The Kalevala

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Kalevala (complete)
by John Martin Crawford,
trans.
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Title: The Kalevala (complete)
Author: John Martin Crawford, trans.
Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5186]
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[This file was first posted on May 31, 2002]
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0. START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE KALEVALA
(COMPLETE) ***
This eBook was produced by John B. Hare and Carrie R. Lorenz.
THE KALEVALA
THE
EPIC POEM OF FINLAND
INTO ENGLISH
BY
JOHN MARTIN CRAWFORD

[1888]
TO
DR. J.D. BUCK,
AN ENCOURAGING AND UNSELFISH FRIEND,
AND TO
HIS
AFFECTIONATE FAMILY,
THESE PAGES
ARE GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED.
CONTENTS.
PREFACE
PROEM
RUNE I. Birth of Wainamoinen
RUNE II. Wainamoinen's Sowing
RUNE
III. Wainamoinen and Youkahainen
RUNE IV. The Fate of Aino
RUNE V.
Wainamoinen's Lamentation
RUNE VI. Wainamoinen's Hapless Journey
RUNE VII.
Wainamoinen's Rescue
RUNE VIII. Maiden of the Rainbow
RUNE IX. Origin of
Iron
RUNE X. Ilmarinen forges the Sampo
RUNE XI. Lemminkainen's Lament

RUNE XII. Kyllikki's Broken Vow
RUNE XIII. Lemminkainen's Second Wooing

RUNE XIV. Death of Lemminkainen
RUNE XV. Lemminkainen's Restoration

RUNE XVI. Wainainoinen's Boat-building
RUNE XVII. Wainamoinen finds the Lost
Word
RUNE XVIII. The Rival Suitors
RUNE XIX. Ilmarinen's Wooing
RUNE XX.
The Brewing of Beer
RUNE XXI. Ilmarinen's Wedding-feast
RUNE XXII. The
Bride's Farewell
RUNE XXIII. Osmotar, the Bride-adviser
RUNE XXIV. The Bride's
Farewell
RUNE XXV. Wainamoinen's Wedding-songs
RUNE XXVI. Origin of the
Serpent
RUNE XXVII. The Unwelcome Guest
RUNE XXVIII. The Mother's
Counsel
RUNE XXIX. The Isle of Refuge
RUNE XXX. The Frost-fiend
RUNE
XXXI. Kullerwoinen, Son of Evil
RUNE XXXII. Kullervo as a Shepherd
RUNE
XXXIII. Kullervo and the Cheat-cake
RUNE XXXIV. Kullervo finds his Tribe-folk


RUNE XXXV. Kullervo's Evil Deeds
RUNE XXXVI. Kullerwoinen's Victory and
Death
RUNE XXXVII Ilmarinen's Bride of Gold
RUNE XXXVIII. Ilmarinen's
Fruitless Wooing
RUNE XXXIX. Wainamoinen's Sailing
RUNE XL. Birth of the
Harp
RUNE XLI. Wainamoinen's Harp-songs
RUNE XLII. Capture of the Sampo

RUNE XLIII. The Sampo lost in the Sea
RUNE XLIV. Birth of the Second Harp

RUNE XLV. Birth of the Nine Diseases
RUNE XLVI. Otso the Honey-eater
RUNE
XLVII. Louhi steals Sun, Moon, and Fire
RUNE XLVIII. Capture of the Fire-fish

RUNE XLIX. Restoration of the Sun and Moon
RUNE L. Mariatta--Wainamoinen's
Departure
EPILOGUE
PREFACE.

The following translation was undertaken from a desire to lay before the
English-speaking people the full treasury of epical beauty, folklore, and mythology
comprised in The Kalevala, the national epic of the Finns. A brief description of this
peculiar people, and of their ethical, linguistic, social, and religious life, seems to be
called for here in order that the following poem may be the better understood.
Finland (Finnish, Suomi or Suomenmaa, the swampy region, of which Finland, or
Fen-land is said to be a Swedish translation,) is at present a Grand-Duchy in the
north-western part of the Russian empire, bordering on Olenetz, Archangel, Sweden,
Norway, and the Baltic Sea, its area being more than 144,000 square miles, and inhabited
by some 2,000,000 of people, the last remnants of a race driven back from the East, at a
very early day, by advancing tribes. The Finlanders live in a land of marshes and
mountains, lakes and rivers, seas, gulfs, islands, and inlets, and they call themselves
Suomilainen,
Fen-dwellers. The climate is more severe than that of Sweden. The mean
yearly temperature in the north is about 270ºF., and about 38ºF., at Helsingfors, the
capital of Finland. In the southern districts the winter is seven months long, and in the
northern provinces the sun disappears entirely during the months of December and
January.
The inhabitants are strong and hardy, with bright, intelligent faces, high cheek-bones,
yellow hair in early life, and with brown hair in mature age. With regard to their social
habits, morals, and manners, all travellers are unanimous in speaking well of them. Their
temper is universally mild; they are slow to anger, and when angry they keep silence.
They are happy-hearted, affectionate to one another, and honorable and honest in their
dealings with strangers. They are a cleanly people, being much given to the use of
vapor-baths. This trait is a conspicuous note of their character from their earliest history
to the present day. Often in the runes of The Kalevala reference