Read the book “Kalevala” online in full - Folk Art (Folklore) - MyBook.
Rune FIRST
1. Introduction.
I got one wish,
I have one thought in mind
Be ready to sing
And start quickly with a word,
To sing the song of my ancestors to me,
Our kind of tunes.
The words are already melting on my lips,
They burst into speeches,
They strive for the tongue,
My teeth are revealed.
My golden friend and brother,
Dear childhood comrade!
We will sing with you together,
You and I will say a word.
Finally we met
The two sides have now come together!
We are rarely together
We rarely visit each other
In this poor space,
In the poor region of the north.
So give me your hands
Let's put our fingers together,
We will sing glorious songs,
Starting with the best;
Let friends hear singing
Let them listen kindly
Between growing youth
In the growing people.
I collected all these speeches
These songs that kept
And on the loins of Väinämöinen,
And in the crucible Ilmarinen,
On the ax of Kaukomyeli,
And on the arrows of Youkahainen,
In the far northern glades,
In the vastness of Kalevala.
My father sang them before,
Cutting the ax handle;
My mother taught me them
Sitting at his spinning wheel;
On the floor then as a child
I spun around their knees;
I was a baby and I ate
More milk, little one,
They sang to me about Sampo
And about the charms of the cunning Louha,
And Sampo grew old in songs,
And Loukhi died from the spell,
Vipunen died singing
Lemminkäinen died in the battle.
I keep a lot of other words
And knowledge known to me:
I picked them on the path
I broke them on the heather,
I broke them off from the bushes,
I picked them up on the branches,
I collected them for myself in the herbs,
I picked them up on the road,
Walking along the paths like a shepherd,
And in the pastures as a boy,
Where the meadows are rich in honey,
Where are the golden glades,
Following Murikki the cow
And Kimmo follows the motley one.
The frost told me songs,
And it rained songs on me,
The wind inspired me with songs,
Brought by the sea waves,
The birds composed words for me,
The trees gave me speeches.
I rolled them into one ball,
I tied them into one bundle,
I put the ball on the sled,
I put a bundle on the sleigh
And he brought it to the hut on a sled,
Brought on a sleigh to the barn
And in the barn under the rafters
He hid them in a copper casket.
Long songs in the cold,
They lay hidden for a long time.
Should I remove them from the frost?
Shouldn't we take some songs out of the cold?
Should I bring the casket into my home?
Place the chest on the bench,
Under the beautiful rafters,
Under this good roof;
Should I open the box of songs?
A chest full of words,
Should I take the ball by the end?
Shouldn't I unravel the skein?
I will sing a glorious song,
It will sound nice
If they bring me beer
And they will give you rye bread.
If I don't have beer,
They won't offer you a young man,
I’ll start singing dry
Or I’ll sing with just water,
To make the evening fun,
So that our day is brightened
And so that morning fun
Tomorrow our day begins.
2. The daughter of air descends into the sea...
I used to hear speeches
I heard how the songs were composed.
One by one the nights come to us,
The days go by one by one
Väinämöinen was alone,
Eternal Chanter
Born beautiful by a virgin,
He was born from Ilmatar.
Daughter of the airspace,
Slender child of creation,
I remained a virgin for a long time,
For a long time she lived as a maiden
In the middle of the air,
In the sprawling plains.
I lived like that and got bored
Life has become so strange:
Living alone all the time
And remain a girl
In that big airy country,
In the middle of desert space.
And the girl went downstairs,
She bowed down into the waves of water,
On the ridge of the transparent sea,
On the plains of open waters;
A fierce wind began to blow,
A storm arose from the east,
The sea is clouded with foam,
The waves rose high.
The wind shook the maiden,
The waves hit the girl,
Rocked in the blue sea
On waves with a white top.
The wind blew the girl's fruit,
The sea gave her fullness.
And she bore heavy fruit,
Your fullness with sorrow
Seven hundred years old, a girl in herself,
Nine Lives of a Man
And the birth did not occur,
Not conceived - not born.
Mother of water, she rushed about
Now to the east, now to the west,
Now to the south, now to the north
And to all the heavenly countries,
Severely tormented by pain,
Fullness in a heavy belly
But labor did not occur.
Not conceived - not born.
The maiden began to cry quietly,
Say words like this:
"Woe to me, persecuted by fate,
Me, the wanderer, the poor thing!
Have you achieved much?
That I came out of thin air
That the storm is chasing me,
That the wave is shaking me
On sea water extensive,
On the plains of open waters.
It would be better in the sky in the open
Remained a daughter of the air,
Than in these alien spaces
I became the mother of water:
Here there is only cold and torment,
It's hard for me to stay
To live, languishing, in cold waters,
Wander through the waves continuously.
O you, Ukko, supreme god!
You, the bearer of the sky!
You go down to the waves of the sea,
Hurry to help!
Save the girl from pain
And a wife from belly pangs!
Hurry up, don't hesitate any longer,
I call on you in need!"
3. A duck makes a nest...
Little time passes
Barely a moment passed
Here's a beautiful duck flying,
The air flutters with wings,
Looking for a place to nest,
Looking for places to live.
Rushing to the west, to the east,
Rushing south and north,
But can't find a place
Not the slightest place
Where could I build a nest?
And prepare a home.
I flew around, looked around,
She thought about it and said:
"If an owl's nest is in the wind,
I’ll build housing on the wave,
The wind will scatter my nest,
The waves will carry away your home."
The mother of water hears that word,
Ilmatar, creation maiden,
I raised my knee from the waves,
Raised her shoulder from the sea,
So that the duck makes a nest,
Prepared the house.
Duck, that beautiful bird,
I flew around, looked around,
I saw it in the blue waves
Mother's water knee.
Took him for a bump
And she thought it was green turf.
I flew around, looked around,
Got down on my knee
And prepares a nest for himself,
Golden lays eggs:
Six golden eggs
And the seventh is made of iron.
Here the duck sat down as a hen,
The round knee warms.
One day sits, another day sits,
It's the third day now
Ilmatar, creation maiden,
Mother of water suddenly felt
Intense heat in your knee:
His skin got so hot,
Like a knee in flames
And all the veins melted.
4. The eggs roll out of the nest...
Moved my knee too much
Members shake violently
The eggs rolled into the water
They fell into the waves of water,
Broke into pieces at sea
And they disintegrated into fragments.
The eggs did not die in the mud
And pieces in the moisture of the sea,
But they changed wonderfully
And they underwent a transformation:
From the egg, from the bottom,
The mother came out - the ground was damp;
From the egg, from the top,
The high vault of heaven rose,
From the yolk, from the top,
The bright sun appeared;
From the protein, from the top,
A clear month has appeared;
From the egg, from the motley part,
The stars appeared in the sky;
From the egg, from the dark part,
Clouds appeared in the air.
And time goes by
Year after year goes by,
When the young sun shines,
In the brilliance of the new moon.
The mother of water floats on the sea,
Mother of water, maiden of creation,
Across waters full of slumber,
Through the misty waters of the sea;
And the waters stretched beneath her,
And the sky shines above her.
5. The Mother of Water creates capes, bays, shores...
Finally, in the ninth year,
For the tenth summer already,
Raised her head from the sea
And the brow from the vast waters,
Started to create creations
Began to create creatures
On the ridge of the transparent sea,
On the plains of open waters.
I just extended my hand
Cape after cape rose;
Where did you put your foot?
I dug holes for the fish;
Where my foot touched the bottom
They went deeper into the depths.
Where it touched the ground sideways
A smooth shore appeared;
Where your foot touched the ground
There the salmon began to sink;
And where was my head leaning?
Small bays appeared.
Said further from land,
Stopped on the waves
Created rocks in the sea
And underwater cliffs,
Where the ships, having stumbled, land,
The sailors will find their destruction.
The cliffs have already been created,
The rocks in the sea were founded,
The columns of winds have already risen,
Earthly countries were created,
The stones were brightly colored,
The cliffs stood in the cracks,
Only the prophetic singer
Väinämöinen was not born.
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
Wanders in the womb of the mother,
He spends thirty years there,
Zim spends exactly the same amount of time
On waters full of slumber,
On the foggy waves of the sea.
6. Väinämöinen is born from the mother of water...
He thought and pondered:
How to be and what to do
In this dark space,
In an uncomfortable, dark place,
Where the light of the sun doesn't shine,
The shine of the month is not visible.
He said these words
And he said these words:
"Moon, golden sun
And the Bear in the sky!
Give me a way out quickly
From a door unknown to me,
From unusual gates
A very cramped home!
Give your husband freedom
Give free rein to your child,
To see the month is bright,
To admire the sun,
Marvel at the Ursa,
Look at the stars in the sky!"
But the month did not give me freedom,
And the sun did not come out.
It became difficult for him to live there,
Life became hateful to him:
Touched the fortress gates,
He moved his ring finger,
He opened the bone castle
Small toe of the left leg;
In my arms he crawls from the threshold,
On my knees through the entryway.
He fell into the blue sea,
He grabbed the waves with his hands.
The husband is at the mercy of the sea,
The hero remained among the waves.
He lay at sea for five years,
I rocked in it for five and six years,
And another seven years and eight.
Finally floats to land,
To an unknown shallows,
He swam out onto the treeless shore.
Got up on my knees
Supports himself with his hands.
I got up to see the bright moon,
To admire the sun,
Marvel at the Ursa,
Look at the stars of the sky.
Thus Väinämöinen was born,
Tribe of daring singers
Famous ancestor
Born of the virgin Ilmatar.
1. Introduction.
2. The daughter of the air descends into the sea, where, having become pregnant by the wind and water, she becomes the mother of water.
3. The duck makes a nest on the knee of mother water and lays eggs there.
4. The eggs roll out of the nest, break into pieces, and the pieces turn into the earth, sky, sun, moon and clouds.
5. The Mother of Water creates capes, bays, shores, depths and shallows of the sea.
6. Väinämöinen is born from the mother of water and rushes along the waves for a long time until it finally reaches land.
I got one wish,
I have one thought in mind
Be ready to sing
And start quickly with a word,
To sing the song of my ancestors to me,
Our kind of tunes.
The words are already melting on my lips,
They burst into speeches,
They strive for the tongue,
My teeth are revealed.
My golden friend and brother,
Dear childhood comrade!
We will sing with you together,
You and I will say a word.
Finally we met
The two sides have now come together!
We are rarely together
We rarely visit each other
In this poor space,
In the poor region of the north.
So give me your hands
Let's put our fingers together,
We will sing glorious songs,
Starting with the best;
Let friends hear singing
Let them listen kindly
Between growing youth
In the growing people.
I collected all these speeches
These songs that kept
And on the loins of Väinämöinen,
And in the crucible Ilmarinen,
On the ax of Kaukomyeli,
And on the arrows of Youkahainen,
In the far northern glades,
In the vastness of Kalevala.
My father sang them before,
Cutting the ax handle;
My mother taught me them
Sitting at his spinning wheel;
On the floor then as a child
I spun around their knees;
I was a baby and I ate
More milk, little one,
They sang to me about Sampo
And about the charms of the cunning Louha,
And Sampo grew old in songs,
And Loukhi died from the spell,
Vipunen died singing
Lemminkäinen died in the battle.
I keep a lot of other words
And knowledge known to me:
I picked them on the path
I broke them on the heather,
I broke them off from the bushes,
I picked them up on the branches,
I collected them for myself in the herbs,
I picked them up on the road,
Walking along the paths like a shepherd,
And in the pastures as a boy,
Where the meadows are rich in honey,
Where are the golden glades,
Following Murikki the cow
And Kimmo follows the motley one.
The frost told me songs,
And it rained songs on me,
The wind inspired me with songs,
Brought by the sea waves,
The birds composed words for me,
The trees gave me speeches.
I rolled them into one ball,
I tied them into one bundle,
I put the ball on the sled,
I put a bundle on the sleigh
And he brought it to the hut on a sled,
Brought on a sleigh to the barn
And in the barn under the rafters
He hid them in a copper casket.
Long songs in the cold,
They lay hidden for a long time.
Should I remove them from the frost?
Shouldn't we take some songs out of the cold?
Should I bring the casket into my home?
Place the chest on the bench,
Under the beautiful rafters,
Under this good roof;
Should I open the box of songs?
A chest full of words,
Should I take the ball by the end?
Shouldn't I unravel the skein?
I will sing a glorious song,
It will sound nice
If they bring me beer
And they will give you rye bread.
If I don't have beer,
They won't offer you a young man,
I’ll start singing dry
Or I’ll sing with just water,
To make the evening fun,
So that our day is brightened
And so that morning fun
Tomorrow our day begins.
I used to hear speeches
I heard how the songs were composed.
One by one the nights come to us,
The days go by one by one -
Väinämöinen was alone,
Eternal Chanter
Born beautiful by a virgin,
He was born from Ilmatar.
Daughter of the airspace,
Slender child of creation,
I remained a virgin for a long time,
For a long time she lived as a maiden
In the middle of the air,
In the sprawling plains.
I lived like that and got bored
Life has become so strange:
Living alone all the time
And remain a girl
In that big airy country,
In the middle of desert space.
And the girl went downstairs,
She bowed down into the waves of water,
On the ridge of the transparent sea,
On the plains of open waters;
A fierce wind began to blow,
A storm arose from the east,
The sea is clouded with foam,
The waves rose high.
The wind shook the maiden,
The waves hit the girl,
Rocked in the blue sea
On waves with a white top.
The wind blew the girl's fruit,
The sea gave her fullness.
And she bore heavy fruit,
Your fullness with sorrow
Seven hundred years old, a girl in herself,
Nine human lives -
And the birth did not occur,
Not conceived - not born.
Mother of water, she rushed about
Now to the east, now to the west,
Now to the south, now to the north
And to all the heavenly countries,
Severely tormented by pain,
Fullness in a heavy belly -
But labor did not occur.
Not conceived - not born.
The maiden began to cry quietly,
Say words like this:
“Woe to me, persecuted by fate,
Me, the wanderer, the poor thing!
Have you achieved much?
That I came out of thin air
That the storm is chasing me,
That the wave is shaking me
On the vast sea water,
On the plains of open waters.
It would be better in the sky in the open
Remained a daughter of the air,
Than in these alien spaces
I became the mother of water:
Here there is only cold and torment,
It's hard for me to stay
To live, languishing, in cold waters,
Wander through the waves continuously.
O you, Ukko, supreme god!
You, the bearer of the sky!
You go down to the waves of the sea,
Hurry to help!
Save the girl from pain
And a wife from belly pangs!
Hurry up, don't hesitate any longer,
I call on you in need!”
Little time passes
Barely a moment passed -
Here's a beautiful duck flying,
The air flutters with wings,
Looking for a place to nest,
Looking for places to live.
Rushing to the west, to the east,
Rushing south and north,
But can't find a place
Not the slightest place
Where could I build a nest?
And prepare a home.
I flew around, looked around,
She thought about it and said:
“If an owl's nest is in the wind,
I’ll build housing on the wave,
The wind will scatter my nest,
The waves will carry away your home.”
The mother of water hears that word,
Ilmatar, creation maiden,
I raised my knee from the waves,
Raised her shoulder from the sea,
So that the duck makes a nest,
Prepared the house.
Duck, that beautiful bird,
I flew around, looked around,
I saw it in the blue waves
Mother's water knee.
Took him for a bump
And she thought it was green turf.
I flew around, looked around,
Got down on my knee
And prepares a nest for himself,
Golden lays eggs:
Six golden eggs
And the seventh is made of iron.
Here the duck sat down as a hen,
The round knee warms.
One day sits, another day sits,
Now the third day has passed -
Ilmatar, creation maiden,
Mother of water suddenly felt
Intense heat in your knee:
His skin got so hot,
Like a knee in flames
And all the veins melted.
Moved my knee too much
Members shake violently -
The eggs rolled into the water
They fell into the waves of water,
Broke into pieces at sea
And they disintegrated into fragments.
The eggs did not die in the mud
And pieces in the moisture of the sea,
But they changed wonderfully
And they underwent a transformation:
From the egg, from the bottom,
The mother came out - the ground was damp;
From the egg, from the top,
The high vault of heaven rose,
From the yolk, from the top,
The bright sun appeared;
From the protein, from the top,
A clear month has appeared;
From the egg, from the motley part,
The stars appeared in the sky;
From the egg, from the dark part,
Clouds appeared in the air.
And time goes by
Year after year goes by,
When the young sun shines,
In the brilliance of the new moon.
The mother of water floats on the sea,
Mother of water, maiden of creation,
Across waters full of slumber,
Through the misty waters of the sea;
And the waters stretched beneath her,
And the sky shines above her.
Finally, in the ninth year,
For the tenth summer already,
Raised her head from the sea
And the brow from the vast waters,
Started to create creations
Began to create creatures
On the ridge of the transparent sea,
On the plains of open waters.
I just extended my hand -
Cape after cape rose;
Where did you put your foot -
I dug holes for the fish;
Where my foot touched the bottom -
They went deeper into the depths.
Where it touched the ground sideways -
A smooth shore appeared;
Where my foot touched the ground -
There the salmon began to sink;
And where was my head leaning?
Small bays appeared.Said further from land,
Stopped on the waves -
Created rocks in the sea
And underwater cliffs,
Where the ships, having stumbled, land,
The sailors will find their destruction.
The cliffs have already been created,
The rocks in the sea were founded,
The columns of winds have already risen,
Earthly countries were created,
The stones were brightly colored,
The cliffs stood in the cracks,
Only the prophetic singer
Väinämöinen was not born.
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
Wanders in the womb of the mother,
He spends thirty years there,
Zim spends exactly the same amount of time
On waters full of slumber,
On the foggy waves of the sea.
He thought and pondered:
How to be and what to do
In this dark space,
In an uncomfortable, dark place,
Where the light of the sun doesn't shine,
The shine of the month is not visible.
He said these words
And he said these words:
"Moon, golden sun
And the Bear in the sky!
Give me a way out quickly
From a door unknown to me,
From unusual gates
A very cramped home!
Give your husband freedom
Give free rein to your child,
To see the month is bright,
To admire the sun,
Marvel at the Ursa,
Look at the stars of the sky!”But the month did not give me freedom,
And the sun did not come out.
It became difficult for him to live there,
Life became hateful to him:
Touched the fortress gates,
He moved his ring finger,
He opened the bone castle
Small toe of the left leg;
In my arms he crawls from the threshold,
On my knees through the entryway.He fell into the blue sea,
He grabbed the waves with his hands.
The husband is at the mercy of the sea,
The hero remained among the waves.
He lay at sea for five years,
I rocked in it for five and six years,
And another seven years and eight.
Finally floats to land,
To an unknown shallows,
He swam out onto the treeless shore.Got up on my knees
Supports himself with his hands.
I got up to see the bright moon,
To admire the sun,
Marvel at the Ursa,
Look at the stars of the sky.
Thus Väinämöinen was born,
Tribe of daring singers
Famous ancestor
Born of the virgin Ilmatar.
Rune second
1. Väinämöinen comes out to the deserted shore and tells Sampsa Pellervoinen to sow trees.
2. At first the oak does not sprout, but, sown again, it grows, spreads throughout the country and blocks the moon and the sun with its foliage.
3. A little man rises from the sea and cuts down an oak tree; the moon and sun become visible again.
4. Birds sing in the trees; herbs, flowers and berries grow on the ground; only the barley is not growing yet.
5. Väinämöinen finds several barley grains on the coastal sand, cuts down the forest for arable land and leaves only one birch tree for the birds.
6. The eagle, delighted that the tree was left for him, strikes a fire for Väinämöinen, with which he burns his cutting.
7. Väinämöinen sows barley, prays for its good growth and wishes success for the future.
Väinämöinen has risen,
I stood with my feet on the shore,
To an island washed by the sea,
To a plain without trees.
Then he lived for many years,
Year after year he lived
There on a deserted island,
On a plain without trees.
He thought, pondered,
He racked his brains for a long time:
Who will sow the land for him?
Who can scatter the seed?
Pellervoinen, son of the glade,
This is Sampsa, a baby boy,
He will sow the land for him,
He can scatter the seed!
He sows diligently
The whole country: hills, swamps,
All open glades,
Rocky plains.
He sows pine trees on the mountains,
He sows spruce on the hills,
Heather sows in the clearings,
Sows bushes in the valleys.
He sows birch trees in the ditches,
Alders in loosened soil
And bird cherry in the wet,
In lower places there is willow,
In holy places - rowan,
On the marshy ones - broom,
On sandy ones - juniper
And oak trees near wide rivers.
The trees grow high.
Shoots stretched upward:
Spruce with a motley top,
Pine trees with frequent branches,
We climbed the birch ditches,
Alders in loosened soil
And bird cherry in moisture;
The juniper also grew,
Its berries are beautiful
The bird cherry fruit is beautiful.
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
He stood up: he wanted to see
How Sampsa’s sowing was successful,
Pellerwain is working.
He saw the trees growing,
The growth of their shoots is cheerful;
Only the oak cannot sprout,
God's tree does not sprout.
He gave the stubborn man freedom -
Let him know his happiness;
Then he waits for three nights in a row,
He waits for so many days.
This is how the whole week goes by
Look then he goes:
Still the oak cannot sprout,
God's tree does not sprout.
Here are four Virgos coming out,
Five girls came out of the sea.
They started mowing
They began to mow the dewy meadow
On a toe hidden by darkness,
On a wooded island
Mow the meadow, rake the hay,
Everyone is raking the place together.
Then Tursas came out of the sea,
The hero rose from the waves.
He set fire to the hay,
The hay burned brightly,
Everything was showered with ash,
There was a cloud of smoke.
Here the ash has frozen in a heap,
The ashes lay down in a dry mountain;
He lays a tender leaf in the ashes,
Along with it is an oak acorn.
The oak grew from them like a blade of grass,
The green shoot has become slender,
The soil has become fertile
Spreading oak, huge,
Gave a lot of wide branches,
Branches with thick greenery,
Raised the peak to the skies,
He raised his branches high:
It prevents the clouds from escaping,
Does not allow the clouds to pass through,
The sun is hiding in the sky,
Overshadows the clear month.
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
This is what I thought and thought about:
Who would gather strength,
Who would fell a branchy oak tree?
Life people are coming sadly,
It is uncomfortable for fish to swim
If the sun doesn't shine,
The clear month does not shine.
No man was found
The hero was not there,
Who would fell a branchy oak tree?
A hundred peaks brought him down.
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
He himself said these words:
“Kave, you carried me,
Dear mother, daughter of creation!
From the water send me strength -
Water has a lot of strength -
Overturn a huge oak tree,
Bring down the evil tree
So that the sun shines again,
A clear month would shine!”
Here comes a man out of the sea,
The hero rose from the waves;
He's not one of the very great ones,
Not one of the very small ones:
It was as long as a man's finger.
He is about the size of a woman's span.
It was covered with a copper cap.
His boots are made of copper,
Hands in copper mittens,
Scales covered with copper,
There was a copper belt on the body,
And an ax made of copper hung:
With an ax only in the finger,
With a blade that only fits one fingernail.
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
This is what I thought and thought about:
He looks like his husband
Bogatyrsky build,
And only one finger long,
Barely as tall as a hoof!
He says words like this
He himself makes the following speeches:
“What kind of man are you, really?
What kind of mighty hero is this?
You're a little more beautiful than a dead man,
A little more dead!”
And the sea baby said,
So the sea hero answered:
"No! I'm actually a husband
A hero from the mighty waves.
I came to cut down an oak trunk,
Split the tall oak tree here.”
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
He says the following words:
“But, as you can see, you were not created,
You were not created for this
To break a huge oak tree here,
Bring down the evil tree."
But as soon as he said it,
I barely directed my gaze towards him,
How the little one has changed,
Turned into a giant
I rested my feet on the ground,
He holds the clouds with his head;
With a knee-length beard,
The hair hangs down to the heels;
There is a slanting fathom between the eyes,
The width of the pants is at the hips -
In two fathoms, at the knees -
One and a half, at the heels - a fathom.
The giant sharpens his ax
The blade gets sharper
On six pieces of flint,
On seven whetstones.
He waddled
He stomped with a heavy step,
He walked in wide pants,
Fluttering in the wind.
With the first step I found myself
On sandy, loose ground,
He ended up with the second one
On the ground quite black,
Finally, at the third step,
He approached the root of the oak tree.
He hit an oak tree with an axe,
He cut with a smooth blade.
Hit once and again,
The third time he strikes;
Sparks fly from the iron,
And flames pour from the oak tree;
The proud oak is ready to bow,
He began to crack loudly.
And like this on the third swing
He was able to knock down the oak tree to the ground,
He was able to break the cracking trunk,
Overturn a hundred tops.
He laid the trunk to the east,
Threw the tops to the west,
He scattered leaves to the south,
Scattered branches to the north.
If anyone there raised a branch,
He found happiness forever;
Who brought the top to himself,
Became a sorcerer forever;
Who cut their own leaves there?
He took joy for his heart.
What crumbled from the chips,
Of the pieces that are left
On the ridge of the transparent sea,
On the plain of open waters,
It swayed there in the wind,
It swayed on the waves there,
Like a shuttle in open water,
Like a ship on a wavy sea.The wind carried them to Pohjola.
A maiden in the sea of Pohjola
I washed my big scarf,
I rinsed my dresses in the sea,
I dried them there on a stone,
On the edge of a large cape.
I saw a sliver of wood in the sea;
I took it into my wallet,
Brought it home in my wallet,
Tied up with straps
So that the sorcerer makes a weapon,
Enchanted arrows.
Only the oak fell to the ground,
Only the proud trunk was cut down,
The sun has shone again
A beautiful month has dawned,
There are clouds in the sky,
The whole space has opened up again
Above the toe, hidden by the darkness,
Above a foggy island.
The groves have grown densely,
The forests rose in the wild,
The leaves and grass have blossomed,
Birds fluttered through the branches,
There the blackbirds sang songs
And the cuckoo crowed.
The berries came out of the soil
And golden flowers;
Dense grass has grown
And they were full of flowers.
Only one barley does not sprout
And the beautiful bread does not ripen.
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
Approaches the blue sea
And he meditates by the sea,
On the edge of mighty water.
There he finds six grains,
He raises seven seeds
From the shore of the great sea,
From a sandy, soft shallow;
I hid them in a bag like a marten,
He put it in the paw of a yellow squirrel.
He went to sow the land.
He went to scatter the seed
Near the Kalevala river,
Along the edges of Osme's clearing.
Here is a tit singing from a branch:
“Osmo’s barley will not sprout,
Kaleva's oats will not rise,
The field there is not cleared,
There is no forest cut down for arable land,
It’s good that it’s not scorched by fire.”
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
Here the ax made a sharp
He began to cut down forests,
He threw them in the clearing.
He cut down all the trees;
He left only the birch tree,
So that the birds can rest
So that the cuckoo crows.
Here is an eagle flying across the sky,
He flew from afar,
To see that birch tree;
“Why is there only one left?
There is an untouched birch here
Shall we cut down its slender trunk?”
Väinämöinen answers:
"That's why she stayed
To give the birds a rest on it,
So that the eagle flies to her from the sky.”
And the eagle of heaven said:
“Your concern is good,
Why didn’t you touch the birch tree?
The slender trunk left her,
So that the birds can rest
So that I could sit on it myself.”
And the eagle delivered the fire,
He struck a flame.
The wind rushed from the north,
And another flies from the east;
He turned the groves to ash,
The forests are thick in the dark smoke.
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
He takes out all six grains,
He takes seven seeds with his hand,
Took it from a marten pouch,
I took a yellow squirrel from its paw,
Summer ermine skin.
He's coming to sow the land,
He goes to scatter the seed.
He says the following words:
“Here I am sowing, scattering,
I sow with the hand of the creator,
Almighty right hand,
So that it sprouts in this field,
So that it grows on this soil.
O you, old lady of the earth,
Mother of the fields, mistress of the earth!
Give the soil the power to grow,
Give me a cover of humus!
And the earth will not be without strength,
Will not remain barren
If she is granted mercy
Virgins, daughters of creation.
You get up, earth, wake up,
Bosom of God, do not sleep!
Send out the stems from yourself,
Let the shoots rise!
A thousand ears of grain will come out,
A hundred branches will grow,
Where I plowed and sowed,
Where I worked hard!
O you, Ukko, supreme god,
Ukko, you, heavenly father,
You, who rules the storm clouds,
0byakami controls!
You keep your advice on the clouds,
The advice in heaven is true!
Bring a cloud from the east,
There's a big cloud from the north,
And from the west - another,
The cloud is coming from the south quickly!
Send down the heavenly rain,
Let honey drip from the clouds,
So that the ears of corn rise,
Let the bread rustle here!”
Ukko, this supreme god,
That heavenly father, powerful,
The meeting is kept in clouds,
The advice in heaven is true.
Here he sends a cloud from the east,
I'm seeing another cloud from the north,
Drives away the cloud from the sunset,
Sends a cloud from the south;
He beats the clouds against each other,
The edge hits them.
Sends heavenly rain,
Honey dripping from high clouds,
So that the ears of corn rise,
So that the bread would rustle there.
The ears of corn have darkened there,
The stems rose high
From the earth, from soft soil
Väinämöinen works.
The next day is passing by,
Two and three nights pass
The whole week goes by
Old Väinämöinen came out
Look at the seedlings in the field,
Where did he plow, where did he sow,
Where he worked hard:
He sees beautiful barley,
Hexagonal ears,
Three nodes on each stem.
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
Looked around, looked around.
Here is the spring cuckoo
Sees a slender birch tree:
“Why is there only one left?
Is there an untouched birch here?Old Väinämöinen said:
“For this reason, there is only one left
There is a birch tree here for it to grow,
So that you can cuckoo here.
You call at her, cuckoo,
Sing, sand-breasted bird,
Sing, with a silver breast,
Sing, with a tin chest!
Sing in the morning, sing at night,
You cuckoo at noon,
So that the clearings are decorated,
So that the forests show off here,
So that the seaside becomes richer
And the whole region was full of bread!”
Rune third
1. Väinämöinen gains wisdom and becomes famous.
Youkahainen goes to compete with him in knowledge and, not winning, challenges him to fight with swords; the angry Väinämöinen drives him into the swamp with a song.
3. Joukahainen, having found himself in trouble, finally promises to marry his sister to Väinämöinen, who, having mercy, releases him from the swamp.
4. The distressed Joukahainen goes home and tells his mother about his misadventures.
5. The mother rejoices when she learns that Väinämöinen will become her son-in-law, but the daughter is sad and begins to cry.
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
Spent some quiet time
In the green thickets of Väinöla,
In the glades of Kalevala.
He sang his songs,
Songs of great wisdom.
Day after day he sang songs
And he sang them at night,
Sang the deeds of times gone by,
Sang the origin of things,
No matter what little children now
Neither the heroes understand:
After all, the time has come
There is poor food and there is no bread.
The news has reached far,
Word spread far
About the mighty singing of the old man,
About heroic melodies,
And news penetrated to the south,
And word reached the north.
Joukahainen lived in Pohjola,
Skinny Young Laplander.
One day he went to visit
He hears strange speeches there,
As if you could sing better
Compose the best songs
In the green thickets of Väinöla,
In the glades of Kalevala,
Than the songs he sang
Having learned them from my father.
Joukahainen got angry:
Aroused envy in the heart
Väinämöinen tunes,
That his songs are better than all of them.
He goes to his old mother,
To the leader of the clan.
He says he's getting ready to go,
Goes on the road
He goes to the village of Vainely,
Compete with Väinö in singing.
But they won't let him go
Neither father nor old mother
Go to the village of Vainely,
To compete with Väinö in singing:
“No, they will bewitch you there,
Bewitched and left
Your head is in a snowdrift,
This hand in the cold,
So that you can't move your hand
And I wouldn’t be able to step foot.”
Young Youkahainen said:
“My father is knowledgeable in many things,
Mother knows much more
But I know everyone better myself.
If I want to argue
And compete with men,
I will put the singers to shame by singing,
I will enchant the sorcerers;
So I’ll sing who was first.
He will be the last singer.
I'll set him in stone
I'll dress my legs in wood,
I'll put stones on your chest,
On the back there is an arc of stone,
I'll give you mittens made of stone,
I’ll cover you with a stone helmet!”
So, stubborn, he decides
And he takes the horse from the stable:
Fire burns from the nostrils,
Sparks fly under the hoof:
He bridled the dashing horse
And harnessed him to a golden sleigh.
He himself sat down on the sleigh,
Sat comfortably on the seat
And he hit the horse with a whip,
Beats with a whip with a pearl handle.
The good horse rushed
The horse rushed along the road.
My home is so far away,
One day jumps, another day jumps,
The third day he rushes quickly;
And when the third one passed,
Arrived at Vainely glades
And the expanses of Kalevala.Old, faithful Väinämöinen,
Eternal soothsayer
I was just on that road
Along the way he rode
Among the clearings in Väinöla,
Through the oak forests of Kalevala.
Youkahainen is young, violent,
He ran into him quickly;
The shafts got caught,
And the tugs intertwined,
The clamps suddenly crackled,
And arc collided with arc.
Here they stopped
They both stood there, thinking...
Moisture oozed from two arcs,
Steam rose from the shaft.
And Väinämöinen said:
“Where are you from?
Why are you jumping so recklessly?
Are you coming without asking?
Why did you break my clamp?
And an arc from a fresh branch,
Why did you break my sleigh,
Broke my runners?
Young Youkahainen said,
He himself said the following words:
“I am young Joukahainen,
But now you tell me:
You trashy, where are you from?
From what family is the worthless one?
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
Calls his name
He says words like this;
“So you are young Youkahainen!
Make way for me
You are years younger."
Young Joukahainen
He says the following words:
“It’s not our old age that’s important here,
Our old age or youth!
Who is superior in knowledge?
Has more wisdom -
Only he will take the road,
And the other one will give in to him.
So you are old Väinämöinen,
Eternal singer,
Let's get ready to sing,
We'll sing our songs
We'll listen to each other
And we’ll open the competition!”Old, faithful Väinämöinen
He says the following words:
“Well, I’m an artless singer,
Unknown singer.
I lived my life alone
Along the edges of the native field,
In the middle of my dear glades,
I heard one cuckoo there.
But let it be as anyone wants.
Let yourself be heard;
What do you know more than others?
How are you superior to others?
Young Eukahainen said:
“I know so much;
But I know this clearly
And I understand perfectly:
There's a window in the roof for smoke,
And the hearth is downstairs by the stove.
The life of a seal is excellent,
Good for the sea dog:
He catches salmon near
And he eats whitefish.
Whitefish lives on a flat bottom,
And the salmon is out of the blue.
Pike can lay eggs
In the middle of winter, in the middle of fierce storms.
But the humpback perch is timid -
Goes into the pool in the fall,
And he spawns in the summer,
The shore is filled with splashes.
If you're not convinced,
I also know a lot
I can tell you how they plow
Northerners on reindeer
And the southerners are on mares,
Beyond Lapland - bulls.
I know the forests on Pisa,
On the cliffs of Horna there are pine trees:
A slender forest grows on Pisa,
Slender pine trees on Horn.
There are three scary waterfalls
And there are so many huge lakes;
Also three mountains high
Under this vault of heaven:
Hällapyörä at Häme,
Katrakoskis among the Karelians,
Vuoksa is indomitable,
Imatra is invincible."
Old Väinämöinen said:
"Childish mind, woman's wisdom
Indecent for bearded people
And it’s inappropriate for a married man.
You tell me the beginning of things
The depth of eternal deeds!
Young Eukahainen said,
He says the following words:
“I know about the tit,
That she is a bird breed;
One of the breeds of snakes is the viper;
Ruff in water is a type of fish;
Iron softens
And the earth becomes acidic;
You can burn yourself with boiling water
The heat of fire is very dangerous.
Of all medicines - water is older;
Foam is a means of spells;
The first sorcerer is the creator;
God is the oldest healer.
Water came from the mountain,
And fire fell to us from the sky,
Has become, rust is like iron,
Copper will be born on the cliffs,
The oldest lands of all are swamps;
Willow is the oldest of all trees;
Pines are the first dwellings;
Stones are the first utensils.”
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
He says the following words:
“Maybe you’ll remember something else
Or have I already expressed all this nonsense?”
Young Youkahainen said:
“No, I still remember a little.
I remember ancient times, I am graying,
How I plowed the sea then
And dug up the depths of the sea,
I dug holes for the fish,
I sank the bottom of the sea,
I spread the breadth of the lake,
I moved the mountains up
Threw big rocks.
I was the sixth of the mighty,
The seventh hero was considered.
I created this earth
Enclosed the air within boundaries,
I approved the air pole
And he built the vault of heaven.
I sent a clear month,
I set the sun bright,
Spread the Ursa wider
And scattered stars in the sky."Old Väinämöinen said:
“You lie beyond all measure!
You've never been there
How the waves of the sea plowed,
How the depths were dug
And how they dug holes for fish,
The bottom of the sea was lowered,
The lakes spread wide,
Pushed mountains up
And they threw rocks.
And they didn’t see you there,
He neither saw nor heard
Who then created the whole earth,
Enclosed the air within boundaries,
The air column also approved
And built the vault of heaven,
Who directed the clear month,
I set the sun bright,
Spread the Ursa wider
And scattered stars in the sky"
Young Joukahainen
He says the following words:
"If my mind is lost,
So I will find him with a sword!
Come on, old Väinämöinen,
You, singer with a wide mouth,
Let's compare swords -
Let's see whose sword is sharper"
Old Väinämöinen said:
"They don't scare me at all
Neither your swords nor your wisdom,
No weapons, no cunning.
But let it be as anyone wants,
And with you, so unfortunate,
I won't measure swords.You are worthless and disgusting!
Joukahainen got angry,
The mouth twisted with anger,
The shaggy head shakes,
He says the following words:
“Who is afraid to measure swords,
He’s afraid to examine the blades,
I wash him with a song
I'll turn you into a pig's snout.
I am such despicable people
I’ll hide it in different places:
I'll put it in a dung heap
Or I’ll throw you into the corner of the stable!”
Väinämöinen darkened
And he became terribly angry.
Then he himself sang a song,
Then he himself began to speak.
He sang not childish songs
And not women's fun -
He sang heroic songs,
Children don’t sing them at all,
Half boys
Grooms are only in the third part:
After all, the time has come
There is poor food and there is no bread,
The wise Väinämöinen began.
The lakes shook,
All the bays are full of them,
And they walk alone in the wind,
And others are against the wind.
He sang again, and Joukahainen
I sank deeper into the swamp.
Young Youkahainen said:
"Two horses in my stable,
A pair of beautiful stallions;
And one flies like the wind,
And the other one is strong in harness.
Choose which one you want."
Old Väinämöinen said:
“I don’t need your horses,
Your praised stallions;
I have so many of them at home
What are there at each manger?
And they stand in every stall
On the ridges with clear water,
On the sacrums with pounds of fat."
He sang again, and Eukahainen
I sank deeper into the swamp.
Young Youkahainen said:
“Oh, you old Väinämöinen!
Turn the holy words around
And take back the spells!
I'll deliver a hat of gold,
I'll fill the hat with silver,
My father brought them from the war,
He delivered them from the battlefield.”
Old Väinämöinen said:
"I don't need silver,
Your gold is of no use to me!
I have enough of it
The pantries are full of them,
Chests are filled with them;
Gold is the same age as the moon,
Silver is the same age as the sun.”
He sang again, and Eukahainen
I sank deeper into the swamp.
Young Eukahainen said:
“Oh, you old Väinämöinen!
Let me go from here
Give me freedom from misfortune!
I will give you all my bread,
I promise all the fields
To save my head
Save yourself from trouble!”
Old Väinämöinen said:
“I don’t need your fields,
I don’t need bread at all!
I have plenty of it
Wherever you look, there is a field
And the stacks are everywhere.
And my fields are better
My stacks are dearer to me.”
He sang again, and Joukahainen
I sank deeper into the swamp.
Finally Joukahainen
And I was completely scared:
He went into the quagmire up to his mouth,
With a beard he went into the swamp,
Moss and soil filled my mouth,
And the bushes got stuck in my teeth.
Young Youkahainen said:
“Oh, you wise Väinämöinen!
Eternal soothsayer!
Turn back the spell
Leave me dear life,
Let me go from here!
The swamp covered my feet,
Sand hurts my eyes!
If you take a spell,
You turn back your evil plot,
I will give you a sister, Aino,
Mother's beloved daughter.
Let it sweep your home,
Keeps the floors clean,
The tubs will be washed and steamed,
Will wash your clothes
Weave golden blankets
Bake honey cakes."
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
Beamed up, cheered up,
He was glad that Eukahainen
He will give his own sister as his wife.
He sat down on a rock, cheerful,
He sat down on a stone and sang;
Sang a little, sang again,
The third time I sang a little -
Turned the holy words,
Took back my spells;
Young Joukahainen came out:
It drags its neck out of the swamp,
Drags his beard out of the swamp;
Once again the rock appeared as a horse,
The sleigh came out of the branches again,
The reed became a whip, as before.
He hurries to get into the sleigh;
Sank down on the seat
He leaves with a heavy heart,
He goes from there sadly,
He goes to his dear mother,
He yearns for his parents.
He rushed with a terrible noise,
He drove up to the house frantically;
He broke the sleigh on the barn
And the shafts hit the gate.
Mother doesn't know what to think
And the father said the word:
“It was stupid that you broke
These sleighs are the shafts!
Why are you driving like crazy?
He rushed like mad?”
And Joukahainen began to cry.
Cries bitter tears
He hung his head sadly,
The hat is off to one side,
Lips are compressed, pale,
He hung his nose sadly.
Mother wants to know what's wrong
Wants to investigate:
“What are you crying about, son?
What, my firstborn son, is upset about?
Lips are compressed, pale,
Are you hanging your nose sadly?”
Young Youkahainen said:
“Oh, my dear mother!
After all, trouble happened to me,
After all, I had misfortune,
There's a reason why I'm crying
There is a reason for sadness!
I will not dry my tears forever,
I will lead my life in sorrow:
After all, dear sister,
Your dear daughter, Aino,
I gave it to Väinämöinen,
To be the singer's wife,
Support for the weak old man,
There is protection in the house for the frail.”
Mother clapped her hands
And she clasped her hands here;
He says the following words:
“Don’t cry, my dear son,
There's no reason for you to cry
There is no reason to be sad.
I lived with this hope,
I've been waiting for many years
So that this mighty hero,
Songsinger Väinämöinen,
He became my desired son-in-law,
The husband of my dear daughter.”
Young Aino hears it,
Cries bitter tears
One day he cries, another day he cries,
He sits on the porch, sobbing;
Cries piteously from grief,
From heartfelt sadness.
Then her mother began to speak to her:
“Why are you crying, daughter Aino?
You have a mighty fiancé;
You are going to a strong husband,
To sit there under the window,
Chatting at the fence."
The daughter says a word to this:
“Oh, you, my dear mother!
There is something to cry about, dear:
I feel sorry for my beautiful braids
And the curls of the young head,
It's a pity for girls' hair, soft,
They will close them so early for me,
From now on, they will tie them for me.
And I will regret it all my life
This sun is dear,
This month is clear, quiet,
This blue vault of heaven,
If I need to leave them,
If I need to forget them
Brother - at the machine with work.
Below the window is my own father.”
The mother said to her daughter,
The young old woman says:
“Give up your sorrows, you stupid one,
Miserable lamentation!
You're crying without reason
And you feel sad for no reason.
God's sun is dear
Lights up the earth everywhere,
More than one father's window,
More than one brother's bench.
There are a lot of berries everywhere
There are strawberries in the clearings.
Oh, my daughter! You can
There to dial them, not just
Through the forests of my own father,
In the fields of my brother."
More than a hundred years ago, a passionate collector of folk songs - runes - wandered through the remote villages of the Russian White Sea Karelia. In both manners and clothing he differed little from the peasants. Contemporaries describe him as a clumsy and good-natured man in a long frock coat made of coarse cloth, cheap peasant shoes, with a crimson-red face, weathered from constant exposure to the fresh air. In the portrait he is already an old man - covered in large, worn-out wrinkles, radiating like rays around his large, beautiful eyes, full of kindness and heartfelt innocence. This man, Dr. Elias Lönnrot, came from a Finnish peasant family. His father, a village tailor, was so poor that the boy had to hire out as a shepherd and walk along the main roads with his bag.
Remembering his childhood, Lönnrot says about himself:
I only studied at home
Behind your own fence,
Where the spinning wheel sang to my dear one,
My brother's plane sang with shavings,
I'm still just a child
He was running around in a torn shirt.
(“Kalevala”, rune 50)
But if little Lönnrot learned to sing at the spinning wheel and plane, he had to go through a harsh school of craft from his father. His father wanted to make him like himself, a village tailor. However, the future creator of the Kalevala epic did not become a tailor. Even as a little boy, in order to prepare his own school lessons without interruption, he woke up before light, took his textbooks and climbed a tree, where he studied until the village woke up and the morning village noises began around him.
There is a story about how one of the Lönnrot neighbors woke up her children: “Get up, Lönnrot has long since climbed down from the tree with his books!”
At the cost of great and hard work, all kinds of hardships, severe patience and perseverance, Lönnrot achieved higher education and received the title of surgeon, and later became one of the largest philologists in his homeland. Deep knowledge peasant life and character, a passionate interest in folk art attracted Lönnrot to wander around his native land, to collect monuments folk poetry.
He walked into the remote, swampy, sometimes barely passable wilds of Karelia, reached the shores of the Arctic Ocean, lived in the poor huts of Karelian peasants who ate pine bark cakes during the hungry years, spent the night in Lapland yurts on reindeer skin, while away the long, dark polar journey with the Laplanders night and sharing with them their meager food, so meager that sometimes even salt was a luxury for them. Having laid out his writing materials on his knees on a wooden tablet, which he took with him everywhere, Lönnrot wrote down folk tales, looking for old men famous in the village for their execution of runes. At the same time, in all these wanderings Lönnrot was not an idle man in the eyes of the peasants. Professionally, he by no means lived his life “only” as a folklorist, philologist and ethnographer. Lönnrot worked for a long time as a district doctor in the remote provincial town of Kayany; During the outbreak of cholera in Finland, he immediately left as a doctor “for cholera” and, while fighting the epidemic, selflessly providing assistance to the sick, he himself became infected and suffered from cholera. During his wanderings, he provided medical assistance to the peasants, and while working as a doctor, he did not neglect his excellent knowledge of cutting, received from his father: at the request of the peasants, he often, for example, replaced surgical scissors with ordinary tailor’s scissors, cutting out fabric to resemble a peasant dress. And Lönnrot cut and sewed his own clothes, that same “coarse frock coat” that his contemporaries wrote about.
In the forties of the last century in Finland official language Swedish was spoken at school and in literature. But the national self-awareness awakening among leading public figures forced them to listen to the language that the people and the peasantry had spoken since ancient times. And these leading figures literally “discovered” both their native people and their language.
Back in the twenties, the publisher of a weekly newspaper in the Finnish city of Abo, Reinhold Becker, began publishing in his newspaper recordings of folk runes sung by peasants. The provincial doctor Zacharias Topelius published several runes he had written down in 1822–1836. Finnish students and the leading part of the intelligentsia greeted this appeal to folk art with great interest.
Topelius was the first to notice that one should look for runes in the east, in Russian Karelia, Viena, as the Finns call it, among the sociable, lively, cheerful workers, Karelian peasants. Becker was the first to suggest that ancient runes are disparate parts of the original whole, connected by a common theme and heroes. And Elias Lönnrot, in his wanderings through remote Karelian villages, often had to remember these two instructions from his predecessors.
Russian Karelia - ancient Olonia, whose very name contains for us many exciting historical memories of the Petrine era - was, and still remains, a country of exceptional poetic folk talents. It was among the Eastern Karelians that wonderful ancient runes about the land of the hero Kaleva, about the adventures of his sons, about the wise old singer Väinämöinen, about the young miracle worker-blacksmith Ilmarinen, about the cheerful woman's saint and the incorrigible brawler and bully Lemminkäinen were born and nurtured through a creative connection from generation to generation , about the evil old woman Louhi, the mistress of the northern country of Pohjola and the mother of the beautiful daughters for whom the heroes of “Kalevala” wooed, and about many other things that capture the listener’s imagination.
Inspirationally beautiful and at the same time surprisingly accurate pictures of northern nature; a subtle drawing of human characters - from a little slave girl, a “hire from the village”, to a frivolous beauty from a rich house - Kyllikki, from a mocking baked boy who inserts his witty word into the wedding lamentations of adults, to the “supreme god” Ukko, created by folk fantasy in the image and likeness of the village grandfather; truly stunning scenes of the unfolding elements - darkness, frost, wind, the scene of the discovery of iron, the beginning of welding iron ore into iron and steel, the forging of the first objects of labor, and finally, the central epic of the creation of a self-grinding mill, the wonderful Sampo, full of deep meaning, full of deep meaning, bringing prosperity to the people - The runes sang about all this from century to century, mainly in Russian Karelia, where Elias Lönnrot heard and wrote them down.
Having made his first trip in 1828, he repeated it in 1831, reaching the border of the then Russian Karelia, then continued in 1833 in Russian Karelia itself and, finally, crowned it in 1834 with the most successful and fruitful collection of runes in the then Vuokkiniemi district Arkhangelsk province (now the Kalevalsky district of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic), where he met the eighty-year-old elder Arhipa Perttunen, “the patriarch of the rune singers,” who sang many songs for him and told him how his grandfather and his friend sang runes hand in hand by the fire all night long... How happy Elias Lönnrot was listening to this old man who remembered the old songs so clearly! The faster his pen ran over the paper, the more clearly the common features and themes for all of them appeared before the rune collector, as if he were wandering among the precious fragments of a once broken whole. And now the creative imagination of the collector, the vivid imagination of the son of the people, who shared his simple and difficult fate with his people from childhood, began to naturally fold and connect these fragments, to compose them into a single epic.
Lönnrot did not immediately publish the Kalevala. He first published in 1835 only 32 runes (12,078 verses). It was not yet perfect, like a rough sketch of the future epic. Fourteen years later, he added 18 runes to it, changed the alternation of individual runes and stanzas, and in this form (50 runes - 22,795 verses) “Kalevala” was completed in February 1849. It was published in December of the same year, and this was an event not only for the Finnish people: “Kalevala”, as an immortal monument of folk art, entered the treasury of world literature. The freshness and originality of the world revealed in “Kalevala” captured the readers of many countries where translations of this wonderful epic appeared.
“Kalevala” made a huge impression here in Russia as well. The progressive Russian intelligentsia followed with heartfelt sympathy and attention the interest in the language and creativity of the people that was awakening in Finland. When the first edition of Kalevala appeared, the Russian scientist J. K. Grot translated several runes and published them in Sovremennik in 1840. An attempt was made (albeit unsuccessful) to translate the Kalevala into the language of the Russian epic (Gelgren); Granstrem published an abbreviated version of the Kalevala in Russian; F. I. Buslaev also introduced the Russian reader to “Kalevala”. But the Russian reader truly learned the Kalevala only when Buslaev’s student, philologist L.P. Belsky, translated it from the second edition of Lönnrot. Belsky's work was highly appreciated: he was awarded the small Pushkin Prize. The translation was published in the late eighties, and twenty-five years later, significantly revised, it was republished again. Despite the errors and inaccuracies that remained even after correction, this work of Belsky has not lost its significance even now.
For the Russian reader of the eighties and nineties, “Kalevala” not only opened up a world of high poetry and enormous artistic power: “Kalevala” was the voice of the people, eager to national identity looking for a bridge to the future in the past. This is exactly how the great Russian writer Alexei Maximovich Gorky read Kalevala in those years.
It is difficult to overestimate the impression he received from Kalevala. Gorky mentioned this epic more than once or twice throughout his life. He writes about it in 1908: “...Individual creativity has not created anything equal to the Iliad or Kalevala...”. He calls the Kalevala in 1932 “a monument to verbal creativity.” He compares it in 1933 with the immortal creations of ancient Greek sculpture: “Rough material, but the ancient Greeks created from it examples of sculpture that are still unsurpassed in beauty and strength... “Kalevala” and the entire epic in general were also created on rough material.”
Gorky also mentions “Kalevala” in the second volume of “Klim Samgin”, already in the last decade of his life: “Samghin remembered that in childhood he read “Kalevala”, a gift from his mother; This book, written in verses that skipped past his memory, seemed boring to him, but his mother still made him read it to the end. And now, through the chaos of everything that he had experienced, the epic figures of the heroes of Suomi appeared, fighters against Hiisi and Louhi, the elemental forces of harsh nature, her Orpheus Väinämöinen, the son of Ilmatar, who carried him in her womb for thirty years, the cheerful Lemminkäinen - Valdur of the Finns , Ilmarinen, who shackled Sampo, the treasure of the country."
Decades later, Gorky carried the memory of these epic heroes, making them come to life in Samghin’s imagination precisely when he found himself among real nature, the same for both Finland and Karelia. And further, on the same page, a short - in three lines - not so much a description as a feeling of this northern nature, showing how firmly and tenderly the writer himself remembered it: “The stony silence of the warm, moonlit nights was amazing, the shadows were strangely thick and soft , unusual smells..."
This is how, with living people, on real land, Gorky perceived the immortal images of the epic, showing us the right path to understanding folk epic creativity.
Almost simultaneously with the great Russian artist, only three or four years earlier than his first statement about “Kalevala”, he laid down scientific basis understanding of “Kalevala” and the Russian scientist, full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences V. A. Gordlevsky. His small but meaningful work on Lönnrot, written in 1903, reflecting the sentiments of the advanced part of the Russian intelligentsia of that time, is not outdated even now.
V. A. Gordlevsky was born in Finland (in Sveaborg), he knew the Finnish language and was personally acquainted with many Finns - scientists and writers. The different views on Kalevala expressed in those days both in Finland and here were well known to him. These views were mainly divided into two movements, and both movements moved from the 19th century into the 20th and are developing and expressed to this day. For us, getting to know these views is interesting not only because of the very subject of the dispute - the poem “Kalevala”, the national value of both the Finns and the people of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. It is also interesting for us in that it reveals the very deep roots of the political use of the artistic heritage, the influence of the views and social position of the scientist on seemingly purely scientific conclusions on issues so far from any politics, such as the question of the prescription of the origin and integrity of the epic poem or the question about the interpretation of the image of one or another of its heroes.
For one group of scholars who continue the traditions of Becker, Topelius and Lönnrot, the Kalevala is a great and integral monument of folk art. The image of its hero Väinämöinen is understood by them in the spirit of what Lönnrot said about him: “In these runes, Väinämöinen is usually spoken of as a serious, wise and full of providence, as a hero of Finland working for the good of future generations, omniscient, powerful in poetry and music. Furthermore, although he is called old, his age does not really interfere with his matchmaking (courtship).”
The eternally young old man Väinämöinen is the love and hope of the common people, “working for the good of future generations,” this is one version. In many folk runes it is reflected in exactly this way. And Lönnrot, the son of his people, who never separated from them not only in thinking, but also in work and in life, merged these dashes scattered across the runes into one image and gave them predominant meaning. Lönnrot himself was a folk singer when he created one whole from dissimilar runes. After “Kalevala” was published, the reader received in his hands a monument of folk art, already indivisible and inseparable in parts, since its integrity is the work of Lönnrot’s individual creativity. Although the contradictions and multi-layered runes (according to the time of their creation) were not smoothed out or destroyed by Lönnrot, in this apparent poetic conglomerate the reader perceives a great internal unity. The epic revolves with almost all its rays-runes around one theme - around the struggle for the mysterious Sampo, in which the well-being of the people is personified. Each image of the poem, in addition to the central one, Väinämöinen, lives in its own bright individual life. How organic this monument is, where the creativity of the people and the talent of the son of the people, Lönnrot, are fused together, proves the strong influence of “Kalevala” on the poetry of other countries. She brought to life Longfellow's famous poem "The Song of Hiawatha", the rhythm and language, stanza and imagery of which are largely determined by the influence of Lönnrot's Kalevala.
For scientists who consider the “Kalevala” precisely as a monument, the integrity of which is also welded together by time itself, the origin of its runes is also beyond doubt. They see the dominant principle precisely in those runes that are full of details from the era of the tribal system and, therefore, originated in ancient times. Such a prominent progressive Finnish scientist as Professor Väino Kaukonen, studying, for example, individual runes not included in the Kalevala, does not at all seek to undermine the unity of the monument collected and created by Lönnrot. His research goes in the direction of universal human mythologies in runes, their fabulous and legendary wealth inherent in many nations. He sent me, for example, in 1955 an interesting and extensive record of a Finnish folk rune about the epic hero of Kalevala, the blacksmith Ilmarinen, similar to the record of the Caucasian legend about Amiran-Prometheus, chained in the Caucasian rock... This rune, undoubtedly echoing both the image of Prometheus and with the image of Mher, - expands the content of Ilmarinen’s image, but does not encroach on the character of this hero of “Kalevala”, as he is depicted in Lönnrot’s poem.
We see something different among representatives of the second movement. For them, the fabulous creativity of the people in runes, which always has a moral and semantic character and expresses the vital aspirations and dreams of the people, is of no interest. They turn all the fervor of their research to the historical side, and they put forward as the main runes those that bear the features of the Middle Ages. Hence the theories of the aristocratic origin of the runes, their proximity not to eastern Karelia (Viena), but to the Swedish West, to the Viking Age. For scientists who hold such views, runes are a product of feudal castle, the brainchild of court singers. “Sampo” has nothing to do with the people’s well-being, and the campaign for it in Pohjola is a “crusade” on the island of Gotland (the concept of K. Krohn, who sees historical Vikings in all the heroes of “Kalevala” and views the poem in this way in his work “ Kalevala" and her race"). Emphasized using etymological analysis individual words, Scandinavian elements in the runes, and their location in Russian Karelia is attributed to the emigration of Western Finns there in the Middle Ages. Even in the brilliant work of Martti Haavio, which I quoted above, where the comparative part (analogies with Greek and other ancient myths, presentation of cosmogony, etc.) is read with great interest, the separation of Karelian and Finnish runes from their folk, life content and the abstract method studying them, unfortunately, is very strong.
That is why the impartial word of a great Russian scientist who knew Finnish literature well, a word he expressed over half a century ago, acquires especially important significance for us. I will give a long quotation from the work of V. A. Gordlevsky mentioned above, which immediately brings clarity to the question of “Kalevala”:
“What is Kalevala? Does it represent a folk poem created by Lönnrot's pen, in the spirit of folk singers, or is it an artificial amalgam, cobbled together by Lönnrot himself from various scraps?.. Lönnrot carefully preserved all his manuscripts, and not long ago Associate Professor A. Niemi carried out a painstaking study that discovered that the vast majority of poems (at least 94%) came from the lips of the people. Maybe the Greek epic was created in the same way... At its core, “Kalevala” is a folk work, impressed by the democratic spirit... The Western Finnish dialect, into which Bishop Agricola translated the Bible in the 16th century, became dull from communication with the Swedish language, it lost, in a word, strength and flexibility of the Eastern Karelian dialect. "Kalevala" folk poem, collected mainly in Russian Karelia, stood out so clearly in its sonority from the dry, ecclesiastical language that her friends had the idea of choosing the Karelian dialect in secular literature. A dispute broke out between adherents of the Western and Eastern dialects, which could split the Finnish literary language into two different dialects. Having unraveled the secrets of the folk language in all its dialectical diversity, Lönnrot prevented disintegration by skillfully introducing apt words and forms from the vast reserve stored among the people. From him comes the modern Finnish language, which, under the pen of Juhann Aho, achieves artistic virtuosity.”
So, “Kalevala” is a folk epic collected in Russian Karelia, compiled and, as it were, recreated by Elias Lönnrot, democratic at its core, similar to the “Iliad” and “Odyssey” in the nature of its origin and helped the peoples of Karelia and Finland thanks to its inexhaustible wealth and freshness his speech and, with the help of the wise efforts of the son of the people of Lönnrot, to develop a modern Finnish literary language.
Following the instructions of A. M. Gorky and V. A. Gordlevsky, let us now turn to the pages of the Kalevala itself.
II
An extraordinary world, full of primitive charm, unfolds before us.
Its northern point is the gloomy country of Pohjola, where the features of ancient matriarchy and maternal law are still fresh: the evil old woman Louhi, the mistress of Pohjola, reigns there. Not far from it, underground or under water, lies a strange kingdom of the dead - the kingdom of Tubnya, Tubnel, in the black rivers of which people find their demise. This is a primitive idea of the “other world”, of hell.
The southern point of these northern spaces is the bright country of Kaleva, Kalevala, where the heroes of the epic live: the old, faithful Väinämöinen, the “eternal singer”, the blacksmith Ilmarinen, the merry fellow Lemminkäinen. Somewhere, across endless lakes and seas, lie the Saari Islands, and on one of them the most ancient custom of the clan system - group love - is still preserved. Here, in the thickets of mighty rocks and forests, among waterfalls and rivers, lives the Untamo clan, which destroyed the clan of its brother Kalervo in a fratricidal war (wonderful runes about Kalervo’s son, the young man Kullervo, sold into slavery, and about his revenge)...
All this is the North, but how diverse this North is! It would seem that there cannot be a very big difference geographically between Pohjola and Kalevala: the same sparse flora, the same harsh northern climate. But folk singers find a whole range of colors to highlight the difference between them. Pohjola and its inhabitants are described in such a way that you seem to hear the icy breath of the pole:
Come, O daughter of Turya,
A girl from Lapland,
You are shod in ice and frost,
In frozen clothes
You carry a cauldron with frost
With an icy cold spoon!..
If all this is not enough -
I call Pohjola's son.
You, Lapland's pet,
Long man of the misty land,
You will be as tall as a pine tree,
You will be the size of a spruce, -
Your shoes are made of snow,
Snow mittens,
You wear a hat made of snow,
Snow belt on the loins!
Take the snow in Pohjola,
Ice in that cold village!
There is a lot of snow in Pohjola,
There is plenty of ice in that village:
River snow, lake ice,
The frosty air froze there;
Snow hares are jumping there,
Ice bears there
They walk on snowy peaks,
They wander through the mountains of snow;
There are swans made of snow,
There are a lot of ice ducks there
They live in the snow stream,
At the icy threshold.
(Rune 48th)
But as soon as you move from Pohjola towards Kalevala, this icy crust of the earth breaks up. Noisy rivers and waterfalls, lakes full of perches and bream, whitefish and pike, cheerful islands on lakes covered with green groves, and, finally, the forest itself with its impenetrable swamps and swamps, a forest where rotten trees glow in old stumps, where sparks jump , fell from the sky, igniting raging fires where
...a pine tree grew in the forest,
There was a Christmas tree on the hill,
Silver is in the pine branches,
Gold is in the branches of the Christmas tree.
(Rune 46th)
And where the owner of the forest is the good-natured, accommodating Tapio, and the gentle mistress Mielikki, who herself seems to smell of strawberries and honey.
And instead of the snow bears of Pohjola, a completely different bear is jumping here, a coveted object of hunting and at the same time a beloved, respected animal, bearing traces of totemism, clan cult, affectionately called:
Otso, forest apple,
Beauty with honey linden!
(Rune 46th)
The mistress of the forest sends her furry pet to the sweet life of the forest:
So that he runs to the swamps,
So that he can run through the groves,
To wander around the edge of the forest,
To jump across the clearings.
But he orders me to walk decently,
Move carefully
Live in constant fun,
Cherishing golden days,
In the fields and swamps,
In clearings full of life,
Bashmakov not knowing in the summer
And not knowing stockings in autumn,
Resting in bad weather,
Hiding in the winter
Under a canopy of bird cherry trees,
Near the needle fortress,
At the roots of a beautiful spruce,
In the arms of a juniper...
(Rune 46th)
But when the sons of Kaleva needed this favorite of the forest, Otso with the honey paw, the kind Mielikki herself gave him to them. And the bear hunt is described in the runes so surprisingly lovingly, with such a warm feeling of nature’s favor towards man and respect for the killed animal, that the reader does not even immediately understand whether we are talking about the ceremonial bringing of a live bear to visit people for a wedding or about delivery into the hut of his carcasses.
For the heroes of Kalevala, the forest is not only a forest and not just a forest: it contains their future. The forest is land for sowing. Apart from forest thickets and swamps, there is no piece of land in Karelia suitable for cultivation. Primitive shifting agriculture, when the forest is cut, felled and burned in order to reclaim arable land from it, makes the resident of Kalevala work hard and keenly feel the importance of the forest. The 44th rune is full of the fragrant smell of trees, which tells how Väinämöinen, who lost his musical instrument- kantele, - which he made from pike bones, decides to make a new kantele, this time from wood, and has a conversation with the birch tree. The light green, white-bodied, lace tree of Karelia, the birch, which is now included in botany under the name Karelian, complains about its fate. Väinämöinen asks her:
What, beautiful birch tree, are you crying?
What, green one, are you grieving?..
They don't take you to battle
And they are not forced into war.
Birch answers him:
Maybe many will say
Maybe someone will make some jokes,
It's like I'm living happily
I rustle and laugh through the leaves...
I am a weak birch,
I have to endure, poor thing,
So that they rip off my bark,
These branches were cut off.
Often to the poor birch tree,
To this tender very often
Children in the short spring
They come to the white trunk,
A sharp knife is stabbed into him,
Drink my sweet juice from my heart!
Angry shepherd during the summer
My white belt takes off,
He weaves scabbards and bowls,
Weaves bodies for berries.
Often under a tender birch tree,
Often under a white birch tree
The girls are gathering
Beauties walk around the trunk,
The leaves are cut off from above,
Knit brooms from branches.
Often a thin birch tree,
Miserable often
When hooking, they hook,
They split it into logs.
Three times this summer,
In this sunny season,
The men stood at the trunk,
They sharpened their axes...
(Rune 44th)
Väinämöinen also cuts it down, but he makes a kantele out of it, and the birch tree receives an immortal voice.
Not only does the forest turn into arable land, but the very sowing of grain is associated with the memory of the forest, of the forest animal: after all, the sower’s precious sowing seeds are stored in bags made of forest skins obtained by hunting:
Old, faithful Väinämöinen
He takes out all six grains,
He takes seven seeds with his hand,
Took it from a marten pouch,
I took a yellow squirrel from its paw,
Summer ermine skin.
(Rune 2)
The reader may have noticed the strange arithmetic of the Kalevala: Väinämöinei speaks of six grains in one verse, and in the next verse there are already seven grains.
An excellent expert and researcher of the Kalevala, O. V. Kuusinen, touching on these lines, pointed out that here we have before us a technique of the most ancient primitive human thinking, which is not yet able to generalize the accumulated experience in a single concept or image, but at the same time strives to express your idea of an object not on the basis of one of its features, but on the basis of examining a moving object, examining the accumulating number of its features. If the first verse of the ancient singer speaks of six grains, and the second - of seven, then the second does not “duplicate” the first at all, “accidentally” giving an inaccurate figure. Both verses are meant to express the multiplicity of grains, and by characterizing them by counting “six, seven,” the poet wants to give an idea of the multitude. In addition to digital discrepancies in two parallel lines, there are other discrepancies in Kalevala, sometimes contradictions in epithets, substitutions of subjects, substitutions of verbs. Sometimes such parallelisms reveal their cognitive meaning with the help of movement.
In the 5th rune there is a charming place where the dead girl Aino, who turned into a fish, swims away from her pursuer Väinämöinen:
Raised her head from the waves,
The right side seemed
On the sea wave, on the fifth,
At the sixth machine at the network.
I reached out with my right hand
And flashed her left leg
On the seventh strip of the sea,
There are ninth swells on the shaft.
Let the reader imagine this enumeration of numbers: on the fifth wave, at the sixth loom of the fishing net, on the seventh strip of the sea, on the ninth crest of the wave. What is this if not a wonderful, highly artistic image of a fish swimming further and further from the stern of the boat, where its captor is sitting? You seem to feel the wave-like transfer from one wave to another of the amazing little mermaid fish. And the singer adds another digital image, although not expressed directly, but still implying “first”, “second”:
I reached out with my right hand
And she flashed her left leg, -
an image of sequential movement of an arm and leg when swimming. And so tangibly, so brightly and accurately, the wonderful little mermaid Vellamo leaves you in this poetic passage, perfect in laconicism and expressiveness!
In the living sense of nature with which the land of Kaleva is revealed to us, there is one constant component: nature is perceived and depicted by the singer not on its own, not in isolation, but simultaneously with the economy, as a place of human labor and work, struggle and overcoming. The feeling of nature is connected in “Kalevala” with the feeling of managing, working on the land.
The forest, as we have seen, is the father of ancient agriculture; its trees and animals contribute their share and their voice to human labor. But the forest, with its silent lakes and impenetrable swamps, with its running waters and mossy granite rocks, is the father of not only ancient farming, but also the first human industry: animal meat forms the “food industry”, and animal and fish bones are used for products, skins - for clothes, veins for ropes, wood itself is used, starting from the primitive rotten wood - a source of fire - to a thin instrument - a kantele - made from Karelian birch. The tree is also used to build the main means of communication in the clan society - boats. In the virgin thickets of Karelia, where lakes echo lakes, channels connect lakes with each other, and where there is no water, a person drags a boat to the next lake - in these thickets, building a vessel is the most important thing. When Ilmarinen says to Väinämöinen, who is planning to build a ship: “The route by land is safer,” the old singer replies:
The route by land is safer
Safer, but not easier
It is more tortuous and longer.
(Rune 39th)
A boat or a vessel is a more advanced, technically more cultural way of transportation than one’s own legs. When the boat was built, Ilmarinen himself sat down to row, and the boat - the product of human hands - spoke to people, infecting travelers with the same united, powerful, unified in diversity feeling of nature that breathed the speech of the birch tree under the hands of the master and musician Väinämöinen. This place is one of the most poetic in the poem:
The plank shuttle ran,
And the road decreases.
Only the sound of oars sounds,
The squeal of rowlocks is heard.
He rows with a terrible noise,
And the benches sway
The rowan oars groan.
Their hands are like partridges,
Their blades are like winches
The boat's nose sounds like a swan,
And the stern screams like a raven,
And the rowlocks cackle.
(Rune 39th)
But in the forest, in the lakes, in addition to hunting and tree resources, a person also finds iron ore. "Kalevala" talks about one of the most important revolutions experienced by humanity - the transition from Bronze Age(or rather, made of stone, since bronze was almost unknown in Karelia) in iron age, about mastering iron. Anyone who travels through the forests of Karelia now will certainly come across ancient metallurgical factories, the remains of brick walls and pits with blackened forest around them. In Karelia, at the bottom of lakes there is a lot of iron ore, which was successfully smelted here back in Peter’s time. But even a thousand years before Peter, in the era of the collapse of the clan system, the population knew about iron, knew about power over it, and the singers of “Kalevala” sing about it.
The wonderful 9th rune tells about the origin of iron and steel from human milk that flowed onto the earth. Iron, the younger brother of fire, wanted to meet his older brother, but, frightened by his noisy rage, he fled from him underground:
And it runs far
Looking for protection for himself
In shifting swamps and swamps
And in fleeting streams,
On the ridge of vast swamps
And in the cliffs of high mountains,
Where winches lay eggs
Where geese sit on eggs.
And into the swamp, under the water,
Iron spread out...
But the iron was saved from the fire for a short time. When Ilmarinen grew up, he built himself a forge near the lake and followed the tracks of wolves and bears. He sees on these traces “offsprings of iron” and “rods of steel”:
He thought and pondered:
“What will happen if I quit?
I'm in the fire with this iron,
Shall I put him in the crucible?
(Rune 9th)
The clayey earth has already been burned in the fire, but what will happen to this strange iron earth in the fire? And further in “Kalevala” there are truly immortal poems, imbued with deep humanity. They make you think about many things, about the most modern, although these are ancient poems composed by an ancient man, at the dawn of human culture.
The discovery of iron is a huge event in human history.
With iron, the hands of primitive man lengthened immeasurably: he began to plow the earth deeper (with an iron plow), he began to throw his arrows far, he shod his horse, nailed the boards together, and received the first mechanical assistant in his work. All technology based on stone, on hollowing out a trunk, on the rounded shapes of a tree, was replaced by a new, infinitely more advanced one. And the man received a powerful weapon in his hands: he forged a sharp, striking sword.
Let us enter under the shadow of a dense, fairy-tale forest, into the smoky forge of the first blacksmith Ilmarinen, who found himself in the face of the greatest, epoch-making discovery, a new factor in culture. How did he behave with the iron? And how did the people, the nameless compiler of the runes, behave when they told us in their songs about the discovery of iron?
Having melted in the furnace, the iron began to ask Ilmarinen to release it from the forge. But the blacksmith answered the iron:
If I take you out of here,
Maybe you'll become terrible
You'll become too merciless
You will cut your brother,
You will hurt your mother's son.
(Rune 9th)
And iron takes an oath to Ilmarinen that he will not serve fratricide, will not cut human flesh, when there is both wood and stone for cutting:
There are trees to cut
You can rip your heart out of a stone...
I won’t touch my mother’s son...
I will serve as a hand tool...
(Rune 9th)
Then Ilmarinen takes the obedient iron from the forge onto the anvil and tries to forge it. But the iron is not yet perfect, and, adding lye and various potions to it, the blacksmith decided to pour into the iron another very strong, noble composition - the sweetness of bee honey:
A bee flew up from the ground,
Blue-winged grass...
And the blacksmith said a word:
“Bee, fast little man!
Bring medka on wings,
Use your tongue to get the sweetness
From six flower cups,
From the seven tops of grass,
To make steel for me,
To straighten the iron!
(Rune 9th)
But Ilmarinen’s words were heard by the servant of the evil god Hiisi, the hornet. Having overtaken the bee, he brought to the blacksmith on his wings instead of honey the venom of an echidna, the hissing of snakes, the hidden poison of a frog, and threw it all into the crucible. Ilmarinen has been deceived. He mistook the evil hornet for a “bee, a quick little man,” as this little winged worker is affectionately called everywhere in the runes. A deadly alloy was brewed in the crucible:
The steel came out of there evil,
Iron has become evil
And broke the oath
Like a dog, it ate the vows;
Cuts his brother without mercy
And relatives with terrible malice,
Makes the blood flow
And escape from the wound with noise.
(Rune 9th)
So figuratively, with such naive simplicity of a fairy tale, the contradiction between the peaceful purpose of iron and its destructive power is revealed in “Kalevala” - this immortal monument of folk art.
III
The story about the origin of iron is given in the rune for a special purpose. The fact is that the “prophetic, faithful Väinämöinen”, wanting to get Pohjola’s daughter as a wife, undertook to make a boat at her request. But when he cut her down with an ax, the god of evil Hiisi (aka Lempo) pointed this ax at Väinämöinen and inflicted deep wounds on him. The singer is bleeding. We must curse blood. And Väinämöinen began his spells. But here’s the problem: he remembers all the words, but he forgot the word that spells iron. Väinämöinen goes for help to the owner of the “upper building,” an ancient elder. He asks him to curse the blood. The elder is willingly ready to curse her, because creative words are omnipotent:
And not only were they restrained,
And they didn’t stop it
Three mighty words of God -
The story of things beginning;
So the waterfalls calmed down,
The stormy rivers have calmed down,
Also bays at the toes
And behind the spits there are bays.
(Rune 8th)
However, the “elder of the upper structure” himself turns out to be powerless, because he forgot what he needed to know to find the spell word - he forgot the history of the origin of iron and steel. Above, in the quotation from Kalevala, I emphasized the verse “the story of the beginning of things.” The secret of a spell, that is, power over a thing, according to ancient idea creators of the epic lies in knowing the history of the origin of this thing. To curse iron, you need to find out how it came about; In order to curse the frost, which began to pinch Lemminkäinen painfully on the way, Lemminkäinen says to the frost:
Or say your beginning,
Declare origin?
(Rune 30th)
And he begins to conjure him, telling him about the origin of the frost. When Kaleva's daughter has brewed the beer and it flows out of the tub, the red-tailed blackbird begins to sing the story of the beer in the tree; The mistress of Pohjola also hears him:
The mistress of Sariola is here,
Hearing the start of the beer,
Collected water in a tub,
I poured it halfway
I put barley there,
There are a lot of hop heads,
Started making beer
And the water is disturbing all around,
There, at the new bottom of the vessel,
Among the birch tub.
(Rune 20th)
The beginning of iron, the beginning of frost, the beginning of beer reveal to people power over these objects - this is where the cult of the magic word comes from, and indeed the magic of the word itself. The history of a thing is the shortest path to its knowledge; knowing a thing is the shortest path to power over it. But history is fixed in words, without words it cannot be conveyed; words are fixed experience, fixed knowledge. One can endlessly philosophize on the topic of naive primary materialism in the primitive thinking of the people, where the word is not yet torn off from the fact that gave birth to this word, but the point is not in abstract conclusions, but in our living, creative feeling of folk art, in our receiving the real after hundreds of years and the wise experience of the people, contained in a fabulous, captivatingly beautiful shell. The people seem to be speaking through a fairy tale: every thing was not done right away; find out how people made this thing - and your knowledge of the past will become a bridge to the future, will help you manage this thing in the present.
The experience of millennia serves especially our days, and for this we need to have the key to it. That is why we are deeply concerned by the story about Sampo, the core of the Kalevala, in which this key is given, as it were, all the living features of folk psychology, all the ardent aspirations and expectations of the people are synthesized.
What is Sampo? Trying to decipher this word, at least in its sound association, Lönnrot thought that it could have been formed from the Russian “god himself.” This expression could indicate the spontaneous power of the first invented machine.
The sons of “Kalevala” stubbornly wooed the beautiful but evil daughters of Louha, the mistress of Pohjola. And so Louhi announced that she would give her daughter to the one who would forge for her the magic Sampo grinding mill, otherwise known as the “motley lid.” Louhi made her order exactly and included a recipe for making it:
You can make Sampo,
Forge a motley lid for me,
Taking the end of the winch feather,
Looped cows' milk,
From a lamb of summer wool,
Adding barley grain?
(Rune 10th)
This recipe is repeated more than once in the poem and is clearly not random. Having analyzed it, we see that Loukhi mentions four main types of the economy of that time. The feather of the winch means hunting; Cow's milk and sheep's wool are two types of livestock; barley grain - agriculture. And the blacksmith must put these symbols of forestry and agriculture on the anvil, forge a wonderful machine from them, that is, connect them with the concept of iron, the concept of mechanism. If all the descriptions of nature in “Kalevala” - descriptions of forests, swamps and cliffs - appear to the reader connected with the economy, about human manual labor, then here, in the image of Sampo, manual labor and economy appear already connected with metal, with the anvil and crucible of the forge , with the first car. Louhi is not trying to get Sampo for fun: she needs it to increase prosperity in Pohjola, to make work easier, to accumulate wealth. And as if in order to show the reader (listener) the hard work of making such a magical machine, the rune tells in detail about the progress of the blacksmith Ilmarinen’s work on it. Having prepared everything that is needed, the blacksmith and his slaves (who in parallel verses are also called day laborers working for daily wages) stand at the crucible:
And the slaves pump the bellows,
The coals are fanned strongly;
This is how three days of summer are spent
And without rest for three nights;
Stones have grown on the heels,
Lumps have grown on the fingers.
(Rune 10th)
Bending towards the fire, Ilmarinep began to see what happened. And then a bow for arrows came out of the flames. He was wonderful to look at, “with the golden radiance of the moon,” but “had a bad quality”:
Every day he asked for sacrifices,
And on holidays it doubles.
(Rune 10th)
Blacksmith Ilmarinen was not happy with the work of his hands. He broke it, threw it back into the flames and told the slaves to blow it again. Again they are working as hard as they can. And now the blacksmith bends down to the crucible for the second time. Now a boat came out of there, beautiful in appearance: with a golden side, with copper oarlocks. But the beautiful boat had a major flaw:
The shuttle was beautiful in appearance,
But it had a bad quality:
He went into battle on his own accord,
Unnecessarily eager to fight.
(Rune 10th)
The blacksmith Ilmarinen was not happy with the work of his hands; he broke the shuttle into pieces and threw them into the flames.
Again the slaves are blowing and trying. Again, for the third time, the blacksmith looks - a cow emerges from the flame. Everything seems to be fine, the cow is beautiful in appearance:
But she has a bad property:
Always sleeps in the middle of the forest,
The milk flows into the ground.
(Rune 10th)
The blacksmith broke his brainchild again. For the fourth time, a plow comes out of the fire, but it is not perfect: it climbs onto other people’s lands, plows someone else’s pasture. The blacksmith broke it too.
In these images of a bow, a boat, a cow and a plow with “bad properties” the people’s genius shows not yet complete submission things to their creator, also the gravitation of tools to the old, habitual, primitive way of action, to the old, previous forms of economy - to war as robbery, to arbitrary conquests, to encroachments on other people's property, to uncultured animal husbandry (a lazy cow letting milk into the ground) . But Louhi wants Sampo, she wants a car that will boost her economy.
And finally, for the fifth time, Ilmarinen forges a self-grinding mill, the wonderful Sampo, which does three great things at once:
And from dawn it grinds the measure,
Grinds the measure as needed,
And the other one is for sale,
The third measure is for feasts.
(Rune 10th)
Sampo, according to the ideas of the peasant people, is an instrument of peaceful labor, it provides food and creates reserves.
But Sampo brings with it, along with prosperity, culture. When asked by Väinämöinen what is happening in Pohjola, Ilmarinen, deceived and ridiculed by the people of the North, bitterly replies:
Life is sweet in Pohjola,
If there is a Sampo in Pohjola!
There are arable lands and crops,
There are different plants there,
There are constant benefits there.
(Rune 38th)
And when all three Kaleva heroes, completing the epic, go to take Sampo back from Louhi and the mill they stole breaks into thousands of fragments, falls into the sea, which throws some of these fragments onto the shore of Kalevala, Väinämöinen is pleased with these fragments. He says about them:
This is where the seed will come from,
The beginning of unchanging blessings,
Arable lands and crops will come out
And various plants!
The shine of the moon will come out from here,
Beneficial light of the sun
In Suomi in large clearings,
In Suomi, sweet for the heart.
(Rune 43rd)
For a historian and philologist, and in some places for an attentive reader, the difference in the age of individual runes and even different historical layers in the same runes are very clear.
In fact, we find echoes of such ancient forms clan society, like matriarchy and group marriage, and at the same time they contain references to money (and specific ones - pfennigs and marks), land taxes, castles and fortresses (an echo of the Middle Ages); slaves are constantly mentioned in the runes: Untamo sold his brother’s son, defeated in battle, into slavery; the blacksmith Ilmarinen, having built his forge at Louha, the mistress of the North, uses the help of slaves in his work, and at the same time these slaves are called “day laborers” in the runes; Less often mentioned is hired labor - “hired woman from the village.” The preface to the 1940 Petrozavodsk edition of Kalevala states that this epic “undoubtedly could have arisen only at the stage of the tribal system in the era of its decomposition. It is not the struggle between feudal lords and knights that is depicted in the poem, as bourgeois science falsely presents the matter, but the struggle of one clan against another. But we know that in each socio-economic formation, remnants of the passed stages of development are preserved and the sprouts of the subsequent formation ripen, emerging in the depths of the previous one... Along with the fragments of early tribal society, we find in the runes of “Kalevala” also elements, though not particularly numerous, of the disintegration of the clan ( slavery, private property, money, exchange of goods) and patriarchy (the power of the tribal ruler Untamo).”
And here are the centuries-old layers on the wedding rune, which is still sung, but has still lost its everyday, topical meaning. “Old, faithful Väinämöinen, the eternal singer” begins to sing a majestic song in Ilmarinen’s house, where the hostess has just received her son and his young daughter-in-law who have arrived from the road. Here he praises the matchmaker:
Our matchmaker dressed well:
A woolen belt around the waist,
That the daughter of the Sun worked,
Wonderfully embroidered with rings
In the days when there was no fire
And the fire did not appear...
Our matchmaker dressed well:
The shoes he wears are from the Germans...
The matchmaker's head is in a helmet,
That helmet rose up to the clouds,
As high as the top of the forest,
You'll pay hundreds for it,
You'll pay thousands of marks.
(Rune 25th)
In one and the same doxology, both the most ancient era, when there was no fire, and modernity with its German boots and a helmet costing thousands of marks are effortlessly drawn in. In the same greatness there is a mention of the feudal era. About the bridesmaid, they ask if she lives:
There, behind Tanika, behind the castle,
There, behind the fortress, behind the new one.
But do these contradictions interfere with reading, are they not perceived as something awkward, disrupting the overall picture?
Folk art grows from generation to generation, oral speech is passed on from fathers to children, and children add to it their historical self-awareness, their experience, just as their children’s children will later do. The chronology of oral creativity has nothing in common with the modest figures of one human century; she counts hundreds, thousands of years, and the reader always feels this sensation of extended time in folk epics, in epics, in fairy tales. Lönnrot himself perfectly understood the poetic unity of the material he collected and the impossibility of dividing it “by age”:
“Similar runes,” he says about more modern everyday songs, “are now used in the everyday life of Karelians, both Finnish and Russian... These runes, as probably others, have included a lot of new things in both content and language ; however, they are very difficult and even almost impossible to distinguish from the most ancient runes of the Kalevala. Therefore, they prefer not to make a strict distinction between the original and later runes and consider the most ancient runes to be the seeds from which, over the course of centuries, and perhaps even millennia, the current harvest of runes has grown.”
The author of “Kalevala” is one and only working people, the working part of society, which has always been and remains the true creator of the greatest monuments of art, as well as all material culture. Working on primitive arable land, felling and burning forests, passing through meager fields with the first iron plow, forging tools in a forge, making a thin body of a musical instrument from precious birch, hewing out boats, throwing nets into the depths of lakes and rivers, defending their native huts, not getting enough sleep at night, not eating enough, the people, in their mighty work and struggle, composed songs and sang them, leaving a legacy for their children. In some places he used in his songs the names and concepts of the class that sat on his hump, as a peculiar, sometimes not devoid of irony, “decoration” of his songs. He calls the groom a prince (this is in Russian songs, as well as in Karelian ones), he asks if the bridesmaid is from the castle; but all this does not truly obscure peasant images characters of the epic.
The entire Kalevala is an unceasing, tireless praise of human labor. Nowhere, not a single verse can one find a hint of “court” poetry. “Kalevala” is made, as Gorky said, “from rough material,” from those immortal northern granites among which stubborn workers - Karelian and Finnish peasants - lived and worked, but it was made with that exceptional art of which only the majestic creativity of the people is capable.
“The power of collective creativity is most clearly demonstrated by the fact,” Gorky wrote in 1908, “that for hundreds of centuries individual creativity has not created anything equal to the Iliad or the Kalevala and that individual genius has not given a single generalization, the root of which did not lie would be folk art, not a single world type that would not have previously existed in folk tales and legends.”
The rhythm of “Kalevala”, due to the peculiarities of the Finnish language, the obligatory stress on the first syllable, the presence of long and short syllables, is extremely flexible and, of course, does not fit into the two-syllable Russian trochees. Moreover, we must not forget that this is an ancient song rhythm associated with the natural stanza created when singing songs together. The Finnish poet Runeberg talks about the ancient custom of singing runes: “The singer chooses a comrade, sits down opposite him, takes his hands, and they begin to sing. Both singers sway back and forth, as if alternately pulling each other. At the last measure of each stanza, it is the assistant’s turn, and he sings the entire stanza alone, while the singer ponders the next one at her leisure.”
Hence the structure of the rune. It consists of the indispensable couplets bearing for the most part such a character: a line and behind it a parallel line, developing with some addition the meaning of the first line. The entire stanza therefore always has an even number of verses; Lönnrot completed this symmetrical edifice of couplets with one extra verse at the end, apparently deliberately.
It is clear how important it is when translating the Kalevala to preserve both the exact strophe and exact amount original poems. The translation of L.P. Belsky, with all its exceptional and undeniable merits, however, deviates from accuracy. Comparing it, line by line, with Lönnrot's original, I discovered several significant errors by Belsky and deviations from the original. By abandoning the counting of five lines in the margins and the exact indication of the number of verses in the subtitles for each rune, adopted by Lönnrot, Belsky thereby made it easier for himself to take some liberties, for example, omitting several verses. We think that such an attitude towards the epic, as well as the fundamental nature of the mistakes made in the translation, emerged in Belsky under the influence of the works on “Kalevala” by a certain group of Finnish scientists of that time (led by K. Krohn). The doubts and conclusions of these scientists, based on analyzes of the multi-layered and multi-temporal runes collected by Lönnrot, shook the unity and integrity of the “Kalevala” as a perfect work in the eyes of both readers and translator. This negative influence can be clearly seen from Belsky’s own preface to the second edition of the translation. If in the first preface, at the end of the eighties, Belsky was still completely in the power of the immortal source of folk poetry of the Karelians and Finns, discovered by Lönnrot, if he was captured by the unity and integrity of the poem itself, which he worked on translating, then twenty-five years later, in 1915, Without feeling the anti-national meaning of what is happening, Belsky talks about how Finnish philologists have “worked” over the past years on the immortal legacy of Elias Lönnrot:
“All these works, elucidating the composition of the Finnish epic, destroyed the view of it as an integral work of the Finnish people... Lönnrot connected the organically incoherent, resorting to a very naive method... Thus, according to later research, it is clear that the integral Kalevala epic does not exist among the Finnish people.” .
Naturally, with “artificially connected” verses that do not represent an integral work, certain translation liberties are excusable.
In our Soviet time The immortal Karelian and Finnish poem has been restored to its true significance among the largest monuments of folk art. The translation by L.P. Belsky was therefore significantly corrected.
First of all, the omitted verses and the correct transcription of names were restored.
In Finnish the stress falls on the first syllable. Belsky, stipulating the need to maintain meter, placed arbitrary accents. So, instead of Po?jola, Metsola, Ma?nala, Vellamo, etc., he has Pohjola, Metsola, Mana?la, Vellamo, etc. everywhere.
In the Finnish language, two vowel letters standing next to each other are pronounced in some cases together, as one syllable: Suomi, Tiera, Tuoni are two-syllable names. Meanwhile, in Belsky these names are read as three-syllable, with incorrect accents; the three-syllable Tuonela (with the stress on o) turns into the four-syllable Tuonela, where the stress falls on e and the letter y takes on the meaning of a separate syllable.
In Finnish there are no names Veinemoinen and Yukagainen; there are Väinämöinen and Joukahainen. But Belsky for a long time confirmed with his translation the incorrect pronunciation of these names. All this has been fixed.
The translation of L.P. Belsky is not without semantic errors.
In the Kalevala, where we are talking about the clan system, it was important to preserve the mention of military slaves performing various works. The blacksmith Ilmarinen has slaves working in his forge. The word “slave” - orja - is constantly found in runes, the word “servant” does not appear. Meanwhile, Belsky almost everywhere puts “servants” instead of “slaves”.
In rune 10, for example, when Ilmarinen forges the Sampo, he tells the slaves to pump air, and the slaves fan the fire with bellows:
Laitti orjat lietsomahan… Orjat lietsoi loyhytteli…
(Rune 10th)
L.P. Belsky translates everywhere:
He tells the servants to blow...
And the bellows are pumped by the servants...
In the 37th rune, Ilmarinen forges himself a wife from gold and silver. Again the slaves blow the horn for him. But here, as a later layering, the words “slaves” are added, as noted above, by the invariable phrase “working for daily wages,” “day laborers.” These curious contradictions, not uncommon in the Kalevala, speak of the ancient basis of the epic, which received later additions, also already so old that parallel verses, speaking of a different historical era, are sung by folk singers as something traditional, not at all contradictory:
Pani orjat lietsomahan, Palkkalaiset painamahan.
(Rune 37th)
These places, which attract the attention of researchers, are repeated several times in the 37th rune. And everywhere Belsky, bypassing the word “slave”, writes about “day laborers”, about “servants”:
Set to blow the bellows
Servants, day laborers.
In the Kullervo rune cycle, such inaccuracies lead to a direct distortion of social meaning. Two brothers, Untamo and Kalervo, quarreled; Untamo went to war against his brother, destroyed his entire family, captured only one pregnant woman into slavery, and she gave birth to a child in slavery. The mother gave her son the name Kullervo; but for Untamo he is only a soldier. In these two verses, the folk singer succinctly and powerfully says that the winner has no name for his slave, he looks at him only as a new soldier for the army:
Emo kutsui Kullervoksi.
Untama sotijaloksi.
(Rune 31st)
Belsky's translation seems to be accurate, but the reader does not get the impression he gets from the original:
Calls mother: Kullervo,
And Untamo nicknamed: Warrior.
The weakened impression is due to the fact that the translator put not only the word “nicknamed”, but also a colon before “warrior”, while Untamo did not nickname the child at all; on the contrary, he left him without a name, because the slave’s child was for him only a new soldier. In the two subsequent editions, this place finally lost its social meaning - the word “warrior” in them is already written with a capital letter and, as it were, becomes a proper noun:
And Untamo nicknamed: Warrior.
An incorrect understanding of this passage leads Belsky to another mistake. The whole tragedy of Kullervo is that he grows up in slavery with Untamo. When Untamo, fearing to raise a future avenger, makes several attempts to destroy Kullervo and they fail, he decides to raise the child as his slave, Belsky does not mention the slave at all and translates, distorting the meaning of the original:
He decided to educate
Like your child, Kullervo.
The original says it strongly and clearly:
Kasvatella Kullervoinen
Orja Poikana omana.
It would seem like little things, but little things that change the social meaning of the original and weaken the artistic image of the avenger Kullervo.
In rune 2 there is a stanza consisting of four couplets (verses 301–308). L.P. Belsky, translating this stanza, missed one verse in it:
Pane nyt turve ttrnkemahan.
The editor of the publication “Academia”, and after him the compiler of the Petrozavodsk edition, already omit two whole verses in this stanza:
Pane nyt turve tunkemahan,
maa vakeva vaantamahan!
We are not talking about some “repeated” or “insignificant” verses (although, in our opinion, there is not a single unimportant verse in “Kalevala”) - we are talking about a very important place. Väinämöinen calls upon the “old lady of the earth,” the “mother of the fields,” asking her to give fertility to the soil he has just sowed with grain. But he imagines the fertility of the earth in action, in signs: in fat, in turf, in “turning over a notch” on the ground. But it is precisely in these things - fat, turf, turning over the earth under cut down trees - that the specific feature of slash-and-burn farming is revealed. By removing this line, the translator destroyed the living, real images of the poem and left only a prayer to mythical deities.
In rune 49, Väinämöinen decides to find out where the evil Louhi hid the sun and month she stole. To do this, he tells fortunes, according to ancient custom, using torches. But L.P. Belsky translates this passage incomprehensibly for our days, forcing Väinämöinen, instead of fortune telling, to “throw lots”, “turn the lots”:
Apparently we need to cast lots...
He began to turn the lots...
Tell the truth, God's lot...
The word “lot” cannot be archaized, which for the modern reader has a definite and only unique meaning.
Two more examples from the 2nd rune. In verses 157 and 158, L.P. Belsky made two mistakes. The original says “there is an oblique fathom between the eyes,” and Belsky translated “each eye is a fathom long.” Further in the original we are talking about pants, which are at the bottom, at the heels, a fathom wide, higher up, at the knees, one and a half fathoms wide, and even higher, at the hips, two fathoms wide. Meanwhile, L.P. Belsky translated the word “pants” with the word “harem pants”, transferring a purely local concept that arose in Azerbaijan in the 9th century from the name of Mount Sarovil (in the area of this mountain lived peasants who wore wide trousers; hence Sarovil - bloomers), to the ancient Finns, who never wore bloomers. Not to mention the arbitrariness of such a transfer, it in itself destroys the image created in the original: trousers, like a skirt, widen downward, whereas the original refers specifically to pants that are narrow at the bottom and widen at the top.
The wonderful play on words with “Kumanichka” (rune 11, verses 261–272) also disappeared in L.P. Belsky’s translation.
Lemminkäinen, a cheerful adventurer, takes home the girl Kyllikki, whom he kidnapped. The girl is afraid that her kidnapper is a poor man who does not even have a cow. Lemminkäinen, laughing, consoles her with the fact that he has a lot of cows:
On the Kumanichka swamp,
On the hill of Zemlyanichka,
Thirdly, Cranberry in the clearing, -
which are very convenient because “they are good without food and beautiful without supervision; they are not tied at night, they are not untied in the morning, food is not placed in front of them, salt is not poured on them in the morning.” The play on words here lies in the similarity of the names of the berries with the names of cows common in Kalevala (Muuriki - Muurikki), - therefore, the names of the berries in this place of the original are printed with a capital letter. But in Belsky’s translation, the capital letters disappeared, the endearing endings disappeared (as in the two subsequent editions), and the play on words, the subtle humor of this passage was lost for the reader.
Perhaps there are other inaccuracies in the translation, but this does not detract from the enormous importance of L.P. Belsky’s work.
Powerful images of people that will forever be remembered by you, grandiose pictures of nature, an accurate description of the processes of labor, clothing, peasant life - all this is embodied in the runes of “Kalevala” into high poetry.
Marietta Shahinyan
V. A. Gordlevsky. In memory of Elias Lönnrot. M., 1903, p. 8. Reprint from the magazine “Russian Thought”, book. V, 1903.
"Kalevala". Publishing house M. and S. Sabashnikov, 1915. In Soviet times, “Kalevala” translated by L.P. Belsky appeared in print several times: in the publishing house “Acaderaia” in 1933, in the Karelo-Finnish State Publishing House in Petrozavodsk in 1940 and in 1956, in Goslitizdat in 1949 and in 1956.
“Offensive”, 1932, No. 2. L., p. 1.
"Year sixteen." Notes. M., 1933.
The article “In Memory of Elias Lönnrot” already mentioned above.
I translate from the English edition of the work of the modern Finnish rune researcher Professor Martti Haavio: “Vainamomen eternal sage”, “Porvoo-llelsinki”, 1952, p. 5.
V. A. Gordlevsky. In memory of Elias Lönnrot, p. 22–23 and 26. (Italics are mine throughout. - M. Sh.)
"Kalevala". Publishing house M. and S. Sabashnikov. M., 1915, p. XXVII.
“Essays on the Philosophy of Collectivism,” collection one. "Knowledge", 1909.
"Kalevala". Publishing house M. and S. Sabashnikov. M., 1915, p. XXIII.
A brief summary of "Kalevala" allows you to get acquainted in detail with this famous Karelian-Finnish epic. The book consists of 50 runes (or songs). It is based on epic folk songs. Folklore material was carefully processed in the 19th century by the Finnish linguist Elias Lennort. He was the first to connect separate and disparate epic songs with a plot and eliminated certain irregularities. The first edition was published in 1835.
Runes
The summary of "Kalevala" describes in detail the actions in all the runes of this folk epic. In general, Kalevala is the epic name of the state in which all the heroes and characters of Karelian legends live and act. Lennrot himself gave this title to the poem.
"Kalevala" consists of 50 songs (or runes). These are epic works recorded by the scientist during communication with Finnish and Karelian peasants. The ethnographer managed to collect most of the material on the territory of Russia - in the Arkhangelsk and Olonets provinces, as well as in Karelia. In Finland he worked for western shores Lake Ladoga, all the way to Ingria.
Translating to Russian language
First summary"Kalevala" was translated into Russian by the poet and literary critic Leonid Belsky. It was published in the magazine "Pantheon of Literature" in 1888.
The following year the poem was published in a separate edition. For domestic, Finnish, and European scientists and researchers, “Kalevala” is a key source of information about the pre-Christian religious ideas of the Karelians and Finns.
To describe the summary of “Kalevala,” we must begin with the fact that this poem lacks a coherent main plot that could connect all the songs together. As this, for example, happens in the epic works of Homer - the Odyssey or the Iliad.
"Kalevala" in a very brief summary is an extremely diverse work. The poem begins with the legends and ideas of the Karelians and Finns about how the world was created, how the earth and sky and all kinds of luminaries appeared. At the very beginning, the main character of the Karelian epic named Väinämöinen is born. It is alleged that he was born thanks to the daughter of air. It is Väinämöinen who arranges the whole earth and begins to sow barley.
Adventures of Folk Heroes
The epic "Kalevala" briefly tells about the travels and adventures of various heroes. First of all, Väinämöinen himself.
He meets a beautiful maiden of the North, who agrees to marry him. However, there is one condition. The hero must build a special boat from the fragments of its spindle.
Väinämöinen begins to work, but at the most crucial moment he injures himself with an ax. The bleeding is so severe that it cannot be eliminated on your own. You have to turn to a wise healer for help. He tells him a folk legend about the origin of iron.
The secret of wealth and happiness
The healer helps the hero and saves him from severe bleeding. In the epic "Kalevala" in a brief summary, Väinämöinen returns home. In his native walls, he casts a special spell that raises a strong wind in the area and transports the hero to the country of the North to a blacksmith named Ilmarinen.
At his request, the blacksmith forges a unique and mysterious item. This is the mysterious Sampo mill, which, according to legend, brings happiness, luck and wealth.
Several runes are dedicated to the adventures of Lemminkäinen. He is a warlike and powerful sorcerer, known throughout the area as a conqueror of ladies' hearts, a cheerful hunter who has only one drawback - the hero is greedy for female charms.
The Karelian-Finnish epic “Kalevala” (you can read the summary in this article) describes in detail his fascinating adventures. For example, one day he learns about a lovely girl who lives in Saari. Moreover, she is known not only for her beauty, but also for her incredibly obstinate character. She categorically refuses all suitors. The hunter decides to win her hand and heart at any cost. The mother tries in every possible way to dissuade her son from this thoughtless undertaking, but to no avail. He doesn’t listen to her and goes on the road.
In Saari, at first everyone makes fun of the loving hunter. But over time, he manages to conquer all the local girls, except one - the impregnable Kyllikki. This is the same beauty for whom he set off on his journey.
Lemminkäinen takes decisive action - he kidnaps the girl, intending to take her to his home as his wife. Finally, he threatens all the women of Saari - if they tell who really took Kyllikki, he will start a war, as a result of which all their brothers and husbands will be exterminated.
At first, Kyllikki is reluctant, but eventually agrees to marry the hunter. In return, she takes an oath from him that he will never go to war on her native lands. The hunter promises this, and also takes an oath from his new wife that she will never go to the village to dance, but will be his faithful wife.
Väinämöinen in the underworld
The plot of the Finnish epic "Kalevala" (a summary is given in this article) returns again to Väinämöinen. This time the story is told about his journey to the underworld.
Along the way, the hero has to visit the womb of the giant Viipunen. From the latter he obtains the secret three words that are necessary in order to build a wonderful boat. On it the hero goes to Pohjela. He hopes to win the favor of the northern maiden and take her as his wife. But it turns out that the girl preferred the blacksmith Ilmarinen to him. They are getting ready to get married.
wedding ceremony
Several separate songs are devoted to the description of the wedding, the rituals corresponding to the celebration, as well as the responsibilities of husband and wife.
The Karelian-Finnish epic “Kalevala” briefly describes how more experienced mentors tell the young bride how she should behave in marriage. An old beggar woman who comes to the celebration begins to reminisce about the times when she was young, married, but had to get a divorce because her husband turned out to be angry and aggressive.
At this time, instructions are also read to the groom. He is not told to treat his chosen one badly. He is also given advice by a poor old man who remembers admonishing his wife.
At the table, the newlyweds are treated to all sorts of dishes. Väinämöinen recites a drinking song in which he praises his motherland, all its inhabitants, and separately - the owners of the house, matchmakers, bridesmaids and all the guests who came to the celebration.
The wedding feast is fun and abundant. The newlyweds set off on their return journey in a sleigh. They break down along the way. Then the hero turns to local residents for help - he needs to go down to Tuonela for a gimlet to repair the sleigh. Only a true daredevil can do this. There are no such people in the surrounding villages and villages. Then Väinämäinen has to go to Tuonela himself. He repairs the sleigh and sets off safely on the return journey.
The tragedy of the hero
A tragic episode dedicated to the fate of the hero Kullervo is given separately. His father had a younger brother named Untamo, who did not like him and plotted all sorts of intrigues. As a result, real enmity arose between them. Untamo gathered warriors and killed his brother and his entire family. Only one pregnant woman survived; Untamo took her as a slave. She gave birth to a child, who was named Kullervo. Even in infancy, it became clear that he would grow up to be a hero. As he grew older, he began to think about revenge.
Untamo was very worried about this, he decided to get rid of the boy. He was put in a barrel and thrown into the water. But Kullervo survived. They threw him into the fire, but he didn’t burn there either. They tried to hang him on an oak tree, but three days later they found him sitting on a branch and drawing warriors on the tree bark.
Then Untamo resigned himself and left Kullervo with him as a slave. He nursed children, ground rye, cut down forest. But nothing worked for him. The child turned out to be exhausted, the rye turned to dust, and in the forest he cut down good timber trees. Then Untamo sold the boy into the service of the blacksmith Ilmarinen.
Service at the blacksmith's
At the new place, Kullervo was made a shepherd. The work “Kalevala” (Karelian-Finnish mythological epic, a summary of which is given in this article) describes his service with Ilmarinen.
One day the hostess gave him bread for lunch. When Kullervo began to cut it, the knife crumbled into crumbs, and there was a stone inside. This knife was the boy's last reminder of his father. Therefore, he decided to take revenge on Ilmarinen’s wife. An angry hero drove the herd into a swamp, where the cattle were devoured wild animals.
He turned bears into cows and wolves into calves. Under the guise of a herd, he drove them back home. He ordered the mistress to be torn into pieces as soon as she looked at them.
Hiding from the blacksmith's house, Kullervo decided to take revenge on Untamo. On the way, he met an old woman who told him that his father was actually alive. The hero actually found his family on the border of Lapland. His parents accepted him with open arms. They considered him long dead. As well as his eldest daughter, who went into the forest to pick berries and did not return.
Kullervo remained in his parents' house. But even there he could not use his heroic strength. Everything he took on turned out to be spoiled or useless. His father sent him to pay taxes in the city.
Returning home, Kullervo met a girl, lured her into a sleigh and seduced her. Later it turned out that this was his missing older sister. Having learned that they were relatives, the young people decided to commit suicide. The girl threw herself into the river, and Kullervo drove home to tell his mother everything. His mother forbade him to say goodbye to life, urging him instead to find a quiet corner and live there quietly.
Kullervo came to Untamo, destroyed his entire family, and destroyed his houses. Returning home, he did not find any of his relatives alive. Over the years, everyone died, and the house stood empty. Then the hero committed suicide by throwing himself on his sword.
Treasures of Sampo
The final runes of the Kalevala tell how Karelian heroes obtained the treasures of the Sampo from Pohjela. They were pursued by the sorceress-mistress of the North, and as a result Sampo was drowned in the sea. Väinämöinen nevertheless collected the fragments of Sampo, with the help of which he provided many benefits to his country, and also went to fight various monsters and disasters.
The very last rune tells the legend of the birth of a child by the maiden Maryatta. This is analogous to the birth of the Savior. Väinämöinen advises to kill him, since otherwise he will surpass the power of all Karelian heroes.
In response, the baby showers him with reproaches, and the ashamed hero leaves in the shuttle, giving him his place.
The poem is based on Karelian-Finnish folk epic songs (runes), which in the 18th century. collected and edited by Elias Lönnrot.
Rune 1
Ilmatar, daughter of the air, lived in the airy spaces. But soon she became bored in the skies, and she went down to the sea. The waves swept up Ilmatar, and from the waters of the sea the daughter of the air became pregnant.
Ilmatar carried the fetus for 700 years, but childbirth did not occur. She prayed to the supreme deity of the sky, the thunderer Ukko, to help her get rid of the burden. After some time, a duck flew past, looking for a place for a nest. Ilmatar came to the duck’s aid: she offered her her big knee. The duck made a nest on the knee of the daughter of the air and laid seven eggs: six gold, the seventh iron. Ilmatar, moving her knee, dropped the eggs into the sea. The eggs broke, but did not disappear, but underwent transformation:
The mother came out - the ground was damp;
From the egg, from the top,
The high vault of heaven rose,
From the yolk, from the top,
The bright sun appeared;
From the protein, from the top,
A clear month has appeared;
From the egg, from the motley part,
The stars appeared in the sky;
From the egg, from the dark part,
Clouds appeared in the air.
And time goes by,
Year runs forward after year,
When the young sun shines,
In the brilliance of the new moon.
Ilmatar, the mother of the waters, the maiden of creation, sailed the sea for another nine years. In the tenth summer she began to change the earth: with the movement of her hand she erected capes; where she touched the bottom with her foot, there were depths, where she lay down sideways, a flat shore appeared, where she bowed her head, bays were formed. And the earth took its present appearance.
But the fruit of Ilmatar - the prophetic singer Väinämöinen - was not born. For thirty years he wandered in his mother's womb. Finally, he prayed to the sun, moon and stars to give him a way out of the womb. But the sun, month and stars did not help him. Then Väinämöinen himself began to make his way to the light:
Touched the fortress gates,
He moved his ring finger,
He opened the bone castle
Small toe of the left leg;
Crawling from the threshold in my arms,
On my knees through the entryway.
He fell into the blue sea,
He grabbed the waves with his hands.
Väinö was born as an adult and spent another eight years at sea until he finally made it to land.
Rune 2
Väinämöinen lived for many years on bare, treeless land. Then he decided to develop the region. Väinämöinen called Sampsa Pellervoinen, the sowing boy. Sampsa sowed the land with grass, bushes and trees. The earth was dressed with flowers and greenery, but only one oak tree could not sprout.
Then four maidens came ashore from the sea. They cut the grass and collected it in a large stack. Then the monster-hero Tursas (Iku-Turso) rose from the sea and set fire to the hay. Väinämöinen placed the acorn in the resulting ash and from the acorn grew a huge oak tree, blocking the sky and the sun with its crown.
Väinö thought about who could cut down this giant tree, but there was no such hero. The singer begged his mother to send him someone to fell the oak tree. And then a dwarf came out of the water, grew into a giant, and with the third swing he cut down a wonderful oak tree. Whoever picked up its branch found happiness forever, whoever picked the top became a sorcerer, whoever cut off its leaves became cheerful and joyful. One of the wonderful oak chips floated into Pohjola. The maiden of Pohjola took it for herself so that the sorcerer could make enchanted arrows out of it.
The earth was blooming, birds were fluttering in the forest, but the barley did not sprout and the bread did not ripen. Väinämöinen approached the blue sea and found six grains at the edge of the water. He picked up the grains and sowed them near the Kalevala River. The titmouse told the singer that the grains would not sprout, since the land for arable land had not been cleared. Väinämöinen cleared the land, cut down the forest, but left a birch tree in the middle of the field so that the birds could rest on it. The eagle praised Väinämöinen for his concern and, as a reward, delivered fire to the cleared area. Väinö sowed the field, offering a prayer to the earth, Ukko (as the lord of the rain), so that they would take care of the ears of corn and the harvest. Shoots appeared on the field and the barley ripened.
Rune 3
Väinämöinen lived in Kalevala, showing his wisdom to the world, and sang songs about the deeds of times past, about the origin of things. Rumor spread the news of Väinämöinen's wisdom and strength far and wide. This news was heard by Joukahainen, a resident of Pohjola. Joukahainen was jealous of Väinämöinen's fame and, despite the entreaties of his parents, went to Kalevala in order to shame the singer. On the third day of the journey, Joukahainen encountered Väinämöinen on the road and challenged him to compare the power of his songs and the depth of his knowledge. Joukahainen began to sing about what he sees and what he knows. Väinämöinen answered him:
Childish mind, woman's wisdom
Not suitable for bearded people
And it’s inappropriate for a married man.
You tell me the beginning of things
The depth of eternal deeds!
And then Youkahainen began to boast that it was he who created the sea, the earth, and the stars. In response, the sage caught him in a lie. Joukahainen challenged Väine to a fight. The singer answered him with a song that made the earth tremble, and Youkahainen plunged to his waist into the swamp. He then begged for mercy and promised a ransom: wonderful bows, fast boats, horses, gold and silver, bread from his fields. But Väinämöinen did not agree. Then Joukahainen offered to marry his sister, the beautiful Aino. Väinämöinen accepted this offer and released him. Joukahainen returned home and told his mother about what had happened. The mother was delighted that the wise Väinämöinen would become her son-in-law. And sister Aino began to cry and grieve. She was sorry to leave her native land, to leave her freedom, to marry an old man.
Rune 4
Väinämöinen met Aino in the forest and proposed to her. Aino replied that she was not going to get married, but she returned home in tears and began to beg her mother not to give her to the old man. The mother tried to persuade Aino to stop crying, put on an elegant dress and jewelry and wait for the groom. The daughter, grieving, put on a dress and jewelry and, determined to commit suicide, went to the sea. She left her clothes on the seashore and went swimming. Having reached a stone cliff, Aino wanted to rest on it, but the cliff and the girl collapsed into the sea, and she drowned. The nimble hare delivered sad news to the Aino family. The mother mourned her dead daughter day and night.
Rune 5
News of Aino's death reached Väinämöinen. In a dream, the saddened Väinämöinen saw the place in the sea where mermaids live, and learned that his bride was among them. He went there and caught a wonderful fish, unlike any other. Väinämöinen tried to cut this fish to prepare food, but the fish slipped out of the singer’s hands and told him that she was not a fish, but a maiden of the queen of the seas Vellamo and the king of the abyss Ahto, that she was Youkahainen’s sister, young Aino. She swam from the depths of the sea to become Väinämöinen’s wife, but he did not recognize her, mistook her for a fish and now lost her forever. The singer began to beg Aino to return, but the fish had already disappeared into the abyss. Väinämöinen threw a net into the sea and caught everything that was in it, but he never caught that fish. Reproaching and scolding himself, Väinämöinen returned home. His mother, Ilmatar, advised him not to worry about his lost bride, but to go for a new one, to Pohjola.
Rune 6
Väinämöinen went to the gloomy Pohjola, the foggy Sariola. But Joukahainen, harboring a grudge against Väinämöinen, envious of his talent as a singer, decided to destroy the old man. He waylaid him on the road. Seeing the wise Väinämöinen, the evil thief fired and hit the horse on the third attempt. The singer fell into the sea, and the waves and wind carried him far from the land. Joukahainen, thinking that he had killed Väinämöinen, returned home and boasted to his mother that he had killed the elder Väinö. The mother condemned her foolish son for his bad deed.
Rune 7
The singer swam on the open sea for many days, and there he was met by a mighty eagle. Väinämöinen talked about how he fell into the sea and the eagle, in gratitude for leaving a birch tree in the field for the birds to rest, offered his help. The eagle brought the singer to the shore of Pohjola. Väinämöinen could not find his way home and cried bitterly; the maid heard his cry and told Mrs. Louhi, the mistress of Pohjola, about it. Louhi found Väinämöinen, took him to her home and welcomed him as a guest. Väinämöinen missed his native Kalevala and wanted to return home.
Louhi promised to marry Väinämöinen to her daughter and take him to Kalevala, in exchange for his forging the wonderful Sampo mill. Väinämöinen said that he could not forge Sampo, but upon returning to Kalevala he would send the most skilled blacksmith in the world, Ilmarinen, who would make her the desired miracle mill.
After all, he has already forged the sky,
He bound the roof of the air,
So there are no traces of forging
And there are no traces of ticks.
The old woman insisted that only the one who binds Sampo would get her daughter. But she still gathered Väinämöinen for the journey, gave him a sleigh and told the singer not to look at the sky during the journey, otherwise an evil fate would befall him.
Rune 8
On the way home, Väinämöinen heard a strange noise, as if someone was weaving in the sky, above his head.
The old man raised his head
And then he looked up at the sky:
There is an arc in the sky,
A girl sits on an arc,
Weaves clothes of gold,
Decorates everything with silver.
Väinö invited the girl to get off the rainbow, sit in his sleigh and go to Kalevala to become his wife there. Then the girl asked the singer to cut her hair with a dull knife, tie an egg in a knot, grind a stone and cut poles out of ice, “so that the pieces would not fall off, so that a speck of dust would not fly off.” Only then will she sit in his sleigh. Väinämöinen fulfilled all her requests. But then the girl asked to plan a boat “from the fragments of a spindle and lower it into the water without pushing it with your knee.” Väinö set to work on the boat. The ax, with the participation of the evil Hiisi, jumped off and stuck into the knee of the wise old man. Blood flowed from the wound. Väinämöinen tried to conjure the blood and heal the wound. The conspiracies did not help, the bleeding did not stop - the singer could not remember the birth of iron. And Väinämöinen began to look for someone who could speak to the deep wound. In one of the villages, Väinämöinen found an old man who undertook to help the singer.
Rune 9
The old man said that he knew the cure for such wounds, but did not remember the beginning of iron, its birth. But Väinämöinen himself remembered this story and told it:
Air is the mother of everything in the world,
The elder brother is called water,
The younger brother of water is iron,
The middle brother is a hot fire.
Ukko, that supreme creator,
Elder Ukko, god of heaven,
Separated the water from the sky,
He divided the water with the land;
Only iron was not born,
It was not born, it did not rise...
Then Ukko rubbed his hands, and three maidens appeared on his left knee. They walked across the sky, milk flowing from their chests. From the black milk of the eldest girl came soft iron, from the white middle one - steel, from the red milk of the youngest - weak iron (cast iron). Born iron wanted to see its older brother - fire. But the fire wanted to burn the iron. Then it ran away in fright into the swamps and hid under water.
Meanwhile, the blacksmith Ilmarinen was born. He was born at night, and during the day he already built a forge. The blacksmith was attracted by traces of iron on animal trails, and he wanted to put it on the fire. Iron was afraid, but Ilmarinen calmed him down, promised a miraculous transformation into various things and threw him into the crucible. The iron asked to be taken out of the fire. The blacksmith replied that then the iron could become merciless and attack a person. Iron swore a terrible oath that it would never encroach on a person. Ilmarinen pulled iron from the fire and forged various things from it.
To make the iron strong, the blacksmith prepared a composition for hardening and asked the bee to bring honey to add it to the composition. The hornet heard his request and flew to his owner, the evil Hiisi. Hiisi gave the hornet poison, which he brought to Ilmarinen instead of the bee. The blacksmith, not knowing treason, added poison to the composition and tempered the iron in it. Iron came out of the fire evil, cast aside all oaths and attacked people.
The old man, having heard Väinämöinen's story, said that he now knew the beginning of iron, and began to spell the wound. Calling on Ukko for help, he prepared a wonderful ointment and cured Väinämöinen.
Rune 10
Väinämöinen returned home, on the border of Kalevala he cursed Joukahainen, because of whom he ended up in Pohjola and was forced to promise the blacksmith Ilmarinen to the old woman Louhi. On the way, he created a wonderful pine tree with a constellation at the top. At home, the singer began to persuade Ilmarinen to go to Pohjola for a beautiful wife, who would go to the one who forged the Sampo. The forge asked if this was why he was persuading him to go to Pohjola in order to save himself, and he categorically refused to go. Then Väinämöinen told Ilmarinen about the wonderful pine tree in the clearing and suggested that they go and look at this pine tree and remove the constellation from the top. The blacksmith innocently climbed the tree, and Väinämöinen, with the power of song, summoned the wind and carried Ilmarinen to Pohjola.
Louhi met the blacksmith, introduced her to her daughter and asked him to forge Sampo. Ilmarinen agreed and got to work. Ilmarinen worked for four days, but other things came out of the fire: a bow, a shuttle, a cow, a plow. They all had a “bad quality”, they were all “evil”, so Ilmarinen broke them and threw them back into the fire. Only on the seventh day did the wonderful Sampo emerge from the flame of the forge, and the motley lid began to spin.
The old woman Louhi was delighted, took Sampo to the Pohjola mountain and buried him there. A wonderful mill took down three deep roots in the ground. Ilmarinen asked to give him the beautiful Pohjola, but the girl refused to marry the blacksmith. The sad blacksmith returned home and told Väinö that Sampo had been forged.
Rune 11
Lemminkäinen, the cheerful hunter, the hero of Kalevala, is good to everyone, but has one drawback - he is very susceptible to female charms. Lemminkäinen heard about a beautiful girl who lived in Saari. The obstinate girl did not want to marry anyone. The hunter decided to get her. The mother tried to dissuade her son from a rash act, but he did not listen and went on his way.
At first, the Saari girls mocked the poor hunter. But over time, Lemminkäinen conquered all the maidens of Saari, except for one - Kyllikki - the one for whom he set off. Then the hunter kidnapped Kyllikki to take her as a wife to his poor house. While taking the girl away, the hero threatened: if the Saari girls tell who took Kyllikki away, he will start a war and destroy all their husbands and boyfriends. Kyllikki initially resisted, but then agreed to become Lemminkäinen’s wife and took an oath from him that he would never go to war in her native land. Lemminkäinen swore and took a reciprocal oath from Kyllikki that she would never go to her village and dance with the girls.
Rune 12
Lemminkäinen lived happily with his wife. One day a cheerful hunter went fishing and stayed late, and meanwhile, without waiting for her husband, Kyllikki went to the village to dance with the girls. Lemminkäinen's sister told her brother about his wife's actions. Lemminkäinen got angry and decided to leave Kyllikki and go to woo the Pohjola girl. The mother frightened the brave hunter with the sorcerers of the gloomy land, saying that his death awaited him there. But Lemminkäinen confidently replied that the sorcerers of Pohjola were not afraid of him. Having combed his hair with a brush, he threw it on the floor with the words:
“Only then is evil misfortune
Lemminkäinen will suffer,
If blood splashes from the brush,
If the red one flows.”
Lemminkäinen set out on a journey, in the clearing he offered a prayer to Ukko, Ilmatar and the gods of the forest so that they would help him on a dangerous journey.
The hunter was greeted unkindly in Pohjola. In the village of Louhi, a hunter entered a house full of sorcerers and magicians. With his songs he cursed all the husbands of Pohjola, depriving them of their strength and magical gift. He cursed everyone except the lame old shepherd. When the shepherd asked the hero why he spared him, Lemminkäinen replied that he spared him only because the old man was already pitiful, without any spells. The evil shepherd did not forgive Lemminkäinen for this and decided to lie in wait for the hunter near the waters gloomy river Tuonels are rivers of the underworld, rivers of the dead.
Rune 13
Lemminkäinen asked the old woman Louhi to marry him his beautiful daughter. In response to the old woman’s reproach that he already had a wife, Lemminkäinen declared that he would drive Kyllikki away. Louhi set the condition for the hunter that she would give up her daughter if the hero caught Hiisi’s elk. The cheerful hunter said that he could easily catch the elk, but it was not so easy to find and catch him.
Rune 14
Lemminkäinen asked Ukko to help him catch a moose. He also called upon the forest king Tapio, his son Nyurikki and the forest queen Mielikki. The spirits of the forest helped the hunter catch the elk. Lemminkäinen brought the moose to the old woman Louhi, but she set a new condition: the hero must bring her the stallion Hiisi. Lemminkäinen again asked for help from Ukko the Thunderer. Ukko drove the stallion towards the hunter with an iron hail. But the mistress of Pohjola set a third condition: to shoot the swan of Tuonela - a river in the underground kingdom of the dead. The hero went down to Manala, where a treacherous shepherd was already waiting for him by the gloomy river. The evil old man snatched a snake from the waters of the gloomy river and pierced Lemminkäinen as if with a spear. The hunter, poisoned by the snake's venom, dies. And the poisoner cut the body of poor Lemminkäinen into five pieces and threw them into the waters of Tuonela.
Rune 15
At Lemminkäinen's home, blood began to ooze from a brush he had left behind. The mother realized that an accident had happened to her son. She went to Pohjola for news about him. The old woman Louhi, after persistent questioning and threats, admitted that Lemminkäinen went to Tuonela for the swan. Having gone in search of her son, the poor mother asked the oak tree, the road, the month where the cheerful Lemminkäinen had disappeared, but they did not want to help. Only the sun showed her the place of her son’s death. The unfortunate old woman turned to Ilmarinen with a request to forge a huge rake. The sun put all the warriors of the gloomy Tuonela to sleep, and meanwhile Lemminkäinen’s mother began to look for the body of her beloved son with a rake in the black waters of Manala. With incredible efforts, she caught the remains of the hero, combined them and turned to the bee with a request to bring some honey from the divine palaces. She smeared the hunter's body with this honey. The hero came to life and told his mother how he was killed. The mother persuaded Lemminkäinen to give up the thought of Louhi’s daughter and took him home to Kalevala.
Rune 16
Väinämöinen decided to make a boat and sent Sampsa Pellervoinen to fetch wood. Aspen and pine were not suitable for construction, but the mighty oak, nine fathoms in girth, was quite suitable. Väinämöinen “builds a boat with a spell, he knocks down a shuttle with stumps from pieces of a large oak tree.” But three words were not enough for him to launch the boat. The wise singer went in search of these cherished words, but could not find them anywhere. In search of these words, he descended into the kingdom of Manala
There the singer saw the daughter of Mana (the god of the kingdom of the dead), who was sitting on the bank of the river. Väinämöinen asked to give him a boat to cross to the other side and enter the kingdom of the dead. Mana's daughter asked why he descended into their kingdom alive and unharmed.
Väinämöinen evaded answering for a long time, but in the end he admitted that he was looking for the magic words for the boat. The daughter of Mana warned the singer that few were returning from their land, and transported him to the other side. There he was met by the hostess of Tuonela and brought him a mug of dead beer. Väinämöinen refused beer and asked to reveal the treasured three words to him. The hostess said that she did not know them, but still Väinämöinen would never be able to leave the kingdom of Mana again. She plunged the hero into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of gloomy Tuonela have prepared barriers that should hold back the singer. However, the wise Väinö bypassed all the traps set and rose to the upper world. The singer turned to God with a request not to allow anyone to arbitrarily descend into the gloomy Manala and told how hard it is for evil people to live in the kingdom of the dead, what punishments await them.
Rune 17
Väinämöinen went to the giant Vipunen for magic words. He found Vipunen buried in the ground, covered with forest. Väinämöinen tried to wake up the giant and open his huge mouth, but Vipunen accidentally swallowed the hero. The singer built a forge in the giant’s womb and woke Vipunen with the thunder of his hammer and heat. Tormented by pain, the giant ordered the hero to get out of the womb, but Väinämöinen refused to leave the giant’s body and promised to hammer harder:
If I don't hear the words,
I don't recognize the spells
I don't remember any good ones here.
Words should not be hidden
Parables should not be hidden
Shouldn't bury themselves in the ground
And after the death of sorcerers.
Vipunen sang a song “about the origin of things.” Väinämöinen climbed out of the belly of the giant and completed his boat.
Rune 18
Väinämöinen decided to go to Pohjola on a new boat and marry Louhi’s daughter. Ilmarinen’s sister, Annikki, went out to do laundry in the morning, saw the singer’s boat moored to the shore and asked the hero where he was going. Väinämöinen admitted that he was going to gloomy Pohjola, foggy Sariola to marry the beauty of the North. Annikki ran home and told everything to her brother, the blacksmith Ilmarinen. The blacksmith became sad and began to get ready for the journey so as not to miss his bride.
So they rode: Väinämöinen by sea on a wonderful boat, Ilmarinen by land on horseback. After some time, the blacksmith caught up with Väinämöinen, and they agreed not to force the beauty into marriage. Let the one whom she chooses as her husband be happy. Let the less fortunate one not be angry. The grooms drove up to Loukha's house. Sariola's mistress advised her daughter to choose Väinämöinen, but she liked the young blacksmith better. Väinämöinen went to Louha's house, and the beautiful Pohjola woman refused him.
Rune 19
Ilmarinen asked Louhi about his fiancee. Louhi replied that she would marry her daughter to the blacksmith if he plowed Hiisi’s snake field. Loukha's daughter gave advice to the blacksmith on how to plow this field, and the blacksmith coped with this task. The evil old woman set a new condition: to catch a bear in Tuonela, to catch the gray wolf of Manala. The bride again gave the blacksmith advice, and he caught the bear and the wolf. But the mistress of Pohjola became stubborn again: the wedding will take place after the blacksmith catches a pike in the waters of Manala. The bride advised the blacksmith to forge an eagle, which would catch the fish. Ilmarinen did so, but on the way back the iron eagle ate the pike, leaving only the head. Ilmarinen brought this head as evidence to the mistress of Pohjola. Loukhi resigned herself and gave her daughter as a wife to the blacksmith. And the saddened Väinämöinen went home, ordering the old suitors never to compete with the young ones in the future.
Rune 20
A wedding feast is being prepared in Pohjola. In order to prepare the treat, you need to roast a whole bull. They brought in a bull: the horns were 100 fathoms, the squirrel had been jumping from head to tail for a whole month, and there was no hero who could slaughter it. But then a hero rose from the waters of the sea with with an iron fist and with one blow killed a huge bull.
Old woman Loukhi did not know how to brew beer for the wedding. The old man on the stove told Louhi about the birth of hops, barley, and the first creation of beer by Osmotar, the daughter of Kaleva. Having learned how beer is brewed, the owner of Sariola began preparing it. The forests thinned out: they cut firewood for cooking, the springs dried up: they collected water for beer, and the smoke filled half of Pohjola.
Louhi sent messengers to invite everyone to a magnificent wedding, everyone except Lemminkäinen. If Lemminkäinen comes, he will start a fight at the feast and make old men and women laugh.
Rune 21
Louhi greeted the guests. She ordered the slave to better receive his son-in-law and give him special honors. The guests sat down at the table, began to eat, and drink foamy beer. Old Väinämöinen raised his mug and asked the guests if anyone would sing a song “so that our day will be merry, so that the evening will be glorified?” But no one dared to sing in the presence of the wise Väinämöinen, so he himself began to sing, glorifying the young, wishing them a happy life.
Rune 22
The bride is getting ready to leave. They sang songs to her about her maiden life and about the hard life of a wife in someone else's house. The bride began to cry bitterly, but they consoled her.
Rune 23
The bride is taught and given advice on how she should live her married life. The old beggar woman told about her life, how she was a girl, how she was married and how she left her evil husband.
Rune 24
The groom is given instructions on how he should treat the bride, and is not told to treat her badly. A poor old man told how he once brought his wife to reason.
The bride said goodbye to everyone. Ilmarinen put the bride in the sleigh, set off and arrived home on the third day in the evening.
Rune 25
At home, Ilmarinen and his wife were met by the mother of the blacksmith Locke, spoke kindly to her daughter-in-law, and praised her in every possible way. The newlyweds and guests were seated at the table and treated to plenty. Väinämöinen in his drinking song glorified his native land, its men and women, master and hostess, matchmaker and bridesmaid, and guests. After the wedding feast, the singer went home. On the way, his sleigh broke, and the hero asked the local residents if there was such a daredevil here who would go down to Tuonela for a gimlet to repair his sleigh. He was told that there was no such thing. Väinämöinen had to go down to Tuonela himself, after which he repaired the sleigh and got home safely.
Rune 26
Meanwhile, Lemminkäinen learned that a wedding was being celebrated in Pohjola, and decided to go there to avenge the insult. His mother dissuaded him from such a risky undertaking, but the hunter remained adamant. Then the mother spoke about the dangers that awaited Lemminkäinen on the way to Pohjola, reproaching that her son had forgotten early on how he had already died once in that land of sorcerers. Lemminkäinen did not listen and went on his way.
On the road, Lemminkäinen met his first death - a fiery eagle. The hunter saved himself by conjuring a flock of hazel grouse. Then the hero encountered his second death - an abyss filled with red-hot blocks. The hunter turned to the supreme god Ukko, and he sent snowfall. Lemminkäinen used his magic to build an ice bridge across the abyss. Then Lemminkäinen met the third death - a ferocious bear and a wolf, on whom he released a flock of sheep with the help of magic. At the very gates of Pohjola, the hunter met a huge snake. The hero bewitched her, uttering magic words and remembering the first birth of the snake from the saliva of Suetar (an evil water creature) through the witchcraft of Hiisi, and the snake cleared the way for the hunter to Pohjola.
Rune 27
Having passed all the dangers, the cheerful Lemminkäinen arrived in Pohjola, where he was greeted unkindly. The angry hero began to scold the owner and hostess for secretly celebrating their daughter’s wedding and now greeting him with such hostility. The owner of Pohjola challenged Lemminkäinen to compete in witchcraft and sorcery. The hunter won the competition, then the prisoner challenged him to a sword fight. Lemminkäinen won here too; he killed the owner of Pohjola and cut off his head. Enraged, Louhi summoned armed warriors to avenge the death of her husband.
Rune 28
Lemminkäinen hastily left Pohjola and flew home in the guise of an eagle. At home, he told his mother about what happened in Sariol, that the Louhi warriors were going to war against him, and asked where he could hide and wait out the invasion. The mother reproached the violent hunter for going to Pohjola and bringing such danger upon himself, and suggested that he go for three years to a small island beyond the seas, where his father had previously lived during the wars. But first she took a terrible oath from the hunter not to fight for ten years. Lemminkäinen swore.
Rune 29
Lemminkäinen went to a small island. Local residents greeted him. The hunter charmed the local girls with his magic, seduced them and lived happily on the island for three years. The men of the island, angry at the frivolous behavior of the hunter, decided to kill him. Lemminkäinen found out about the plot and ran away from the island, which the girls and women bitterly regretted.
A strong storm at sea wrecked the hunter's boat, and he was forced to swim to the shore. On the shore, Lemminkäinen got a new boat and sailed on it to his native shores. But there he saw that his house was burned, the area was deserted and there was no one from his family. Here Lemminkäinen began to cry, began to reproach and scold himself for going to Pohjola, incurring the wrath of the Pohjola people, and now his entire family was killed, and his beloved mother was killed. Then the hero noticed a path leading into the forest. Having walked along it, the hunter found a hut, and in it his old mother. The mother spoke about how the people of Pohjola destroyed their home. The hunter promised to build a new house, even better than the previous one, and to take revenge on Pohjola for all the troubles, and talked about how he lived all these years on a distant island.
Rune 30
Lemminkäinen could not come to terms with the fact that he had taken an oath not to fight for ten years. He again did not listen to his mother’s entreaties, again got ready for war with Pohjola and invited his faithful friend Tiera with him on the campaign. Together they went on a campaign against the people of Sariola. The mistress of Pohjola sent a terrible frost on them, which froze Lemminkäinen's boat in the sea. However, the hunter drove away the frost with spells.
Lemminkäinen and his friend Tiera left the shuttle in the ice, and they themselves reached the shore on foot, where, saddened and depressed, they wandered through remote places until they finally returned home.
Rune 31
There lived two brothers: Untamo, the younger, and Kalervo, the eldest. Untamo did not like his brother and plotted all sorts of intrigues against him. Enmity arose between the brothers. Untamo gathered warriors and killed Kalervo and his entire family, except for one pregnant woman, whom Untamo took with him as a slave. The woman gave birth to a child, who is named Kullervo. Even in the cradle, the child promised to become a hero. Growing up, Kullervo began to think about revenge.
Untamo, concerned about this, decided to get rid of the child. Kullervo was put in a barrel and thrown into the water, but the boy did not drown. He was found sitting on a barrel, fishing in the sea. Then they decided to throw the child into the fire, but the boy did not burn. They decided to hang Kullervo on an oak tree, but on the third day he was found sitting on a branch and drawing warriors on the bark of the tree. Untamo resigned himself and left the boy as his slave. When Kullervo grew up, they began to give him work: babysitting a child, cutting down forest, weaving wattle fence, threshing rye. But Kullervo is good for nothing, he ruined all the work: he tortured the child, chopped up good timber, wove the fence up to the sky without an entrance or exit, and turned the grains into dust. Then Untamo decided to sell the worthless slave to the blacksmith Ilmarinen:
The blacksmith gave a high price:
He gave away two old boilers,
Three rusty iron hooks,
He gave scythes to unsuitable heels,
Six hoes bad, unnecessary
For the worthless boy
For a very bad slave.
Rune 32
Ilmarinen's wife, the daughter of the old woman Louhi, appointed Kullervo as a shepherd. And out of laughter and insult, the young housewife prepared bread for the shepherd: the top was wheat, the bottom was oatmeal, and baked a stone in the middle. She handed Kullervo this bread and told the shepherd not to eat it before he drove the flock into the forest. The mistress released the herd, cast a spell on it against misfortunes, calling Ukko, Mielikki (the queen of the forest), Tellervo (the daughter of the king of the forest) as assistants and begging them to protect the herd; asked Otso - the bear, the beauty with the honey paw - not to touch the herd, to avoid it.
Rune 33
Kullervo tended the herd. During the day, the shepherd sat down to rest and eat. He took out the bread baked by the young housewife and began cutting it with a knife:
And the knife hit the stone
The blade hits the hard pebble;
The blade of the knife fell apart,
The blade fell into pieces.
Kullervo was upset: he got this knife from his father, this is the only memory of his family, cut out by Untamo. Furious, Kullervo decided to take revenge on the hostess, Ilmarinen’s wife, for the ridicule. The shepherd drove the flock into the swamp and the wild animals devoured all the cattle. Kullervo turned the bears into cows and the wolves into calves and, under the guise of a herd, drove them home. On the way, he ordered them to tear the mistress into pieces: “She will only look at you, she will only bend over to milk!” The young housewife, seeing the herd, asked Ilmarinen’s mother to go and milk the cows, but Kullervo, reproaching her, said that a good housewife milks the cows herself. Then Ilmarinen's wife went to the barn, and the bears and wolves tore her to shreds.
Rune 34
Kullervo ran away from the blacksmith's house and decided to take revenge on Untamo for all the insults, for the persecution of the Kalervo family. But in the forest the shepherd met an old woman who told him that Kalervo, his father, was actually alive. She suggested how to find him. Kullervo went in search and found his family on the border of Lapland. The mother met her son with tears and said that she considered him missing, like her eldest daughter, who had gone off to pick berries and never returned.
Rune 35
Kullervo remained to live in his parents' house. But even there there was no use for his heroic strength. Everything the shepherd did turned out to be useless and spoiled. And then the upset father sent Kullervo to the city to pay the tax. On the way back, Kullervo met a girl, lured her into his sleigh with gifts and seduced her. It turned out that this girl is the same missing sister of Kullervo. In despair, the girl threw herself into the river. And Kullervo went home in grief, told his mother about what had happened and decided to commit suicide. His mother forbade him to part with his life and began to persuade him to leave, find a quiet corner and quietly live out his life there. Kullervo did not agree, he was going to take revenge on Untamo for everything.
Rune 36
The mother dissuaded her son from committing a rash act. Kullervo was adamant, especially since all his relatives cursed him. One mother was not indifferent to what would happen to her son. While Kullervo was fighting, news of the death of his father, brother and sister reached him, but he did not cry for them. Only when the news of his mother's death came did the shepherd cry. Arriving at the Untamo clan, Kullervo destroyed both women and men and destroyed their homes. Returning to his land, Kullervo did not find any of his relatives, everyone had died and the house stood empty. Then the unfortunate shepherd went into the forest and lost his life, throwing himself on the sword.
Rune 37
At this time, the blacksmith Ilmarinen mourned his dead mistress and decided to forge himself a new wife. With great difficulty he forged a maiden from gold and silver:
He forged without sleeping at night,
During the day he forged without stopping.
He made her legs and arms,
But my leg can't walk
And the hand does not hug.
He forges the girl's ears,
But they can't hear.
He made his lips skillfully
And her eyes are as if alive,
But my lips remained without words
And eyes without sparkle of feeling.
When the blacksmith went to bed with his new wife, the side with which he was in contact with the statue became completely frozen. Convinced of the unsuitability of the golden wife, Ilmarinen offered her as his wife to Väinämöinen. The singer refused and advised the blacksmith to throw the precious maiden into the fire and forge many necessary things from gold and silver, or take her to other countries and give her to gold-hungry suitors. Väinämöinen forbade future generations from bowing before gold.
Rune 38
Ilmarinen went to Pohjola to marry the sister of his former wife, but in response to his proposal he heard only abuse and reproaches. An angry blacksmith kidnapped the girl. On the way, the girl treated the blacksmith with disdain and humiliated him in every possible way. The enraged Ilmarinen turned the evil maiden into a seagull.
The sad blacksmith returned home with nothing. In response to questions, Väinämöinen told how he was driven out of Pohjola, and how the region of Sariola was prosperous, because there was the magic Sampo mill there.
Rune 39
Väinämöinen suggested that Ilmarinen go to Pohjola and take the Sampo mill from the owner of Sariola. The blacksmith replied that Sampo was very difficult to get, the evil Louhi hid it in a rock, and the miracle mill was held up by three roots rooted in the ground. But the forge agreed to go to Pohjola, he forged a wonderful fire blade for Väinämöinen. While getting ready for the journey, Väinämöinen heard crying. It was a boat crying, missing its exploits. Väinämöinen promised the boat to take her on a journey. Using spells, the singer lowered the boat into the water, Väinämöinen himself, Ilmarinen, and their squad got into it and sailed to Sariola. Driving past the home of the cheerful hunter Lemminkäinen, the heroes took him with them and together went to save Sampo from the hands of the evil Louha.
Rune 40
The boat with the heroes sailed to a lonely cape. Lemminkäinen cursed the river flows so that they would not break the boat or harm the soldiers. He turned to Ukko, Kiwi-Kimmo (the deity of underwater rocks), the son of Kammo (the deity of horror), Melatar (the goddess of stormy currents), with a request not to harm their canoe. Suddenly the boat of the heroes stopped; no amount of effort could move it. It turned out that the canoe was being held by a huge pike. Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen and the squad caught a wonderful pike and moved on. On the way, the fish was boiled and eaten. From fish bones, Väinämöinen made himself a kantele, a musical instrument of the gusli type. But there was no real skill on earth to play the kantele.
Rune 41
Väinämöinen began playing the kantele. The daughters of creation, the maidens of the air, the daughter of the Moon and the Sun, Ahto, the mistress of the sea, gathered to listen to his wonderful play. Tears appeared in the eyes of those listening and Väinämöinen himself, his tears fell into the sea and turned into blue pearls of fabulous beauty.
Rune 42
The heroes arrived in Pohjola. Old woman Loukhi asked why the heroes came to this region. The heroes replied that they had come for Sampo. They offered to share the miracle mill. Louhi refused. Then Väinämöinen warned that if the people of Kalevala did not get half, they would take everything by force. The Mistress of Pohjola summoned all her warriors against the heroes of Kalevala. But the prophetic singer took the kantele, began to play it, and with his playing enchanted the people of Pohjöl and put them to sleep.
The heroes went in search of the mill and found it in the rock behind iron doors with nine locks and ten bolts. Väinämöinen opened the gate with spells. Ilmarinen lubricated the hinges with oil to prevent the gate from squeaking. However, even the boaster Lemminkäinen was unable to lift Sampo. Only with the help of a bull were the Kalevala residents able to plow up the roots of the Sampo and transport it to the ship.
The heroes decided to transport the mill to a distant island “unharmed and calm and not visited by the sword.” On the way home, Lemminkäinen wanted to sing to pass the time. Väinämöinen warned him that now was not the time to sing. Lemminkäinen, not listening to wise advice, began to sing in a bad voice, and with loud sounds woke up the crane. The crane, frightened by the terrible singing, flew to the North and woke up the inhabitants of Pohjola.
Having discovered that Sampo was missing, the old woman Louhi became terribly angry. She guessed who stole her treasure and where it was being taken. She asked Udutar (the maiden of the fog) to send fog and darkness to the kidnappers, the monster Iku-Turso - to drown the Kalevals in the sea, return Sampo to Pohjola, she asked Ukko to raise a storm to delay their boat until she herself caught up with them and took hers jewel. Väinämöinen magically got rid of the fog, using spells from Iku-Turso, but a storm broke out and took away the wonderful kantele made of pike bones. Väinämöinen grieved over his loss.
Rune 43
The evil Louhi sent Pohjola's warriors in pursuit of Sampo's kidnappers. When the Hojöl ship overtook the fugitives, Väinämöinen took a piece of flint from the bag and, with spells, threw it into the water, where it turned into a rock. Pohjola's boat crashed, but Louhi turned into a terrible bird:
Brings old braids of heels,
Six hoes, long unnecessary:
They serve her like fingers,
They are squeezed like a handful of claws,
Instantly half the boat was picked up:
Tied under the knees;
And the sides to the shoulders are like wings,
She gave herself a rudder like a tail;
A hundred men sat on wings,
A thousand sat on the tail,
A hundred swordsmen sat down,
A thousand brave shooters.
Louhi spread her wings,
She rose into the air like an eagle.
Flapping its wings in the air
Following Väinämöinen:
Strikes the cloud with one wing,
Another is being dragged through the water.
The mother of water, Ilmatar, warned Väinämöinen about the approach of a monstrous bird. When Loukhi overtook the Kalevala boat, the wise singer again suggested that the sorceress divide Sampo fairly. The mistress of Pohjola again refused, grabbed the mill with her claws and tried to pull it off the boat. The heroes attacked Louhi, trying to interfere. However, with one finger, Louhi the bird still clung to the wonderful mill, but could not hold it, dropped it into the sea and broke it.
Large fragments of the mill sank into the sea, and that is why there is so much wealth in the sea that will not be lost forever. Small fragments were washed ashore by the current and waves. Väinämöinen collected these fragments and planted them in the Kalevala land so that the region would be rich.
And the evil mistress of Pohjola, who received only the motley lid from the miracle mill (which is why poverty set in in Sariola), began to threaten in revenge to steal the sun and the month, hide them in the rock, freeze all the seedlings with frost, destroy the crops with hail, send the bear out of the forest to the herds of Kalevala, to bring pestilence on the people. However, Väinämöinen replied that with the help of Ukko, he would ward off her evil spell from his land.
Rune 44
Väinämöinen went to sea to look for a kantele made of pike bones, but despite all his efforts he did not find it. Sad Väinö returned home and heard a birch tree crying in the forest. The birch tree complained about how hard life was for her: in the spring they cut its bark to collect sap, girls knit brooms from its branches, the shepherd weaves boxes and sheaths from its bark. Väinämöinen consoled the birch tree and made a kantele out of it, better than before. The singer made the nails and pegs for the kantele from the singing of a cuckoo, and the strings from the delicate hair of a girl. When the kantele was ready, Väinö began to play, and the whole world listened to his play with admiration.
Rune 45
Louhi, who heard rumors about the prosperity of Kalevala, became jealous of her prosperity and decided to send a pestilence to the people of Kalevala. At this time, the pregnant Lovyatar (goddess, mother of diseases) came to Louhi. Louhi accepted Lovyatar and helped give birth. Lovyatar had 9 sons - all illnesses and misfortunes. The old woman Louhi sent them against the people of Kaleva. However, Väinämöinen, with spells and ointments, saved his people from illness and death.
Rune 46
The old woman Loukhi learned that in Kalevala they were cured of the diseases she had caused. Then she decided to set the bear on Kaleva's herds. Väinämöinen asked the blacksmith Ilmarinen to forge a spear and went on a bear hunt - Otso, the apple of the forest, beauty with a honey paw.
Väinämöinen sang a song in which he asked the bear to hide his claws and not threaten him, convinced the bear that he did not kill him - the bear himself fell from the tree and tore his clothes-skin and turned to the beast, as if inviting him to visit.
A feast was held in the village on the occasion of a successful hunt, and Väinö told how the gods and goddesses of the forest helped him in the bear hunt.
Rune 47
Väinämöinen played the kantele. The sun and the moon, hearing the wonderful play, descended lower. The old woman Louhi grabbed them, hid them in a rock and stole fire from the hearths of Kaleva. A cold, hopeless night fell on Kalevala. Even in the sky, in Ukko’s dwelling, darkness fell. People became sad, Ukko became worried, left his house, but did not find either the sun or the moon. Then the Thunderer struck a spark, hid it in a bag, and the bag in a box and gave this box to the airy maiden, “so that it grows.” new month, the new sun has appeared.” The virgin began to cradle the heavenly fire in the cradle and nurse it in her arms. Suddenly the fire fell from the nanny’s hands, flew across nine heavens and fell to the ground.
Väinämöinen, seeing the spark fall, said to the blacksmith Ilmarinen: “Let's see what kind of fire fell to the ground!”, and the heroes went in search of heavenly fire. On the way they met Ilmatar, and she said that on earth the heavenly fire, the spark of Ukko, burns everything in its path. She burned Turi's house, burned fields, swamps, and then fell into Lake Alue. But even in the lake the heavenly fire did not go out. The lake boiled for a long time, and the lake fish began to think about how they could get rid of the evil fire. Then the whitefish absorbed Ukko's spark. The lake calmed down, but the whitefish began to suffer from pain. The pied bird took pity on the whitefish and swallowed it along with the spark, and also began to suffer from an unbearable burning sensation. The gray pike swallowed the mottled pike, and it, too, began to feel the heat. Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen came to the shore of Lake Alue and cast their nets to catch a gray pike. The women of Kalevala helped them, but there is no gray pike in the nets. The second time they cast the nets, now men helped them, but again there was no gray pike in the nets.
Rune 48
Väinämöinen wove a giant net from flax. Together with Ilmarinen, with the help of Vellamo (the queen of the sea) and Ahto (the king of the sea), who sent a sea hero, they finally catch a gray pike. The son of the sun, helping the heroes, cut the pike and took out a spark from it. But a spark slipped from the hand of the son of the Sun, scorched Väinämöinen’s beard, burned the hands and cheeks of the blacksmith Ilmarinen, ran through forests and fields, and burned half of Pohjola. However, the singer caught the fire, enchanted it and brought it to the dwellings of Kaleva. Ilmarinen suffered from magic fire burns, but, knowing the spells against burns, he was cured.
Rune 49
There was already fire in the dwellings of Kaleva, but there was no sun and no month in the sky. Residents asked Ilmarinen to forge new luminaries. Ilmarinen set to work, but the wise singer tells him that:
You have worked in vain!
There will be no gold for a month,
Silver will not be the sun!
Despite this, Ilmarinen continued his work, he raised the new sun and moon to tall spruce trees. But the precious lights did not shine. Then Väinämöinen began to find out where the real sun and moon had gone, and learned that the old woman Louhi had stolen them. Väinö went to Pohjola, where its inhabitants greeted him with disrespect. The singer entered into battle with the men of Sariola and won. He wanted to see the heavenly bodies, but the heavy doors of the dungeon did not give in. Väinö returned home and asked the blacksmith Ilmarinen to forge a weapon that could be used to open the rock. Ilmarinen set to work.
Meanwhile, the mistress of Pohjola, turning into a hawk, flew to Kaleva, to Ilmarinen’s house, and learned that the heroes were preparing for war, that an evil fate awaited her. In fear, she returned to Sariola and released the sun and the moon from prison. Then, in the form of a dove, she told the blacksmith that the lights were back in their places. The blacksmith, rejoicing, showed Väinämöinen the stars. Väinämöinen greeted them and wished them to always decorate the sky and bring happiness to people.
Rune 50
The girl Maryatta, the daughter of one of Kalevala’s husbands, became pregnant from eating lingonberries. Her mother and father kicked her out of the house. Maryatta's maid went to to an evil person Ruotusu, with a request to shelter the poor thing. Ruotus and his evil wife put Maryatta in a stable. In that stable Maryatta gave birth to a son. Suddenly the boy disappeared. The poor mother went in search of her son. She asked the star and the month about her son, but they did not answer her. Then she turned to the Sun, and the Sun said that her son was stuck in a swamp. Maryatta saved her son and brought him home.
The villagers wanted to baptize the boy and called Elder Virokannas. Väinämöinen also came. The singer proposed to kill the child born from the berry. The child began to reproach the elder for the unjust sentence, and recalled his own sins (the death of Aino). Virokannas christened the baby the King of Karjala. Angry, Väinämöinen created a copper boat for himself with a magic song and sailed forever from Kalevala “to where earth and sky come together.”
Highly dispersed systems (true solutions) All substances are soluble in water
Population of the Altai Territory
Odessa region old photos Maps of Kherson province