
land even the grown-up people have not become too grand to listen to
stories. As for the little boy, Antero, he was too shy to say anything;
but he was so much interested to hear 'Pappa Mikko' that he actually
forgot to nibble away at a piece of candy which 'Pappa Mikko' had
brought from St. Michel.
The old man smiled, for he was always asked for stories wherever he
went--he was a famous story-teller--and, stroking little Mimi's hair
gently, he looked at the group around the fire before replying. There
was Erik, the father, a broad-shouldered man, with a dark,
weather-beaten face and rather a sad look, as so many of his countrymen
have. His face showed that his struggle in the world had not been easy,
for he had to be working from the time he got up until he went to bed;
and then when the harvest had been bad, and the winter much longer than
usual, and everything seemed to go wrong--ah! it was so hard then to see
the mother and the little ones have only bark-bread to eat, and not
always enough of that, and one winter they had had nothing else for
months. Erik wouldn't have minded for himself, but for them ...! Ah
well, that was all over now; he had been able at last to save up a
little sum of money, and the harvests were extra good this year, and he
had bought Mother Stina a cloak for Christmas! Just think of it--a fine
cloak, all the way from the fair at Kuopio!
And next to Erik sat his wife Stina, a short, fat little woman, with
such a merry face and happy-looking eyes that you could hardly believe
that she had lived on anything but the best herring and potatoes and
rye-bread all her life. Close by her side was her little boy Antero, who
was only seven years old, and in his eagerness for the stories to
commence he still held his piece of candy in his hand without tasting
it.
Then there was little Mimi in Father Mikko's lap. She was nearly ten
years old, and was not a pretty little girl; but she had very lovely
soft brown eyes and curly flaxen hair, and a quiet, demure manner of her
own, and her mother declared that when she grew up she would be able to
spin and weave and cook better than any other girl in the parish, and
that the young man that should get her Mimi for a wife would get a real
treasure.
[Illustration: SLEIGHING IN FINLAND.]
And lastly, there was Father Mikko himself, an old man over sixty, yet
strong and hearty, with a long gray beard and gray hair, and eyes
that fairly twinkled with good humour. You could hardly see his mouth
for his beard and moustache, and certainly his nose _was_ a little too
small and turned up at the end to be exactly handsome, and his
cheek-bones _did_ stand out a little too high; but yet everybody, young
and old, liked him, and his famous stories made him a welcome guest
wherever he came.
So Father Mikko lit his queer little pipe, and settled down comfortably
with Mimi in his lap, and a glass of beer at his side to refresh himself
with when he grew weary of talking. There was only the firelight in the
room, and as the flames roared up the chimney they cast a warm, cosy
light over the whole room, and made them all feel so comfortable that
they thanked God in their hearts in their simple way, because they had
so many blessings and comforts when such a storm was raging outside that
it shook the house and drifted the snow up higher than the doors and
windows.
Then Father Mikko began, and this is the first story that he told them.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
THE WORLD'S CREATION AND THE BIRTH OF WAINAMOINEN
Long, long ago, before this world was made, there lived a lovely maiden
called Ilmatar, the daughter of the Ether. She lived in the air--there
were only air and water then--but at length she grew tired of always
being in the air, and came down and floated on the surface of the water.
Suddenly, as she lay there, there came a mighty storm-wind, and poor
Ilmatar was tossed about helplessly on the waves, until at length the
wind died down and the waves became still, and Ilmatar, worn out by the
violence of the tempest, sank beneath the waters.
Then a magic spell overpowered her, and she swam on and on vainly
seeking to rise above the waters, but always unable to do so. Seven
hundred long weary years she swam thus, until one day she could not bear
it any longer, and cried out: 'Woe is me that I have fallen from my
happy home in the air, and cannot now rise above the surface of the
waters. O great Ukko,[3] ruler of the skies, come and aid me in my
sorrow!'
[3] The chief god of the Finns before they became Christians.
No sooner had she ended her appeal to Ukko than a lovely duck flew down
out of the sky, and hovered over the waters looking for a place to
alight; but it found none. Then Ilmatar raised her knees above the
water, so that the duck might rest upon them; and no sooner did the duck
spy them than it flew towards them and, without even stopping to rest,
began to build a nest upon them.
When the nest was finished, the duck laid in it six golden eggs, and a
seventh of iron, and sat upon them to hatch them. Three days the duck
sat on the eggs, and all the while the water around Ilmatar's knees grew
hotter and hotter, and her knees began to burn as if they were on fire.
The pain was so great that it caused her to tremble all over, and her
quivering shook the nest off her knees, and the eggs all fell to the
bottom of the ocean and broke in pieces. But these pieces came together
into two parts and grew to a huge size, and the upper one became the
arched heavens above us, and the lower one our world itself. From the
white part of the egg came the moonbeams, and from the yolk the bright
sunshine.
At last the unfortunate Ilmatar was able to raise her head out of the
waters, and she then began to create the land. Wherever she put her hand
there arose a lovely hill, and where she stepped she made a lake. Where
she dived below the surface are the deep places of the ocean, where she
turned her head towards the land there grew deep bays and inlets, and
where she floated on her back she made the hidden rocks and reefs where
so many ships and lives have been lost. Thus the islands and the rocks
and the firm land were created.
After the land was made Wainamoinen was born, but he was not born a
child, but a full-grown man, full of wisdom and magic power. For seven
whole years he swam about in the ocean, and in the eighth he left the
water and stepped upon the dry land. Thus was the birth of Wainamoinen,
the wonderful magician.
* * * * *
'Ah!' said little Mimi, with a sigh of relief, 'I was afraid you weren't
going to tell us about Wainamoinen at all.'
And then Father Mikko went on again.
[Illustration]
THE PLANTING OF THE TREES
Wainamoinen lived for many years upon the island on which he had first
landed from the sea, pondering how he should plant the trees and make
the mighty forests grow. At length he thought of Sampsa, the first-born
son of the plains, and he sent for him to do the sowing. So Sampsa came
and scattered abroad the seeds of all the trees and plants that are now
on the earth,--firs and pine-trees on the hills, alders, lindens, and
willows in the lowlands, and bushes and hawthorn in the secluded nooks.
Soon all the trees had grown up and become great forests, and the
hawthorns were covered with berries. Only the acorn lay quiet in the
ground and refused to sprout. Wainamoinen watched seven days and nights
to see if it would begin to grow, but it lay perfectly still. Just then
he saw ocean maidens on the shore, cutting grass and raking it into
heaps. And as he watched them there came a great giant out of the sea
and pressed the heaps into such tight bundles that the grass caught fire
and burnt to ashes. Then the giant took an acorn and planted it in the
ashes, and almost instantly it began to sprout, and a tree shot up and
grew and grew until it became a mighty oak, whose top was far above the
clouds, and whose branches shut out the light of the Sun and the Moon
and the stars.
When Wainamoinen saw how the oak had shut off all the light from the
earth, he was as deeply perplexed how to get rid of it, as he had been
before to make it grow. So he prayed to his mother Ilmatar to grant him
power to overthrow this mighty tree, so that the sun might shine once
more on the plains of Kalevala.
No sooner had he asked Ilmatar for help than there stepped out of the
sea a tiny man no bigger than one's finger, dressed in cap, gloves, and
clothes of copper, and carrying a small copper hatchet in his belt.
Wainamoinen asked him who he was, and the tiny man replied: 'I am a
mighty ocean-hero, and am come to cut down the oak-tree.' But
Wainamoinen began to laugh at the idea of so little a man being able to
cut down so huge a tree.
But even while Wainamoinen was laughing, the dwarf grew all at once
into a great giant, whose head was higher than the clouds, and whose
long beard fell down to his knees. The giant began to whet his axe on a
huge piece of rock, and before he had finished he had worn out six
blocks of the hardest rock and seven of the softest sandstone. Then he
strode up to the tree and began to cut it down. When the third blow had
fallen the fire flew from his axe and from the tree; and before he had
time to strike a fourth blow, the tree tottered and fell, covering the
whole earth, north, south, east, and west, with broken fragments. And
those who picked up pieces of the branches received good fortune; those
who found pieces of the top became mighty magicians; and those who found
the leaves gained lasting happiness.
And then the sunlight came once more to Kalevala, and all things grew
and flourished, only the barley had not yet been planted. Now
Wainamoinen had found seven magic barley-grains as he was wandering on
the seashore one day, and he took these and was about to plant them; but
the titmouse stopped him, saying: 'The magic barley will not grow unless
thou first cut down and burn the forest, and then plant the seeds in the
wood-ashes.'
So Wainamoinen cut down the trees as the titmouse had said, only he
left the birch-trees standing. After all the rest were cut down an
eagle flew down, and, alighting on a birch-tree, asked why all the
others had been destroyed, but the birches left. And Wainamoinen
answered that he had left them for the birds to build their nests on,
and for the eagle to rest on, and for the sacred cuckoo to sit in and
sing. The eagle was so pleased at this that he kindled a fire amongst
the other trees for Wainamoinen, and they were all burnt except the
birches.
Wainamoinen then brought forth the seven magic barley-seeds from his
skin-pouch, and sowed them in the ashes, and as he sowed he prayed to
great Ukko to send warm rains from the south to make the seeds sprout.
And the rain came, and the barley grew so fast that in seven days the
crop was almost ripe.
[Illustration]
WAINAMOINEN AND YOUKAHAINEN
Thus Wainamoinen finished his labours and began to lead a happy life on
the plains of Kalevala. He passed his evenings singing of the deeds of
days gone by and stories of the creation, until his fame as a great
singer spread far and wide in all directions.
At this time, far off in the dismal Northland, there lived a young and
famous singer and magician named Youkahainen. He was sitting one day at
a feast with his friends, when some one came and told about the famous
singer Wainamoinen, and how he was a sweeter singer and a more powerful
magician than any one else in the world. This filled Youkahainen's heart
with envy, and he vowed to hasten off to the south and to enter into a
contest with Wainamoinen to see if he could not beat him.
His mother tried to persuade him not to go, but in vain, and he made
ready for the journey, declaring that he would sing such magic songs as
would turn old Wainamoinen into stone. Then he brought out his noble
steed and harnessed him to a golden sledge, and then jumping in, he gave
the steed a cut with his pearl-handled whip, and dashed off towards
Kalevala. On the evening of the third day he drew near to Wainamoinen's
home, and there he met Wainamoinen himself driving along the highway.
Now Youkahainen was too proud to turn out of the road for any one, and
so their sledges dashed together and were smashed to pieces, and the
harnesses became all twisted up together. Then Wainamoinen said: 'Who
art thou, O foolish youth, that thou drivest so badly that thou hast run
into my sledge and broken it to pieces?' And Youkahainen answered
proudly: 'I am Youkahainen, and have come hither to beat the old
magician Wainamoinen in singing and in magic.'
Wainamoinen then told him who he was, and accepted the challenge, and so
the contest began. But Youkahainen soon found that he was no match for
his opponent, and at length he cried out in anger: 'If I cannot beat
thee at singing and in magic, at least I can conquer thee with my bright
sword.'
Wainamoinen answered that he would not fight so weak an opponent, and
then Youkahainen declared that he was a coward and afraid to fight. At
last these taunts made Wainamoinen so angry that he could not restrain
himself any longer, and he began to sing. He sang such wondrous spells
that the mountains and the rocks began to tremble, and the sea was
upheaved as if by a great storm. Youkahainen stood transfixed, and as
Wainamoinen went on singing his sledge was changed to brushwood and the
reins to willow branches, the pearl-handled whip became a reed, and his
steed was transformed into a rock in the water, and all the harness into
seaweed. And still the old magician sang his magic spells, and
Youkahainen's gaily-painted bow became a rainbow in the sky, his
feathered arrows flew away as hawks and eagles, and his dog was turned
to a stone at his feet. His cap turned into a curling mist, his clothing
into white clouds, and his jewel-set girdle into stars.
And at length the spell began to take effect on Youkahainen himself.
Slowly, slowly he felt himself sinking into a quicksand, and all his
struggles to escape were in vain. When he had sunk up to his waist he
began to beg for mercy, and cried out: 'O great Wainamoinen, thou art
the greatest of all magicians. Release me, I beg, from this quicksand,
and I will give thee two magic bows. One is so strong that only the very
strongest men can draw it, and the other a child can shoot.'
But Wainamoinen refused the bows and sank Youkahainen still deeper. And
as he sank, Youkahainen kept begging for mercy, and offering first two
magic boats, and then two magic steeds that could carry any burden, and
finally all his gold and silver and his harvests, but Wainamoinen would
not even listen to him. At length Youkahainen had sunk so far that his
mouth began to be filled with water and mud, and he cried out as a last
hope: 'O mighty Wainamoinen, if thou wilt release me I will give thee my
sister Aino as thy bride.'
This was the ransom that Wainamoinen had been waiting for, for Aino was
famous for her beauty and loveliness of character, and so he released
poor Youkahainen and gave him back his sledge and everything just as it
had been before. And when it was all ready Youkahainen jumped into it
and drove off home without saying a word.
When he reached home he drove so carelessly that his sledge was broken
to pieces against the gate-posts, and he left the broken sledge there
and walked straight into the house with hanging head, and at first
would not answer any of his family's questions. At length he said:
'Dearest mother, there is cause enough for my grief, for I have had to
promise the aged Wainamoinen my dear sister Aino as his bride.' But his
mother arose joyfully and clapped her hands and said: 'That is no reason
to be sad, my dear son, for I have longed for many years that this very
thing should happen--that Aino should have so brave and wise a husband
as Wainamoinen.'
So the mother told the news to Aino, but when she heard it she wept for
three whole days and nights and refused to be comforted, saying to her
mother: 'Why should this great sorrow come to me, dear mother, for now I
shall no longer be able to adorn my golden hair with jewels, but must
hide it all beneath the ugly cap that wives have to wear. All the golden
sunshine and the silver moonlight will go from my life.'
But her mother tried to comfort her by telling her that the sun and moon
would shine even more brightly in her new home than in her old, and that
Kalevala was a land of flowers.
* * * * *
'I think Aino was very stupid not to want to leave that horrid Lapland,'
said Mimi; 'but then I suppose she didn't know what a beautiful country
ours is,' she added thoughtfully.
Here Antero, who only cared for the stories, mustered up enough courage
to ask Pappa Mikko to go on, which the old man did at once.
[Illustration]
AINO'S FATE
The next morning the lovely Aino went early to the forest to gather
birch shoots and tassels. After she had finished gathering them she
hastened off towards home, but as she was going along the path near the
border of the woods she met Wainamoinen, who began thus:
'Aino, fairest maid of the north, do not wear thy gold and pearls for
others, but only for me; wear for me alone thy golden tresses.'
'Not for thee,' Aino replied, 'nor for others either, will I wear my
jewels. I need them no longer; I would rather wear the plainest clothing
and live upon a crust of bread, if only I might live for ever with my
mother.'
And as she said this she tore off her jewels and the ribbons from her
hair, and threw them from her into the bushes, and then she hurried
home, weeping. At the door of the dairy sat her mother, skimming milk.
When she saw Aino weeping she asked her what it was that troubled her.
Aino, in reply, told her all that had happened in the forest, and how
she had thrown away from her all her ornaments.
Her mother, to comfort her, told her to go to a hill-top near by and
open the storehouse there, and there in the largest room, in the largest
box in that room, she would find six golden girdles and seven
rainbow-tinted dresses, made by the daughters of the Moon and of the
Sun. 'When I was young,' her mother said, 'I was out upon the hills one
day seeking berries. And by chance I overheard the daughters of the Sun
and Moon as they were weaving and spinning upon the borders of the
clouds above the fir-forest. I went nearer to them, and crept up on a
hill within speaking distance of them. Then I began to beseech them,
saying: "Give some of your silver, lovely daughters of the Moon, to a
poor but worthy maid; and I beg you, daughters of the Sun, give me some
of your gold." And then the Moon's daughters gave me silver from their
treasure, and the Sun's daughters gave me gold that I might adorn my
hair and forehead. I hastened joyfully home with my treasures to my
mother's house, and for three days I wore them. Then I took them off
and laid them in boxes, and I have never seen them since. But now, my
daughter, go and adorn thyself with gold and silk ribbons; put a
necklace of pearls around thy neck, and a golden cross upon thy bosom;
dress thyself in pure white linen; put on the richest frock that is
there and tie it with a belt of gold; put silk stockings on thy feet and
the finest of shoes. Then come back to us that we may admire thee, for
thou wilt be more beautiful than the sunlight, more lovely than the
moonbeams.'
But Aino would not be consoled, and kept on weeping. 'How happy I was in
my childhood,' she sang, 'when I used to roam the fields and gather
flowers, but now my heart is full of grief and all my life is filled
with darkness. It would have been better for me if I had died a
child;--then my mother would have wept a little, and my father and
sisters and brothers mourned a little while, and then all their sorrow
would have been ended.'
Aino wept for three days more, and then her mother once more asked her
why she wept so, and Aino replied: 'I weep, O mother, because thou hast
promised me to the aged Wainamoinen, to be his comforter and caretaker
in his old age. Far better if thou hadst sent me to the bottom of the
sea, to live with the fishes and to become a mermaid and ride on the
waves. This had been far better than to be an old man's slave and
darling.'
When she had said this she left her mother and hastened to the
storehouse on the hill. There she opened the largest box and took off
six lids, and at the bottom found six golden belts and seven silk
dresses. She chose the best of all the treasures there and adorned
herself like a queen, with rings and jewels and gold ornaments of every
sort.
When she was fully arrayed she left the storehouse and wandered over
fields and meadows and on through the dim and gloomy fir-forest, singing
as she went: 'Woe is me, poor broken-hearted Aino! My grief is so heavy
that I can no longer live. I must leave this earth and go to Manala, the
country of departed spirits. Father, mother, brothers, sisters, weep for
me no longer, for I am going to live beneath the sea, in the lovely
grottos, on a couch of sea-moss.'
For three long weary days Aino wandered, and as the cold night came on
she at last reached the seashore. There she sank down, weary, on a rock,
and sat there alone in the black night, listening to the solemn music of
the wind and the waves, as they sang her funeral melody. When at last
the day dawned Aino beheld three water-maidens sitting on a rock by the
sea. She hastened to them, weeping, and then began to take off all her
ornaments and lay them carefully away. When at length she had laid all
her gold and silver decorations on the ground, she took the ribbons from
her hair and hung them in a tree, and then laid her silken dress over
one of the branches and plunged into the sea. At a distance she saw a
lovely rock of all the colours of the rainbow, shining in the golden
sunlight. She swam up and climbed upon it to rest. But suddenly the rock
began to sway, and with a loud crash it fell to the bottom of the sea,
carrying with it the unhappy Aino. And as she sank down she sang a last
sad farewell to all her dear ones at home--a song that was so sweet and
mournful that the wild beasts heard it, and were so touched by it that
they resolved to send a messenger to tell her parents what had happened.
So the animals held a council, and first the bear was proposed as
messenger, but they were afraid he would eat the cattle. Next came the
wolf, but they feared that he might eat the sheep. Then the fox was
proposed, but then he might eat the chickens. So at length the hare was
chosen to bear the sad tidings, and he promised to perform his office
faithfully.
He ran like the wind, and soon reached Aino's home. There he found no
one in the house, but on going to the door of the bath-cabin he found
some servants there making birch brooms. They had no sooner caught sight
of him than they threatened to roast him and eat him, but he replied:
'Do not think I have come hither to let you roast me. For I come with
sad tidings to tell you of the flight of Aino and how she died. The
rainbow-coloured stone sank with her to the bottom of the sea, and she
perished, singing like a lovely song-bird. There she sleeps in the
caverns at the bottom of the sea, and on the shore she has left her
silken dress and all her gold and jewels.'
When these tidings came to her mother the bitter tears poured from her
eyes, and she sang, 'O all other mothers, listen: never try to force
your daughters from the house they long to stay in, unto husbands whom
they love not. Thus I drove away my daughter, Aino, fairest in the
Northland.'
Singing thus she sat and wept, and the tears trickled down until they
reached her shoes, and began to flow out over the ground. Here they
formed three little streams, which flowed on and grew larger and larger
until they became roaring torrents, and in each torrent was a great
waterfall. And in the midst of the waterfalls rose three huge rocky
pillars, and on the rocks were three green hills, and on each of the
hills was a birch-tree, and on each tree sat a cuckoo. And all three
sang together. And the first one sang 'Love! O Love!' for three whole
moons, mourning for the dead maiden. And the second sang 'Suitor!
Suitor!' wailing six long moons for the unhappy suitor. And the third
sang sadly 'Consolation! Consolation!' never ending all his life long
for the comfort of the broken-hearted mother.
* * * * *
Mother Stina looked at little Mimi very solemnly when this story was
ended, as if she wondered whether she herself would ever need to take to
heart the warning of Aino's mother. But no one said anything, and Father
Mikko continued on with the next story.
[Illustration]
WAINAMOINEN'S SEARCH FOR AINO
When the news reached Wainamoinen he began to weep most bitterly, and
the tears fell all that day and night; but the next day he hastened to
the water's edge and prayed to the god of dreams to tell him where the
water-gods dwelt. And the dream-god answered him lazily, and told him
where the island was around which the sea-gods and the mermaids lived.
Then Wainamoinen hastened to his boat-house, and chose a copper boat,
and in it placed fishing lines and hooks and nets, and when all was
ready he rowed off swiftly towards the forest-covered island which the
dream-god had told him of. No sooner had he arrived there than he began
to fish, using a line of silver and a hook of gold. But for many days he
fished in vain, yet still he persevered. At last one day a wondrous
fish was caught, and it played about and struggled a long time until at
length it was exhausted, and the hero landed it in the boat.
When Wainamoinen saw it he was astonished at its beauty, but after
gazing at it for some time he drew out his knife and was about to cut it
up ready for eating. But no sooner had he touched the fish with his
knife than it leapt from the bottom of the boat and dived under the
water. Then it rose again out of his reach and said to him: 'O ancient
minstrel, I did not come hither to be eaten by thee, merely to give thee
food for a day.'
'Why didst thou come then?' asked Wainamoinen.
'I came, O minstrel, to rest in thine arms and to be thy companion and
wife for ever,' the fish replied; 'to keep thy home in order and to do
whatever thou pleased. For I am not a fish; I am no salmon of the
Northern Seas, but Youkahainen's youngest sister. I am the one thou wert
fishing for--Aino, whom thou lovest. Once thou wert wise, but now art
foolish, cruel. Thou didst not know enough to keep me, but wouldst eat
me for thy dinner!'
Then Wainamoinen begged her to return to him, but the fish replied:
'Nevermore will Aino's spirit come to thee to be so treated,' and as it
spoke the fish dived out of sight.
Still Wainamoinen did not give up, but took out his nets and began
dragging the waters. And he dragged all the waters in the lands of
Lapland and of Kalevala, and caught fish of every sort, only Aino, now
the water-maiden, never came into his net. 'Fool that I am,' he said at
length, 'surely I was once wise, had at least a bit of wisdom, but now
all my power has left me. For I have had Aino in my boat, but did not
know until too late that I had even caught her.' And with these words he
gave up his search and set off to his home in Kalevala. And on his way
he mourned that the joyous song of the sacred cuckoo had ceased, and he
sang: 'I shall never learn the secret how to live and prosper. If only
my ancient mother were still living, she could give me good advice that
this sorrow might leave me.'
Then his mother awoke from her tomb in the depths and spoke to him: 'Thy
mother was but sleeping, and I'll now advise thee how this sorrow may
pass over. Go at once to the Northland, where dwell wise and lovely
maidens, far lovelier than Aino. Take one of them for thy wife; she will
make thee happy and be an honour to thy home.'
* * * * *
'I don't think he had much of a heart if he could be consoled so easily
as all that,' said Mother Stina, a little indignantly.
'Wait and you shall see,' said old Father Mikko with a smile; and he
continued.
[Illustration]
WAINAMOINEN'S UNLUCKY JOURNEY
Wainamoinen made ready for a journey to the Northland, to the land of
cold winters and of little sunshine, where he was to seek a wife. He
saddled his swift steed, and mounting, started towards the north. On and
on he went upon his magic steed, galloping over the plains of Kalevala.
And when he came to the shores of the wide sea, he did not halt, but
galloped on over the water without even so much as wetting a hoof of his
magic courser.
But wicked Youkahainen hated Wainamoinen for what he had done when he
defeated him in magic, and so he made ready a bow of steel. He painted
it with many bright colours and trimmed it with gold and silver and
copper. Then he chose the strongest sinews from the stag, and at length
the great bow was ready. On the back was painted a courser, at each end
a colt, near the bend a sleeping maiden, near the notch a running hare.
And after that he cut some arrows out of oak, put tips of sharpened
copper on them, and five feathers on the end. Then he hardened the
arrows and steeped them in the blood of snakes and the poison of the
adder to give them magic power.
When all was ready Youkahainen went out to wait for his enemy. For many
days and nights he watched in vain, but still he did not weary, and at
last one day at dawn he saw what seemed to be a black cloud on the
waters. But by his magic art he knew that it was Wainamoinen on his
magic steed. Then he went after his bow, but his mother stopped him and
asked him whom he meant to shoot with his bow and poisoned arrows.
Youkahainen replied: 'I have made this mighty bow and these poisoned
arrows for the old magician Wainamoinen, that I may destroy my rival.'
His mother reproved him, saying, 'If thou slayest Wainamoinen all our
joy will vanish, all the singing and music will die with him. It is
better that we have his magic music in this world than to have it all go
to the underground world Manala, where the spirits of the dead dwell.'
Youkahainen hesitated for a moment, but then envy and hatred filled his
heart, and he replied: 'Even though all joy and pleasure vanish from the
world, yet will I shoot this rival singer, let the end be what it will.'
With these words he hastened out and took his stand in a thicket near
the shore. He chose the three strongest arrows from his quiver, and
selecting the best among these three, he laid it against the string and
aimed at Wainamoinen's heart. And as he still waited for him to come
nearer, he sang this incantation: 'Be elastic, bow-string mine, swiftly
fly, O oaken arrow, swift as light, O poisoned arrow, to the heart of
Wainamoinen. If my hand too low shall aim thee, may the gods direct thee
higher. If mine eye too high shall aim thee, may the gods direct thee
lower.'
Then he let the arrow fly, but it flew over Wainamoinen's head and
pierced and scattered the clouds above. Again he shot a second, but it
flew too low and penetrated to the depths of the sea. Then he aimed the
third, and it flew from his bow swift as lightning. Straight forward it
flew, and struck the magic steed full in the shoulder so that
Wainamoinen was plunged headlong into the waves. And then arose a mighty
storm-wind, and the old magician was carried far out into the wide open
sea.
But Youkahainen believed that he had killed his rival, and so went
home, rejoicing and singing as he went. And his mother asked him, 'Hast
thou slain great Wainamoinen?' and he replied, 'I have slain old
Wainamoinen. Into the salt sea he plunged headlong, and the old magician
is now at the bottom of the deep.'
But his mother replied: 'Woe to earth for what thou hast done. Joy and
singing are gone for ever, for thou hast slain the great wise singer,
thou hast slain the joy of Kalevala.'
* * * * *
All his listeners seemed very much dissatisfied at the turn the story
had taken, so Father Mikko hastened to assure them that Wainamoinen was
not really dead, and then he began the next story.
[Illustration]
WAINAMOINEN'S RESCUE
But Wainamoinen was not dead, but swam on for eight days and seven
nights trying to reach land. And when the evening of the eighth day came
and still no land was in sight, he began to grow tired and to despair of
ever getting out alive.
But just then he spied an eagle of wonderful size flying towards him
from the west. And the eagle flew up to him and asked who he was and how
he had come there in the ocean.
And Wainamoinen replied: 'I am Wainamoinen, the great singer and
magician. I had left my home for the distant Northland, and as I
galloped over the ocean and neared the shore, the wicked Youkahainen
killed my steed with his magic arrows, and I was cast headlong into the
waters. And then a mighty wind arose and drove me farther and ever
farther out to sea, and now I have been struggling with the winds and
waves for eight long weary days, and I fear that I shall perish of cold
and hunger before I reach any land.'
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF LAPP HUT.]
The eagle replied: 'Do not be discouraged, but seat thyself upon my back
and I will carry thee to land, for I have not forgotten the day when
thou left the birch-trees standing for the birds to sing in and the
eagle to rest on.'
So Wainamoinen climbed upon the eagle's broad back and seated himself
securely there, and off the eagle flew, straight to the nearest land.
There on the shore of the dismal Northland the eagle left him, and flew
off to join his mate.
Wainamoinen found himself upon a bare, rocky point of land, without a
trace of human life about it, nor any path through the woods by which it
was surrounded. And he wept bitterly, for he was far from home, covered
with wounds from his battle with the winds and waters, and faint with
hunger: three days and three nights he wept without ceasing.
Now the fair and lovely daughter of old Louhi had laid a wager with the
Sun, that she would rise before him the next morning. And so she did,
and had time to shear six lambs before the Sun had left his couch
beneath the ocean. And after this she swept up the floor of the stable
with a birch broom, and collecting the sweepings on a copper shovel, she
carried them to the meadow near the seashore. There she heard the sound
of some one weeping, and hastening back she told her mother of it.
Then Louhi, ancient mistress of the Northland, hurried out from her
house and down to the seashore. There she heard the sound of weeping,
and quickly pushed off from the shore in a boat and rowed to where the
weeping Wainamoinen sat.
When she came to him she said to him: 'What folly hast thou done to be
in so sad a state?'
Wainamoinen replied: 'It is indeed folly that has brought me into this
trouble. I was happy enough at home before I went on this expedition.'
Then Louhi asked him to tell her who he was of all the great heroes.
Wainamoinen replied: 'Formerly I was honoured as a great singer and
magician: I was called the "Singer of Kalevala," the wise Wainamoinen.'
Then Louhi said: 'Rise, O hero, from thy lowly couch among the willows,
come with me to my home and there tell me the story of thy adventures.'
So she took the starving hero into her boat and rowed him to the shore,
and took him to her house. There she gave him food, and the warmth and
rest and shelter soon restored to him all his strength. Then Louhi asked
him to relate his adventures, and he told her all that had happened to
him.
When he had finished Louhi said to him: 'Weep no more, Wainamoinen, for
thou shalt be welcome in our homes, thou shalt live with us and eat our
salmon and other fish.'
Wainamoinen thanked her for her kindness, but added: 'One's own country
and table and home are the best and dearest. May the great god, Ukko,
the Creator, grant that I may once more reach my dear home and country.
It is better to drink clear water from a birchen cup in one's own home,
than in foreign lands to drink the richest liquors from the golden
beakers of strangers.'
Then Louhi asked him: 'What reward wilt thou give me, if I carry thee
back to thy beloved home, to the plains of Kalevala?'
Wainamoinen asked her what reward she would consider sufficient, whether
gold or silver treasures, but Louhi answered: 'I ask not for gold or
silver, O wise Wainamoinen, but canst thou forge for me the magic Sampo,
with its lid of many colours, the magic mill that grinds out flour on
one side, and salt from another side, and turns out money from the
third? I will give thee, too, my daughter, as a reward, to be thy wife
and to care for thy home.'
But Wainamoinen answered sadly: 'I cannot forge for thee the magic
Sampo, but take me to my country and I will send thee Ilmarinen, who
will make it for thee, and wed thy lovely daughter. Ilmarinen is a
wondrous smith; he it was who forged the heavens, and so perfectly did
he do it that we cannot see a single mark of the hammer on them.'
Louhi replied: 'Only to him who can forge the magic Sampo for me will I
give my daughter.' Then she harnessed up her sledge and put Wainamoinen
in it and made him all ready for his journey home. And as he started off
she spoke these words to him: 'Do not raise thy eyes to the heavens, do
not look upward while the day lasts, before the evening star has risen,
or a terrible misfortune will happen to you.'
Then Wainamoinen drove off, and his heart grew light as he left the
dismal Northland behind him on his way to Kalevala.
[Illustration]
THE RAINBOW-MAIDEN
The fair Rainbow-maiden, Louhi's daughter, sat upon a rainbow in the
heavens, and was clad in the most splendid dress of gold and silver. She
was busy weaving golden webs of wonderful beauty, using a shuttle of
gold and a silver weaving-comb.
As Wainamoinen came swiftly along the way which led from the dark and
dismal Northland to the plains of Kalevala, before he had gone far on
his way he heard in the sky above him the humming of the
Rainbow-maiden's loom. Without thinking of old Louhi's warning, he
looked up and beheld the maiden seated on the gorgeous rainbow weaving
beauteous cloths. No sooner had he seen the lovely maiden than he
stopped, and calling to her asked her to come to his sledge.
The Rainbow-maiden replied: 'Tell me what thou wishest of me.'
'Thou shalt come with me,' Wainamoinen replied, 'to bake me
honey-biscuit, to fill my cup with foaming beer, to sing beside my
table, to be a queen within my home in the land of Kalevala.'
But the maiden replied: 'Yesterday I went at twilight to the flowery
meadows. There I heard a thrush singing, and I asked him, "Tell me,
pretty song-bird, how shall I live most happily, as a maiden in my
father's home or as a wife by my husband's side?" And the bird sang in
reply, "The summer days are bright and warm, and so is a maiden's
freedom; the winter is cold and dark, and so are the lives of married
women. They are like dogs chained in a kennel, no favours are given to
wives."'
But Wainamoinen answered the maiden: 'The thrush sings only nonsense.
Maidens are treated like little children, but wives are like queens.
Come to my sledge, O maiden, for I am not the least among heroes, nor am
I ignorant of magic. Come, and I will make thee my wife and queen in
Kalevala.'
Then the Rainbow-maiden promised to be his wife if he would split a
golden hair with a knife that had no edge, and take a bird's egg from
the nest with a snare that no one could see. Wainamoinen did both these
things, and then begged her to come to his sledge, for he had done what
she asked.
But she set another task for him, telling him she would marry him if he
could peel a block of sandstone and cut a whip-handle from ice without
making a single splinter. And Wainamoinen did both these things, but
still the maiden refused to go until he had performed a third task. This
was to make from the splinters of her distaff a little ship, and to
launch it into the water without touching it.
Then Wainamoinen took the pieces of her distaff and set to work. He took
them to a mountain from which he got the iron for his work, and for
three days he laboured with hatchet and hammer. But on the evening of
the third day a wicked spirit, Lempo, caught his hatchet as he raised it
up, and turned it as it fell, so that it hit a rock and broke in
fragments, and one of the pieces flew into the magician's knee, and cut
it, so that the blood poured out.
Then Wainamoinen began to sing a magic incantation to stop the blood
from flowing, but his magic was powerless against the evil Lempo, and he
could not stop the blood. Then he gathered certain herbs with wonderful
powers, and put them on the wound, but still he could not heal it up,
for Lempo's spell was too powerful for his magic. So he got into his
sledge again, and drove off at a gallop to seek for help. Soon he came
to a place where the road branched off in three directions. He chose the
left-hand one, and galloped on till he reached a house. When he went to
the door he found only a boy and a baby inside, and when he had told
them what he wanted, the boy said, 'There is no one here that can help
thee, but take the middle road, and perhaps thou wilt find help.'
So off he galloped to where the roads branched off, and then along the
middle one to another house. There he found an old witch lying on the
floor, but she gave him the same answer that the boy had done, and sent
him to the right-hand road.
On this road he came to another cottage, where an old man with a long
gray beard was sitting by the fire. And when Wainamoinen told him of his
trouble, the old man replied, 'Greater things have been done by but
three of the magic words; water has been turned to land, and land to
water.' On hearing this answer Wainamoinen rose from his sledge and went
into the cottage, and seated himself there. And all this time his knee
was bleeding, so that the blood was enough to fill seven huge birchen
pots.
Then the old man asked him who he was, and bade him sing to him the
origin[4] of the iron that had wounded him so, and Wainamoinen related
the following story of how iron was first made:
[4] For they believed that a magic song that told the _origin_ of any
trouble would also cure it.
Long ago after there were air and water, fire was born, and after the
fire came iron. Ukko, the creator, rubbed his hands upon his left knee,
and there arose thence three lovely maidens, who were the mothers of
iron and steel. These three maidens walked forth on the clouds, and from
their bosoms ran the milk of iron, down unto the clouds and thence down
upon the earth. Ukko's eldest daughter cast black milk over the
river-beds, and the second cast white milk over the hills and mountains,
and the third red milk over the lakes and oceans; and from the black
milk grew the soft black iron-ore; from the white milk the
lighter-coloured ore; and from the red milk the brittle red iron-ore.
After the iron had lain in peace for a while, Fire came to visit his
brother Iron and tried to eat him up. Then Iron ran from him and took
refuge in the swamps and marshes, and that is how we now find iron-ore
hidden in the marshes.
Then was born the great smith, Ilmarinen, and the next morning after he
was born he built his smithy on a hill near the marshland. There he
found the hidden iron-ore, and carried it to his smithy and put it in
the furnace to be smelted. And Ilmarinen had not blown more than three
strokes of the bellows before the iron began to grow soft as dough. But
then Iron cried out to him, 'Take me from this furnace, Ilmarinen, save
me from this cruel torture!' for the heat of the fire had grown
unbearable.
'Thou art not hurt, but only a little frightened,' Ilmarinen replied;
'but I will take thee out, and thou shalt be a great warrior and slay
many heroes.'
But Iron swore by the hammer and anvil, 'I will injure trees and
mountains, but I'll never kill the heroes. I will be men's servant and
their tool, but will not serve for weapons.'
So Ilmarinen put the iron on his anvil, and made from it many fine
things and tools of every kind. But he could not harden the iron into
steel, though he pondered over it for a long time. He made a lye from
birch-ashes and water to harden the iron in, but it was all in vain.
Just then a little bee came flying up, and Ilmarinen begged him to bring
honey from all the flowers in the meadows, that he might put it in the
water and so harden the iron to steel. But a hornet, one of the servants
of the evil spirit Lempo, was sitting on the roof and overheard
Ilmarinen's words. And the hornet flew off and collected all the evil
charms he could find--the hissing of serpents, the venom of adders, the
poison of spiders, the stings of every insect--and brought them to
Ilmarinen. He thought that the bee had come and brought him honey from
the meadows, and so mixed all these poisons with the water in which he
was to plunge the iron. And when he thrust the iron into the poisoned
water it was turned to hard steel, but the poisons made it forget its
oath and grow hard-hearted, and it began to wound men and cause their
blood to flow in streams. This was the origin of steel and iron.
When Wainamoinen had finished, the old man rose from the hearth and
began an incantation to make the wound close up. First he cursed Iron
that it had become so wicked, and then he bade the blood cease to flow
by the power of his magic. And as he went on he prayed to great Ukko
that if this magic incantation should not prove sufficient, Ukko himself
would come and stop the wound.
By the time he had finished his words of magic the blood ceased flowing
from the wound. Then the old man sent his son to make a healing salve
out of herbs, to take away the soreness from Wainamoinen's knee.
First the youth made a salve from oak-bark and young shoots, and many
sorts of healing grasses. Three days and three nights he steeped them in
a copper kettle, but when he had finished the salve would not do. Then
he added still other healing herbs, and steeped it for three days more,
and at last it was ready. First he tried it on a birch-tree that had
been broken down by wicked Lempo. He rubbed the salve on the broken
branches and said: 'With this salve I anoint thee, recover, O
birch-tree, and grow more beautiful than ever!'
And the tree grew together and became more beautiful and strong than
ever before. Then he tried the salve on broken granite boulders and on
fissures in the mountains, and it was so powerful that it closed them
all together as if they had never existed. After this he hurried home
and gave the magic salve to his father, and told him what he had done
with it.
The old man anointed Wainamoinen's knee with it, saying: 'Do not rely on
thine own virtue or power, but in thy creator's strength; do not speak
with thine own wisdom, but with great Ukko's. Whatever in thee is good
comes from Ukko.'
No sooner had the old man put on the salve and said these words, than
Wainamoinen was seized with a terrible pain, and lay rolling and
writhing on the floor in agony. But the old man bandaged up his knee
with a silken bandage, and prayed to Ukko to come to his assistance.
And suddenly the pain left Wainamoinen and his knee became as strong
and well as ever. Then he raised his eyes in gratitude to heaven and
prayed thus to Ukko: 'Praise to thee, my Creator, for the aid that thou
hast given me. For thou hast banished all my pain and trouble. O all ye
people of Kalevala, both those now living and those to come, boast not
of the work that ye have done but give to God the praise, for the great
Ukko alone can make all things perfect, Ukko is the one master!'
* * * * *
There was a moment's pause, and then little Mimi said that she was so
glad Wainamoinen was well again, and asked Father Mikko to tell them
what happened to him next. But the old man answered that he must have a
_little_ time to breathe at least. So he filled his pipe again and
lighted it, and Erik brought up some more beer, and they sat and smoked
and drank beer and chatted for a while.
Then, when he felt rested once more, Father Mikko obeyed Mimi's urgent
request and began again to tell them how Wainamoinen got home, and what
happened afterwards.
[Illustration]
ILMARINEN FORGES THE SAMPO
No sooner was Wainamoinen cured of his wound than he put his sledge in
order and drove off at lightning speed towards Kalevala. For three days
he journeyed over hills and valleys, over marshes and meadows, and on
the evening of the third day he reached the land of Kalevala once again.
There, on the border line he halted, and began a magic song. And as he
sang a fir-tree began to grow from the earth, and kept on growing until
its top had grown up above the clouds and reached to the stars. When the
tree had finished growing, Wainamoinen sang another magic song, so that
the moon was caught fast in the tree's branches and obliged to shine
there until Wainamoinen should reverse his spell. And then by another
spell he made the stars of the Great Bear fast in the tree-top, and
then jumped into his sledge and drove on again to his home, with his
cap set awry on his head, mourning because he had promised to send
Ilmarinen back to the Northland, to forge the magic Sampo as his ransom.
As he drove on he came to Ilmarinen's smithy, and he stopped and went in
to him. Ilmarinen welcomed him and asked where he had been so long, and
what had happened to him.
Then Wainamoinen told him of his journey to the Northland, and all the
dangers he had gone through, and he added: 'In a village there I saw a
maiden, who is the fairest in all the Northland. All there sing her
praises, for her forehead shines like the rainbow and her face is fair
as the golden moonlight. She is more beautiful than the sun and all the
stars together, but she will not marry any suitor. But do thou go, dear
Ilmarinen, and see her wondrous beauty; forge the magic Sampo for her
mother and then thou shalt win this lovely maiden to be thy wife.'
But Ilmarinen replied: 'O cunning Wainamoinen, I know that thou hast
promised me as a ransom for thyself. But I will never go to that gloomy
country, nor do I care for thy beautiful maiden; I will not go for all
the maids in Pohjola.'
Wainamoinen answered: 'But I can tell thee of still greater wonders,
for I have seen a giant fir-tree growing on the border of our own
country; its top is higher than the clouds, and in its branches shine
the moon and the Great Bear.'
'I will not believe thy wonderful story,' replied Ilmarinen, 'until I
see the tree with my own eyes and the moon and stars shining in it.'
'Come with me,' said Wainamoinen, 'and I will show thee that I speak the
truth.' So off they set to see the wondrous tree. When they had come to
it Wainamoinen asked Ilmarinen to climb the tree and to bring down the
moon and stars, and he at once began to climb up towards them.
But, while he was climbing, the fir-tree spoke to him, saying: 'Foolish
hero, why hast thou so little knowledge as to try to steal the moon from
my branches?' No sooner had the tree said these words to Ilmarinen, than
Wainamoinen sang a magic spell, calling up a great storm-wind, and
saying to it: 'O storm-wind, take Ilmarinen and carry him in thy airy
vessel to the dark and dismal Northland.'
And the storm-wind came and heaped up the clouds so that they formed a
boat, and seizing Ilmarinen from the tree it placed him in the clouds
and rushed off to the north, carrying clouds and all with it. On and on
he sailed, rising higher than the moon, tossed about by the wind, until
at last he came to the Northland and the storm-wind set him down in
Louhi's courtyard.
Old toothless Louhi saw him as he alighted, and asked him: 'Who art thou
that comest through the air, riding on the storm-wind? Hast thou ever
met the great smith Ilmarinen, for I have long been waiting for him to
come and forge the magic Sampo for me.'
'I do indeed know him well,' he replied, 'for I myself am Ilmarinen.'
At these words Louhi hurried into the house and told her youngest
daughter to dress herself in all her most splendid clothes and
ornaments, for Ilmarinen was come to make the Sampo for them. So the
maiden chose her loveliest silken dresses, and placed a circlet of
copper round her brow, a golden girdle round her waist, and pearls about
her neck, and in her hair she twisted threads of gold and silver. When
she was dressed she looked, with her rosy red cheeks and bright
sparkling eyes, more lovely than any other maiden in all the Northland,
and then she hurried to the hall to meet Ilmarinen.
Louhi went to Ilmarinen and led him into the house, where there was a
feast spread ready for him. She gave him the best seat at the table, and
the choicest viands to eat, and gave him everything he wished for. Then
she asked him if he would forge the Sampo for her, and promised him, if
he would, her fairest daughter as his wife.
Ilmarinen was charmed with her daughter's beauty, and he promised to do
what she asked. But when he went to look for a place to work in, he
could find no place, and not even so much as a pair of bellows to blow
his fire with. Still he was not discouraged, but for three days he
wandered about, looking for a place to build a workshop. On the evening
of the third day he saw a huge rock that was suited for his purpose, and
there he began to build. The first day he built the chimney and started
a fire; the second day he made his bellows and put them in place; the
third day he finished his furnace, and had all ready to begin his work.
Then Ilmarinen made a magic mixture of certain metals and put them in
the bottom of the furnace. And he hired some of Louhi's men to work the
bellows and keep putting fuel on the fire. Three long summer days the
workmen blew the bellows, until at length the base rock began to blossom
in flames from the magic heat.
On the evening of the first day Ilmarinen bent over the furnace and took
out a magic bow. It gleamed like the moon, had a shaft of copper and
tips of silver, and was the most wonderful bow that had ever been made.
But it would not rest satisfied unless it killed a warrior every day,
and two on feast-days. So Ilmarinen broke it into pieces and threw them
back into the furnace, and tried again to forge the Sampo.
On the evening of the second day he looked into the furnace and drew
forth a magic vessel. It was all purple, save the ribs that were of gold
and the vase of copper, and it was the most beautiful vessel that ever
had been made. But wherever it went it always led men into quarrels and
fights, so Ilmarinen broke it into pieces and threw it back into the
furnace.
On the evening of the third day he took out of the furnace a magic
heifer, with horns of gold and the most beautifully-shaped head. But she
was ill-tempered and would not stay at home, but rushed through the
forest and swamps and wasted all her milk on the ground. So Ilmarinen
cut the magic heifer in pieces and threw them back into the furnace.
And on the fourth evening he took out a wonderful plough, the
ploughshare of gold and the handles of silver and the beam of copper.
But it ploughed up fields of barley and the richest meadows, so
Ilmarinen threw it back into the furnace.
Then he drove away all his workmen, and by his magic called up the
storm-winds to blow his bellows. They came from the North and South and
East and West, and they blew one day and then another and then a third,
until the fire leapt out through the windows, the sparks flew from the
door, and the smoke rose up and mingled with the clouds. And on the
third evening Ilmarinen looked into the furnace and beheld the magic
Sampo growing there. Quickly he took it out and placed it on his anvil,
and taking a huge hammer the wonderful smith forged the luck-bringing
Sampo. From one side it grinds out flour, and from the other salt, and
from the third it coins out money. And the lid is all the colours of the
rainbow, and as it rocks back and forth it grinds one measure for the
day, and one for the market and one for the storehouse.
Then old Louhi joyfully took the luck-bringing Sampo and hid it in the
hills of Lapland. She bound it with nine great locks, and by her
witchcraft made three roots grow all around it, two deep beneath the
mountains and one beneath the seashore.
And when he had finished the Sampo, Ilmarinen came to the lovely
daughter of Louhi and asked her if she were ready now to be his wife.
But she replied: 'If I should go with thee, and leave the Northland, all
the birds would cease to sing. No, never while I live will I give up my
maiden freedom, lest all the birds should leave the forest and the
mermaids leave the waters.'
So Ilmarinen had made the Sampo all in vain, and he was now far from
home and had no way of returning. But Louhi came to him and asked him
why he was grieving, and when she learned his trouble, and that he now
wished to return to his own home, she provided him with a boat of
copper. And when he had set sail she sent the north wind to carry him on
his way, and on the evening of the third day he reached his home.
There Wainamoinen met him and asked if he had forged the magic Sampo.
'Yes,' replied Ilmarinen, 'I have forged the Sampo, with its lid of many
colours. Louhi has the wondrous Sampo, but I have lost the beauteous
maiden.'
* * * * *
'Ah!' said little Mimi, 'old Louhi's daughter was just as mean as could
be, and of course she didn't keep her promise, because Lapps never can
be good people.'
'Don't be too hard on the poor Lapps, my dear,' said Father Mikko, 'for
you see this happened a great many hundreds of years ago, and the whole
world has grown better since then. But now we will leave Ilmarinen and
Wainamoinen for a while, and I will tell you about the reckless
Lemminkainen and his adventures.'
So the old man began as follows:
[Illustration]
LEMMINKAINEN AND KYLLIKKI
Long, long ago a son was born to Lempo, and he was named Lemminkainen,
but some call him Ahti. He grew up amongst the islands and fed upon the
salmon until he became a mighty man, handsome to look at and skilled in
magic. But he was not as good as he was handsome--he had a wicked heart,
and was more famous for his dancing than for great deeds.
Now at the time my story begins, there lived in the Northland a
beautiful maiden named Kyllikki. She was so lovely that the Sun had
begged her to marry his son and come and live with them. But she
refused, and when the Moon came and besought her to marry her son, and
the Evening Star sought her for his son, she refused them both. And
after that came suitors from all the countries round about, but the
lovely Kyllikki would not marry one of them.
When Lemminkainen heard of this, he resolved that he would win her
himself. But his aged mother tried to dissuade him, telling him that the
maiden was of a higher family than his own, that all the Northland women
would laugh at him, and then if he should try to punish them for their
laughter, that the warriors of the Northland would fall on him and kill
him. But all this did not make him change his mind, and he started off
for the distant Northland.
When he came near to Kyllikki's home, all the women and maidens that saw
him began to laugh at him because he looked so poor, and yet dared to
try to win the fair Kyllikki's hand. When he heard them laughing, it
made him so angry that he drove on without paying any attention to how
he was driving, and when he came to the courtyard his sledge hit against
the gate-post and broke to pieces, and threw him out into the snow.
He rose up angrier than ever, but all those around only laughed the
harder at him, and made all manner of fun of him. Then they offered him
a place as a shepherd on the mountains. So Ahti became a shepherd, and
spent all the days on the hills, but in the evenings he went to their
dances, and when he had shown them what a skilful dancer he was, he
soon became a great favourite with all the women, and they began to
praise him instead of laughing at him.
But fair Kyllikki alone would have nothing to do with him--would not
even look at him in spite of all his endeavours to win her. At last she
was tired out with his attentions, and told him that he had better
return home, for she did not like him, and that so long as he stayed
there she would not even look at him.
Still he did not go away, but waited until a chance came to carry out
his new plan. About a month after this, all the maidens were met
together for a dance in a glen among the hills, and among them was
Kyllikki. Suddenly Lemminkainen came galloping up in his sledge and
seized the fair Kyllikki as she was dancing with the rest, placed her in
his sledge, and drove off like the whirlwind, and as he flew by the
frightened maidens he cried out to them: 'Never tell that I have taken
Kyllikki, or I will cast a magic spell over your lovers, so that they
will all leave you and go off to the wars and will never come back to
dance and make merry with you.'
But Kyllikki wept and begged Lemminkainen to give her back her freedom,
saying, 'Oh, give me back my freedom, cruel Lemminkainen; let me return
on foot to my grieving father and mother. If thou wilt not let me go, O
Ahti, I will curse thee and will call upon my seven valiant brothers to
pursue and kill thee. Once I was happy among my people, but now all my
joy has gone since thou hast come to torment me, O cruel-hearted Ahti!'
But all her words could not move Lemminkainen to release her. Then he
said to her: 'Dearest maiden, fair Kyllikki, cease thy weeping and be
joyful; I will never harm thee nor deceive thee. Why shouldst thou be
sorrowful, for I have a lovely home and friends and riches, and thou
shalt never need to labour. Do not despise me because my family is not
mighty, for I have a good spear and a sharp sword, and with these I will
gain greatness and power for thy sake.'
Then Kyllikki asked him: 'O Ahti, son of Lempo, wilt thou then be to me
a faithful husband; wilt thou swear to me never to go to battle nor to
strife of any sort?'
'I will swear upon my honour,' Lemminkainen replied, 'that I will never
go to battle, if thou wilt promise in return never to go to dance in the
village, however much thou mayst long for it.'
So the two swore before the great Ukko, Lemminkainen promising never to
go to battle, and Kyllikki that she would never go to the village
dances. And then Lemminkainen rejoicing cracked his whip, and they
galloped on like the wind over hills and valleys towards the plains of
Kalevala.
As they came near to Lemminkainen's home, Kyllikki saw that it looked
dreary and poor, and began to weep again, but Lemminkainen comforted
her, telling her that now he would build a splendid mansion for her, and
so she grew cheerful once more.
They drove up to his mother's cottage, and as they entered his mother
asked him how he had fared. Ahti answered: 'I have well repaid the scorn
of the Northland maidens, for I have brought the fairest of them with me
in my sledge. I brought her well wrapt in bear-skins hither, to be my
loving bride for ever. Beloved mother, make ready for us the best room
and prepare a rich feast, that my bride may be content.'
His mother answered: 'Praised be gracious Ukko, that hath given me a
daughter. Praise Ukko, my son, that thou hast won this lovely maiden,
the pride of the Northland, who is purer than the snow, more graceful
than the swan, and more beautiful than the stars. Let us make our
dwelling larger, and decorate the walls most beautifully in honour of
thy lovely bride, the fairest maid of all creation.'
[Illustration]
KYLLIKKI'S BROKEN VOW
Lemminkainen and Kyllikki lived together happily for many years, keeping
the promises they had made to each other. But one day Lemminkainen had
not come home from fishing by sunset, and then the longing to dance was
more than Kyllikki could withstand, and she went into the village and
joined the maidens in their dance.
As soon as Lemminkainen came home, his sister Ainikki came to him and
told him how Kyllikki had broken her promise and had joined in the
dance. Then Lemminkainen grew angry and sad at the same time, and he
went to his mother and asked her to steep his clothing in the blood of
serpents, for he was going off to battle since Kyllikki could not keep
her vow.
Kyllikki tried to persuade him not to leave her, telling him that she
had dreamt a dream, in which she saw their home in flames and the fire
bursting out through the doors and windows and roof. But Lemminkainen
replied: 'I have no faith in women's dreams or maidens' vows. Bring me
my copper armour, mother, for I long to get to the wars, to go to dismal
Pohjola, there to win great stores of gold and silver.'
'Stay at home, my dear son,' his aged mother said, 'and drink the beer
in our cellars, sitting peaceably by thine own hearth, for we have more
than enough gold and silver. Only the other day, as our servants were
ploughing the fields they came upon a chest of gold and silver buried in
the ground--take this and be content.'
When all this had no effect upon Lemminkainen, his mother began to tell
him of the magic of the Northland people, and that they would sing him
into the fire so that he would be burnt to death. But he replied: 'Long
ago three Lapland wizards tried to bewitch me, and employed their
strongest spells against me, but I stood unmoved. Then I began my own
magic songs, and before long I overcame them and sank them to the bottom
of the sea, where they are still sleeping and the seaweed is growing
through their hair and beards.'
Still his mother tried to stop him, and his wife Kyllikki begged his
forgiveness in tears. He stood listening to them and brushing out his
long black hair, but at last he became impatient, and threw the brush
from him and cried out: 'I will not stay, but keep that brush, and when
ye see blood oozing from its bristles, then ye may know that some
terrible misfortune has overtaken me.'
Saying this he left them and put on his armour and harnessed his steed
into his sledge. Then he sang a song, calling on all the spirits of the
woods and the mountains and the waters and on great Ukko himself to help
him against the Northland wizards, and when his song was ended he drove
off like the wind.
In the evening of the third day he reached a little village in the
Northland. Here he drove into a courtyard and called out: 'Is there any
one strong enough to attend to my horse and take care of my sledge.'
There was a child playing on the floor of the house, and it replied that
there was no one there to do it. Then Lemminkainen rode on to another
house and asked the same question; and a man standing in the doorway
replied: 'There are plenty here that are mighty enough not only to
unharness thy steed, but to conquer thee and drive thee to thy home ere
the sun has set.'
Then Lemminkainen told him that he would return and slay him, and so
drove off to the highest house in the village. Here he cast a spell over
the watch-dog, so that he should not bark, and drove in. Then he struck
on the ground with his whip, and from the ground there arose a vapour
that concealed the sledge, and in the vapour was a dwarf that took his
steed and unharnessed it and gave it food. But Lemminkainen went on into
the house, having first made himself invisible. There he found a great
many people singing and making merry, and by the fires the Northland
wizards were seated. He made his way on, and then took on his own shape
again and entered into the main hall, and cried out to those that were
singing to be silent.
As soon as she saw him the mistress of the house ran up to him and asked
him who he was, and how he had passed the watch-dog unnoticed. Then
Lemminkainen told her who he was, and instantly began to weave his magic
spells, while the lightning shot from his fur mantle and flames from his
eyes. He sang them all under the power of his magic--some beneath the
waters, some into the burning fire, some beneath the heaped-up
mountains. Only one poor old man, who was blind and lame, did he leave
untouched. And when the old man asked him why it was that he had alone
been left, cruel Lemminkainen began to abuse him and to torment him with
words, until the old man, Nasshut, grew almost wild with anger, and
hobbled away, swearing to have vengeance. Nasshut journeyed on and on,
and at last arrived at the river Tuoni, which separates the land of the
dead from the land of the living. There he waited until Lemminkainen
should come, for he knew, by his wizard's skill, that he would come
thither soon.
[Illustration]
LEMMINKAINEN'S SECOND WOOING
After this Lemminkainen travelled on through dismal Pohjola until he
came to the home of aged Louhi. He went in to Louhi and begged her to
give him one of her daughters in marriage, but Louhi refused, saying:
'Thou hast already taken one wife from Lapland, the fair Kyllikki, and I
will give thee neither the loveliest nor yet the ugliest of my
daughters.'
Still Lemminkainen kept urging her, and at last, to get rid of him, she
said: 'I will never give one of my daughters to a worthless man. Thou
mayst not ask me again until thou bringest me the Hisi-reindeer.'
Then Lemminkainen set to work to make his arrows and his darts. When
these were done he went to Lylikki, the great snow-shoe maker, and bade
him make a huge pair of snow-shoes, as he was going to hunt the
Hisi-reindeer. At first Lylikki tried to dissuade him, telling him he
could never succeed, but perhaps would die in the forest. But
Lemminkainen ordered him again to make the snow-shoes, and Lylikki set
to work. He made them of wood, only a few inches wide, but longer than
Lemminkainen was tall, and with straps in the middle to fasten them on
to the feet; and he also made a staff for Lemminkainen to push himself
along with, or to keep his balance with when he slid down the hills.
At length they were finished, and Lemminkainen put them on, and his
quiver on his back, and took his snow-staff in his hand, and as he set
off he cried out: 'There is no living thing in all the forest that can
escape me now, when I take my mighty strides in Lylikki's snow-shoes.'
But the evil spirit Hisi overheard him as he boasted thus, and Hisi set
to work to make an enchanted reindeer, that Lemminkainen would never be
able to catch. So he took bare willow branches to make the horns, and
wood for the head, the feet and legs were made of reeds, and the veins
from withered grass, the eyes were made from daisies, the ears from
flowers, and the skin of the rough fir-bark, and the muscles from
strong, sappy wood. When this magic reindeer was completed it was the
swiftest and the finest-looking of all reindeer. And Hisi sent it off
to Pohjola, telling it to lure Lemminkainen into the snow-covered
mountains and there to wear him out with the cold and the fatigue of the
chase. So the reindeer went forth to dismal Pohjola, and there it ran
through the courtyards and the outhouses, overturning tubs of water,
throwing the kettles from their hooks, and upsetting the dishes that
were cooking before the fires. There was a frightful noise there, for
all the dogs began to bark, and the children to cry, and the women to
laugh, and the men to shout. And then the magic reindeer went on its
way.
Now Lemminkainen had set out, as soon as his snow-shoes were ready, and
had hunted the whole world over for a trace of the Hisi-reindeer,
rushing like the wind over mountains and valleys, until the fire shot
from his snow-shoes, and his snow-staff smoked. But after he had
wandered over the whole world and still had found no trace of the
Hisi-reindeer, he came at last to the corner of Northland where the
magic animal had just run through the courts upsetting everything, and
the children were still crying and the women laughing when he arrived.
Lemminkainen asked what the cause was of their uproar, and they told him
how the reindeer had been there.
No sooner had he heard this than off he flew over the snow, and as he
went he sang a spell, calling on the powers of Pohjola to enable him to
catch the Hisi-beast. After he had sung, he gave three huge strides with
his snow-shoes, and at the end of the third he caught up with the
Hisi-reindeer, and in another moment had it bound fast. Then he spoke to
the reindeer and patted it on the head, and bade it come with him to
Louhi. But suddenly the animal made a mighty rush, snapped his bonds in
two, and sprang away over the hills and valleys out of sight.
Lemminkainen started off after it, but at the first step his snow-shoes
broke right in two and threw him down, breaking his arrows and his
snow-staff in his fall. Then he arose and looked sadly at his broken
shoes and arrows and stick, and said to himself: 'How shall I ever
succeed in my hunt, now that my shoes are broken, and the reindeer is
once more free?'
[Illustration]
LEMMINKAINEN'S DEATH
For a long time Lemminkainen sat considering whether he should give up
the chase and return to Kalevala, or still keep on after the
Hisi-reindeer. At length he regained hope and courage, and having sung
an incantation that made his snow-shoes and arrows and staff whole
again, he started off once more.
This time he turned his steps to the home of Tapio, the god of the
forest, and as he went he began to sing wondrous songs to Tapio and his
wife Mielikki, begging them to help him, and promising them great stores
of gold and silver if they would do so.
At last he arrived at Tapio's palace, which had window-frames of gold,
and the palace itself was of ivory. And within it Mielikki and her
daughters were dressed in golden garments, and wore gold and gems in
their hair, and pearls round their necks. And they all promised to help
Lemminkainen, and went off to drive the reindeer up to the palace so
that he might catch it. Nor had he long to wait before whole troops of
reindeer came flocking into the palace courtyard, and Lemminkainen saw
among them the Hisi-deer, and caught it.
Then Lemminkainen sang a song of triumph, and having paid to Tapio's
wife, Mielikki, the gold and silver he had promised, he hastened off
with the reindeer to Louhi's home. But when he gave the Hisi-deer to
her, she said: 'I will give thee my fairest daughter if thou wilt catch
and bridle for me the fiery Hisi-horse, that breathes smoke and fire
from his mouth and nostrils.'
So Lemminkainen went off, taking with him a golden bridle to put on the
horse. For three days he wandered without catching sight of the
Hisi-horse, but on the third day he climbed to the top of a very high
mountain, and from thence he spied the steed on the plain amongst the
fir-trees, breathing smoke and flames from his mouth and nostrils and
eyes.
When Lemminkainen saw him he prayed to great Ukko to send a shower of
icy hail upon the fiery Hisi-steed, and presently a great shower of hail
rained down, and every hailstone was larger than a man's head. After
the hail was over, Lemminkainen came up to the fiery horse and coaxed
him to let the golden bridle be slipped over his head. Then off they
went like the wind, the horse obeying Lemminkainen perfectly, and in a
very short time they arrived at Louhi's house. When he had given the
Hisi-horse to Louhi, Lemminkainen asked again for the hand of her
fairest daughter. But Louhi told him she would not give him her daughter
until he had killed the swan that swam on Tuoni's river, which flows
between the land of the living and the dead.
Then Lemminkainen started off fearlessly to seek the graceful swan of
Tuoni, and journeyed on and on until at length he came to the coal-black
river. There the old shepherd of Pohjola, Nasshut, was waiting for him,
and, though blind, he heard Lemminkainen's footsteps, and sent a serpent
from the death-river to meet him. The serpent stung Lemminkainen just
over the heart, so that he fell down dead almost instantly, only having
time to call upon his ancient mother to help him.
And Nasshut cast his body into the dismal river Tuoni, where it was
washed down through the rapids to the Deathland, Tuonela. There the son
of the ruler of the Deathland took the body, and cutting it into five
portions, cast them back into the stream, saying: 'Swim there now, O
Lemminkainen! float for ever in this river, so that thou mayst hunt the
wild swan at thy leisure.'
And thus the handsome Lemminkainen died, and was cast into the river of
Tuoni, that flows along the Deathland.
[Illustration]
LEMMINKAINEN'S RESTORATION
Lemminkainen's mother began to grow uneasy at his long absence, and to
fear that some trouble had befallen him. At last one day, as his wife,
the fair Kyllikki, was in her room, she noticed that drops of blood had
begun to flow from the bristles of Lemminkainen's hair-brush. Then she
began to weep and mourn, and ran and told his mother, who came and saw
the blood oozing from the brush, and cried out:
'Woe is me, for my son, my hero, is in some terrible distress; some
awful misfortune has happened to him.' Saying this she hurried off, and
went straight to Louhi's house. There she asked what had become of her
son, but Louhi only replied that she did not know, that he had driven
off long ago in a sledge she had given him, and perhaps the wolves or
bears had eaten him.
'Thou art only telling falsehoods,' replied Lemminkainen's mother, 'for
no bears or wolves can devour him; he would put them to sleep with his
magic singing. Now, tell me truly, O Louhi, whither thou hast sent my
son, or I will destroy all thy storehouses and even thy magic Sampo.'
And then Louhi said that she had given him a copper boat, and he had
floated off on the river; perhaps he had perished in the rapids below.
But Lemminkainen's mother answered: 'Thou art still speaking falsely.
Tell me the truth this time, or I will send plague and death upon thee.'
Then Louhi answered the third time: 'I will tell thee the truth. I sent
him to fetch me the Hisi-reindeer, and then after the fire-breathing
horse, and last of all, after the swan that swims the death-stream,
Tuoni, that he might gain the hand of my fairest daughter. He may have
perished there, for he has not come back since to ask for my daughter's
hand.'
No sooner had Louhi said this than the anxious mother hurried off to
hunt for her son. Over hills and valleys, through marsh and forest, and
over the wide waters she went, but looked for him in vain. Then she
asked the Trees if they had seen him but they answered: 'We have more
than enough to think of with our own griefs. We are cut down with cruel
axes and burned to death, and no one pities us.'
So she wandered on and on, and finally she asked the Paths if they had
seen her son pass by. But the Paths replied: 'Our own lives are too
wretched to think of other people's sorrows. We are trodden under foot
by beasts and men, and the heavy carts cut us in pieces.'
Next she asked the Moon, but the Moon replied: 'I have trouble enough of
my own. I have to wander all alone in both summer and winter nights, and
have no rest.'
Next she questioned the Sun, and he was kinder than the rest, and told
her how her son had died in the gloomy river Tuoni.
Then she hastened to Ilmarinen, the wondrous smith, and bade him make a
huge rake for her out of copper, with teeth a hundred fathoms long and
the handle five hundred fathoms. Ilmarinen quickly forged a magic rake,
and she hurried off with it to the gloomy river Tuoni, praying as she
went: 'O Sun, whom Ukko hath created, shine for me now with magic power
into the kingdom of death, into dark Manala, and lull all the evil
spirits there to sleep.'
The Sun came and sat upon a birch-tree near the river of Tuoni, and
shone upon the Deathland, Tuonela, until all the spirits fell asleep.
Then he rose, and hovering over them, warmed them into a yet deeper
slumber, and then hurried back to his place in the sky.
Meanwhile Lemminkainen's mother had raked a long time in the coal-black
river, but could find nothing. Then she waded in deeper and deeper,
until she could reach into the deepest caverns with her rake. First, she
found his jacket, and then the rest of his clothing; and finally, the
third time she swept her rake along, it brought up Lemminkainen's body,
but the hands and arms and head were still missing. Still she went on
with her search, and at length all the pieces were gathered together.
When she had laid them beside each other, in their proper positions, she
began to pray to the goddess of the veins, Suonetar, and the maiden of
the ether, to come and join the different parts together, and to sew up
the wounds and make him whole. And then she prayed to the mighty Ukko to
help them, and to heal every part that was wounded or bruised, to touch
them with his magic touch, and restore Lemminkainen to life.
And Ukko did so, and Lemminkainen lived once more, but he was still
blind and deaf and dumb. But his mother considered deeply how she might
restore these senses to him, and at length she called the little bee to
her, and bade it go out and collect honey from the healing plants in
the meadows. So the bee flew away and returned very soon laden with
honey from all the healing plants, and she anointed her son with this,
but it only gave him his sight, and still left him deaf and dumb.
Again the mother sent off the bee, telling it to go across the seven
oceans, and to alight on an enchanted isle in the eighth. There it would
find magic honey to bring back. The bee did as it was told and found the
magic honey-balm in tiny earthen vessels, and flew back with seven
vessels in its arms and seven on each shoulder, all filled with the
magic honey-balm. Lemminkainen's mother anointed him with this, and he
could hear, but still remained speechless.
Then the mother bade the bee fly up to the seventh heaven and to bring
down from thence the honey of Ukko's wisdom, which was so abundant
there. When the bee declared that it could not fly so high, she told it
the way and sent it off. So the bee flew up and up, and at the end of
the first day it rested on the moon. At the end of the second day it
reached the shoulders of the Great Bear, and on the third day it flew
over the Great Bear's head and reached the seventh heaven of Ukko. There
it found three golden kettles, and in the first was a balm that gave
ease to the heart, and the balm in the second gave happiness, but the
balm of the third kettle gave life. So the bee took some of the
life-giving balm and hastened back to earth.
Then Lemminkainen's mother anointed him with this magic balm, speaking a
magic spell as she rubbed him with it, and immediately he awoke, and his
first words were: 'Truly I have been sleeping long, but yet my sleep was
a sweet one, for I knew neither joy nor sorrow.'
When his mother asked how he had gone thither and who it was that had
harmed him, he told her all--how Louhi had sent him for the swan, and
how old Nasshut, the blind Northland shepherd, had sent the serpent
against him and killed him, for he did not know the charm to cure the
sting of serpents. Then his mother upbraided him for his ignorance, and
told him how the serpent was born from the marrow of the duck and the
brain of swallows, mixed with Suojatar's saliva, and she told him too
what the spell was to use against them. Thus his mother brought him back
to life and health, and he was wiser and handsomer than ever, but still
he was downhearted.
His mother asked him the reason of this, and he replied that he was
still thinking of Louhi's daughter and longing for her as his bride, but
that first he must shoot the wild swan. But his mother answered: 'Do
not think of the wild swan, nor yet of Louhi's daughters. Return with me
to Kalevala to thy home, and thank and praise thy Maker, Ukko, that he
hath saved thee, for I alone could never have saved thee from dismal
Manala.'
So Lemminkainen hastened home with his mother,--back again to his
pleasant home in Kalevala.
* * * * *
Every one expressed satisfaction that Lemminkainen had been restored to
life--'for, you see,' said Mimi, 'though he was really a bad man, he did
so many wonderful things that you just can't help wishing for him not to
be killed.'
But now it had grown quite late, nearly nine o'clock, and so they all
ate their supper and then Erik and Father Mikko sat smoking and talking
while Mother Stina and the little ones went into the other room to
bed,--for Erik had actually two rooms in his house,--and it isn't every
Finnish country cabin that has that, you know. They talked of their
country, for that was the dearest subject to both of them,--they were
intelligent men for their class,--and when Father Mikko told how the
Russian Tsar was taking their liberties away from them, and was
beginning to break all his oaths and promises and would no doubt end up
by making them as badly off as the people on the south side of the
Finnish Gulf--when Father Mikko related all this, Erik's eyes flashed
and he longed to be able to draw the sword to defend his beloved
country's liberty.
But at last they had gone over all these things and were sleepy
themselves, so they made up their beds on some sheep-skin rugs on the
floor, and soon fell into a sound sleep.
* * * * *
The next day it was still storming, and so Father Mikko gave up all idea
of leaving that day. About three o'clock in the afternoon--it was dark
as night then--they had all finished dinner and settled down around the
fire as on the day before, and Father Mikko was easily persuaded to go
on with his stories.
Erik was at work on a pair of snow-shoes, just like those that
Lemminkainen wore in the story of the hunt after the Hisi-deer. They
were nearly finished--about six feet long and five inches wide in the
broadest part, with a place in the middle to fasten them on to the feet,
and the front ends were turned up. All that now remained to be done was
to polish them off, and Erik worked at this while Father Mikko told his
stories. The children had enough to do to watch 'Pappa' Mikko's face and
listen to the wonderful tales, and Mother Stina was busy with some
sewing--she couldn't spin because the noise of the wheel would have
drowned Father Mikko's voice.
'Now that we have brought Lemminkainen back from the Death-river,' the
old man said, 'we will see what Wainamoinen was doing all this while.'
So he began as follows:
[Illustration]
WAINAMOINEN'S BOAT-BUILDING
Wainamoinen started to build a boat from the Rainbow-maiden's distaff,
but he had soon used up all his timber, and the boat was far from
finished. So he asked Sampsa (the planter of the first trees that grew
on earth) to go and search out the needful timber in order to finish the
boat.
Sampsa started off with a golden axe upon his shoulder and a copper
hatchet in his belt. He wandered through the mountain forests, and at
length came upon a great aspen, and was just going to cut it down, when
the aspen asked him what he wanted. 'I wish to take your timber for a
vessel,' Sampsa replied, 'that the wise magician Wainamoinen is
building.' Then the aspen answered: 'All the boats that have been made
of my wood have been but failures; they float but a little way, and
then sink to the ocean's bottom, for my trunk is full of hollow places,
where the worms have eaten my wood.'
So Sampsa left the aspen and searched still further, until he came to a
pine-tree that was even taller than the aspen was. Sampsa struck a blow
with his axe, and at the same time asked the pine-tree if it would
furnish good timber for Wainamoinen's boat. But the pine-tree answered:
'All the ships that have been made from me are useless. I am full of
imperfections, for the ravens live among my branches and bring
ill-luck.'
And Sampsa was obliged to leave the pine-tree and go on until he came to
a tremendous oak-tree, whose trunk was thicker than the height of even
the tallest men. And he asked the oak-tree if it would furnish wood for
Wainamoinen's boat. 'I will gladly furnish the wood,' replied the
oak-tree, 'for I am tall and sound and strong. The warm sun shines upon
me for three months in the summer, and the sacred cuckoo dwells in my
branches and brings good fortune.' So Sampsa quickly felled the oak, and
brought the timber, skilfully hewn, to Wainamoinen.
The wise magician Wainamoinen then began to put his boat together by the
aid of magic spells. The first magic song that he sang joined the
framework together, and the second song fastened the planking into the
ribs, and the third put the rowlocks in place and made the oars. But,
alas! when all this was done, there were still three magic words needed
to complete the stem and stern and bulwarks.
Wainamoinen saw that all his labour was in vain unless he found the
three magic words, for unless the stern and stem were fastened and the
bulwarks built, the boat could never put to sea. He pondered long over
where he might find the lost words, and after a while he concluded that
they might be found in the brains of swallows and the heads of swans and
the plumage of the sea-duck. But though he killed great numbers of these
birds, he could not find the three lost words. Then he thought that he
might find them on the tongues of reindeers or of the squirrels; but
though he killed great numbers of them, and found many words on their
tongues, the three lost words were not there.
Then he said to himself: 'I will seek the lost words in the kingdom of
Manala; there are countless words to be found there in the Deathland.'
So off he went, travelling for three weeks over hill and dale, through
marshes and thickets, until at length he came to the river of Tuoni.
There he called out in a voice like thunder: 'Bring a boat, O daughter
of Tuoni, and ferry me over this black and fatal river.'
Tuoni's daughter, a wee little dwarf, but very wise and ancient, bade
him first say why he wished to come into the Deathland while he was
still alive. And first Wainamoinen answered that Tuoni himself, the
death-god, had sent him. But the maid replied: 'Had Tuoni brought thee,
he would now be with thee, and thou wouldst be wearing his cap and
gloves.' So Wainamoinen answered again: 'I was slain by an iron weapon.'
But the maid would not believe him, because he had no bleeding wound.
Then he said the third time, that he had been washed there by the river.
But still the maid would not believe him, for his clothing was not wet.
And the fourth time he said that fire had burnt him. But the maid
replied: 'If the fire had brought thee to Manala, thy hair and eyebrows
and beard would be all singed and burnt. But now I ask thee for the last
time what it is that hath brought thee, living, hither. Tell me the
truth this time.'
Then Wainamoinen told her that he had been building a boat by magic, but
that he yet lacked one spell, and had come thither to seek it. When he
had said this, Tuoni's daughter came across and rowed him to the
opposite side, having first tried to dissuade him from coming. But
Wainamoinen was not afraid; and when he had landed he walked straight
up to the abode of Tuoni.
There Tuonetar, Tuoni's wife, gave him a golden goblet filled with beer,
saying: 'Drink Tuoni's beer, O wise and ancient Wainamoinen!' But he
carefully inspected the liquor before he tasted it, and saw that it was
black and full of the spawn of frogs and poisonous serpent-broods; and
he said to Tuonetar: 'I have not come hither to drink Tuoni's poisons,
for they that do so will surely be destroyed.'
Tuonetar then asked him why he had come, and he told her of his
boat-building, and how he still needed the three magic words, and that
he hoped to find them there. 'Tuoni will never reveal them,' Tuonetar
said; 'nor shalt thou ever leave these gates alive;' and as she spoke
she waved the slumber-wand over Wainamoinen's head, and he sank into a
deep sleep. And to make sure of his not escaping, Tuoni's son, a hideous
wizard with only three fingers, wove nets of iron and of copper, and set
them all through the river, to catch Wainamoinen if by any chance he
should get so far.
But Wainamoinen soon freed himself from Tuonetar's slumber-spell, and
knowing in how great danger he was, he instantly transformed himself
into a serpent, and wriggled his way to the river, and through the nets
that had been set to catch him, until at length he came out safe into
the land of the living again; and the next morning, when Tuoni's wizard
son went to look at his nets, he found all kinds of evil fish and
serpents, but not the wise old magician.
But Wainamoinen prayed to Ukko: 'I thank thee, O Ukko, that thou hast
protected me; but never suffer any other of thy heroes, not even the
wisest, to go against the laws of nature to the awful Tuonela. For there
are but few who return from thence.'
And then Wainamoinen called together the people on the plains of
Kalevala, and spoke to the young men and maidens, saying: 'Listen, all
ye young people. Never disobey your parents; never harm the innocent,
nor wrong the weak, nor utter falsehood, else ye will pay the penance
for it in the gloomy prison of Manala; for there is the dwelling-place
of the wicked, and a place for the guilty. Beneath the burning rocks
there are fiery couches, with pillows of hissing serpents, and coverlets
of green writhing vipers. And the wicked there drink the blood of
adders, but have nothing to eat at all. If ye would be happy, shun this
abode of the wicked ones in Tuonela.'
* * * * *
'But I thought Wainamoinen wasn't to use any wood for his boat except
the pieces of the distaff,' said Mimi.
'Well, you see,' said Father Mikko, 'the main thing was to build the
boat by _magic_, and we'll see now how he did that. I don't believe a
little extra wood made any difference.' So he went on:
[Illustration: A LAPLAND WIZARD.]
[Illustration]
WAINAMOINEN FINDS THE LOST WORDS
Wainamoinen had failed to find the three magic words in the Deathland,
and now he sat and pondered whither he should go next to seek them.
While he was thinking over this, a shepherd came to him and said: 'Thou
canst find a thousand words of wisdom on the tongue of the dead hero
Wipunen. I know the road that leads to his grave: first, thou must
journey a long distance over the points of needles, and then a long way
upon the edges of sharp swords, and then a third road on the edges of
hatchets.'
Then Wainamoinen considered how he should be able to walk over the
needles and swords and hatchets, and at last hit on a plan. He went to
the smith Ilmarinen and bade him make shoes of iron, and gloves of
copper, and a magic staff of the sent by mighty Ukko, for if so I will
be resigned, but if thou art of some human race, I will search out thy
tribe and destroy it. Leave my body, cease thy forging, let me rest in
peace and slumber. Or if thou wilt not leave me, I will call on all the
great magicians of the past, the spirits of the mountains and woods and
seas and rivers, on Ilmatar, daughter of the ether, to assist me. Or if
these be not sufficient, I will call on mighty Ukko to drive thee forth.
If thou art from the winds, then return to the copper mountains where
they live; if from the sea, return to it; if from the forests, then
return to them, or I will drive thee to the bottom of the coal-black
river of Tuoni, whence thou shalt never move again.'
'I am well contented here,' said Wainamoinen, 'in these roomy caverns. I
can eat thy heart and flesh and for drink I will take thy blood. And I
will set my forge still deeper in thy vitals, and will swing my hammer
still harder on thy heart and lungs and liver. I shall never leave thee
until I learn all thy wisdom, and the three lost words, that all thy
magic knowledge may not perish with thee from the earth.'
Then Wipunen began to sing all his knowledge and his magic spells for
Wainamoinen. He sang the origin of witchcraft, the source of good and
evil and how by the will of Ukko the water was first divided from the
ether. And next he sang of how the moon and sun were made, and whence
the colours of the rainbow came, and how the stars were sprinkled in the
sky. Three whole days and nights he sang, until the stars and the moon
stood still to listen, and the very waves of the sea and the tides
ceased to rise and fall, and the rivers stopped in their courses.
At length Wainamoinen had learned all the wisdom of the great magician,
and the three lost words, and he made ready to leave Wipunen's body,
bidding him open wide his mouth that he might get out and leave him for
ever.
'I have eaten many things, O Wainamoinen,' said Wipunen, 'bears and
reindeer, wolves and oxen, but never such a thing as thou. Now thou hast
found the wisdom that thou seekest, go in peace and never come back to
me.'
Then he opened his mouth wide, and Wainamoinen glided forth and hastened
swiftly as the deer to Kalevala. First he went into the smithy, and
Ilmarinen asked him if he had learned the lost words that would enable
him to finish his vessel. 'I have learned a thousand magic words,'
answered Wainamoinen, 'and among them are the lost words that I sought.'
Thereupon he hastened off to where his vessel lay, and with the three
lost words he joined the stem and stern and raised the bulwarks. Thus he
had built the vessel with magic alone, and by magic art he launched it
too, not touching it with foot or knee or hand, using only magic to push
it. Thus was the task completed which should gain for him the
Rainbow-maiden in her beauty.
* * * * *
'Oh! _do_ hurry and tell us about that,' said Mimi, and Father Mikko
continued.
[Illustration]
THE RIVAL SUITORS
Now the Rainbow-maiden was really the same as old Louhi's fairest
daughter, whom Wainamoinen had wooed, and for whom Ilmarinen had made
the magic Sampo, and Wainamoinen had learned this. So when the magic
boat was finished, he made ready for a journey to the Northland, to try
once more to win the fair Pohjola maiden for his bride.
He ornamented the magic vessel with gold and silver, and painted it
scarlet, and on the masts he set sails of linen, red, white, and blue.
Then he stepped on board, and called on Ukko to protect and help him,
and on the winds to aid him on his way, and off the magic boat flew
towards Pohjola, never needing an oar to help it.
Annikki, Ilmarinen's sister, was down by the seashore just at dawn that
morning, and as she gazed out over the sea, she saw a blue speck in the
distance. At first she thought it was a flock of birds, and then as it
drew nearer it looked like a great tree floating on the water, but at
last she saw that it was a vessel with but one man in it, and when it
came still nearer she recognised Wainamoinen.
She called out to him and asked him whither he was going. He replied
that he was come a-fishing, but Annikki said: 'Thy boat is not rigged
like a fisher-boat, nor hast thou lines or nets with thee. Tell me the
truth, O Wainamoinen!' And he answered the second time, that he had come
to kill wild geese and ducks. But Annikki told him that she knew that
was untrue, for he had no hunting dogs in the vessel with him, nor any
weapons. Then he told her that he was sailing to the wars. Annikki
replied: 'My father often used to sail to war, but in a ship with many
rowers, and with many armed heroes on board, but thy vessel is surely
not fitted for battle. Now tell me the truth, O wise Wainamoinen, or
else I will send a storm-wind after thee and break thy ship in pieces.'
Then he told her the truth, that he was going to woo the Rainbow-maiden,
Louhi's daughter, and then Annikki knew that he spoke the truth. She
hurried off to her brother's smithy and said to him: 'Dearest brother,
if thou wilt forge for me a silver loom and gold and silver finger-rings
and earrings, golden girdles and golden ornaments for my hair, I will
tell thee something that is very important for thee to know.'
So Ilmarinen promised, and his sister said: 'O Ilmarinen, if thou hopest
ever to wed the fair maid of Pohjola, thou must hasten and make thy
sledge ready, for Wainamoinen is now sailing thither in a magic boat to
win her before thee.' Then Ilmarinen bade his sister prepare a magic
soap and make a bath ready for him while he was forging the gold and
silver ornaments that she had bargained for.
When Ilmarinen had finished his work he found the bath and the magic
soap all ready for him, and he began to wash off the grime and dirt and
soot of the smithy. When he was through, and came out of the bath, he
had grown wonderfully bright and handsome, for the magic soap had made
his cheeks rosy and his eyes bright as moonlight. Then he put on his
finest garments, soft linen, and silken stockings, a blue vest and
scarlet trousers, and a fur coat of sealskin, held by buttons made of
jewels, and a belt with golden buckles. After he was dressed he ordered
his magic sledge to be harnessed, and on the front placed six cuckoos
and seven blue-birds that they might sing and charm the Northland
maiden.
When all was ready Ilmarinen prayed to great Ukko to send snow that it
might cover all the country and let his sledge glide easily to Pohjola.
And the snow came, and Ilmarinen wrapped himself up warmly in bear-skins,
and drove off like the wind, first invoking Ukko's blessing on his
journey. On he went, over hill and dale, with the cuckoos and blue-birds
singing on the sledge, and then he drove along the seashore to the north
in a cloud of snow and sand and mist and sea-foam, looking out for
Wainamoinen's vessel. On the evening of the third day he caught up with
Wainamoinen, and called out to him: 'O ancient Wainamoinen, let us woo
the maiden peacefully, and let her choose which one of us she will.' To
this Wainamoinen agreed; and having promised not to use deceit of any
sort against one another, they hurried on their way,--Wainamoinen
calling up the south wind to help him, and Ilmarinen's steed shaking the
hills of Northland as he galloped on.
Soon they drew near to Louhi's dwelling, and the watchdogs began to bark
more loudly than they had ever done before. Louhi's husband told his
daughter to go and see what the trouble was, but she replied that she
was busy grinding barley, and could not go. Then he told his wife to go,
but she was too busy cooking dinner. So the father grew angry, and
said: 'Women are always busy either baking or sleeping; go, my son, and
learn what all the trouble is.' But the son refused, because he was busy
splitting wood.
So at last Louhi's husband was obliged to go himself, for the dogs kept
barking louder and louder. There, as soon as he had reached the gate, he
saw a scarlet-coloured ship sailing into the bay, and a sledge driving
up along the shore at full speed. Then he hastened back into the house,
and told them all that he had seen. And Louhi took a branch and gave it
to her daughter, saying: 'Place this on the fire, my daughter, and if in
burning it drips blood, then these strangers bring war and bloodshed;
but if clear water, then they come in peace.'
So the maiden put the branch on the fire, and as they watched it they
saw honey trickling out, and from this Louhi knew that the two men were
coming as suitors. Then they hastened out into the courtyard, and saw
the vessel in the harbour, painted scarlet, and an ancient white-bearded
magician at the helm; and on the land they saw a brightly-coloured
sledge, with cuckoos and bluebirds singing on the front, and driven by a
young and handsome hero.
Louhi immediately recognised them both, and said to her daughter: 'Wilt
thou have one of these suitors, dearest daughter? He that comes in the
ship is good old Wainamoinen, bringing countless treasures for thee from
Kalevala. The other in the sledge, with the singing birds, is the
blacksmith Ilmarinen, who brings no presents save himself. When they
come into the house bring a pitcher of honey-drink, and give it to the
one that thou wilt follow. Give it to old Wainamoinen, for he brings
thee countless treasures.'
But the daughter replied: 'I will never marry a man for riches, but for
his real worth. Mothers did not use to sell their daughters thus in the
olden times to suitors whom they did not love. I shall choose Ilmarinen
for his true worth and wisdom.'
Old Louhi grew angry at this, and tried to change her daughter's mind,
but all she could say did not move her; and just then Wainamoinen came
to the house, and addressed the maiden thus: 'Come with me, O lovely
maiden, be my bride and honoured wife, and share my joys and sorrows
with me.'
The maiden answered: 'Hast thou built the magic vessel, using neither
hand nor foot to touch it?'
'I have built it, and brought it hither,' answered Wainamoinen. 'It is
finely made by magic, and will live in the worst of storms; nothing can
ever sink it.'
But then the maiden said to him: 'I will not wed a husband born in the
sea. Storms would bring us trouble, and the winds rack our hearts. I
cannot go with thee, cannot marry thee, O Wainamoinen.'
[Illustration]
ILMARINEN'S WOOING
Just as Wainamoinen had received his answer, Ilmarinen came hurrying
into the house and into the guest-room. There servants brought him
honey-drink in silver pitchers, but he said: 'I will never taste the
drink of Northland till I see the Rainbow-maiden. With her I will gladly
drink, for I have come hither to seek her hand.' Then Louhi said to him:
'The maiden is not ready to receive thee, and thou may not woo her
before thou hast ploughed the field of hissing serpents. Once the evil
spirit Lempo ploughed it, but it has never been done since.'
Ilmarinen wandered off sadly, but while he was pondering over what he
should do, he saw the lovely maid herself. He went up to her and said:
'Long ago I forged the Sampo for thee, and then thou promised to become
my wife. But now thy mother demands that I first plough the field of
serpents before I win thee.' But the maiden comforted him, and told him
how to plough the field with a plough of gold and silver and copper.
So Ilmarinen went off and built a smithy, and placed in the furnace gold
and silver and copper and iron. And from these he forged a plough, with
ploughshare of gold and beam of silver and copper handles; and for
himself he made boots and gloves and armour of iron; and as he worked he
sang magic spells to give his work power to overcome the serpents. Then
he harnessed to the plough the fire-breathing Hisi-horse, and went into
the field. There were serpents of every sort, creeping and crawling over
one another, and hissing horribly, but Ilmarinen cast a spell over them,
and ploughed the field, so that all the snakes were buried in the
furrows. And then he went to Louhi, and claimed her daughter's hand.
But Louhi refused to let him have her daughter until he should catch the
great bear of Manala, and bring him to her. So he went off to the maid
again, and told her what old Louhi had demanded of him. The lovely
maiden instructed him how to prepare a muzzle for the bear, forging it
of steel on a rock beneath the water, at a spot where three currents
met together, and the straps were to be of steel and copper mixed. And
Ilmarinen made a muzzle as she had directed, and set off for Manala, the
dismal Deathland. As he went he prayed to the goddess of the mists to
send a fog where the great bear of Manala was, so that he might not see
Ilmarinen as he approached. And the goddess sent the fog, and Ilmarinen
was able to creep up to the bear and throw the magic muzzle over his
head, and then to lead him to Louhi without any trouble.
When he had brought the bear to her, he asked her again for her lovely
daughter's hand. But Louhi said to him: 'Thou must perform one more task
still, and then, when that is done, thou shalt have my dear daughter.
Catch for me the monster-pike that lives in the river of Tuoni, but thou
may not use hook, nor line, nor nets, nor boat. Hundreds have been sent
to catch it, but all have died in Tuoni's dark waters.'
And now Ilmarinen was deeply discouraged, and went off to tell the
maiden of this third task, which he thought it was impossible to do. But
she told him to forge an eagle in his magic furnace, and that the eagle
would catch the monster-pike for him. So Ilmarinen went to work and
forged an eagle in his smithy: talons of iron, beak of steel and copper.
And when the eagle was entirely made from iron and copper, he mounted
on its back and bade it fly away to the river of Tuoni, there to catch
the monster-pike. When they had reached the bank, Ilmarinen dismounted
and began to search for the pike, while the eagle hovered over the
water. While Ilmarinen was searching, a huge monster rose from the
depths and tried to seize him, but the eagle swooped down, and with one
bite of his mighty beak, wrenched off the monster's head. Still
Ilmarinen continued his search, until at last the monster-pike itself
rose up to seize him. But as it came to the surface, the giant-eagle
swooped down upon it, and buried its talons in the pike's flesh. Then
the fish, maddened with the pain, rushed down to the deepest caverns,
dragging the eagle with it until the bird had to loose its hold and soar
aloft again. A second time the eagle swooped down and struck deep into
the pike's shoulders; but the pike dived to the bottom again and
escaped. At last the eagle made a third descent, and this time grasped
the pike firmly with his beak of steel, and planted his talons firmly on
the rocks, and this time he succeeded in dragging the pike from out the
river.
Then the eagle flew off with the pike to the top of a tall pine-tree,
and there ate the body of his victim, leaving the head for Ilmarinen.
But the eagle himself soared up into the air, up beyond the clouds, and
at length disappeared behind the sun.
Ilmarinen returned to Louhi with the pike's head and again claimed her
daughter in marriage. Louhi answered him: 'Thou hast performed this last
task but badly, since thou only brought me the worthless head. But
still, since thou hast completed the other tasks also, I will give thee
my fair daughter. Thou hast won the Maid of Beauty, to be the help and
joy of all thy future life.'
But while Ilmarinen was rejoicing in his good fortune, the aged
Wainamoinen wandered sorrowfully homewards, bewailing his sad lot, thus
to be compelled to live without a wife to cheer his home. 'Woe is me,'
he sang, 'that I did not woo and marry in my youth, for the old men
cannot hope to conquer the young ones when they go a-wooing.'
* * * * *
When this story was ended, Father Mikko stopped a while to rest, and the
others discussed the stories that he had just told. All were pleased
that the Rainbow-maiden had chosen Ilmarinen instead of the aged
Wainamoinen, and little Antero asked 'Pappa' Mikko what they had had to
eat at the wedding--he was rather more deeply interested in things to
eat than anything else--so Father Mikko continued, after he had rested a
while.
[Illustration]
THE BREWING OF BEER
Great preparations were now made in Louhi's home for her daughter's
wedding with Ilmarinen. In distant Karjala, a part of Kalevala, was a
great ox, the largest in the world. It took a weasel seven days to
travel round his neck and shoulders; the swallow had to fly a whole day
without resting, to get from one horn-tip to the other; the squirrel
travelled thirty days, starting from the tail, before he reached the
shoulders. This great ox was led by a thousand heroes to Pohjola, to
Louhi's house, but when he had come thither, no one could be found to
kill him.
Then there came an aged hero from Karjala, and went up to the ox to kill
him with his war-club. But the ox turned and gave him one fierce glance,
and the old warrior dropped his club and ran away and hid in the
forest. Then they sent forth far and near to find some one to kill the
ox, but no one came. At last there arose from the sea a tiny dwarf, who,
when he stepped on land, grew suddenly into a giant, with hands of iron,
a copper-coloured face, a hat of flint upon his head, and sandstone
shoes upon his feet. As soon as this sea-spirit saw the ox, he rushed at
it and killed it with one blow of his golden sword. Thus was the meat
provided for the feast.
The banquet-hall was so large that when a dog barked at one door no one
could hear him at the opposite side, and when a cock crowed on the roof
no one on the ground could hear him. Louhi went in thither, to see that
all was being put in readiness, but while she was there she said aloud
as if to herself: 'Whence will I get the liquor for my guests, for I
know nothing of the secret of beer-brewing?'
An old man was sitting beside the fire, and he answered her: 'Beer comes
from barley, hops, and water. The seed of the hops were scattered
loosely over the earth, and from them arose the graceful hop-vine,
climbing over everything. The barley was planted in the land of
Kalevala, and it grew and flourished there.
'Then the hops, clinging to the trees, began to hum, and the barley and
the water in the wells to sing, saying: "Let us join our forces
together, that we may live united, for that is far better than to be
separated as we now are." So the ancient maiden Osmotar took six golden
grains of barley, seven hops, and seven cups of water, and set them in a
caldron on the fire. There she let them steep and boil during the warm
summer days, and at length poured off the liquor into tubs made of
birch-wood. Now she pondered long how she should make the liquor ferment
and cause it to foam and sparkle.
'Then Osmotar called one of the Kalevala maidens and bade her step into
the birchen tub. The maiden did so, and on looking around she saw a
splinter of wood lying on the bottom. She picked it up, thinking it was
worthless, but nevertheless she took it to Osmotar. Osmotar rubbed her
hands upon her knees and turned the bit of wood into a white squirrel.
As soon as she had made the squirrel, she sent it off to Tapio's
kingdom, to the great forest, and commanded it to bring her cones from
the magic fir-trees and young shoots from the magic pines. And the
squirrel hurried off and travelled through the forest until it came to
Tapio's home. There it found three magic pine-trees growing, and three
fir-trees beside them, and having taken the young shoots and the cones
and stowed them in its pouch, it came back again to Osmotar. But when
she put the cones and pine-shoots into the beer, it still refused to
ferment.
'So Osmotar made the Kalevala maiden get into the birchen tub once more,
and this time the maiden found a chip upon the bottom. When she took it
to Osmotar, the latter rubbed her hands upon her knees again, and turned
the chip into a magic golden-breasted marten. Then she sent the marten
off to the dens of the mountain bears, to gather the foam from their
angry lips as they fought with one another. The marten flew away, and
soon returned with the foam that it had gathered from the mouths of the
raging bears. But when Osmotar added it to the liquor there was no
effect, and the beer remained as still as ever.
'For a third time, then, the maid of Kalevala stepped into the tub, and
this time found a pod on the bottom. Osmotar took the pod and rubbed it
between her hands and knees, and there flew out of it a honeybee. She
sent the bee off to the Islands of the Sea, telling it to go to a meadow
there, where a maiden lay asleep, and growing by the maiden's side there
were honey-grasses and fragrant flowers. From these the bee was to
collect the honey and bring it back. The bee flew off straight over the
ocean, and on the evening of the third day reached the Isles of the
Sea, where it found the maiden fast asleep amongst the flowers, clad in
a silver robe, with a girdle of copper. By her grew the loveliest and
sweetest of flowers and grasses, and the bee loaded itself down with
their honey and returned to Osmotar with it. This time, when the honey
was placed in the beer it began to ferment and rise and bubble and foam
until it filled all the tubs and ran over on the sands.
'When the beer was ready, all the heroes of Kalevala came to drink it,
and Lemminkainen drank so much that he became intoxicated. But Osmotar,
now that she had made the beer, did not know how to keep it, for it was
still running out of the tubs and over everything. While she was sitting
and grieving over this, the robin sang to her from an aspen, and told
her to put it into strong oaken barrels bound with copper hoops, and
thus the last difficulty was overcome.
'Thus was beer first brewed from hops and barley,' continued the old
man, 'and the beer of Kalevala is famed to strengthen the feeble, to
cheer the sad, to make the old young, and the timid brave. It makes the
heart joyful and puts wise sayings on the tongue, but the fool it makes
still more foolish.'
Thus the old man ended his account of the origin of beer, and Louhi,
who had listened to him carefully, took all the tubs she had and put
hops and barley in them, and water on top, and then lit huge fires to
heat stones, that she might drop them in the mixture and make it boil.
She made such a great quantity of beer that the springs were emptied and
the forests grew small, and such a vast column of smoke went up as
filled half of Pohjola and was seen even in distant Karjala and
Lemminkainen's home. And all the people there thought it arose from some
mighty battle between great heroes. But Lemminkainen pondered over it,
and at last he found out that it was the fires for Louhi's beer-making
for the wedding feast, and he grew bitterly angry, for Louhi had refused
_him_ her daughter's hand, and now had given her to Ilmarinen.
But now the beer was ready and was stored away in casks hooped with
copper, and thousands of delicate dishes were made ready for the feast.
But when all was nearly ready the beer began to grow impatient in its
casks, and cried out for the guests to come that songs might be sung in
its honour. So Louhi sent first for a pike and a salmon to sing its
praises, but they could not do it. Next she sent for a boy, but the boy
was too ignorant to sing the praises of the beer, and all this time the
beer was calling out more and more loudly from its prison. Then Louhi
determined to invite the guests at once, lest the beer should break
forth from the casks.
So she called one of her servants and said to her: 'Go, my trusted
servant, and call together all the Pohjola people to the banquet. Go out
into the highways too, and bring in all the poor and blind and cripples,
the old and the young, that they may be merry at my daughter's wedding.
And ask all the people of Karjala and the ancient Wainamoinen, but be
sure thou dost not invite wild Lemminkainen.' At this the servant asked
why she was not to ask Lemminkainen, and Louhi answered: 'Lemminkainen
must not come, for he loves war and strife, and would bring disturbance
and sorrow to our feast, and scoff at our maidens.'
And the servant, having learned from Louhi how she should recognise
Lemminkainen, set off and invited rich and poor, old and young, the
deaf, the blind, and the cripples in all Pohjola and Karjala, but did
not ask Lemminkainen.
[Illustration]
ILMARINEN'S WEDDING FEAST
At length the guests began to arrive, and Ilmarinen came escorted by
hundreds of his friends, driving a coal-black steed, and with the same
birds singing on his sledge as when he came to woo the Rainbow-maiden,
Louhi's fairest daughter. When he alighted from his sledge, Louhi sent
her best servants to take the steed and give him the very best of food
in a manger of pure gold. But as Ilmarinen advanced to enter the house,
they found that he was too tall to pass through the doorway without
stooping, which would have been very unlucky: so Louhi had to have the
top beam taken away before he could enter.
Inside the dwelling was so changed that no one would have recognised it.
Louhi had cast a magic spell over it, and all the beams and door and
window-sills were made from bones that gleamed like ivory; the
windows were adorned with trout-scales, and the fires were set in
flowers; and the seats and tables and floors were of gold and silver and
copper, with marble hearth-stones and silken carpets on the floors.
Louhi bade Ilmarinen welcome when he came into the guest-hall, and
calling up her servant-maidens, she gazed at her daughter's suitor. The
maidens bore wax tapers, and by their light the bridegroom looked
handsomer than ever, and his eyes sparkled like the waves of the sea.
[Illustration: LAPP WOMAN IN HOLIDAY COSTUME.]
Then Louhi bade the maidens lead Ilmarinen to the seat of honour at the
table in the great hall, and then all the other guests took their
places, and the feast began. First of all the daintiest dishes of every
sort were served by Louhi to the bridegroom--honey-biscuits,
river-salmon, butter, bacon, and every delicacy one can think of--and
after he was served, the servants took the dishes around to the others.
After this the foaming beer was brought in silver pitchers, and all were
served in the same order.
All the heroes and magicians assembled there began to grow merry, and
Wainamoinen said that some one should sing the praises of the beer. But
no one else could be found to do it, and all pressed Wainamoinen to
sing, so at last he arose and began. He sang of the beer first, and
then from his great stock of wisdom he sang them one song after the
other of the days of old, until every guest grew happy from his magic
power of song. But when Wainamoinen had finished his singing, he added:
'Yet I am but a poor singer. For if great Ukko should sing his perfect
songs of wisdom, he would sing the oceans into honey and the sands to
berries, and the pebbles into barley, the rivers into beer, the fruit to
gold, and the mountains into bread. Grant thy blessing, great Ukko, upon
this feast of ours. Send joy and health and comfort to all those here,
that we may ever look back with pleasure to Ilmarinen's marriage with
the fair Maiden of the Rainbow.'
Thus Wainamoinen, the great singer, ended his singing, and the time had
come for the bride and bridegroom to leave for their distant home in
Kalevala. But first must Osmotar, the wise maiden, instruct the bride as
to her future life. Osmotar told her that she must henceforth be
thoughtful and not foolish, that she must love her husband's kinsfolks
as her own. Osmotar told her, too, never to be idle, and then instructed
her in all the many household duties of the wives of Kalevala, but at
the same time impressed it upon her how wicked she would be if with all
this she were to forget her own parents. After this Osmotar turned to
the bridegroom and bade him ever love his bride and honour her, nor ever
treat her ill.
Thus she advised them both, and they made ready to leave. But the Maiden
of the Rainbow wept, because she was leaving all the joys and pleasures
of her youth, and those she loved, to go to a distant land, where all
would be new and strange, and perhaps, too, hard for her. Yet at length
all the farewells had been said, the last goodbye was spoken, and the
two got into their sledge and the next instant the swift black steed
flew off like an arrow, rushing on toward the land of Kalevala, leaving
far behind them the gloomy Northland, which was yet so dear to the
Rainbow-maiden, and which she was never to see again.
Three days they journeyed onward over hill and valley without stopping,
and the third evening brought them in sight of Ilmarinen's smithy, and
they could see the smoke rising from the chimneys of their home. There
they found that they had been expected for a long time, and there was
great rejoicing when their sledge drove up, with the birds singing
merrily on its front, and all bright and happy.
Lakko, Ilmarinen's mother, received them at the door and welcomed the
fair Rainbow-maiden most heartily, and when the bridal pair had taken
off their furs, she served them with the very best of food and
drink--choicest bits of reindeer, wheaten biscuit, honey-cakes, and fish
of all sorts, and the best of beer. And while they ate, the others, who
had been old Louhi's guests, began to arrive, and soon there was a great
feast going on, almost as great a one as there had been before at
Louhi's.
While they were all feasting, Wainamoinen arose and began to sing again.
This time he sang the praises of the bridegroom's father and mother, and
the bride and groom, and ended up with praising the guests that were
assembled there. Then he and many of the guests took their leave and
journeyed off together to their homes. Three days they drove on
together, and Wainamoinen kept on singing all the time, until suddenly
his song was cut short, for his sledge ran into a birch-tree and was
broken into pieces. But Wainamoinen considered the case and then said:
'Is there any one here who will go to Tuonela, to the Deathland, for the
auger of Tuoni, that I may mend my sledge with it?' But no one would
venture on so perilous a journey, so at length Wainamoinen went himself
and obtained Tuoni's magic auger, and with its aid, on his return, he
put together his magic sledge again.
Then he harnessed up his steed once more and galloped off to his home.
Thus ended Ilmarinen's wedding and the feasts that followed it.
* * * * *
These two stories took Antero's fancy, and he begged that 'Pappa Mikko
would tell about some more times when they had good things to eat.'
But Father Mikko said: 'People can't be eating all the time, Antero, and
I think the others would rather hear about what Lemminkainen did, when
he heard of the feast and was not invited himself.'
Mimi cried 'Yes, yes!' and so the old man began.
[Illustration]
THE ORIGIN OF THE SERPENT
As Lemminkainen was ploughing his fields one day, he heard the noise of
sledges as if a vast number of people were on their way past. At once he
guessed the reason, for they were the guests going to Ilmarinen's
wedding, while he alone had not been invited. Then his face turned pale
with anger, and he left his ploughing and hastened off to his house.
When he arrived there, he asked his mother to give him a hearty meal,
and after that he went to the bath-house and after the bath put on his
finest garments, as if going to a feast.
His mother asked him where he was going and he told her that he was
bound for the great feast that Louhi had prepared. But his mother tried
to keep him from going, telling him that they did not want him there, or
else they would have invited him, but he answered: 'This sword with its
sharp edges constantly reminds me that I am needed in distant Pohjola.'
His mother spoke again, saying: 'Do not go, my dear son, for Death will
meet thee thrice upon the way.' Lemminkainen replied that he did not
fear Death, but would overcome him, but at the same time asked his
mother what the first danger would be.
'When thou hast travelled for one day,' she replied, 'thou wilt come to
a stream of fire, with a fiery cataract, and in the fire-fall a rock,
and on the rock a fiery hill, and on its top an eagle made of flames,
who devours all that approach him.'
Lemminkainen answered that he would easily pass this danger, and asked
to know the second. His mother told him: 'When thou hast travelled two
days, thou wilt come to a fiery pit filled with red-hot stones, and no
one has ever been able to pass over it.'
But Lemminkainen thought but little of this second danger, and asked his
mother to tell him what the third one was. She replied: 'When thou hast
gone one day farther, and hast come to Pohjola, the wolf and the black
bear will attack thee, and many hundred men have perished in their
jaws.' But he told her how easily he would overcome them and then have
conquered all the dangers of the journey. Then his mother added: 'There
are three things still to conquer. When thou reachest Louhi's dwelling,
thou wilt find walls built of iron rising up to the sky, and surrounded
by railings of spears on which are serpents and all manner of venomous
creatures twisting and creeping about; and right before the gateway lies
the largest of them all, longer than the rafters of a house. And beyond
all this, thou wilt find great hosts of armed warriors, who have grown
angry over their beer and they will certainly kill you. And if thou
shouldst come into the courtyard, thou wilt find it full of sharp
stakes, to hold the heads of those that go thither unbidden. Do not
forget how thou once fared in Pohjola, that had I not saved thee thou
wouldst now be at the bottom of Tuoni's river.'
Yet after she had warned him of all this, Lemminkainen would not be
persuaded to remain at home, but put on his magic armour of copper and
took his father's sword, and his own strongest bow. Then he had his
steed hitched to a sledge and went out into the courtyard to drive off.
There his mother bade him farewell and gave him some last words of
advice, telling him that if he should come to the feast, to drink but
half of his goblet of beer, for there were serpents in the other half,
and to behave modestly and not to try to take the best of everything for
himself.
When she had ended, Lemminkainen jumped upon his sledge, cracked his
whip, and drove off like the wind. He had not gone far before a flock of
wild birds flew across his road and dropped a few feathers on the
ground. Lemminkainen stopped and picking them up put them carefully in
his leather pouch, 'for,' he thought, 'no one knows what may happen.' As
soon as he had picked up the feathers he was off again, but he had not
gone far when his steed stopped in terror, for there, right in front of
them, was a broad river of fire, and a fire-fall with a rock in the
middle, and on the rock a fiery hill, and on the hill a flaming eagle.
The Eagle asked him whither he was going, and Lemminkainen replied that
he was hurrying to Louhi's feast and begged the Eagle to let him pass.
'Truly thou shalt pass,' the Eagle answered, 'but only through the
flames and down my throat.' But Lemminkainen was not dismayed. He took
out the feathers from his pouch and rubbed them between his fingers, and
presently there arose a whole flock of birds and flew straight down the
eagle's mouth so that its hunger was satisfied, then Lemminkainen was
able to pass over the river by the help of his magic, and to drive on
his way.
He drove for another day and then his horse suddenly stopped again in
terror, for there was a huge pit full of fire right in front, which
stretched as far as one could see to east and west. Yet Lemminkainen was
not discouraged, but prayed to great Ukko, that he would send a great
storm from all the four points of the compass, and fill the pit with
snow. And the snow came and as it fell into the seething pit of fire it
melted and formed a lake; and Lemminkainen quickly cast a spell upon
this lake so that a solid bridge of ice was formed over it, and he drove
over in perfect safety.
Thus the second danger was passed and he drove on more swiftly than
ever. After another day's journey, when he had come near to Louhi's
abode, his horse stopped again, trembling with fear. This time there
were a fierce wolf and a great black bear in the road. But Lemminkainen
put his hand into his leathern pouch and pulled out a tuft of wool. This
he rubbed between his hands and breathed on it, and it changed into a
whole flock of sheep, on which the bear and the wolf jumped and left
Lemminkainen to pursue his journey in peace.
In a very short time he had reached Louhi's house. But there he found
the great wall of iron and the fence of spears and the horrible snakes
and lizards that his mother had told him of. Yet he pulled out his magic
broad sword and cut an opening through the wall and the fence of spears
and the mass of serpents, and passed through to the gateway. There he
found a huge serpent with a hundred eyes, each as large as bowls, and a
thousand tongues long as javelins, and teeth like hatchets. Lemminkainen
sang one spell, but it was not powerful enough, and the huge monster
started to rush at him and seize him in its awful mouth. But
Lemminkainen just in time began to sing a stronger spell.
For evil things cannot bear to have their wicked origin told, and if
therefore one sings the source of any evil, one makes it harmless at
once, so Lemminkainen sang: 'If thou wilt not give room for me to pass,
I will sing of thy evil origin, will tell how thy horrid head was made.
Suoyatar, thy evil mother, once spat upon the waves of the sea. The
spittle was rocked by the waves and warmed by the sun, until after a
long time it was washed ashore. There the daughters of Ukko, the
Creator, saw it, and said: "What would happen if great Ukko were to
breathe the breath of life into this writhing, senseless mass?" But Ukko
overheard them and said: "Naught but evil comes from evil, therefore I
will not give it life."
'Now, wicked Lempo heard what Ukko had said, and he himself breathed
into it the breath of life, and shaped it to the form of a serpent,
adding to the spittle all manner of evil things, every poisonous plant
and thing from the Deathland. This was thine origin, O Serpent, vilest
thing of all creation; therefore clear the pathway that I may enter the
halls of the hostess Louhi.'
Thus sang Lemminkainen, and the serpent uncoiled itself and crawled
away, while Ahti himself went on through the gateway.
[Illustration]
THE UNWELCOME GUEST
Thus Lemminkainen came unbidden to Louhi's abode, but he had arrived too
late for the feast. He entered the house with such a mighty tread that
the floors bent under him and the walls and ceilings creaked as he
advanced. Louhi's husband was seated in the guest-room, and Lemminkainen
said to him: 'The same greeting to thee that thou givest to me! Are
there food and beer here for a stranger and barley for a hungry steed?'
Louhi's husband answered: 'I have never yet refused a place in my
stables for a stranger's horse, and if thou wilt act honestly there is a
place for thee between the iron kettles.'
Lemminkainen said: 'When my father Lempo comes to a house as a guest, he
is well received and given the place of honour. Why should I, his son,
be put between the pots and kettles to be covered with soot?' With these
words he walked up to the table, and taking his seat he waited to be
served.
Then Louhi said to him: 'O Lemminkainen, thou wert not invited hither,
and I feel that thou bringest sorrow with thee. All our dinner was eaten
and our beer drunk yesterday, and we have nothing left for thee.'
This made Lemminkainen very angry, and he replied: 'O toothless mistress
of Pohjola, thou hast managed thy feast very badly, for thou hast had
delicacies of every sort for the others, who gave but trifling presents,
while for me, who have sent the most of all, thou hast nothing at all
after my long journey.'
Then Louhi called up one of her meanest servants and bade her serve the
guest. And there came a little short woman, who made ready a soup out of
fish-bones and fish-heads and crusts of bread and turnip-stalks, and
brought him the worst of the servants' beer to quench his thirst with.
Lemminkainen looked into the pitchers of beer, and saw snakes and worms
and lizards floating about in them. This made him furiously angry, yet
he resolved to drink the beer at any rate, and then to punish them for
their evil treatment of him. So he drew a fish-hook out of his magic
wallet, and with it he caught all the evil creatures in the beer and
killed them with his sword, and drank the beer.
When he had done this, he turned to the host and upbraided him for his
bad treatment, and finally said that as the Pohjola folk could not treat
guests decently, perhaps he could purchase good beer at least. At this
Louhi's husband grew angry and conjured up a little lake in the floor at
Lemminkainen's feet, and bade him quench his thirst at that. But
Lemminkainen conjured up a bull with gold and silver horns, that drank
up all the water. Then Louhi's husband conjured up a wolf to devour the
bull, but Ahti called up a rabbit to draw off the wolf's attention. Next
the host conjured up a dog to eat the rabbit, but Ahti drew away the dog
by means of a squirrel that he called up by his magic. At that the host
made a golden marten to catch the squirrel, and Lemminkainen a
scarlet-coloured fox which ate the golden marten. Next the host conjured
a hen to distract the scarlet fox, and Lemminkainen made a hawk to tear
the hen to pieces.
Then old Louhi's husband cried: 'We shall never be happy here until thou
art driven out, O evil Ahti,' and with these words he drew his sword and
challenged Lemminkainen to combat. So Ahti drew his sword also, and
when the two were measured, they found that Ahti's was the shorter by
half an inch.
Then Lemminkainen said to his host: 'Although thou hast the longer
sword, yet thou shalt begin the fight.'
After this they placed themselves in position, and the host of Pohjola
began. But so powerful was Lemminkainen's magic that he only hit the
walls and floor and rafters, but could not touch Ahti himself. Then
Lemminkainen said sneeringly: 'What harm have the walls and rafters
done, that thou shouldst cut them to pieces. But come, let us go out
into the courtyard, that the hall may not be covered with blood.'
So they went out into the yard, and there they spread out an ox-hide,
and took up their places on it to continue the fight. Lemminkainen again
allowed the host to begin, and the latter struck three mighty blows, but
still could not harm Ahti. Then the battle began in real earnest, and
the sparks flew from their swords until it seemed as if there were a
sheet of flame flowing from Lemminkainen's sword and down upon the head
and shoulders of his opponent. And when he saw this, Lemminkainen said:
'O thou son of Pohjola, see how thy neck is shining like the ocean at
dawn.'
The other turned without thinking, to see what it was, and quick as
lightning Lemminkainen whirled his sword round his head, and with one
blow cut off the host's head as easily as one cuts the top from a
turnip, and the head rolled along on the ground. In the yard were
hundreds of sharp stakes, and on all but one there was a human head. So
Lemminkainen quickly took the host's head and stuck it on the empty
stake, and then went into the house and ordered Louhi to bring him water
to wash his hands, as he had just slain her husband.
But Louhi hastened out and called in hundreds of armed warriors to
avenge her husband's death. And in a very short time Lemminkainen saw
that he must either flee or else be killed if he remained.
[Illustration]
THE ISLE OF REFUGE
Lemminkainen hastened from Louhi's house and looked around for his
sledge and steed to escape from the Pohjola men. But both had
disappeared, and in their place he found only a clump of willows. As he
stood there, wondering what he should do next, the noise of armed men
running together grew louder and louder, and he knew that they would
soon reach him. So Lemminkainen changed himself into an eagle, and rose
up into the clouds. As he flew towards the south he met a gray hawk
flying northward, and called to it: 'O Gray Hawk, fly to Pohjola and
tell the warriors of the Northland that they will never catch the Eagle,
Lemminkainen, ere he reaches his home in distant Kalevala.'
Then he flew on home and taking on again his own form, he went to his
mother's house. When she saw the troubled look in his face, she guessed
that some great danger threatened him, and began to ask him if it were
this, or that, or the other that troubled him, but to all her questions
he answered 'no.' At length she bade him tell her, then, what his
trouble was, and he replied: 'All the men of Northland are sharpening
their swords and spears to kill thy unlucky son Ahti, for I have slain
the host of Pohjola, Louhi's husband, in a quarrel, and the men of
Northland will soon come hither to avenge it.'
His mother then reminded him how she had warned him of the journey and
its troubles, and asked him where he was going to take refuge.
Lemminkainen replied that he did not know, and asked his mother to help
him, and she answered: 'If I should turn thee into a tree, thou might be
cut down for firewood. Or if into a berry, the maidens might pluck thee.
Or if to a fish, thou would never have a happy life. But if thou wilt
swear to me not to go to war again for sixty years, then I will tell
thee of a distant isle, far off across the ocean, where thou mayst rest
in safety.'
So Lemminkainen gave his promise, on his honour, not to fight for sixty
years, and then his mother told him how to find the isle of refuge. He
must sail across nine seas and in the middle of the tenth he would come
to the island, where his father had once taken refuge long before. There
he must stay until the third year was come, and then he might return to
his home.
Lemminkainen took enough provisions in his boat for a long journey, and
then bidding farewell to his mother and his home he sailed away. When he
had raised the linen sails, he called up a fair wind to drive him
onward, and for three months he sailed on without a moment's rest, until
at length he reached the magic Isle of Refuge.
First, he asked the people of the island if there was room there for his
boat, and on receiving their consent he drew it up out of the water.
Next he asked them if he might take refuge and conceal himself there,
and they granted this too; but when he asked for a little ground to
cultivate, and a place in the forest to cut down the trees, they told
him that the whole island had long ago been divided up amongst them, and
that he must live in one of their houses if he wished to stay on the
island.
But Lemminkainen was not satisfied with this, and told them that he only
wished to be allowed to go into the forest and sing some few magic songs
there, and this they willingly allowed him to do. So he went into the
forest and began to sing the most wondrous spells, making oak-trees to
grow up around him, and on each branch an acorn, and on each acorn sat
a cuckoo. Then the cuckoos began to sing, and gold fell from every beak,
and silver from their wings, and copper from their feathers, until the
isle was abundantly supplied with precious metals. Then Lemminkainen
sang again, and turned the sand to gems and the pebbles into pearls, and
he covered the whole island with flowers, and made little lakes with
gold and silver ducks swimming in them, until every one was delighted,
and the maidens most of all.
Then Ahti said: 'If I were in a fine castle I would conjure up the most
wonderful feasts and sing the grandest songs you have ever heard.' No
sooner had he said this than they led him to their finest castle, and
there he conjured up a splendid feast, with knives and forks and all the
dishes made of gold and silver. From this time on Ahti was treated as an
honoured guest, and spent his time most delightfully. In every village
on the island were seven castles, and in each castle were seven
daughters, and all of these made Lemminkainen welcome as he went from
one to another according to his fancy. Thus he spent the whole of his
years of exile; but there was one maid, old and ugly, and living in a
remote village, whom he neglected.
At length the time of his return was come, and he made up his mind to
leave. But just as he had decided to go, the maid whom he had neglected
came to him and bade him beware, for she was going to take revenge for
his slighting her; but Lemminkainen scarcely heard her, for he was so
busy thinking about his journey home. But the maiden went around to all
the men of the island, and told them evil stories about Lemminkainen,
and then she went and burned his boat.
The next morning Lemminkainen started off to bid his friends the maidens
farewell, but he had not gone far before he saw the men getting their
weapons ready to come and attack him, and he saw that he must fly
immediately if he wished to escape alive. So he hastened down to his
boat, but when he reached it there were only the ashes left. At first he
did not know what to do, but he spied seven broken pieces of planks and
a few fragments from a broken distaff, and taking these he began to sing
some mystic spells over them. No sooner had he finished his incantations
than a magic boat stood ready before him, and he got into it and sailed
away. But before he was far from the shore all the maidens came down to
the beach and began to weep and beg him to come back and dwell with them
for ever. But Lemminkainen answered them that he felt a great longing to
see his home once more and his mother, yet that he was truly sorrowful
to leave them, but it must be so. And so he sailed on until the isle was
out of sight.
The boat sailed on and on for two days and nights, but on the third day
came a mighty storm-wind, and tossed the vessel about until it broke all
in pieces, and left Lemminkainen struggling in the waters. He swam for
long days and nights, struggling with the waves, until at length he
reached a rocky point projecting out into the ocean. There he landed and
soon found his way to a castle that was built upon the rocks. He told
the mistress of the castle how he had been in the water for days and
days, and was almost perishing from hunger, and she, being a
kind-hearted woman, gave him a splendid feast of bread and butter, veal
and bacon, and fish and honey-cakes, and when he had eaten that and
rested, she gave him a new boat, loaded with provisions, in which to
finish his journey.
So off he sailed again, and after many weary days of sailing he at
length reached his beloved island-home. But when he landed and went up
to where the house had stood, there was not a sign of anything left. The
whole place was all overgrown with trees and bushes.
Then Lemminkainen sat down and began to weep; but it was not for the
loss of his home and all his riches that he wept but for his beloved
mother. As he sat there he caught sight of an eagle flying in the air
above, and Ahti asked him if he knew what had happened to his mother.
But the eagle could only tell him that his people had all perished long
go. Next he asked the raven, and the raven told him that his people had
been killed by his enemies from Pohjola.
On hearing this Lemminkainen began again to mourn her loss, and to look
about for some dear relic that he might keep in remembrance of her. But
as he looked he suddenly came on a faint pathway leading away from the
house, and on it he saw the prints of light feet. He began to follow it
eagerly, over hill and valley until he reached the gloomy forest. There
it led him to a hidden glade, right in the middle of the island, and
there he found a humble cabin, and his gray-haired mother weeping in it.
Ahti cried aloud for joy at the sight of her, and then he told her how
he had mourned her as dead. She asked him in return how he had spent
those years on the Isle of Refuge, and he told her all; how charming the
life there was, and how he had enjoyed himself there, but that at the
end all the men of the isle had come to hate him, because the maidens
admired him so much, and how through their jealousy and the hatred of
the one maid whom he had neglected, he had nearly lost his life. And
when he had ended his story they both gave thanks to great Ukko that
they had found each other again.
[Illustration]
THE FROST-FIEND
When the next day began to dawn, Lemminkainen went to the beach, that
was hidden behind a projecting point, where his vessels lay. He found
them still there, but as he approached he heard the rigging wailing in
the wind, and saying: 'Must we lie here for ever and rot, since Ahti has
sworn not to go to war for sixty long years?'
Then Lemminkainen cried out to his vessels: 'Mourn no more, my good
warships, for soon ye shall be filled with warriors and hastening to the
battle.' When he had uttered these words he hurried back to his mother
and bade her sorrow no longer over the insult that the Pohjola warriors
had offered to her, for he was going now to make war on them in order to
punish them for it.
His mother, when she heard his intention, besought him earnestly not to
go to war and break his oath to her, for some great misfortune would
surely come upon him. But he paid no heed to her, and went to seek his
friend Kura to accompany him on his expedition. When he came to the isle
on which Kura lived, he went up to the house and said: 'O my dear friend
Kura, dost thou not remember the time when we fought together long ago
against the men of dismal Northland? Come with me now and be my
companion in another war against them.'
Now Kura's father was sitting by the window, whittling out a javelin,
and his mother was near the door skimming milk, and his brother and
sisters were also working near by. And all of them cried out that Kura
could not go to war, for he was but lately married, and they bade
Lemminkainen leave him.
But Kura himself jumped up from where he was lying before the fire, and
began to put on his armour in great haste. On his helmet were wolves of
bronze, and a horse on each javelin. Then Kura took his mighty spear,
and going forth into the court he hurled it towards the north; and it
flew on and on, whistling through the air, until at length it fell upon
the earth of the distant Northland. And after this Kura touched his
javelin against Lemminkainen's spear and promised to be his faithful
comrade in the expedition. So the two great warriors made all needful
preparation and set forth to sail to dismal Pohjola.
But Louhi knew by magic art that they were coming, and she called the
Black-frost to her, and gave him these commands: 'Hasten forth, O
Black-frost, and freeze all the wide sea. Freeze Lemminkainen's vessel
fast in the ice, and freeze the magician himself in his vessel, so that
he may never more awaken from his icy sleep until I myself may choose to
free him.'
So the Black-frost hastened off to do her bidding. And first he stripped
the leaves off the trees and took all the colour from the flowers on his
way to the seashore. When he reached the shore, the first night he
froze all the rivers that empty into the sea and the waters along the
shore, but he did not touch the open sea that night. But on the second
night he froze all the sea, and the ice kept growing thicker and thicker
all around Lemminkainen's vessel, until at last the Black-frost even
began to freeze Lemminkainen's hands and feet and ears.
But when Lemminkainen felt this he began to sing an incantation against
the Black-frost, saying: 'Black-frost, evil child of the Northland and
only son of Winter, thou mayst freeze the trees and waters and the very
stones,--but let me be in peace. Freeze the iron mountains till they
burst in sunder; freeze Wuoksi and Imatra, but do not try to harm me,
for I will sing thine origin and make thee powerless. For thou wert born
on the borders of the ever-dismal Northland, and wert fed by crawling
snakes. The Northwind rocked thee to sleep in the marshes, and thus thou
grew, a thing of evil, and at last the name of Frost was given thee. And
as thou became larger, thou didst learn to rend the trees in winter and
to cover all the lakes with ice. But if thou wilt not leave me now, I
will cast thee into Lempo's fiery hearth, and will lay thee on the
anvil, that Ilmarinen may pound thee to pieces with his mighty hammer.'
Now the Frost-fiend knew how great a magician Lemminkainen was, and
therefore he agreed that he would leave the two warriors unharmed, but
keep their ship frozen up as it was. And so Ahti and Kura had to leave
their vessel and journey over the ice to land. At length they reached
the country called Starvation-land, and there they found a house, but
there was no food in it. So they went on still farther, over hill and
valley, and as they went, Lemminkainen gathered soft moss from the
tree-trunks and made stockings of it to keep their feet warm.
On and on they went, seeking for some pathway to guide them, but all was
one snow-covered wilderness. Then Kura said: 'Alas, O Ahti; we came
hither to take vengeance on the men of Pohjola, but I fear that we shall
leave our own bones here, and our flesh be food for eagles and ravens.
We shall never learn the pathway that can guide us to our homes. My poor
mother will never know what has become of me--whether I have perished in
the heat of battle, or on some lonely hill, or in some dismal forest.
She can only mourn me as one dead, and sit and weep bitter tears.'
Then Lemminkainen said: 'My aged mother, think of our former happy days,
when all went well and all was joy and happiness. But now sorrow and
misfortune are come upon me, yet shall we not despair; for we are young
and strong, and will give way neither to hunger nor to evil sorcerers,
but will use the prayer my father used to pray, saying: "Guard us, O
thou great Creator; shield us in thine arms, and give us of thy wisdom.
Be our guardian and our Father, that thy children may not wander from
the path which thou hast given them."'
Then when Lemminkainen had finished speaking, he took his cares and made
fleet coursers of them, and the reins he made of days of evil, and from
his pains he made the saddles. Then he and Kura galloped off each to his
own home, and thus Lemminkainen was once more returned to his aged
mother's arms. Now let us leave him there, and Kura with his bride and
kinsfolk, and speak hereafter of other heroes.
* * * * *
Thus Father Mikko ended, adding: 'And I think we must stop now for the
night, for it is getting late.' Then they had supper, and it was not
long before all of them had gone to bed and were sound asleep.
Early the next morning they were all awakened by a dull thud and a
smothered shout. Erik and Father Mikko jumped up and lit a lantern, and
then hurried to the door, which stood open. They had dug a passage-way
out through the snow the day before, and they saw that the walls of snow
had just caved in, and sticking out of the middle of the heap was a pair
of small legs waving about wildly in the air.
The next minute they had pulled out the owner of the legs, and little
Antero stood before them, looking very much frightened and very foolish
too. He had his snow-shoes and some meat with him, and managed to
explain, between his sobs, that he had intended to go and hunt for
reindeer in Lapland, the way Lemminkainen did in the story, but his
snow-shoe had caught in the wall and disaster had overtaken him. The
would-be hero was promptly taken in charge by Mother Stina, and soon all
was quiet again.
When they went out the next morning, they found that the snow had long
since stopped, but the wind was blowing so hard and it was so bitterly
cold, that Father Mikko was easily persuaded to stay another day.
After dinner they settled down exactly as the day before, Mimi in
'Pappa' Mikko's lap again, and in a few minutes he began to tell them
some more of his wonderful stories.
'I will tell you about some one you have not heard of yet,' Father Mikko
said; 'about _Kullervo_, though I am sure you will none of you like
Kullervo himself--but yet the story itself may be interesting.' So he
began.
[Illustration: MIMI IN HOLIDAY DRESS.]
[Illustration]
KULLERVO'S BIRTH
Many ages ago there was a mother who had three sons, and one of them
grew up to be a prosperous merchant, but the other two were carried
off--one to distant Pohjola and one to Karjala. And the one in Pohjola
was named Untamo, but the one in Karjala was called Kalerwoinen.
One day Untamo set his nets near Kalerwoinen's home to catch salmon, but
in the evening Kalerwoinen came by and took all the fish out of the nets
and carried them off home. When Untamo found it out he went to his
brother, and soon they fell to blows; but neither could conquer the
other, though they gave one another sound beatings. After this had
happened, Kalerwoinen sowed some barley near Untamo's barns; and
Untamo's sheep broke into the field and ate the barley, and then
Kalerwoinen's dog killed the sheep. This made Untamo so angry that he
collected a great army and marched against his brother to put him and
all his tribe to death. And when they reached Kalerwoinen's home they
burned all the houses and killed every one except Kalerwoinen's daughter
Untamala.
Now not long after this a child was born to Untamala, and she named him
Kullervo. Then they laid the fatherless infant in the cradle and began
to rock him, but he began at once to make the cradle rock without
assistance, and he rocked for three whole days, so hard that his hair
stood quite on end. On the third day he began to kick until he had burst
his swaddling clothes, and then he crept out of the cradle and broke
that also in pieces. When Kullervo was only three months old he began to
speak, and the first words which he uttered were these: 'When I have
grown big and strong I will avenge the murder of my grandfather
Kalerwoinen and his people.'
At this Untamo was greatly alarmed, and took counsel with his people as
to what should be done with the child. At length they hit upon a plan.
They took the child and bound him firmly in a willow basket and then put
him in the lake among the bulrushes. After three days had passed they
went to see if he were dead, but he had broken loose from the basket and
was sitting on the waves, fishing with a copper rod and a golden line;
so they took him back again to the house. Next Untamo ordered a great
heap of dried brushwood to be collected together, and a pile was made
higher than the tree-tops; on the top of this they set the boy and then
set fire to the pile. It burned three whole days, and then Untamo sent
men to see if the child was dead; but they found him sitting in the
middle of the fire raking the coals together with a copper rod, and not
a hair of his head was even singed.
Then they took him home and considered again how they should kill him,
and this time they took him and crucified him on an oak-tree. And on the
third day they came and found that he had painted an armed warrior on
every leaf, made fast though he was to the tree, and so they took him
down and brought him home again. This time they saw that they could not
harm him, so Untamo told him that he would take him as a servant, and
that if he did well he should be paid well.
When Kullervo had grown a little, he was set to take care of a baby, and
was given very careful instructions as to how to rock it and attend to
all its wants; but the cruel Kullervo treated it harshly, and in the
evening killed it and burned the cradle in the fire. So Untamo was
afraid to give him any further employment about the house, but bade him
go out and cut down the forest on the mountain side. Then Kullervo went
to the smith and bade him make a huge axe of copper, and when it was
ready he spent one day in sharpening it and another in making the
handle, and then hastened off to the forest. There he chose the biggest
tree on all the mountain side and felled it at one blow. Six more huge
trees were cut down just as easily, but then Kullervo grew disgusted
with the work, and pronounced a curse over the whole mountain, and
stopped working.
So when Untamo came in the evening to see how he was getting on, and
found only seven trees felled, he saw that he must set Kullervo to some
other task. The next day, therefore, he took him into a field and bade
him build a fence round it. As soon as Untamo was gone, Kullervo set to
work, using whole trees and raising the fence higher than the clouds;
and when he had finished there was no gate to enter by, and the fence
was so high that no one could climb over it. When Untamo came and saw
what he had done, and that no one could now get into the field, he told
Kullervo that he was unfitted for such work, and must go and thresh the
rye and barley.
Then Kullervo made a flail and set to work. And he threshed so hard that
all the grain was beaten to powder and the straw was broken up into
useless pieces. But when Untamo saw this, he grew very angry, and cried
out that Kullervo was a wretched workman who spoiled whatever he
touched, and the next day he took him off and sold him to the blacksmith
Ilmarinen in distant Karjala. And the price Ilmarinen paid was three old
worn-out kettles, seven worthless sickles, and three old scythes and
hoes and axes, surely quite enough for such a fellow as Kullervo.
[Illustration]
KULLERVO AND ILMARINEN'S WIFE
As soon as the purchase was completed, Kullervo asked Ilmarinen and his
wife to give him some work for the next day. So they decided to make him
a shepherd. But the wife, once the Rainbow-maiden, did not like the new
servant, so she baked him a cheat-loaf--a very thick loaf, half of
barley, half of oatmeal, and with a great flint-stone in the centre, and
around the flint-stone was melted butter. Then she gave it to Kullervo
and told him not to eat it until he was out on the pasture-ground.
The next morning Ilmarinen's wife showed Kullervo the cattle, and bade
him take them to the open glades among the forests, where they would
find food in abundance. Then she addressed a prayer to Ukko that he
would guard the flock in case the shepherd should neglect them. And she
sought the aid too of all the goddesses of the forest and the daughters
of summer and the spirits of the fountains and the brooks, to care for
her cattle and watch over them. And she also sang a spell to keep away
the bear from coming and devouring them. And when all these prayers and
spells were ended she sent Kullervo off with the herds.
Kullervo drove them off to their pastures in the woods, carrying his
lunch in a basket on his arm. And as he walked he sang of his hard lot
as a slave, and how he was given only the scraps and crusts to eat,
while his master and mistress fed on honey-cakes and wheaten biscuit. At
length the time came for him to eat his luncheon, and he sat down and
drew the cheat-loaf from the basket. But instead of eating it at once he
turned it carefully over and over in his hands, and thought: 'Many
loaves are fine to look at on the outside, but are nothing but chaff
inside,' and he drew out his knife to try the loaf.
This knife was the one thing that his mother had kept of all her
father's possessions, and Kullervo looked upon it as something sacred.
Now as he plunged it into the cheat-loaf it hit right upon the hard
flint in the centre and broke in several pieces. Then Kullervo sat down
and began to weep over his loss, and to ponder how he should revenge
it. But a raven was sitting in a tree near by and overhead him talking
to himself, and the raven said: 'Why art thou so distressed, Kullervo?
Drive the herd away, one half to the wolves' and the other half to the
bears' dens, so that they may all be devoured. And then when it is time
to return home call together the wolves and bears and make them look
like cattle, by thy magic art, and drive them home for thy mistress to
milk. Thus thou wilt repay this insult.'
At these words Kullervo jumped up and did as the raven had said. And
when the sun was setting in the west, Kullervo hastened homeward,
driving bears and wolves before him, but by a magic spell he made them
look like cattle. And as he went, he said to them: 'Seize my hateful
mistress when she comes to milk the cattle, and tear and rend her in
pieces.' And he took a cow-horn and made a bugle of it and blew till the
hills rang, to announce his return.
When he reached the cow-yard, Ilmarinen's wife greeted him joyfully, for
it was late and she had feared that something had happened. And she told
her oldest maid-servant to go and milk the cows as she herself was busy.
But Kullervo said: 'Thou shouldst go thyself, for the cows are in better
condition to-night than they have ever been before.' And so she went,
and when she saw them she cried out in wonder: 'Truly my cattle are
beautiful to-night, for their hair glistens like the fur of lynxes, and
is soft as ermine skin.'
With these words she seated herself to begin milking, but all at once
the wolves and bears appeared in their true shapes and began to tear her
to pieces. Then she cried out to Kullervo, when she saw what he had
done, but he answered: 'If I have done evil thou hast done still greater
evil, for thou hast baked a stone inside my bread, and I have broken on
it my knife, the only relic of my mother's people.'
Then Ilmarinen's wife began to beg him to aid her, and promised him the
best of everything to eat, and that he should never have to work again.
But Kullervo would not listen to her prayers, but rejoiced at her agony,
and then the wolves and bears made one more onset, and she fell and
died. Such was the end of the beauteous Rainbow-maiden, for whom so many
had wooed, and who had become the pride and joy of Kalevala.
[Illustration]
KULLERVO'S LIFE AND DEATH
Then Kullervo hastened off, before Ilmarinen should come home and find
out what had happened. And after he was at a safe distance he began to
play upon the bugle he had made, until Ilmarinen ran out of his smithy
to see who it could be, and there before him in the courtyard Ilmarinen
saw the body of his wife and learned what had happened: and he sat down
and wept bitterly, for all the joy of his life was now gone from him.
But Kullervo hastened on, and as he went he mourned his hard lot. When
he had gone a little way he met an old witch on the road, and she asked
him whither he was going. 'I shall journey to the dismal Northland,'
answered Kullervo, 'there to slay the wicked Untamo, who has killed all
my kinsfolk.' Then the witch said: 'Thou art wrong, for thy father and
thy sisters escaped from Untamo's wrath, and now thy mother has joined
them and they are living happily together on the distant borders of
Kalevala.' And when Kullervo begged her to tell him the way to them she
did so, and he hastened off to find them.
At length he reached his parents' abode, but at first they did not
recognise him. But when he spoke to his mother she knew him at once, and
embraced him and kissed him, and made him welcome in his new home. And
then they related to one another all that had happened in the years they
had been apart, and his mother ended by saying: 'Praised be Ukko that
thou hast come back to us; but there is yet one absent one--thy eldest
sister strayed away many years ago, hunting berries on the hills, and we
have never seen or heard of her since.'
So Kullervo settled down to live with his parents, and began to work
with the others. The first day they all went out to fish for salmon, and
Kullervo was put at the oars to row their boat. Then he asked whether he
should row with all his strength, or only a little part of it, and they
told him that he could not pull too hard. So he put forth all his
giant's strength, and in a minute the boat was all broken to pieces.
His father said: 'I see that thou art too clumsy to row; perhaps thou
wilt do better to drive the salmon into the nets.' And Kullervo asked
again whether he should use all his strength, and he received the same
answer as before. So he set to work beating the water to scare the fish
into the net; but he beat so hard that he mixed all the mud on the
bottom with the water, and pounded the salmon all to pulp and destroyed
all the nets.
Then his father saw that he was not fit for such work, so he sent him
off to pay the yearly taxes. Kullervo did so, and after he had paid them
he started off in his sledge to drive home again. He had not driven far
when he met a lovely maiden, whom he asked to get into his sledge and
come with him to his home and marry him. But she made fun of him, and he
drove off in anger. When he had driven still farther he met another
maiden, still more lovely than the first, and this one he at length
persuaded to get into his sledge and come home with him and marry him.
But when they had driven along for two days towards his home, the maiden
asked him about his kinsfolk, and he told her that he was Kalervo's son.
No sooner had the maiden heard this than she gave a great cry of anguish
and cried out: 'Alas, then, thou art my brother! For I am Kalervo's
daughter, who wandered off one day to pick berries and never returned,'
and with these words she jumped from the sledge and hastened weeping to
a river near by. There she plunged beneath the icy waters and was never
seen again alive, but her lifeless body floated down to the black river
of Tuoni.
But Kullervo unharnessed his steed from the sledge and galloped off home
and there related to his mother all that had occurred, and how he had
unknowingly been the cause of his sister's death, and when he had
finished his story, he added: 'Woe is me that I did not die long ago.
But now I must hasten off to gloomy Pohjola, there to slay the wicked
Untamo, and myself be also slain.' Having said this he also made ready
his armour and ground his broadsword until it was as sharp as a razor.
But before he went, he asked his father and brother and sister and
mother if they would grieve when they heard of his death. And all but
his mother told him that they would never sorrow over the death of such
an evil fellow. But his mother alone said that, in spite of all the evil
he had done, her mother's love was still strong and that she would weep
over him for years to come.
Thereupon Kullervo went forth on his journey to the icy Northland, but
before he had gone far a messenger came and told him that his father was
dead and asked Kullervo to come back and help bury him, but he would
not come. And a little later he was told of the death of his brother and
then of his sister, and last of all of his mother. Still he refused to
come to bury any of them, only, when the news of his mother's death
reached him, he mourned that he had not been with her in her last
moments, and bade the servants bury her with every possible honour and
respect.
Now as he neared the home of Untamo's tribe, he prayed to Ukko to endow
his sword with magic powers, so that Untamo and all his people might be
surely slain. And Ukko did as he had asked, and with the magic sword
Kullervo slew, single-handed, all Untamo's people, and burned all their
villages to ashes, leaving behind him only dead bodies and smoking
ruins.
Then he hastened home, and found that it was only too true that all his
family had died while he was away; and he went out to his mother's grave
and wept over it. But as he wept, his mother spoke to him from the grave
and bade him let their old dog lead him into the forest to the home of
the wood-nymphs, who would care for him. So Kullervo set off, led by the
faithful dog. But on the way they came to the grassy mound where
Kullervo had met his long-lost sister, and there he found that even the
grass and the flowers and the trees were weeping. Suddenly overcome with
sorrow, he drew forth his magic sword from out its scabbard, and,
bidding a last farewell to all the world, he thrust the handle firmly
into the earth and threw himself upon the sword-point, so that it
pierced his heart. Thus ended the evil life of Kullervo.
* * * * *
They were all silent for a moment when the sad story of Kullervo's life
and death was ended, and then Mimi said: 'I wish you'd tell us about
nice men like Ilmarinen and Wainamoinen, Pappa Mikko; Kullervo was real
hateful.'
'Well, then, I will tell you of what Ilmarinen did when he had lost his
wife, the Rainbow-maiden,'--and the old man began.
[Illustration]
ILMARINEN'S BRIDE OF GOLD
After Ilmarinen's wife had been so cruelly slain, he wept for three
whole days and nights without ceasing. And after that for three months
he did not go into his smithy nor even so much as lift his hammer from
the ground. And as he mourned he cried: 'Woe is me, for all is weariness
and sorrow now that my dear wife is slain, and there is no more rest for
me in my home.'
But after the three months of mourning were past, Ilmarinen went out and
dug up a great quantity of gold and silver and cut down thirty
sledge-loads of birch-trees, which he burnt to charcoal. Then he put the
charcoal in the bottom of his furnace and laid a large piece of gold and
a still larger piece of silver on top, and closing the furnace, he
started the fire and set the workmen to blowing the bellows; but the
men were lazy and let the fire go out. So Ilmarinen drove them all away
and began to blow the fire by magic spells alone. Three days he worked
the bellows by his magic spells, and on the evening of the third day he
looked inside the furnace, hoping to see an image rising from the melted
gold and silver. And there came forth a lovely lamb all gold and silver,
and every one admired its beauty save Ilmarinen, who said: 'Get back
into the furnace, for I only desire a beauteous bride, born of the
melted gold and silver.'
So he threw the lamb back into the furnace and added still more gold and
silver and other magic metals, and then set his workmen to blow the
bellows again. But they proved lazy this time too, and he had once more
to use his magic spells to blow the fire. Again he looked into the
furnace, on the evening of the third day, and this time there arose a
colt of gold and silver and with hoofs of shining copper. Every one
admired the beautiful colt save Ilmarinen, who threw it back into the
furnace.
Once more he added gold and silver and set the workmen to blow the
bellows, but they neglected their work this time too. Then he blew the
fire by magic, and cast other magic spells over the furnace, so that the
gold and silver should grow into a lovely maiden. When he looked into
the furnace on the evening of the third day, he saw at last the figure
of a maiden rising from the flames, but it had neither feet nor hands
nor ears. So Ilmarinen took her from the fire and forged unceasingly
until feet and hands and ears were all completed, and the maiden was now
the most beautiful that any one had ever seen, but yet she could not
walk, nor talk, nor see, nor hear.
But Ilmarinen carried the golden maiden out of the smithy and took her
to the bath-room where he washed the golden and silver image and then
took it and laid it in his couch, in his wife's place. That night he
heaped up bear-skins and rugs of all kinds on top of the bed, hoping
that the image would come to life from the warmth, but it was all in
vain, and Ilmarinen was almost frozen himself when he rose next morning.
Then he said to himself: 'Surely this lovely maiden was not meant to be
my bride. I will take her to Wainamoinen, and perhaps she may come to
life for him.'
So off he went and offered the beautiful image to Wainamoinen, telling
him that he had brought a lovely maiden to be Wainamoinen's bride now in
his old age. But Wainamoinen, after praising the image's beauty, said:
'My dear brother Ilmarinen, it is better to throw this image back into
thy furnace, and to forge from the melted metal a thousand useful
trinkets. For I will never wed an image made of gold and silver.'
And then Wainamoinen turned to those of his people who were standing
near by, and said to them: 'Never bow to any image made of gold or
silver, for they cannot see, nor hear, nor speak, and they will only
bring you sorrow.'
[Illustration]
ILMARINEN'S FRUITLESS WOOING
So Ilmarinen cast the maid of gold into a corner of his smithy and
harnessed up his sledge and drove off to the dismal Northland, to ask
Louhi to give him another of her daughters in marriage. Three days he
journeyed, and on the evening of the third he reached old Louhi's home.
Louhi asked him how her daughter, the Rainbow-maiden, fared, and
Ilmarinen, with hanging head and sorrowful face, told how his poor wife
had perished, and ended up his story by asking Louhi to give him her
next fairest daughter to be his wife. But Louhi grew angry and upbraided
him with not having guarded her other daughter, and thus being guilty of
her death, and she scornfully refused to give him another of her
daughters.
But Ilmarinen went into the house in great anger and there addressed
Louhi's next fairest daughter, begging her to come to his home with him
and become his wife. The maid replied: 'I will never marry the man who
has been the cause of my dear sister's death. And even if I were to
marry I would wish a nobler suitor than a mere blacksmith.' Then
Ilmarinen grew pale with anger, and seizing the maiden in his mighty
arms he rushed off to his sledge and drove off like the wind before any
one could stop him.
The poor maid wept and begged Ilmarinen to release her and to let her
die by the roadside, rather than to take her thus to his home. 'If thou
wilt not release me,' she said, 'I will change into a salmon and escape
thee.' But Ilmarinen told her that he would pursue her in the shape of a
pike. Then the maiden said, first, that she would become an ermine, but
Ilmarinen told her he would turn into a snake and catch her; and then
she said that she would become a swallow, but Ilmarinen threatened to
become an eagle.
So they drove on and on, and the maiden wept the whole time, and begged
Ilmarinen to let her go, even if it were only to die in the snow, but he
refused and grew more and more angry at her obstinacy. At length they
reached Ilmarinen's home and he took the maiden into the house. But
here, seeing there was no hope of escape, she determined to make him so
angry that he would kill her and thus she would be freed from him. So
she began to make fun of him and to scorn him and laugh at him, until at
length Ilmarinen was in such a rage that he scarcely knew what he was
doing, and drew his sword to kill her.
But the sword refused to do this cruel deed, saying: 'I was born to
drink the blood of warriors, but not of such a pure and lovely maid as
this.' So Ilmarinen, being unable to kill her, began to weave a magic
spell about her, and in a few minutes she changed all of a sudden into a
seagull, and flew off screaming towards the sea-cliffs.
And when he had done this, Ilmarinen went out and got into his sledge
and drove off to his brother Wainamoinen. When he arrived, Wainamoinen
asked him why he was so sad, and whether all was well in Pohjola. To
this Ilmarinen replied: 'Why should not all be well in Pohjola? They
have the Sampo there, and until it leaves them they will always
prosper.' And then Wainamoinen asked him of the maiden whom he had gone
to woo. 'I have turned that hateful maid into a seagull,' Ilmarinen
answered, frowning, 'and now she flies shrieking above the rolling
waves, and will never have another suitor.'
[Illustration]
WAINAMOINEN'S EXPEDITION AND THE BIRTH OF THE KANTELE (HARP)
Wainamoinen reflected on what Ilmarinen had said of the prosperity of
the Northland, and at length proposed that they should go and capture
the Sampo and bring it back to Kalevala. But Ilmarinen said: 'It will be
hard to carry off the Sampo, for Louhi has fastened it with nine great
locks, and around it grow three roots, beneath the mountain and the
waters and the sands.'
Still Wainamoinen persuaded him to go, and Ilmarinen went to his smithy
and began to forge a sword for Wainamoinen. And when it was finished, it
was so strong, by the power of the magic spells that had been used in
making it, that it would cut through the hardest flint stones.
Then the two heroes put on their armour and made their sledges ready,
and drove off along the seashore northward. But they had not gone far
before they heard a voice lamenting. They drove up to the spot whence
the voice seemed to come, and there they found a ship lying deserted on
the sands.
Wainamoinen asked the ship what it was lamenting over, and the ship
replied: 'Alas, I weep because I am obliged to remain here idle; for I
was built to be a warship, and I long to sail filled with warriors
against the foe, but I am left here to lie alone and rot to pieces.'
Then Wainamoinen said: 'Thou shalt lie here no longer, but we will sail
in thee against the men of Pohjola. But tell me whether thou art a magic
ship that can sail without wind, or oarsmen, or pilot.' 'Nay,' the ship
replied, 'I cannot sail if the wind or oars do not help me on and some
one guide me with the rudder. But give me these to help me, and I can
sail faster than any other ship in the world.'
Then they left their sledges and launched the ship and stepped aboard.
And Wainamoinen began to sing his wondrous spells, and in an instant one
side of the vessel was filled with bearded warriors, and the other with
lovely maids, and in the middle came powerful gray-bearded heroes. First
he set the young men at the oars, but however hard they strove they
could not budge the ship. And next the maidens tried, but they too
failed. Last of all the mighty gray-bearded heroes took the oars, but
yet the vessel did not move. Then Ilmarinen himself grasped the oars,
and in a moment the vessel was moving through the waters at full speed,
with old Wainamoinen at the helm.
They had not gone far when they came to an island, and on the shore was
a man working on a fishing-boat. As they drew nearer he looked up and
hailed them, asking whither they were bound. Wainamoinen answered: 'O
stupid Lemminkainen, dost thou not recognise us, and canst thou not
guess whither we are bound?' Then Lemminkainen, for it was really he,
said: 'I recognise you both now. It is Ilmarinen who is rowing, and thou
art Wainamoinen. But tell me whither ye are sailing?'
Then Wainamoinen told him that they were bound for Pohjola to capture
the magic Sampo, and, on hearing this, Lemminkainen begged to go with
them, saying that he would fight valiantly with them. So they took him
on board, and the three great heroes sailed on their way. But before
they had gone much farther, they came to a place where there were lovely
maidens singing sweetly on the shore, but all around were hidden rocks
and whirlpools, and their vessel was near sinking. But Lemminkainen knew
the spell that would compel the maidens to calm the whirlpools, and to
lead the ship in safety past all the hidden reefs out into open water
again. And when Lemminkainen had sung this spell, old Wainamoinen was
able to steer in safety through the foam-covered rocks and out into open
water; but no sooner were they clear than the vessel stopped as suddenly
as if she were anchored to the spot.
Ilmarinen and Lemminkainen then plunged a long pole to the bottom of the
waters, and strove to push the ship ahead, but it was impossible. Then
Wainamoinen bade Lemminkainen look beneath the vessel to see what it was
that stopped them, and they found that it was no hidden reef or
sand-bar, but a mighty pike on whose shoulders the vessel had stuck
fast. At Wainamoinen's order, Lemminkainen drew his sword and aimed a
mighty blow at the monster, but he missed it and fell overboard. He was
drawn out all dripping, and the others consoled him for his failure.
Next Ilmarinen drew his sword and struck at the monster, but at the
first blow his sword broke in pieces. At last Wainamoinen, reproaching
the others for their feebleness, drew his magic sword, and with one
thrust he impaled the monster on it. Then lifting the monster out of the
water he cut him into pieces and let them fall on the water, and float
in towards land.
Thus the vessel was free at last. But the heroes were weary with their
exertions, and so they rowed in to land, and there gathered up the
fragments of the fish that had floated to the shore. Wainamoinen handed
these pieces to the maidens who were with them in the vessel, and they
prepared the most delicious feast from the pike, having enough and to
spare for all on board. And they piled the bones in a heap on the rocks.
Then Wainamoinen looked at the pile of bones, and after pondering deeply
he said: 'Wondrous things may be made from these bones, if only I can
find a skilful workman to carry out my designs and make the
_kantele_.'[5] But no workman could be found who was wise enough to
understand Wainamoinen's directions, for no one had ever heard of a
_kantele_ before. At length old Wainamoinen saw that there was no one
who could help him, and so he set to work himself. He made the arches of
the harp from the pike's jawbones, and the pins that hold the strings he
made from the teeth, and for the strings he took hairs from the tail of
a magic steed.
[5] A sort of harp that is sometimes used even now in Finland.
Pronounced _kan´-tay-lay_. It usually has five strings.
And at last the _first kantele_ was finished, and it was so beautiful
that every one crowded round to look at it. When it was all ready
Wainamoinen handed it to those around to try their skill, but they could
only make discords whenever they touched it. Then Lemminkainen bade the
others leave it to him, for _he_ would show them how to play upon it.
But when he touched the strings it sounded worse than when any of the
others had tried it. And after one and all had tried it, and found that
it only gave forth discords, they proposed to throw it into the sea. But
the harp said: 'I shall never perish in the sea, but will bring great
joy to Kalevala. Put me in my maker's hands, and I will sing for him.'
So they took it and laid it at the aged Wainamoinen's feet.
Then the great magician took the wondrous kantele and rested it upon his
knee. First he tuned it, tightening all the strings until they sounded
sweetly together, and then he swept his hands across them, and a flood
of wonderful melody poured forth from the kantele. And as the wondrous
notes resounded in the air, every living thing that heard them stopped
and listened. From the forests came the bears and ermines, and the
wolves and lynxes. Even Tapio the forest-god drew near, with all his
attendant spirits, enchanted by the magic sounds. From the sea the
fishes came to the edge of the waters, and the sea-god Ahto with his
water-spirits. The daughters of the Sun and Moon stopped their spinning
on the clouds, and dropped their spindles, so that the threads were
broken in two.
For three whole days the magic kantele poured forth its melody beneath
Wainamoinen's skilful fingers, until every one that heard it wept, and
even the master-player himself was at last moved to tears by the power
of his own playing. The bright teardrops flowed down his long beard and
over his garments, and on over the earth in sparkling streams, until
they were lost in the waters of the deep sea. And then the music ceased,
and Wainamoinen laid the kantele aside and said: 'Is there any one here
who can gather up my teardrops from the sea?' But all were silent, for
they could not do it.
But a raven came flying up and offered to attempt it, and Wainamoinen
promised him the most beautiful plumage if he should succeed, but the
raven tried and failed. Then came a duck, and Wainamoinen made it the
same promise. And the duck swam off and dived down to the ocean's
depths, and at length it had collected every teardrop and brought them
to the great magician, but a wondrous change had taken place in them,
for they were no longer tears, but the most beautiful pearls.
Thus were pearls first created, and for this the blue duck received its
lovely plumage.
* * * * *
'That is the loveliest story of all,' cried Mimi. 'How I wish I could
have heard Wainamoinen's music! Was his kantele like the one pappa has
up in the loft, Pappa Mikko? If it was, I wish pappa would play on
ours.'
'I expect they are just alike,' replied Father Mikko; 'and when your
pappa's pappa was alive, I remember that he used to play on the kantele
very sweetly, but there are not many in our land that can play the
kantele now.'
'Well,' said Mimi, with a sigh, 'I suppose there aren't, so you might as
well tell us what Wainamoinen did next, Pappa Mikko, please.'
And Father Mikko began again.
[Illustration: A WATERFALL.]
[Illustration]
THE CAPTURE OF THE SAMPO
After the magic kantele was finished, the three great heroes and
magicians sailed away again towards the dismal Northland. Ilmarinen led
the rowers on one side of the ship, and Lemminkainen on the other, and
old Wainamoinen steered. They soon reached Pohjola and landed near
Louhi's house.
When they had drawn their vessel up on land, they all went up to Louhi's
house, and Wainamoinen told her that they were come for the Sampo; that
if she would only give them the many-coloured lid they would go away
content, but if not, they would take the whole Sampo by force. Then
Louhi grew very angry and called together all the Northland warriors to
slay them. But Wainamoinen began to play upon his kantele, and so
wonderfully sweet were the tunes that he played, that the warriors
forgot all about fighting and began to weep, and all the maidens of
Pohjola began to dance. Still Wainamoinen played on and on, until a deep
slumber came upon all the Northland folk. Then he ceased playing, and
cast a powerful spell over them, so that they should not awake.
When all the Pohjola folk were sound asleep the three great heroes went
to the mountains to seek the magic Sampo. And as they went Wainamoinen
played such wonderful music that the great cliffs opened before them,
and left them an open road to where the Sampo lay hid. When they had
come near the cavern in which the Sampo lay, they sent Lemminkainen to
enter the cave and bring it out. He, boasting of his strength, went into
the cavern, and seizing hold of the magic Sampo, he put forth all his
strength to lift it up, but it remained immovable, for the roots had
grown deep into the earth, and bound it down tightly.
Then Lemminkainen remembered a huge ox that he had seen out in the
fields, with horns seven fathoms long, and he went after it and hitched
it to the biggest plough he could find, and began to plough all around
the roots which held the Sampo down. And in a very short while the roots
became loosened, and they were able to pick up the magic Sampo and
carry it on board their vessel.
As soon as it was safely on board they sailed away, leaving all the
Pohjola folk sleeping. On they flew towards their homes in Kalevala; but
Lemminkainen grew weary of the silence, and asked Wainamoinen why he
would not sing to cheer them. But Wainamoinen answered that song would
only disturb the rowers, and that it was best never to rejoice until all
danger was past. At length, when they had gone three days on their
journey, Lemminkainen grew angry at Wainamoinen's silence, and began to
sing himself. But his voice sounded harsh and unmelodious, and it made
the very ship tremble.
Far off on the land a crane was standing amidst the rushes, amusing
itself by counting its toes. But when it heard Lemminkainen's attempts
at singing, it was so frightened that it flew off screaming over
Pohjola, and by its screeching it awoke all the slumbering people. As
soon as Louhi awoke she hurried off to her barns and cattle-pens to see
if anything had been stolen, but she found everything all right. Next
she hurried to the mountains, to the cavern where she had hidden the
Sampo, but when she came there she found the cavern empty, and saw how
her visitors had torn the Sampo loose from its fastenings.
Then Louhi returned to her house pale with anger and fear, for she knew
that if the Sampo were lost that all the prosperity of the Northland
would be lost with it. So she called up the goddess of the fogs, and
sent her out to delay Wainamoinen's vessel. And then she called on
Iko-Turso--a wicked monster living in the depths of the sea--to swim to
the ship and sink it, and to eat the men in it, but to bring back the
Sampo to Pohjola once more. And she prayed, moreover, to great Ukko that
if the sea-monster should not succeed, that Ukko himself would send a
fearful tempest to wreck the vessel.
First came the goddess of the fog, and wrapped them in such a thick mist
that they could not move. Three days they lay so, and then Wainamoinen
drew his sword, exclaiming: 'We shall all perish here in the fog if no
attempt is made to drive it away,' and with these words he struck the
waves with his sword. From the blade there flowed a stream of honey, and
all at once the fog broke up, and left the way clear before them. But
scarcely had the fog disappeared than they heard a mighty roaring sound,
and the foam began to shoot up from the water alongside, and to cover
the ship. Then Wainamoinen leaned over the vessel's side, and stretching
out his arm he grasped something that he saw in the water, and pulled up
the awful monster Iko-Turso. But the monster was so affrighted by being
lifted out of the water that he promised to leave them in peace, and
never to appear above the waters again if Wainamoinen would only release
him. So Wainamoinen let him go, and the second danger was past.
But now came the third and most terrible of all, for Ukko sent a mighty
storm-wind, which lashed the waves into a fury, and stirred up the ocean
to its very bottom. And at the very first pitch of the ship the magic
kantele was swept overboard by the waves, and Ahto, the sea-god, caught
it and carried it off to his home beneath the waves. Then Wainamoinen
began to bewail the loss of his wonderful instrument; but as the storm
grew worse, and tossed their ship about like a feather, all on board
began to despair of ever reaching land alive. But Wainamoinen gave them
comfort and courage, and he and Ilmarinen and Lemminkainen by their
magic spells quietened the winds and the waves, and repaired the damage
which the vessel had suffered from the storm. And then they went on
their way in peace.
[Illustration]
THE SAMPO IS LOST IN THE SEA
But when Louhi found that all her magic had failed, she assembled all
her warriors, and embarked them in her largest ship, and herself sailed
off to recapture the Sampo by force of arms. Before long they came in
sight of Wainamoinen's vessel, and when he saw that Louhi was pursuing
him with such a mighty host of warriors, he cried out to Ilmarinen and
Lemminkainen to row with all their might, in order to escape from their
pursuers. So all the rowers rowed until the vessel fairly trembled, and
the foam was tossed up from the bow as high as the clouds, but still
they could not gain on their pursuers.
Then Wainamoinen saw that he must use some other means, so he took out a
piece of flint from his tinder-box and dropped it into the water, saying
as he did so: 'Rise up from the bottom of the sea into a mighty
mountain, so that Louhi's ship may be dashed to pieces.' And suddenly a
mountain of rock sprang up out of the water, and before Louhi could stop
her ship it had hit upon the rocks and was wrecked.
But Louhi was not to be outdone in magic, so she took the timbers of the
ship and made from them a magic eagle, using the rudder for its tail and
five sharp iron scythes for its talons. And on his wings and back she
posted all her warriors, and then the magic eagle rose up into the air.
It made one circle round the heavens, and then lit upon the mast of
Wainamoinen's vessel, almost overturning it by its weight. Wainamoinen
first prayed to Ukko for aid, and then he asked Louhi if she would
consent now to divide the Sampo between them. But she scorned his offer,
and the eagle made a swoop downward to pick up the Sampo in its talons.
But Lemminkainen raised his sword, and no sooner had the eagle grasped
the Sampo than he brought down his sword with such force that every
talon was cut off but one.
Then the eagle flew up on to the mast once more, and upbraided
Lemminkainen because he had broken his promise to his mother that he
would not go to war for sixty years. But Wainamoinen, believing that his
last hour was come, took the rudder in his hand and struck the eagle
such a mighty blow that all the warriors fell from its wings and back
into the water. Then the eagle made one more swoop down upon the vessel,
and, with the one talon it had left, it dragged the Sampo over the side
of the ship so that it fell to the bottom of the ocean and was broken to
pieces. And it is this that has brought so much wealth to the sea, for
where the Sampo is there will always be wealth also. But a few pieces of
the lid floated ashore to Kalevala, and it is therefore that our country
has now the harvests that before that grew in the dismal Northland.
But Louhi threatened Wainamoinen, saying: 'I will steal away thy silver
moonlight and thy golden sunlight. I will send the frost and hail to
kill thy crops, and will send the bear--Otso--from the forests to kill
thy cattle and sheep. I will send upon thy people nine diseases, each
one of them more fatal than the one before.' Then Wainamoinen replied:
'No one from dismal Northland can harm us of Kalevala, Only Ukko rules
the fate of peoples, and he will guard my crops from frost and hail, and
my cattle from the bear, Otso. Thou mayst hide evil people in thy
Northland caverns, but thou canst never steal the Sun and Moon, and all
thy frosts and plagues and bears may turn against thyself.'
And then Louhi departed to her home, weeping for the loss of the magic
Sampo, and ever since that time there have been famines and poverty in
gloomy Pohjola. But Wainamoinen and the other heroes returned home
rejoicing, and on the shore they found fragments of the Sampo's lid.
Then Wainamoinen prayed to Ukko to be merciful and kind to them, and to
protect them from frost and hail and bears, and to let the golden light
of the Moon and Sun shine for ever on the plains of Kalevala.
* * * * *
'Ah!' said Erik, half smiling, 'it's a great pity that the whole Sampo
didn't float ashore to our country, for perhaps then there would never
have been any famines in our land at all,' and he sighed as he thought
of some of the hard winters in years past.
'All is in God's hands,' said Father Mikko reverently, 'and we must take
both good and ill as they come to us--it is not for us to say what we
would wish. Let us be thankful that even a part of the Sampo floated
hither,' he added, smiling.
There was a few moments' silence, and then Mimi asked what Wainamoinen
had done about his lost kantele, so Father Mikko went on.
[Illustration]
THE BIRTH OF THE SECOND KANTELE
When the heroes had returned home, and found the fragments of the Sampo
on the shore, they wished to make merry over the good fortune which even
these fragments were sure to bring, but Wainamoinen could not give them
music, since the wondrous kantele had been lost in the sea. Then he bade
Ilmarinen make a huge rake with copper teeth a hundred fathoms long and
the handle a thousand fathoms, and when the rake was ready, Wainamoinen
took it, and sailing out over the sea in a magic vessel that needed
neither sails nor oars to move it, he raked over the whole bottom of the
ocean. But he only raked up shells and seaweed, and found no trace of
the kantele.
Then Wainamoinen returned sadly home, saying: 'Never again shall I pour
forth floods of music to the people of Kalevala from the magic strings
of my kantele.' And driven on by his grief he left his house and went
far off into the forest. As he wandered there he heard the birch-tree
lamenting, and Wainamoinen asked the tree why it was unhappy when it had
such lovely silver leaves and tassels. To this the birch-tree replied:
'Thou thinkest that I am always happy, and that my leaves and tassels
must always be whispering joy. But, alas! I am so weak and feeble, and
must always stand alone without a word of sympathy. Others rejoice at
the coming of the spring, but I am robbed of bark and tassels and tender
twigs, and am cut up for firewood, and then in the winter time the frost
and the cold biting winds kill my young shoots and strip me of my silver
leaves and leave me cold and naked.'
While the birch-tree was speaking, Wainamoinen's face began to brighten,
and he finally exclaimed: 'Weep no more, good birch-tree, for I will
turn thy grief into joy and make thee sing the most marvellous songs.'
Having said this he set to work to make a new kantele, taking birch-wood
for the framework. At length the frame was all ready, but he did not
know of what to make the pegs. Suddenly he came upon a great oak-tree on
which grew golden-coloured acorns, and on each acorn sat a sacred
cuckoo singing its melody. So Wainamoinen took a piece of the oak and
made the pegs from it.
But the harp was not yet finished, for the five strings were still
lacking. Then Wainamoinen journeyed on through the forest, until at
length he came to where a forest-maiden was sitting on a mound and
singing, and her long golden hair was falling loose over her shoulders.
So Wainamoinen went up to her and begged her to give him some of her
golden tresses, from which to weave the five strings for the kantele.
And the maiden willingly gave up a portion of her golden hair, and from
it Wainamoinen wove five strings, and at last the second kantele was
complete. Then Wainamoinen sat down upon a rock and placed the kantele
upon his knees, and after putting all the strings in tune he began to
play. The fairy music resounded over hill and dale, until at length the
very mountains began to dance with delight, and the rocks were rent in
sunder and floated on the surface of the ocean. The trees of the forest,
too, laughed with joy and began to dance about like children. The young
men and maidens rejoiced as they listened to the music, and the
gray-haired men and women were amazed, while the babies tried to crawl
to where the sweet sounds came from.
The magic music resounded far and wide over Kalevala, and all the wild
beasts of the forest fell upon their knees in wonder, while the birds
perched upon the trees about him and accompanied the music with their
singing. The fish left their homes beneath the waters and crowded to the
shore to listen. And everything in nature, from earth and air and water,
came to listen to the magic sweetness of Wainamoinen's playing.
Three days and more he played unceasing; playing in the houses of his
people until their very beams rejoiced, and wandering through the
forest, where the trees all bent in homage to him and waved their
branches to his music. Then over the meadows, still playing, until the
very ferns and flowers laughed with delight and the bushes chimed in in
unison with the magic music of the kantele.
* * * * *
'Oh! I'm so glad that he got another kantele,' cried little Mimi,
delighted. 'And now what is coming next, Pappa Mikko?'
'I shall tell you all of Louhi's attempt at revenge on the heroes who
captured the Sampo,' he replied; 'and how they all failed, and then I
shall wind up with the last story of all!'
After having rested a while, the old man continued.
[Illustration]
LOUHI ATTEMPTS REVENGE
Louhi grew more and more angry and envious when she heard how prosperous
and happy all the folk of Kalevala were, since the fragments of the
Sampo had floated to their shore. So she pondered long in her evil
heart, how she might send them sorrow and misfortune. Now just at that
time the old witch Lowjatar, Tuoni's daughter, came to Louhi and asked
for shelter from the storms and cold, and Louhi took her in and treated
her like an honoured guest. And while Lowjatar was there, nine children
were born to her, all horrible diseases, and she named them Colic,
Fever, Plague, Pleurisy, Ulcer, Consumption, Gout, Sterility, and
Cancer. And then Louhi's evil heart rejoiced, and she took the nine
diseases and sent them into Kalevala, there to harass and kill
Wainamoinen's people.
And when the diseases came, every one in Kalevala, both young and old,
fell ill of all sorts of illnesses, and Wainamoinen at first did not
know whence all this evil had come. But soon by his magic power he
learned that it came from the children of Tuoni's daughter, Lowjatar,
and then he set to work to drive them away. First he took all those that
were ill to the bath-houses, and then he brought buckets of water and
heated blocks of stone until he had filled the whole room with warm
steam. Then he prayed to Ukko to drive away all these diseases from
them, and to send these evil spirits to Tuoni's kingdom, where they
belonged.
After Wainamoinen had prayed thus to Ukko, he took a magic balsam and
rubbed it over all those that were ill, and sang magic spells over them,
and then prayed once more to Ukko for success, and at length he drove
out the nine diseases and saved his people from dying.
When the nine diseases had been driven out of Kalevala, the news of
Wainamoinen's victory over them came at length to the old witch Louhi,
and she grew angrier than ever that her revenge had failed. But she
pondered over what means of revenge she should try next, and at length
she hit upon another plan. She went out into the forest and cast a magic
spell upon the hugest bear in all the Northland--the great Otso[6]--and
he hastened from his Pohjola home and began to kill the flocks and herds
in Kalevala.
[6] _Otso_ = bear.
Then Wainamoinen hastened to Ilmarinen, and bade him make a
triple-pointed spear with which to kill Otso. And when the spear was
ready, Wainamoinen hastened off to the forest to find the bear, singing
as he went, and calling upon the forest-god Tapio and his wife to grant
him success in his hunt. He had not gone far before he heard his dog
bark, and hurrying up to the spot he found Otso standing facing the dog
and trying to snap him up, and before the bear perceived him,
Wainamoinen was able to end Otso's life with a single thrust of his
magic spear.
When Otso was dead, Wainamoinen threw the body across his shoulder and
hastened off home, singing songs of rejoicing as he went. And when he
reached his house there was great rejoicing, and every one came out to
welcome the dead bear, addressing it as if Otso were some honoured guest
come to see them. First Wainamoinen sang a song of praise to the dead
Otso, and bade his people welcome him with all due honour. And then the
people answered with the most extravagant expressions of pleasure and
welcome and admiration for Otso, and offered him all the best things in
the house, and when all this ceremony was over they took off the fur and
cut the body up ready for cooking, and prepared the steaks and joints to
make a grand feast.
At length the whole of the bear was cooked, and a great feast was spread
in Wainamoinen's house on golden dishes, and with sparkling beer in
copper beakers. And when all were seated at the table, Wainamoinen rose
and sang the story of Otso's birth and life. And this is the story which
he sang: 'Long ago a maiden walked in the ether on the edges of the
clouds, and as she walked she threw down wool and hair upon the waters
from two boxes that she carried. The wool and hair were floated in to
the shore, and there Mielikki, wife of the forest-god, found them and
joined the wool and hair together by magic spells. Then she laid the
bundle in a birch-bark basket and bound it in the top of the lofty pine,
and there the young bear was rocked into life.
'Otso grew quickly and became graceful in his movements, although his
feet were clumsy and his ankles crooked, his mouth large and forehead
broad; but he still had no teeth or claws. Then Mielikki said: "I would
give thee claws and teeth, Otso, but I fear that thou wilt use them to
harm people with." But Otso fell on his knees and swore that he would
never harm the good. So Mielikki took the hardest knots from all the
trees to make him teeth and claws, but all of them were too weak. Then
she went to a magic fir that grew in Tapio's kingdom, and which had
silver branches and golden cones, and from these she made Otso's claws
and teeth. Thus was Otso born and reared.'
So they feasted and made merry, and when the feast was over they all
tried to see which could pull out Otso's teeth and claws, in order to
preserve them for their magic power. And of all the men there only the
aged Wainamoinen could draw them out. When this was done, Wainamoinen
called for his kantele and bade them light torches, as it was already
dark. Then he sang sweet songs and played lovely music, so that the long
evening passed away like magic, and he sang of the hunter's victory and
prayed to Ukko always to give good fortune to the hunters of Kalevala.
Thus were Louhi's two first attempts at revenge unsuccessful.
[Illustration]
LOUHI STEALS THE SUN, THE MOON, AND FIRE
When these two dangers were overcome, Wainamoinen played upon his
kantele so sweetly that the Sun and Moon came down from their stations
in the sky to listen to his music. But evil Louhi crept upon them
unawares and made both Sun and Moon her captives, and carried them off
to the dismal Northland, and there she hid them both in caverns in the
mountains, that they might never again shine upon Kalevala. Next Louhi
crept back to Kalevala and stole all the fire from the hearths, and left
all their homes cold and cheerless. Then there was nothing but black
night in the world, and great Ukko himself did not know what to do
without the light of the Sun and Moon.
Ukko wandered all over the clouds to find out what had become of the
Sun and Moon, and at last he whirled his fire-sword round his head so
that the lightning flashed over the whole sky. From this lightning he
kindled a little fire, and putting it in a gold and silver cradle, he
gave it to the Ether-maidens to rock and care for, until it grew into a
second Sun. So the Fire-child was cared for tenderly, and he grew fast;
but one day the maidens were not watching him closely, and he escaped
from them, and bursting through the clouds with a noise like a
thunder-clap, he shot across the heavens like a red fire-ball.
Then Wainamoinen said to Ilmarinen: 'Come, let us see what this fire is
that is fallen from the heavens.' And so they set out towards the spot
where the ball of fire had seemed to fall. Soon they came to a wide
river and set to work to make a magic boat to cross it, and in a very
short time the boat was made, and they rowed over. On the other bank
they were met by the oldest of the Ether-maidens, who asked them whither
they were going.
So they told her who they were, and that they had lost all fire and
light in Kalevala, so that they were come to seek the fire that they had
seen fall from the heavens. Then the Ether-maiden told them what had
happened, saying: 'After the Fire-child had begun to grow, he escaped
from us one day and bursting through the clouds he came down to
Pohjola. There he killed youths and babes and old people, until he was
driven away by a magic spell. He fled thence, burning fields and forests
on his way, until at length he plunged into a great lake, and made the
waters boil and rage. Then the fish held a council how to get rid of
him, and it was decided that one of them must swallow him. First the
salmon tried, but failed, and then the bold whiting made a dash and
succeeded in swallowing the evil Fire-child. After this the waters of
the lake grew quiet, and all went on as before.
'But soon the whiting was seized with terrible pains and began to swim
round in agony, begging for some one to kill him and put him out of his
sufferings. For a long time he swam about unheeded, but at last a trout
seized the whiting and swallowed him. For a while all was quiet again,
but then the trout began to suffer in his turn. Still every fish was
afraid to swallow him, until a pike darted up and ate up the trout. But
then the pike was seized with the same pains, and he is now swimming
about in great agony, but none will help him.'
When the Ether-maiden had finished her account of what had happened,
Wainamoinen and Ilmarinen wove a great net from seaweed, and hurrying to
the lake they began to draw the net all through it in order to catch
the Fire-fish. But the net was a poor one, and they failed to catch the
pike that had swallowed the other fish and the Fire-child.
Then the two magicians gave up their useless net, and, choosing an
island near by, they resolved to plant flax that they might make a
stronger and better net. They went to Tuoni's kingdom before they could
find the proper seed, and found it there under the care of a tiny
insect. When they had brought the seed from the Deathland, they planted
it on the shore, in the ashes of a ship that had been burnt there, and
in a single night the flax had grown up and ripened. Then they pulled
it, and washed and dried and combed it, and took it to the Kalevala
maidens to spin. Soon the spinning was done and the net was woven.
So the two great heroes took the flaxen net and hastened back to the
lake and began to drag for the Fire-fish. But they only caught common
fish, and the pike remained hidden in the deep caverns. Then Wainamoinen
made the net longer and wider and they tried again, but though they
caught fish of every species, the Fire-fish was not amongst them.
Wainamoinen then prayed to Ahto, god of the ocean, and his wife,
Wellamo, that they would drive the Fire-fish into his nets. Scarcely
had Wainamoinen finished speaking, when a little dwarf rose from the
waters and offered to help them. They accepted the tiny man's aid, and
while they drew their nets, the dwarf beat the waters with a magic pole
and scared all the fish toward them. And as they drew, Wainamoinen sang
a magic charm to bring the fish in still greater numbers.
This time the net was full of pike, and they dragged it to the shore
rejoicing, and among them they found the Fire-fish. So they threw the
other fish back into the water, and Wainamoinen drew his knife and began
to cut up the Fire-fish. Inside of the pike he found the trout, and
inside of the trout the whiting, and on opening the whiting he came upon
a ball of blue yarn. Wainamoinen quickly unwound the blue ball, and
within that found a red ball, and when he had opened the red ball he
came to the ball of fire in the middle.
They pondered how they should get the fire to Kalevala, and at last
Ilmarinen seized it in his hands to carry it off. But it singed
Wainamoinen's beard and burned Ilmarinen's hands dreadfully, and then it
jumped out of their reach and rolled off over field and forest, burning
everything in its course. Wainamoinen hastened after it, and at length
caught it hidden in a mass of punk-wood. Then he took it and put it,
wood and all, in a copper box and hastened off home. Thus the fire
returned to Kalevala.
But Ilmarinen, suffering great agony from his burnt hands, hastened to
the sea to lave them in the cool water. And he called up the ice and
frost and snow to come and cool his parched hands, and, when all these
proved insufficient, he called on great Ukko to send him some healing
balm to take away the cruel torture. And Ukko granted his prayer and his
hands were healed. Then Ilmarinen returned home and rejoiced to find
that Wainamoinen had already brought the fire thither.
[Illustration]
THE RESTORATION OF THE SUN AND MOON
Though the Fire had been restored to Kalevala, still the golden Moon and
the silver Sun were lost, and the frost came and killed the crops, and
the cattle began to die of hunger. Every living thing felt sick and
faint in the dark, dreary world. Then one of the maidens of Kalevala
suggested to Ilmarinen to make a moon of gold and a sun of silver, and
to hang them up in the heavens; so Ilmarinen set to work. While he was
forging them, Wainamoinen came and asked what he was working at, and so
Ilmarinen told him that he was going to make a new sun and moon. But
Wainamoinen said: 'This is mere folly, for silver and gold will not
shine like the sun and moon.' Still Ilmarinen worked on, and at length
he had forged a moon of gold and a sun of silver, and hung them in
their places in the sky. But they gave no light, as Wainamoinen had
said.
Then Wainamoinen determined to find out where the sun and moon had gone.
So he cut three chips from an alder-tree, and laying them on the ground
before him, he cast many magic spells over them. Then when all was
ready, he asked the alder-chips to tell him truly where the sun and moon
were hid. The alder-chips then answered, that they were hidden in the
caverns of the mountains of Pohjola.
No sooner had Wainamoinen heard this, than he made ready for a journey
and started off for the dismal Northland. When he had travelled three
days and was come to the borders of Pohjola, he found a wide river in
the road and no boat to cross over in. So he built a huge fire on the
shore, and soon such a dense column of smoke arose that Louhi sent some
one to see what was the matter. But when Wainamoinen called to the
messenger to bring him a boat, the man made no reply, but hurried back
to Louhi and told her that it was Wainamoinen, who was coming to her
house.
Then Wainamoinen saw that he could never get across in that way, so he
changed himself into a pike and swam over very easily, and then changed
back to his own shape when he had reached the opposite shore. He
hastened on with mighty strides, and soon reached Louhi's dwelling.
There he was met as if he were a most honoured guest, and they invited
him into the hall. Wainamoinen went in unsuspectingly, but no sooner was
he inside than he found himself surrounded by crowds of armed warriors.
The warriors asked him in a threatening tone why he had come thither.
But Wainamoinen was not frightened, but answered boldly that he had come
to seek the Sun and the Moon. Then the chief of the warriors replied:
'We have the Sun and Moon safe in a mountain cavern, and thou shalt
never get them back, nor shalt thou leave this hall alive.' No sooner
had he finished speaking than Wainamoinen drew his magic sword, and fell
upon those that stood between him and the door. They gave way before
him, and in a moment he was out in the courtyard, where he could have
room to fight fairly. All the warriors rushed at him with drawn swords
and lifted spears, and the fire flashed from their weapons. But
Wainamoinen was more than a match for all of them, and in a very short
time he had stretched them all lifeless on the ground.
Then he left the court and hastened on to find the Sun and Moon. Soon he
came to a solitary birch-tree, and beside the tree stood a carved
pillar of stone, which concealed an opening in the rocks. Wainamoinen
gave three blows with his magic sword, and the pillar broke in pieces,
showing behind it an entrance into the rock; but the entrance was shut
by a massive door, and there was only a little crack through which he
could peep. Inside he saw the Sun and Moon prisoners, but though he
tried with all his strength and all his magic spells to open the door,
it still remained tightly shut, and he could not budge it so much as an
inch.
Wainamoinen began to despair of ever succeeding in liberating the Sun
and Moon, and he hastened off home to ask for Ilmarinen's help. He
directed him to forge a whole set of skeleton-keys, so that some one of
them would fit the lock of the door to the Sun's prison. Ilmarinen went
to work and soon his anvil was ringing merrily to the blows of his
hammer.
Now Louhi had grown very much alarmed after Wainamoinen had slain all
her warriors, and so she assumed the shape of an eagle and flew away to
Kalevala to see what was going on there. She heard the merry ring of
Ilmarinen's work and flew down and lit in the window of the smithy.
There she asked what he was doing, and the cunning Ilmarinen replied: 'I
am forging a collar of steel for the neck of evil Louhi, and with it I
shall bind her fast to the rocks.'
Louhi was terribly alarmed at this, so she flew off to Pohjola and
released the Sun and Moon from prison immediately, and sent them up to
their places in the heavens. Then the silver sunlight and the golden
moonlight returned once more to Kalevala, and Ilmarinen, and
Wainamoinen, and all the people offered up a prayer that they might
never again be deprived of the blessed Sun and Moon.
* * * * *
'It would have served old Louhi right if Ilmarinen _had_ made a steel
collar and put it round her neck,' said Mimi. 'But I'm so glad that
Wainamoinen always got the best of it,' she added.
'There was one time when he was defeated, however,' said Father Mikko,
'and now I shall tell it you. It is the last story, and is about
Wainamoinen's departure from Kalevala.' So he began.
[Illustration]
MARIATTA AND WAINAMOINEN'S DEPARTURE
There lived a fair and lovely maiden in Kalevala, called Mariatta. She
was the loveliest and purest of virgins, and tended her parents' flocks
upon the mountain sides. Here one day, as she was watching the sheep,
she heard a voice calling to her, and on looking round she found that it
was a bright red berry calling to her, and asking her to pluck it.
Mariatta did not know that this was a magic berry, so she picked it and
put it to her lips to eat it. But the berry rolled from her lips down
into her bosom, and said to her: 'Thou shalt have a son, and he shall
become a mighty man and drive forth the old magician Wainamoinen.'
Then Mariatta took the flocks home and was so silent and still that her
parents noticed it and asked her what was the matter. So she told them
what had happened, but they grew angry and would not keep her in their
house, for they did not believe the story about the berry.
Poor Mariatta was now obliged to wander about without a shelter from the
cold winds. At length she sent a servant, who had remained faithful to
her and had accompanied her, to a village of Pohjola to ask for shelter
from an old man named Ruotus. The maid, Piltti, went to Ruotus and told
him of Mariatta's hard lot, but Ruotus and his wife would not have her
in their house, but only grudgingly consented to let her go to a stable
in the forest, where the Fire-horse of Hisi was kept.
So Mariatta was obliged to go to the stable in the dense forest far off
from every human being, and there she begged the Hisi-horse to keep her
warm by his fiery breath. The Hisi-horse was kinder to her than men had
been, for he let her lie down comfortably in his manger, and kept her
warm with his fiery breath. There the babe was born, and his mother grew
happy once more, in spite of her sorrowful circumstances. But one night,
while she slept, the babe disappeared, and the poor mother was
overwhelmed with grief.
Then she wandered forth and looked everywhere for him, but in vain. So
she asked the North-star if he had seen her son. But the North-star
answered: 'I would not tell thee even if I knew. For it is thy son who
hath made me and set me here in the bitter cold.' And next Mariatta
asked the Moon, and received the same answer as the North-star had
given. Then she went to the Sun and asked him. And the Sun said: 'I know
very well where thy son is hidden, for he made me and put me here to
shine with my silver light. He lies sleeping yonder in the Swampland.'
So Mariatta hastened to the spot that the Sun had pointed out and there
found her babe sleeping peacefully in the water among the rushes.
Then she returned with the babe to her father's house, and this time he
received her and allowed her to live there in peace. And the child grew
in beauty and wisdom, and his mother called him Flower, but others
called him Son-of-Sorrow. Then his mother called in an old man,
Wirokannas, to baptize the child, but Wirokannas said: 'First must some
one see if the child shall become an honest man, or a wicked wizard, for
if he be not honest I will not baptize him.'
So Wainamoinen was called to examine the child--it was only two weeks
old then--and see if it would grow up a noble man or not. Wainamoinen
came and saw the child, and then said: 'Since this child is only a poor
outcast, born in a manger, and having no father save a berry, let him be
cast out on to the hillsides or into the marshes to perish.'
But all at once the babe himself began to speak, saying: 'O aged
Wainamoinen, foolish hero, thou hast given a false decision. Thou
thyself hast done great wrongs, yet hast not been punished. Thou gavest
thine own brother Ilmarinen to ransom thy poor life. Thou persecuted the
lovely Aino so that she perished in the deep sea, yet thou wert not
killed for all this.'
Then Wirokannas saw that this was truly a magic babe, and he baptized
him to become a mighty hero, and a ruler and king over Kalevala.
Years passed by after this, and Wainamoinen felt his power gradually
leaving him and going over to Mariatta's child. So the ancient hero,
with a sad heart, sang his last magic spell in Kalevala, and made a
magic boat of copper to sail away in. Then he cast loose from the shore
and sailed off towards the west, singing as he went: 'Fare ye well, my
people. Many suns shall rise and set on Kalevala until the people shall
at length regret my absence and shall call upon me to come back with my
magic songs and wisdom. Fare ye well.'
Thus Wainamoinen, in his magic boat of copper, left Kalevala. On he
sailed to the land of the setting sun, and at length he reached the
haven and anchored his boat, never again to return to Kalevala. But the
wondrous kantele and all his songs and wisdom remain among us to this
day.
* * * * *
'And now,' said Father Mikko, 'I have told you my last story--old
Wainamoinen has left Kalevala and the rule of the Christ-child has
begun. Under it our land has advanced and grown comfortable and
happy--let us only pray that we may never be less so.'
They were all silent for some time, and then all of them thanked Father
Mikko heartily for the pleasure that he had given them. Soon after this
they had supper and went to bed, and the next morning Father Mikko drove
off in his sledge, the moonlight covering all the country with a flood
of silver, and soon he had disappeared into the dark and silent
fir-forest; but not before he had promised them all that he would stop
there again next year if possible.
THE END
_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_
[Illustration]
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+--------------------Transcriber's Note-----------------------+
| |
| Minor punctuation and printing errors have been corrected. |
| |
| Spelling and hyphenation corrections: |
| |
| Page xiii Wuvksi replaced with Wuoksi |
| Page xv pronunced changed to pronounced |
| Page 191 alway changed to always |
| |
| 1 occurrence of sheepskin changed to sheep-skin |
| 1 occurrence of bearksins changed to bear-skins |
| 1 occurrence of bluebirds changed to blue-birds |
| 1 occurrence of sea-weed changed to seaweed |
| 1 occurrence of sea-shore changed to seashore |
| 1 occurrence of sea-gull changed to seagull |
| 1 occurrence of snowshoes changed to snow-shoe |
| |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Finnish Legends for English Children" ***
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