At the heart of the Karelian Finnish epic Kalevala lie folk songs simple peasants. The name given to the poem is the name of the state where the main characters of Kalevala live. Finnish linguist, Elias Lennort, did a great job of creating this epic piece. The poem consists of several dozen runes; folklore songs, legends and legends were used to compile them. The study of Kalevala gives an idea of ​​the worldview of the common people of Finns and Karelians. The heroes of Kalevala are mythical characters.

Characteristics of the heroes of Kalevala

main characters

Väinämäinen	The elder, is the main character of the poem, has magical powers, a sorcerer. With the help of magic spells and sorcery, he can subjugate the entire the world, which includes not only living beings, but also natural phenomena. Väinämäinen is the ancestor of the Kalevala, participating in the creation of the universe.
Joukahainen	A proud and self-confident hero, self-taught witchcraft. He challenged the ancestor of Kalevala to a duel, dreaming of defeating him, but was thrown into a swamp. To stay alive, he promised to give his sister as a wife to the elder. When the sister drowned herself from such a decision of her brother, he wounded the old man with a bow.
Aino	Joukahainen's sister, preferred death to marriage with an old man. She turned into a fish, the old man managed to catch her on a bait, but could not keep her.
Ilmarinen	A blacksmith who managed to forge a windmill with magical properties.
Kullervo	He is the most unfortunate hero of the poem. Left an orphan through the fault of his uncle, he works for him, dreaming of avenging the death of his parents. He accidentally seduces his own sister, after which she rushed into the river, and Kulervo went to take revenge on his uncle. Burned his village, then committed suicide.
Lemminkäinen	Self-confident and carefree merry fellow. For the murder of a swan, he was punished with death, the mother took out the body of her son chopped into pieces from the river, and revived him with the help of magic.

Minor characters

Kulliki	Lemminkäinen's wife, when her husband was not at home, ran away to the girls' festivities, thereby breaking the oath.
Lovhi
		She is the mistress of Pohjela. negative character in female form, brings evil and disease.
Untamo	Father Kullervo's brother, sage, lord of sleep.

Only a few heroes from the Karelian-Finnish epic Kalevala were listed here, representing the main characters of the epic work.

Kalevala, the Finnish epic is a Finnish poem compiled by the scholar Elias Lennrot and published by him first in a shorter form in 1835, then with large quantity songs in 1849. The name Kalevala, given to the poem by Lennrot, is the epic name of the country in which Finnish folk heroes live and act. The suffix la means place of residence, so Kalevala is the place of residence of Kalev, mythologically. the ancestor of the Finnish heroes - Veinemeinen, Ilmarinen, Lemminkainen, sometimes called his sons.

Individual folk songs (runes), part of the epic, part of the lyrical, part of the magical nature, recorded from the words of the Finnish peasants by Lennrot himself and the collectors who preceded him, served as the material for the compilation of an extensive poem of 50 songs. The oldest runes are best remembered in Russian Karelia, in the Arkhangelsk (Vuokkinyemi parish) and Olonets lips. (in Repol and Himola), as well as in some places in Finnish Karelia and on western shores Lake Ladoga, to Ingria. In recent times (1888) runes were recorded in significant numbers in the west of St. Petersburg and in Estonia (K. Kron). The ancient Germanic (Gothic) word rune (runo) is what the Finns currently call the song in general; but in ancient times, during the period of paganism, magic runes or conspiracy runes (loitsu runo) were of particular importance, as a product of shamanistic beliefs that once dominated among the Finns, as well as among their relatives - Lapps, Voguls, Zyryans and others Finno-Ugric peoples.

Under the influence of a collision with more developed peoples - the Germans and Slavs - the Finns, especially during the period of the Scandinavian Vikings (VIII-XI centuries), went further in their spiritual development than other shamanistic peoples, enriched their religious ideas with images of elemental and moral deities, created types ideal heroes and at the same time achieved certain form and significant art in their poetic works, which, however, did not cease to be popular and did not close, like the Scandinavians, among professional singers. distinctive external form runes - a short eight-syllable verse, not rhymed, but rich in alliteration. A feature of the warehouse is the almost constant comparison of synonyms in two adjacent verses, so that each next verse is a paraphrase of the previous one. The last property is explained by the way of folk singing in Finland: the singer, having agreed with a friend about the plot of the song, sits down opposite him, takes him by the hands, and they begin to sing, swaying back and forth. At the last measure of each stanza, it is the turn of the assistant, and he sings the entire stanza alone, and meanwhile the singer ponders the next one at her leisure.

Good singers know many runes, sometimes they keep several thousand verses in their memory, but they sing either individual runes or sets of several runes, linking them at their discretion, having no idea of ​​the existence of an integral epic, which some scientists find in the runes. Indeed, in the Kalevala there is no main plot that would link all the runes together (as, for example, in the Iliad or the Odyssey). Its content is extremely varied. It opens with a legend about the creation of the earth, sky, luminaries and the birth of the main character of the Finns, Veinemeinen, who arranges the earth and sows barley, by the daughter of air. The following is about different adventures the hero meeting, by the way, the beautiful maiden of the North: she agrees to become his bride if he miraculously creates a boat from fragments of her spindle. Having started work, the hero wounds himself with an ax, cannot stop the bleeding and goes to the old healer, who is told a legend about the origin of iron. Returning home, Veinemeinen raises the wind with spells and transfers the blacksmith Ilmarinen to the country of the North, Pohola, where he, according to the promise given by Veinemeinen, forges for the mistress of the North a mysterious object that gives wealth and happiness - Sampo (runes I-XI). The following runes (XI-XV) contain an episode about the adventures of the hero Lemminkainen, a dangerous seducer of women and at the same time a warlike sorcerer. The story then returns to Veinemeinen; his descent into the underworld, his stay in the womb of the giant Vipunen, his obtaining from the last three words necessary to create a wonderful boat, the departure of the hero to Pohjola in order to receive the hand of a northern maiden are described; however, the latter preferred the blacksmith Ilmarinen to him, whom she marries, and the wedding is described in detail and wedding songs are given that set out the duties of a wife to her husband (XVI-XXV). Further runes (XXVI-XXXI) are occupied again by the adventures of Lemminkainen in Pohjola. episode about sad fate the hero Kullervo, who, out of ignorance, seduced his own sister, as a result of which both, brother and sister, commit suicide (runes XXXI-XXXVI), belong in the depth of feeling, sometimes reaching true pathos, to the best parts of the whole poem.

Further runes contain a lengthy story about the common enterprise of three Finnish heroes - obtaining the treasure of Sampo from Pohjola, about making a kantela (harp) by Veinemeinen, by playing which he enchants all nature and lulls the population of Pohjola, about the Sampo being taken away by the heroes, about their persecution by the sorceress-mistress of the North , about the fall of Sampo into the sea, about the beneficence rendered by Veinemeinen home country through the fragments of Sampo, about his struggle with various disasters and monsters sent by the mistress of Pohjola to K., about the hero’s wondrous game on a new kantele created by him when the first one fell into the sea, and about the return of the sun and moon to them, hidden by the mistress of Pohjola (XXXVI -XLIX). The last rune contains a folk-apocryphal legend about the birth of a miraculous child by the virgin Maryatta (the birth of the Savior). Veinemeinen gives advice to kill him, as he is destined to surpass the power of the Finnish hero, but the two-week-old baby showers Veinemeinen with reproaches of injustice, and the ashamed hero, having sung a wondrous song for the last time, leaves forever in a canoe from Finland, giving way to the baby Maryatta, the recognized ruler of Karelia .

It is difficult to point out a common thread that would link the various episodes of the Kalevala into one artistic whole. E. Aspelin believed that its main idea is the chanting of the change of summer and winter on the north. Lennrot himself, denying the unity and organic connection in the runes of Kalevala, admitted, however, that the songs of the epic are aimed at proving and clarifying how the heroes of the country of Kalev overpower the population of Pohjola and conquer the latter. Julius Kron argues that Kalevala is imbued with one idea - about creating Sampo and getting it into the ownership of the Finnish people - but admits that the unity of the plan and the idea is not always seen with the same clarity. The German scientist von Pettau divides the Kalevala into 12 cycles, completely independent of each other. The Italian scientist Comparetti, in an extensive work on Kaleval, comes to the conclusion that it is impossible to assume unity in the runes, that the combination of runes made by Lennrot is often arbitrary and still gives the runes only an illusory unity; finally, that from the same materials it is possible to make other combinations according to some other plan. Lennrot did not open the poem, which was in a hidden state in runes (as Steinthal believed) - he did not open it because such a poem did not exist among the people. The runes in the oral transmission, even if they were connected by the singers several times (for example, several adventures of Veinemeinen or Lemminkanenen), just as little represent an integral epic, like Russian epics or Serbian youth songs. Lennrot himself admitted that when he combined the runes into an epic, some arbitrariness was inevitable.

Indeed, as a check of Lennrot's work with options recorded by himself and other rune collectors showed, Lennrot chose such retellings that were most suitable for the plan he had drawn, rallied runes from particles of other runes, made additions, added separate verses for greater coherence of the story, and the last rune (50) can even be called his composition, although based on folk legends. For his poem, he skillfully utilized all the wealth of Finnish songs, introducing, along with narrative runes, ritual, incantation, family songs, and this gave Kalevala a capital interest as a means of studying the worldview, concepts, life and poetic creativity of the Finnish common people.

Characteristic of the Finnish epic is complete absence historical basis: the adventures of the heroes are distinguished by a purely fabulous character; no echoes of the historical clashes between the Finns and other peoples were preserved in the runes. In Kalevala there is no state, people, society: she knows only the family, and her heroes perform feats not in the name of their people, but to achieve personal goals, like heroes of wonderful fairy tales. The types of heroes are in connection with the ancient pagan views of the Finns: they perform feats not so much with the help of physical strength, but through conspiracies, like shamans. They can take on different forms, turn other people into animals, miraculously move from place to place, cause atmospheric phenomena - frosts, fogs, and so on. The proximity of the heroes to the deities of the pagan period is still very vividly felt. The high importance attached by the Finns to the words of the song and music is also remarkable. A prophetic person who knows conspiracy runes can work miracles, and the sounds extracted by the marvelous musician Veinemeinen from the kantela conquer all nature for him.

In addition to ethnographic, Kalevala is also of high artistic interest. Its advantages include: simplicity and brightness of images, deep and living feeling nature, high lyrical impulses, especially in the depiction of human grief (for example, a mother's longing for her son, children for their parents), healthy humor penetrating some episodes, a successful characterization of the characters. If you look at the Kalevala as an integral epic (Kron's view), then it will turn out to have many shortcomings, which, however, are characteristic of more or less all oral folk epic works: contradictions, repetitions of the same facts, too large sizes of some particulars in relation to whole. The details of some upcoming action are often set out in extremely detail, and the action itself is told in a few insignificant verses. This kind of disproportion depends on the quality of the memory of one or another singer and is often encountered, for example, in our epics. Literature. German translations. K. - Shifner (Helsingfors, 1852) and Paul (Helsingfors, 1884-86); French - Leouzon Le Duc (1867); English - I. M. Crawford (New York, 1889); small excerpts in Russian translation are given by Ya. K. Grot ("Contemporary", 1840); several runes in Russian. translation published by Mr. Gelgren ("Kullervo" - M., 1880; "Aino" - Helsingfors, 1880; runes 1-3 (Helsingfors, 1885); full Russian translation by L.P. Belsky: "Kalevala - Finnish folk epic" ( SPb., 1889. Of the numerous studies on K. (not counting Finnish and Swedish), the main ones are: Jacob Grimm, "Ueber das finnische Epos" ("Kleine Schriften" II); Moritz Eman, "Main features from the ancient Kalevala epic" (Helsingfors, 1847); v. Tettau, "Ueber die epischen Dichtungen de finnischen Volker, b esonders d. Kalewala" (Epfurt, 1873); Steinthal, "Das Epos" (in "Zeitschrift f ür Völkerpsychologie" V., 1867) ; Jul. Krohn, "Die Entstehung der einheitlichen Epen im allgemeinen" (in "Zeitschrift far Völkerpsychologie", XVIII, 1888); his own, "Kalewala Studien" (in German translation from Swedish, ibid.); Eliel Aspelin, "Le Folklore en Finlande" ("Melusine", 1884, no. 3); Andrew Lang, "Custom and Myth" (pp. 156-179); Radloff, in the preface to the 5th volume of "Proben der Volkslitteratur der nurdlichen Turk- St ä mme" ( SPb., 1885, p. XXII). About the wonderful Finnish book by Yu. Kron "The History of Finnish Literature. Part I. Kalevala", published in Helsingfors (1883), see Mr. Mainov's article: "A New Book on the Finnish Folk Epos" (in Zh. ." 1884, May). Independent processing of the extensive materials collected by J. Kron and other Finnish scientists to criticize the Kalevala is represented by the fundamental work of the famous Italian scientist Domenico Comparetti, which was also published in German translation: "Der Kalewala oder die traditionelle Poesie d e r Finnen" (Galle, 1892).

Sun. Miller.

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KALEVALA IN PAINTING

Since the runes of the Karelian-Finnish people were published (in 1849 the “complete” Kalevala was published, consisting of 50 runes, 23 thousand verses), they have become the subject of research by historians, ethnographers, linguists, writers. Composers, poets, artists all over the world constantly turn to Kalevala as a pure source of creativity.
“The Kalevala sagas evoke such a deep feeling in me, as if I had experienced it all myself,” said Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865 - 1931), an outstanding Finnish artist, illustrator of the Kalevala. Paintings and frescoes based on the epic brought him worldwide fame. In the late 80s - early 90s of the 19th century. the artist created his famous Kalevala cycle of paintings.

One of the first works of the cycle - "Protection of Sampo" (1896) The plot of the picture is the heroic battle of the courageous old man Väinemeinen and other men of the Kalevala land with the old woman Loukhi for Sampo - a wonderful mill that gives bread and prosperity, a symbol happy life. On a high crest of a wave in rapid motion, a boat ascended. On his nose is the heroic figure of Väinemöinen, who with his magical singing lulled the people of the hostile country of the North - Pohjola, the country of injustice and evil. The evil and ugly old woman Louhi from the kingdom of Pohjola, who turned into an eagle, overtook Väinenmeinen's boat on her mighty wings and seeks to take Sampo away.

In Russia, the complete Kalevala was published in 1888. In the publication, as in a number of other Russian pre-revolutionary publications epic, there were no illustrations. Individual works illustrations of "Kalevala" were not convincing enough, they did not fully disclose folk essence ancient runes.

The first edition of "Kalevala" in the USSR was carried out in 1933 in Leningrad by the publishing house "Academia". 14 artists worked on the book - representatives of the school of "analytical art". Pavel Nikolayevich Filonov (1883-1941) supervised this work. In the heroes of the epic, the Filonov artists saw ancient prototypes of humanity and tried to reflect them in their drawings for the book. The largest and most talented part of them was performed by Mikhail Petrovich Tsybasov and Alisa Ivanovna Poret.

To the 99th anniversary complete edition"Kalevala" was announced the All-Union competition for the creation of illustrations for the poem. The winners of the competition were the artists Georgy Adamovich Stronk - the second prize, Osmo Borodkin and Myud Mechev - both received the third prize (the first prize was not awarded to anyone).

In the magical power of beautiful ancient runes is the work of Tamara Grigoryevna Yufa. "Kalevala" made her an artist, became main theme her work brought fame and recognition far beyond the borders of Karelia.
Nikolai Ivanovich Bryukhanov set himself the task of philosophical understanding of the ancient runes and their images. The heroes of the epic interest him, first of all, as carriers of certain moral and ethical values.

"Kalevala" has its own pronounced style. Each master creates his own "Kalevala". M. Mechev's engravings are characterized by high epicness and penetrating lyricism, G. Stronk's watercolors are characterized by the psychological expressiveness of the images of the heroes of the epic, N. Bryukhanov's compositions are their comprehension in a philosophical aspect. O. Borodkin managed to subtly display national character people, and T. Yufe to create a poetic-emotional and conditionally decorative environment for the heroes of the epic.

"Kalevala" was and remains one of the main themes in the art of Karelia, and no matter how different the artists, their handwriting, talents and views on the art of illustration, they are all united by "Kalevala", the high humanism of its ancient poems, the ideas of labor and the struggle of the people for your happiness.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Sampo Defense. 1896

Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Revenge of Joukahainen. 1897

Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Curse of Kullervo. 1899

O.P. Borodkin. Kullervo. Illustration for "Kalevala". 1947. Watercolor.

MM. Mechev. Eukahainen. 1956. Watercolor

MM. Mechev. Väinämöinen's sorrow. Screensaver for "Kalevala". 1956. Watercolor

G.A. Stronk. Aino. Illustration for "Kalevala". 1956. Watercolor

T.G. Yufa. Yaroslavna. 1969. Gouache

G.A. Stronk. White Sea fisherman. 1958. Lithography

A.I. Flogged. Väinämöinen plays the kantele

A.I. Flogged. Joukahainen attacks Väinämöinen

Kalevala - this is the name of a street, a hotel and a cinema in Petrozavodsk and a village in Karelia, the Moscow singer Mary has a song "Kalevala", even the musicians of one folk metal group called themselves Kalevala. So what is Kalevala?

Kalevala is the national epic of Finland, created on the basis of the creativity of the peoples who lived on the territory of the current Republic of Karelia. Kalevala consists of 50 songs (runes). The epic does not have a single plot; the work touches upon such topics as the creation of the earth and sky, describes the adventures and exploits of mythical heroes.

The publication of the first edition of Kalevala in 1835 was a turning point in the history of Finnish culture. The Finns did not just feel faith in themselves as an independent nation, faith in the possibilities of their own language and culture. Poem made small people famous all over the world. The second edition was published in 1849. Parts of the Kalevala have been translated into more than 60 languages, and the entire epic has been translated into Russian.

Kalevala is one of the most "folk" epic collections in the world. Heard from the lips of the people, the doctor Elias Lennrot wrote down the legends as a single epic complex, however, adding “three percent” of his own compositions to the original stanzas.

Features of Kalevala: size and runes

Painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela based on the Kalevala, Creation of the Sampo, Fresco, National Museum Finland, 1928

About 2500-3000 years ago, among the inhabitants of the coast Gulf of Finland The ancient Finnish tribes gave rise to an original vocal genre with versification, which was characterized by alliteration within the line and parallelism.

The lines of the verse formed a certain four-bar meter, which became known as the Kalevala meter.

Old rune-singing traditions lived everywhere in Finland until the 16th century. After the Reformation, rune-singing was banned by the Lutheran Church, which branded it as heresy and pagan survivals.

At the same time, the influence of new musical trends that came from the West increased, and the old traditions of oral folk art began to gradually disappear in the western and central regions of the country, eventually remaining only in Karelia.

Thus, folk poetry, which formed the basis of Kalevala, is not the fruit of only one period, but consists of several temporary layers.

The Kalevala is an important part of Finnish culture

Painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela based on the Kalevala, Ilmarinen plows the snake field, mural, National Museum of Finland. Photo: Lebatihem/ Flickr.com, CC BY NC ND 2.0

For many prominent figures in Finnish art, such as the composer Jean Sibelius, the artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela and the architect Eliel Saarinen, the world of the Kalevala was a symbolic source from which they drew inspiration for the transfer human feelings other artistic means.

In Karelia, the homeland of the Kalevala, they were looking for the original Finnish atmosphere, human simplicity, authenticity and beauty.

Influenced by Kalevala and others folklore sources were created works that are still considered the foundation of Finnish art. The Kalevala continues to attract Finnish artists and artists such as the bands Amorphis and Viikate. In 2006, the film Warrior of the North (Jadesoturi) was released, partly based on the motives of Kalevala, and in 2009. was published a translation of the Kalevala into modern Finnish language(Risto Pottonen, Books on Demand).

"Day of the folk epos of Kalevala" - National holiday, is celebrated on February 28 in Finland and also in Karelia. In Finland, this day is also considered the day of Finnish culture.

Kalevala in Russia

Mara drove through the territory of Kalevala right up to White Sea traveled in Finland and Lapland. In the photo: the singer in the Finnish forest.
Photo: Oleg Miheev

In the Soviet Union, films based on Kalevala were filmed back in 1959. But Kalevala has not lost its relevance to this day. This year a translation of the Kalevala into the proper Karelian dialect was published. Kalevala was also translated into Belarusian.

The Karelian Proper dialect is the native language of the rune-singers of the areas where Elias Lönnrot collected most folklore material.

When the Moscow singer Mara released the single "Kalevala" in 2008, he immediately hit the charts. Mara says that she became interested in Kalevala when she was on tour in Karelia, and she was presented with a Russian-language edition. The epic, like the north itself, shook Mara:

“I have always liked fairy tales and legends, and Kalevala for me is a cosmogonic image of the World, ancient prayers and secret knowledge that the people of the North pass from generation to generation through their legend. The territory of both the Russian Kalevala and the Finnish one is a powerful, bewitching forest nature, with transparent lakes, with dense mosses that envelop the stones and cover the ground. This is a land rich in bright berries and miraculous herbs, and where fiery foxes run across the sky - red-orange flashes of the northern lights.

Later, Mara repeatedly returned to the north and drove through the territory of Kalevala right up to the White Sea, traveled through Finland and Lapland. “In general, when you find yourself in a strong and magical place, the place itself tells you about itself, evokes dreams, images,” says Mara.

Even after Kalevala, northern motifs were present in Mary's work, for example, in the song "Arctic". The video for this song was filmed in the northernmost point of the European part of Russia, on the coast of the Arctic Ocean.

Text: Anna Ruohonen and ThisisFINLAND editors, February 2013 Updated: February 2015

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 air. But soon she became bored in heaven, and she went down to the sea. The waves caught Ilmatar, and from the waters of the sea the daughter of the air became pregnant.

Ilmatar carried the fetus for 700 years, but the childbirth did not come. She prayed to the supreme deity of the sky, the Thunderer Ukko, to help her get rid of the burden. After a while, a duck flew past, looking for a place to nest. Ilmatar came to the aid of the duck: she gave her her big knee. The duck built a nest on the knee of the daughter of air and laid seven eggs: six golden, the seventh iron. Ilmatar, moving her knee, dropped the eggs into the sea. The eggs broke, but did not disappear, but underwent a transformation:

The mother came out - the earth is damp;
From the egg, from the top,
The high vault of heaven arose,
From the yolk, from the top,
The bright sun appeared;
From the squirrel, from the top,
A clear moon appeared;
From the egg, from the motley part,
The stars have become in the sky;
From the egg, from the dark part,
Clouds appeared in the air.

And time goes by
Year after year goes by
With the radiance of the young sun,
In the brilliance of the new moon.

Ilmatar, the mother of the waters, the creation of the maiden, sailed the sea for another nine years. On 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, the depths stretched there, where she lay sideways - there a flat shore appeared, where she bowed her head - bays formed. And the earth took on its present form.

But the fruit of Ilmatar - the prophetic singer Väinämöinen - was still 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, moon and stars did not help him. Then Väinämöinen himself began to make his way towards the light:

Touched the fortress gates,
He moved his ring finger,
He opened the bone castle
Small toe of the left leg;
On the hands crawling from the threshold,
On my knees through the canopy.
He fell into the blue sea
He grabbed the waves.

Väinö was born already an adult and spent another eight years at sea, until he finally got out on land.

Rune 2

Väinämöinen lived for many years on bare, treeless land. Then he decided to equip the region. Väinämöinen called Sampsa Pellervoinen, the sower boy. Sampsa sowed the land with grass, bushes and trees. The earth was dressed in flowers and greenery, but only one oak could not sprout.

Then four maidens came out of the sea. They cut the grass and collected it in a big haystack. Then the monster-hero Tursas (Iku-Turso) rose from the sea and set fire to the hay. Väinämöinen put the acorn into the resulting ash, and from the acorn grew a huge oak tree, covering the sky and the sun with its crown.

Väinö thought who could cut down this giant tree, but there was no such hero. The singer prayed to his mother to send him someone to cut down the oak. And then a dwarf came out of the water, grew into a giant, and from the third swing cut down a wonderful oak tree. Whoever lifted his branch - found happiness forever, whoever topped it - became a sorcerer, who cut its leaves - became cheerful and joyful. One of the chips of the wonderful oak swam into Pohjola. The maiden of Pohjola took it for herself so that the sorcerer would make enchanted arrows out of her.

The earth blossomed, birds fluttered in the forest, but only the barley did not rise, the bread did not ripen. Väinämöinen approached blue sea and found six grains at the edge of the water. He raised grains and sowed them near the Kalevala River. The tit told the chanter 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 care and delivered fire to the cleared area as a reward. Väinyo sowed the field, offering a prayer to the earth, Ukko (as the lord of rain), so that they would take care of the ears, the harvest. Shoots appeared on the field, and barley ripened.

Rune 3

Väinämöinen lived in Kalevala, showing his wisdom to the world, and sang songs about the affairs of the past, about the origin of things. Rumor has spread the news of the wisdom and strength of Väinämöinen far and wide. These news were heard by Joukahainen, a resident of Pohjola. Jokahainen envied Väinämöinen's glory and, despite the persuasion of his parents, went to Kalevala in order to shame the singer. On the third day of the journey, Joukahainen collided with Väinämöinen on the road and challenged him to measure the power of songs and the depth of knowledge. Joukahainen began to sing about what he sees and what he knows. Väinämöinen answered him:

Mind of a child, woman's wisdom
Not good for bearded people
And married inappropriately.
You say things start
The depth of eternal deeds!

And then Joukahainen began to boast that it was he who created the sea, the earth, the luminaries. In response, the sage caught him in a lie. Joukahainen challenged Väine to a fight. The song-singer answered him with a song that made the earth tremble, and Joukahainen plunged up to his waist into the swamp. Then he begged for mercy, promised a ransom: wonderful bows, fast boats, horses, gold and silver, bread from his fields. But Väinämöinen did not agree. Then Youkahainen offered to marry his sister, the beautiful Aino. Väinämöinen accepted this offer and let him go. Joukahainen returned home and told his mother 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 marry, and she herself returned home in tears and began to beg her mother not to give her to the old man. Mother persuaded Aino to stop crying, put on a smart dress, jewelry and wait for the groom. The daughter, grieving, put on a dress, jewelry and, determined to commit suicide, went to the sea. On the seashore, she left her clothes and went to swim. Having reached the stone cliff, Aino wanted to rest on it, but the cliff, along with the girl, collapsed into the sea, and she drowned. A 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 found out that his bride was among them. He went there and caught a wonderful fish unlike any other. Väinämöinen tried to cut this fish in order to cook food, but the fish slipped out of the hands of the singer and told him that she was not a fish, but the maiden of the queen of the seas Vellamo and the king of the deep Ahto, that she was the sister of Jukahainen, young Aino. She swam out of the depths of the sea to become the wife of Väinämöinen, but he did not recognize her, mistook her for a fish and now missed her forever. The singer began to beg Aino to return, but the fish had already disappeared into the abyss. Väinämöinen threw his net into the sea and caught everything in it, but he never caught that fish. Reproaching and scolding himself, Väinämöinen returned home. His mother, Ilmatar, advised him not to whine about the lost bride, but to go for a new one, to Pohjola.

Rune 6

Väinämöinen went to gloomy Pohjola, foggy Sariola. But Joukahainen, holding a grudge against Väinämöinen, envious of his talent as a singer, decided to kill the old man. He ambushed him on the road. Seeing the wise Väinämöinen, the vicious bastard fired and hit the horse on the third attempt. The chanter fell into the sea, the waves and wind carried him away from the land. Jukahainen, thinking that he had killed Väinämöinen, returned home and boasted to his mother that he had killed the elder Väinö. The mother condemned the unreasonable son for a bad deed.

Rune 7

For many days the singer sailed in the open sea, where he and he were met by a mighty eagle. Väinämöinen told about how he got into the sea and the eagle, in gratitude for leaving a birch tree in a field for resting birds, offered his help. The eagle delivered the singer to the shore of Pohjola. Väinämöinen could not find his way home and wept bitterly; Louhi found Väinämöinen, took him to her house and welcomed him as a guest. Väinämöinen yearned for his native Kalevala and wanted to return home.

Louhi promised to marry Väinämöinen to her daughter and take him to the Kalevala in exchange for forging the wonderful Sampo mill. Väinämöinen said that he could not forge Sampo, but upon his return to Kalevala he would send the most skilled blacksmith in the world, Ilmarinen, who would make her the desired miracle mill.

After all, he forged the sky,
He forged the roof of the air,
So that there are no traces of fettering
And there are no traces of ticks.

The old woman insisted that only the one who forges Sampo would receive her daughter. But nevertheless, she gathered Väinämöinen on the road, gave him a sledge and ordered 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 were weaving in the sky, above his head.

The old man raised his head
And then he looked at the sky:
Here is an arc in the sky,
A girl sits on an arc,
Weaves golden clothes
Decorates everything with silver.

Väinö offered 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 blunt knife, tie an egg into a knot, grind a stone and cut poles out of ice, “so that pieces do not fall, so that a speck of dust does not fly off.” Only then will she sit in his sleigh. Väinämöinen complied with all her requests. But then the girl asked to cut the boat "from the wreckage of the spindle and lower it into the water without pushing it with her 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 speak the blood, heal the wound. The conspiracies did not help, the blood did not stop - the singer could not remember the birth of iron. And Väinämöinen began to look for someone who could speak a 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 he 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,
Elder brother - water is called,
The younger brother of water is iron,
The middle brother is a hot fire.
Ukko, that supreme creator,
Elder Ukko, god of heaven,
Separated water from the sky
He divided the water from the land;
Only iron was not born,
It wasn't born, it didn't rise...

Then Ukko rubbed his hands, and three maidens appeared on his left knee. They walked across the sky, milk flowing from their breasts. Soft iron came out of the black milk of the older girl, steel came out of the white milk of the middle girl, and weak iron (cast iron) came out of the red younger one. Born iron wanted to see the older brother - fire. But the fire wanted to burn the iron. Then it fled 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 built a forge. The blacksmith was attracted by traces of iron on animal paths, he wanted to put it on fire. Iron was afraid, but Ilmarinen reassured him, promised a miraculous transformation into different things and threw him into the furnace. Iron asked to be taken out of the fire. The blacksmith replied that then iron could become merciless and attack a person. Iron swore a terrible oath that he would never encroach on a person. Ilmarinen took iron out of the fire and forged various things from it.

To make the iron durable, the blacksmith prepared a composition for hardening and asked the bee to bring honey to add it to the composition. The hornet also heard his request, he flew to his master, the evil Hiisi. Hiisi gave poison to the hornet, which he brought instead of a bee to Ilmarinen. The blacksmith, not knowing treason, added poison to the composition and tempered the iron in it. Iron came out of the fire angry, dropped all oaths and attacked people.

The old man, having heard the story of Väinämöinen, said that he now knew the beginning of iron, and proceeded to spell the wound. Calling on Ukko for help, he prepared a miraculous ointment and cured Väinämöinen.

Rune 10

Väinämöinen returned home, on the border of Kalevala he cursed Jukahainen, because of which he ended up in Pohjola and was forced to promise the blacksmith Ilmarinen to the old woman Loukhi. Along 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 get the one who forged the Sampo. Kovatel asked if that was why he was persuading him to go to Pohjola to save himself, and categorically refused to go. Then Väinämöinen told Ilmarinen about a wonderful pine tree in the clearing and offered to go and look at this pine tree, remove the constellation from the top. The blacksmith innocently climbed a tree, and Väinämöinen summoned the wind with the power of song and transferred Ilmarinen to Pohjola.

Louhi met a blacksmith, introduced her to her daughter and asked him to forge Sampo. Ilmarinen agreed and set to work. Ilmarinen worked for four days, but other things came out of the fire: a bow, a shuttle, a cow, a plow. All of them had a "bad quality", all were "evil", so Ilmarinen broke them and threw them back into the fire. Only on the seventh day, the wonderful Sampo came out of the furnace flame, the motley lid spun.

The old woman Loukhi was delighted, carried the Sampo to the Pohjola mountain and buried it there. In the earth, a wonderful mill has taken three deep roots. Ilmarinen asked to give him the beautiful Pohjola, but the girl refused to marry the blacksmith. The sad blacksmith returned home and told Väinyo that the Sampo had been forged.

Rune 11

Lemminkäinen, a cheerful hunter, the hero of Kalevala, is good for everyone, but has one drawback - he is very greedy for 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 woo her. The mother dissuaded her son from a rash act, but he did not obey and set off.

At first, the Saari girls taunted the poor hunter. But over time, Lemminkäinen conquered all the girls of Saari, except for one - Küllikki - the one for whom he set off on a journey. Then the hunter kidnapped Kyllikki to take her as his wife to his poor house. While taking the girl away, the hero threatened: if the girls of Saari tell who took Kyllikki away, he will start a war and destroy all their husbands and boyfriends. Kyllikki resisted at first, 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 an oath from Kyllikki that she would never go to her village and dance with the girls.

Rune 12

Lemminkäinen lived happily with his wife. Somehow, a cheerful hunter went fishing and stayed late, and in the meantime, without waiting for her husband, Küllikki went to the village to dance with the girls. Lemminkäinen's sister told her brother about what his wife had done. Lemminkäinen got angry, decided to leave Kyllikki and go to woo the girl Pohjola. The mother frightened the brave hunter with the sorcerers of the gloomy region, saying that his death awaited there. But Lemminkäinen self-confidently replied that the sorcerers of Pohjola were not afraid of him. Combing his hair with a brush, he threw it on the floor with the words:

“Only then misfortune is evil
Lemminkäinen will befall
If blood spurts from the brush,
If the red one pours.

Lemminkäinen hit the road, in the clearing he offered a prayer to Ukko, Ilmatar and the gods of the forest to help him on a dangerous journey.

Unkindly met the hunter in Pohjola. In the village of Loukhi, a hunter entered a house full of sorcerers and magicians. With his songs, he cursed all the men of Pohjola, deprived them of their strength and magical gift. He cursed everyone, except for 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 so pathetic, without any spells. The evil shepherd did not forgive this Lemminkäinen and decided to lie in wait for the hunter near the waters of the gloomy river Tuonela - the river of the underworld, the river of the dead.

Rune 13

Lemminkäinen asked the old woman Louhi to marry his beautiful daughter to him. In response to the old woman's reproach that he already had a wife, Lemminkäinen announced that he would drive Kyllikki away. Louhi gave the hunter the condition that she would give up her daughter if the hero caught Hiisi the elk. The cheerful hunter said that he would easily catch the elk, but it was not so easy to find and catch him.

Rune 14

Lemminkäinen asked Ukko to help him catch the moose. He also summoned 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 to the hunter with an iron hail. But the mistress of Pohjola set the third condition: to shoot the swan of Tuonela - the river in the underworld of the dead. The hero went down to Manala, where a treacherous shepherd was already waiting for him by the gloomy river. The vicious 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 Pohjöl 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 the left brush. The mother realized that a misfortune had happened to her son. She went to Pohjola for news of him. The old woman Louhi, after persistent questions and threats, confessed that Lemminkäinen had gone to Tuonela to fetch the swan. Having gone in search of her son, the poor mother asked the oak, 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 in the meantime, Lemminkäinen's mother began to search the black waters of Manala with a rake for the body of her beloved son. With incredible efforts, she fished out the remains of the hero, connected them and turned to the bee with a request to bring some honey from the divine halls. 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 abandon the thought of Louhi's daughter and took him home to Kalevala.

Rune 16

Väinämöinen thought of making a boat and sent Pellervoinen to Samps for a tree. Aspen and pine were not suitable for construction, but the mighty oak, nine fathoms in girth, fit perfectly. Väinämöinen “builds a boat with a spell, he knocks down a shuttle by singing from pieces of a large oak.” But he didn't have enough three words to launch the boat. The wise singer went in search of these cherished words, but he could not find them anywhere. In search of these words, he descended into the realm 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 for a boat to cross over to the other side and enter the realm of the dead. The daughter of Mana asked why he descended into their realm alive and unharmed.

Väinämöinen dodged the answer for a long time, but, in the end, admitted that he was looking for magic words for the boat. The daughter of Mana warned the singer that few were returning from their land, and sent him to the other side. Tuonela's mistress met him there and brought him a mug of dead beer. Väinämöinen refused beer and asked him to reveal the treasured three words to him. The mistress said that she did not know them, but all the same, Väinämöinen would never again be able to leave the realm of Mana. She plunged the hero into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of gloomy Tuonela have prepared barriers that should keep the singer. However, the wise Väinö bypassed all the traps and ascended 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 in the kingdom of the dead, what punishments await them.

Rune 17

Väinämöinen went to the giant Vipunen for magic words. He found Vipunen rooted to the ground, covered with forest. Väinämöinen tried to wake up the giant, to open his huge mouth, but Vipunen accidentally swallowed the hero. The song-singer set up a forge in the giant's womb and woke Vipunen with the thunder of the hammer and the 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 hit harder with a hammer:

If I don't hear the words
I don't recognize spells
I don't remember any good ones here.
Words must not be hidden
Parables should not be hidden,
Must not burrow into the ground
And after the death of sorcerers.

Vipunen sang a song "about things of origin". Väinämöinen got out of the belly of the giant and completed his boat.

Rune 18

Väinämöinen decided to take a new boat to Pohjola and marry Louhi's daughter. Ilmarinen's sister, Annikki, having gone out to wash in the morning, saw the singer's boat moored on 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 was saddened and began to get ready to go so as not to miss his bride.

So they rode: Väinämöinen by sea in 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 to marry. May the one whom she herself chooses to be her husband be happy. The less fortunate, let him not be angry. The suitors drove up to Louhi's house. Sariola's mistress advised her daughter to choose Väinämöinen, but she preferred the young blacksmith. Väinämöinen went to Louhi's house, and the beautiful Pohjola refused him.

Rune 19

Ilmarinen asked Louhi about his fiancee. Louhi replied that she would marry her daughter to a blacksmith if he plowed Hiisi's snake field. Louhi's daughter gave advice to the blacksmith on how to plow this field, and the blacksmith did the job. 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 hostess of Pohjola again became stubborn: 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 this fish. Ilmarinen did just that, but on way back the iron eagle ate the pike, leaving only the head. Ilmarinen brought this head as proof to the mistress of Pohjola. Louhi resigned herself, gave her daughter to the blacksmith as a wife. And the saddened Väinämöinen went home, punishing the old grooms from now on never to compete with the young.

Rune 20

A wedding feast is being prepared in Pohjola. In order to prepare a treat, you need to roast a whole bull. They drove a bull: the horns of 100 fathoms, the squirrel jumps from head to tail for a whole month, and there was no such hero who could kill him. But now a sea hero rose from the waters with with an iron fist and with one blow killed a huge bull.

Old Louhi did not know how to brew beer for the wedding. The old man on the stove told Loukhi about the birth of hops, barley, about the first creation of beer by Osmotar, the daughter of Kaleva. Having learned about how beer is brewed, the hostess of Sariola began to prepare it. The forests thinned out: they chopped firewood for cooking, the springs dried up: they collected water for beer, filled half of Pohjola with smoke.

Louhi sent messengers to invite everyone to the big wedding, everyone except Lemminkäinen. If Lemminkäinen comes, he will start a fight at the feast, he will make old men and girls laugh.

Rune 21

Louhi greeted the guests. She ordered the slave to better accept her son-in-law, to show him special honors. The guests sat down at the table, began to eat, drink foamy beer. Old Väinämöinen raised his mug and asked the guests if someone would sing the song “so that our day is cheerful, so that our evening is glorified?” But no one dared to sing under the wise Väinämöinen, then 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 girlish life and about the unsweetened life of a wife in a strange house. The bride began to cry bitterly, but she was consoled.

Rune 23

The bride is taught and advised on how she should live as a married woman. 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 instructed on how he should treat the bride, they are not ordered to treat her badly. The beggar 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 met the mother of the blacksmith Locke, spoke affectionately to her daughter-in-law, and praised her in every possible way. The newlyweds and guests were seated at the table, treated to their heart's content. Väinämöinen, in his drinking song, praised his native land, its men and women, the host and mistress, the matchmaker and bridesmaid, and guests. After the wedding feast, the singer went home. On the way, his sleigh broke down, and the hero asked the locals if there was such a daredevil here who would go down to Tuonela for a gimlet to fix his sleigh. He was told that there was none. Väinämöinen had to go down to Tuonela himself, after which he repaired the sled 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 venture, but the hunter remained adamant. Then the mother spoke about the dangers that lie in wait for Lemminkäinen on the way to Pohjola, reproached that her son had forgotten early about how he had already died once in that land of sorcerers. Lemminkäinen did not listen and set off.

On the road, Lemminkäinen met the first death - a fiery eagle. The hunter escaped by conjuring a flock of hazel grouse. Further, the hero met with the second death - an abyss filled with red-hot blocks. The hunter turned to the supreme god Ukko, and he sent a snowfall. Lemminkäinen built an ice bridge over the abyss with sorcery. Then Lemminkäinen met with the third death - a ferocious bear and a wolf, on which, with the help of magic, he released a herd of sheep. At the very gates of Pohjola, the hunter met a huge snake. The hero bewitched her, uttering magic words and remembering the birth of the snake from the saliva of Syuetar (an evil water creature) through the witchcraft of Hiisi, and the snake cleared the way for the hunter to Pohyola.

Rune 27

Having passed all the dangers, the cheerful Lemminkäinen arrived in Pohjola, where he was unkindly received. The angry hero began to scold the owner and hostess for secretly celebrating their daughter's wedding and now they meet him so hostilely. The owner of Pohjola challenged Lemminkäinen to compete in witchcraft and sorcery. The hunter won the contest, then the pogolet challenged him to fight with swords. Lemminkäinen also won here, he killed the owner of Pohjola and cut off his head. Enraged, Louhi summoned armed warriors to avenge her husband's death.

Rune 28

Lemminkäinen hurriedly left Pohjola and flew home in the form of an eagle. At home, he told his mother about what had happened in Sariol, that the soldiers of Louhi were going to war against him, and asked where he could hide and wait out the invasion. The mother reproached the wild hunter for having gone to Pohjola, incurring such danger, and offered to go for three years to a small island beyond the seas, where his father had lived during the wars. But before that, she took a terrible oath from the hunter not to fight for ten years. Lemminkäinen swore.

Rune 29

Lemminkäinen went to a small island. The locals greeted him. With sorcery, the hunter charmed the local girls, seduced them and lived on the island in joy 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 fled the island, which the girls and women bitterly regretted.

A strong storm at sea broke the hunter's boat, and he was forced to swim to the shore. On the shore, Lemminkäinen got a new boat and sailed to his native shores on it. 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 having gone to Pohjola, incurring the wrath of the Pohjola people, and now his whole family has died, and his beloved mother has been killed. Then the hero noticed a path leading into the forest. Walking along it, the hunter found a hut, and in it his old mother. The mother told how the people of Pohjola ruined their home. The hunter promised to build new house, even better than before, and take revenge on Pohjola for all the troubles, told about how he lived all these years on a distant island.

Rune 30

Lemminkäinen could not accept the fact that he had taken an oath for ten years not to fight. He again did not listen to his mother's persuasions, again he gathered for war with Pohjola and invited his faithful friend Tiera to go on a 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 cast spells to drive away the frost.

Lemminkäinen and his friend Tiera left the canoe in the ice, and they themselves reached the shore on foot, where, saddened and depressed, they wandered through the wilderness until they finally returned home.

Rune 31

Two brothers lived: Untamo, the younger, and Kalervo, the eldest. Untamo did not love his brother, he plotted all sorts of intrigues for him. There was a feud between the brothers. Untamo gathered warriors and killed Kalervo and all his family, except for one pregnant woman, whom Untamo took with him as a slave. The woman gave birth to a child, who is called Kullervo. Even in the cradle, the child promised to become a hero. Grown up Kullervo began to think about revenge.

Untamo, worried 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 and fishing in the sea. Then they decided to throw the child into the fire, but the boy did not burn out. They decided to hang Kullervo on an oak tree, but on the third day they found him sitting on a bough and drawing warriors on the bark of a tree. Untamo resigned himself and left the boy as his slave. When Kullervo grew up, they began to give him work: to nurse a child, cut wood, weave wattle, thresh rye. But Kullervo is good for nothing, he ruined all the work: he tormented the child, chopped down a good timber, spun the wattle fence up to the sky without an entrance or exit, turned the grain into dust. Then Untamo decided to sell the worthless slave to the blacksmith Ilmarinen:

The blacksmith gave a big price:
He gave away two old boilers,
Rusty three iron hooks,
Kos heels he gave unfit,
Six hoes bad, unnecessary
For the bad boy
For a very bad slave.

Rune 32

The wife of Ilmarinen, the daughter of the old woman Loukha, appointed Kullervo as a shepherd. And for laughter and for insult, the young mistress prepared bread for the shepherd: wheat on the top, oatmeal on the bottom, and baked a stone in the middle. She handed this bread to Kullervo and told the shepherd not to eat it before he drove the flock into the forest. The hostess released the herd, cast a spell on him from adversity, calling on Ukko, Mielikki (the queen of the forest), Tellervo (daughter of the king of the forest) as assistants and begging them to protect the herd; asked Otso - a bear, beauty with a honey paw - not to touch the herd, to bypass it.

Rune 33

Kullervo was tending the flock. In the afternoon the shepherd sat down to rest and eat. He took out the bread baked by the young mistress and began to cut it with a knife:

And the knife rested on a stone
The blade is naked, hard;
The blade of the knife broke
The blade broke into pieces.

Kullervo was upset: he got this knife from his father, this is the only memory of his family carved by Untamo. Furious, Kullervo decided to take revenge on the hostess, Ilmarinen's wife, for ridicule. The shepherd drove the flock into the swamp and wild animals ate all the cattle. Kullervo turned the bears into cows and the wolves into calves and drove them home under the guise of a herd. On the way, he ordered them to tear the hostess to pieces: “Only she will look at you, she will only bend down to milk!” The young mistress, seeing the herd, asked Ilmarinen's mother to go and milk the cows, but Kullervo, reproaching her, said that a good mistress milks the cows herself. Then Ilmarinen's wife went to the barn, and the bears and wolves tore her to pieces.

Rune 34

Kullervo ran away from the blacksmith's house and decided to take revenge on Untamo for all the insults, for the destruction 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 it. Kullervo went looking and found his family on the border of Lapland. The mother greeted her son with tears, said that she considered him missing, like her eldest daughter, who had gone berry-deep, but never returned.

Rune 35

Kullervo remained to live in his parents' house. But even there there was no use for his heroic strength. Everything that the shepherd did turned out to be useless, spoiled. And then the grieved father sent Kullervo to the city to pay taxes. On the way back, Kullervo met the girl, lured her into his sleigh with gifts, and seduced her. It turned out that this girl is the same missing Kullervo sister. In desperation, 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, 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 happened 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 weep. Having come to the Untamo clan, Kullervo exterminated both women and men, ruined their houses. Returning to his land, Kullervo did not find any of his relatives, everyone died and the house was 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 a new wife for himself. FROM with great difficulty he forged a maiden of gold and silver:

He forged, not sleeping, at night,
During the day he forged non-stop.
Made her legs and arms
But the leg cannot go,
And the hand does not hug.
He forges the girl's ears,
But they cannot hear.
He skillfully made the mouth
And her eyes are alive
But the mouth remained without words
And eyes without a gleam of feeling.

When the blacksmith went to bed with his new wife, the side with which he was in contact with the statue completely froze. Convinced of the unsuitability of the golden wife, Ilmarinen offered her as a wife to Väinämöinen. The singer refused and advised the blacksmith to throw the precious girl into the fire and forge many necessary things from gold and silver, or take her to other countries and give her to gold-thirsty suitors. Väinämöinen forbade future generations to bow before gold.

Rune 38

Ilmarinen went to Pohjola to woo the sister of his former wife, but in response to his proposal he heard only abuse and reproaches. The angry blacksmith kidnapped the girl. On the way, the girl treated the blacksmith disdainfully, humiliating him in every possible way. Enraged, Ilmarinen turned the evil girl into a seagull.

The sad blacksmith returned home with nothing. In response to Väinämöinen's questions, he told how he was driven out in Pohjola, and how the land of Sariola prospers, because there is a magical Sampo mill.

Rune 39

Väinämöinen invited Ilmarinen to go to Pohjola, to take away the Sampo mill from the mistress of Sariola. The blacksmith replied that it was very difficult to get the Sampo, the evil Louhi hid it in the rock, the miracle mill is held by three roots that have grown into the ground. But the blacksmith agreed to go to Pohjola, he forged a wonderful fire blade for Väinämöinen. As he was getting ready to go, Väinämöinen heard crying. It was the boat crying, missing the exploits. Väinämöinen promised the boat to take her on a journey. With spells, the singer lowered the boat into the water, Väinämöinen himself, Ilmarinen, and their squad got into it and sailed to Sariola. Passing by the dwelling of the cheerful hunter Lemminkäinen, the heroes took him with them and went together to save Sampo from the hands of the evil Louhi.

Rune 40

The boat with the heroes sailed to a lonely cape. Lemminkäinen cursed the river streams so that they would not break the boat and harm the soldiers. He turned to Ukko, Kiwi-Kimmo (deity of pitfalls), the son of Kammo (deity of horror), Melatar (goddess of turbulent currents), with a request not to harm their boat. Suddenly, the boat of heroes stopped, no amount of effort could move it. It turned out that the prow was held by a huge pike. Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen and the team caught a wonderful pike and went on. On the way the fish was boiled and eaten. Väinämöinen made himself a kantele from fish bones - musical instrument kind of goose. But there was no true craftsman on earth to play the kantele.

Rune 41

Väinämöinen started playing the kantele. The daughters of creation, the maidens of the air, the daughter of the moon and the sun, Ahto, mistress of the sea, gathered to hear him wonderful game. Tears appeared in the eyes of the listeners 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 Louhi 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 receive half, then they would take everything by force. The mistress of Pohjola summoned all her warriors against the heroes of Kalevala. But the prophetic chanter took the kantele, began to play on it, and with his playing enchanted the drunkards, plunged them into a dream.

The heroes went in search of a mill and found it in a rock behind iron doors with nine locks and ten bolts. Väinämöinen opened the gate with spells. Ilmarinen smeared the hinges with oil so that the gate would not creak. However, even the braggart Lemminkäinen was unable to raise the Sampo. Only with the help of a bull, the people of Kalevala were able to plow up the roots of Sampo and transfer it to the ship.

The heroes decided to transport the mill to a distant island "unscathed and calm and not visited by the sword." On the way home, Lemminkäinen wanted to sing to pass the way. Väinämöinen warned him that now was not the time to sing. Lemminkäinen, not listening to wise advice, began to sing bad voice, and woke up the crane with loud sounds. The crane, frightened by the terrible singing, flew to the North and woke up the inhabitants of Pohjola.

When the old woman Louhi discovered that Sampo was missing, she became terribly angry. She guessed who stole her treasure and where it was being taken. She asked Udutar (Maid of the Fog) to send mist and darkness on the kidnappers, the monster Iku-Turso - to drown the Kalevala people in the sea, to return Sampo to Pohjola, she asked Ukko to raise a storm to delay their boat until she herself catches up with them and takes her jewel. Väinämöinen magically got rid of the fog, spells from Iku-Turso, but the storm that broke out took away the wonderful kantele from pike bones. Väinämöinen grieved for the loss.

Rune 43

The evil Louhi sent the Pohjola warriors in pursuit of the Sampo kidnappers. When the ship of the Pohölians overtook the fugitives, Väinämöinen took out 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 like a handful of claws, squeezing,
In an instant, half the boat picked up:
Tied up under the knees;
And the sides to the shoulders, like wings,
I put on the steering wheel like a tail;
One hundred men sat on the wings,
A thousand sat on the tail,
A hundred swordsmen sat down,
A thousand brave shooters.
Louhi spread her wings
She rose like an eagle into the air.
Flapping its wings high
Väinämöinen after:
Beats with one wing on a cloud,
It drags another on the water.

The mother of water, Ilmatar, warned Väinämöinen of the approach of the monstrous bird. When Louhi overtook the Kalevala boat, the wise song-singer again proposed to the sorceress that Sampo should be fairly divided. The mistress of Pohjola again refused, seized the mill with her claws and tried to drag it off the boat. The heroes pounced on Louhi, trying to interfere. However, with one finger, Louhi the bird nevertheless clung to the wonderful mill, but did not hold it, dropped it into the sea and broke it.

Large wreckage of the mill sank into the sea, and therefore there are so many riches in the sea that will not be transferred forever. Small fragments were washed ashore by the current and waves. Väinämöinen collected these fragments and planted them in the Kalevala soil so that the region would be rich.

And the evil mistress of Pohjola, who got only a motley lid from the miracle mill (which caused poverty in Sariola), began to threaten in revenge to steal the sun and the moon, hide them in the rock, freeze all the seedlings with frost, beat the crops with hail, send the bear out of the forest to herds of Kalevala, let pestilence on people. However, Väinämöinen replied that with the help of Ukko, he would remove 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 crying in the forest. The birch complained about how hard it was for her: in the spring they cut her bark to collect juice, the girls knit brooms from her branches, the shepherd weaves boxes and scabbards from her bark. Väinämöinen consoled the birch and made a kantele out of it, better than before. The singer made nails and pegs for the kantele from the singing of a cuckoo, strings from the tender hair of a girl. When the kantele was ready, Väinö began to play, and the whole world listened to his playing with admiration.

Rune 45

Louhi, who heard rumors about the prosperity of Kalevala, envied her prosperity and decided to send pestilence on the people of Kalevala. At this time, the pregnant Lovyatar (goddess, mother of diseases) came to Louhi. Louhi adopted Lovyatar and helped to give birth. Lovyatar had 9 sons - all diseases and misfortunes. The old woman Louhi sent them to the people of Kaleva. However, Väinämöinen saved his people from illness and death with spells and ointments.

Rune 46

The old woman Loukhi learned that in Kalevala they were cured of the diseases she had sent. Then she decided to set the bear on the herds of Kaleva. Väinämöinen asked the blacksmith Ilmarinen to forge a spear and went hunting for a bear - Otso, a forest apple, a 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 had not killed him - the bear himself fell from the tree and tore his skin-clothes and turned to the beast, as if inviting him to visit.

A feast was arranged in the village on the occasion of a successful hunt, and Väinö told how the gods and goddesses of the forest had helped him in the bear hunt.

Rune 47

Väinämöinen played the kantele. The sun and the moon, having heard the wonderful game, descended lower. The old woman Loukhi seized them, hid them in the rock and stole the fire from the hearths of Kaleva. A cold, hopeless night fell on the Kalevala. Even in the sky, in the dwelling of Ukko, darkness fell. People were sad, Ukko got worried, left his house, but did not find either the sun or the moon. Then the Thunderer struck out a spark, hid it in a bag, and the bag in a casket and gave this casket to the airy maiden, "so that a new month grows, a new sun appears." The maiden began to cradle the heavenly fire in the cradle, to nurse it in her arms. Suddenly the fire fell out of the nanny's hands, flew through the nine heavens and fell to the ground.

Väinämöinen, seeing the fall of a spark, said to the forger Ilmarinen: “Let's see what kind of fire fell to the ground!”, And the heroes set off 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 how to get rid of the evil fire. Then the whitefish absorbed the spark of Ukko. The lake calmed down, but the whitefish began to suffer from pain. Pied took pity on the whitefish and swallowed it along with the spark, and also began to suffer from an unbearable burning sensation. Pied was swallowed by a gray pike, and the fever began to pester her too. Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen came to the shore of Lake Alue and cast their nets to catch the gray pike. The women of Kalevala helped them, but there are no gray pike in the nets. The second time they threw the nets, now men helped them, but again there was no gray pike in the nets.

Rune 48

Väinämöinen wove a giant net out of flax. Together with Ilmarinen, with the help of Vellamo (the sea queen) and Ahto (the sea king), who sent the sea hero, they finally catch the gray pike. The son of the sun, helping the heroes, cut the pike and took out a spark from it. But the spark slipped out of the hand of the son of the Sun, scorched Väinämöinen's beard, burned the hands and cheeks of the blacksmith Ilmarinen, ran through the forests and fields, burned half of Pohjola. However, the singer caught the fire, enchanted it and brought it to the dwellings of Kaleva. Ilmarinen suffered from the burns of magical fire, but, knowing the spells against burns, he was cured.

Rune 49

There was already a fire in the dwellings of Kaleva, but there was no sun and no moon in the sky. The inhabitants asked Ilmarinen to forge new luminaries. Ilmarinen set to work, but the wise chanter tells him that:

You've done a futile job!
Gold will not become a month
Silver will not be the sun!

Despite this, Ilmarinen continued his work, he raised the new sun and month on tall fir trees. But the precious luminaries did not shine. Then Väinämöinen began to find out where the real sun and moon had gone, and found out that the old woman Louhi had stolen them. Väinö went to Pohjola, where its inhabitants greeted him disrespectfully. 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 yield. Väinö returned home and asked the blacksmith Ilmarinen to forge a weapon that could open the rock. Ilmarinen set to work.

Meanwhile, the mistress of Pohjola, turning into a hawk, flew to Kaleva, to the house of Ilmarinen, and found out 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 the dungeon. Then, in the form of a dove, she told the blacksmith that the lights were again in their places. The blacksmith, rejoicing, showed Väinämöinen the luminaries. Väinämöinen greeted them and wished that they would always decorate the sky and bring happiness to people.

Rune 50

The girl Maryatta, the daughter of one of the husbands of Kalevala, became pregnant from the eaten cranberries. Her mother and father kicked her out of the house. Maryatta's maid went to evil person Ruotus, with a request to shelter the poor thing. Ruotus and his wicked wife put Maryatta in a barn. In that barn Maryatta gave birth to a son. Suddenly the boy was gone. 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 the elder Virokannas. Väinämöinen also came. The song-singer offered to kill the child born from the berry. The child began to reproach the elder for the unfair sentence, 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 magical song and forever sailed away from Kalevala “to where earth and sky converge together.”

epic is literary genre, as independent as lyrics and drama, telling about the distant past. It is always voluminous, extended for a long time in space and time, and extremely eventful. "Kalevala" - Karelian-Finnish epic poetry. For fifty folk songs (runes) the heroes of "Kalevala" are sung. There is no historical basis in these songs. The adventures of the heroes have a purely fabulous character. The epic also does not have a single plot, as in the Iliad, but summary"Kalevala" will be presented here.

Folklore processing

The Karelian folk epic began to be processed and written down only in the nineteenth century. A well-known Finnish doctor and linguist was collecting various options epic songs, made a selection, trying to plotly connect the individual parts with each other. The first edition of "Kalevala" was published in 1835, and only after almost fifteen years - the second. It was translated into Russian epic in 1888 and published in the "Pantheon of Literature" by the poet L.P. Belsky. Public opinion was unanimous: "Kalevala" is literature and a pure source of new information about the religious pre-Christian ideas of the Karelians and Finns.

The name of the epic was given by Lönnrot himself. Kalevala - that was the name of the country in which they live and perform feats. Only the name of the country is a little shorter - Kaleva, because the suffix la in the language denotes just the place of residence: living in Kaleva. It was there that the people settled their heroes: Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, Lemminkäinen - all three were sung as the sons of this fertile land.

The composition of the epic

A poem of fifty runes was formed from various separate songs - there were both lyrical and epic, and even magical content. Lönnrot recorded most of it directly from the lips of the peasants, and some have already been recorded by folklore collectors. The most songful regions turned out to be in Russian Karelia, in and in the Arkhangelsk regions, on the banks of Ladoga and in Finnish Karelia, there the people's memory has preserved very, very much.

The runes don't show us historical realities, not a single war with other nations is reflected there. Moreover, neither the people, nor society, nor the state are shown, as in Russian epics. In the runes, the family rules everything, but even family relationships do not set goals for the heroes to perform feats.

Bogatyrs

The ancient pagan views of the Karelians give the heroes of the epic not only physical strength, and not even so much of it, but magical powers, the ability to conjure, speak, make magical artifacts. Bogatyrs have the gift of shapeshifting, they can turn anyone into anything, travel, instantly moving to any distance, and control the weather and atmospheric phenomena. Even a brief summary of "Kalevala" will not do without fabulous events.

The songs of the Karelian-Finnish epic are diverse, and it is impossible to fit them into a single plot. Kalevala, like many other epics, opens with the creation of the world. The sun, stars, moon, sun, earth appear. The daughter of the wind gives birth to Väinämöinen, it will be main character epic, which will equip the earth and sow barley. Among the many and varied adventures of the hero, there is one that can claim to be the beginning of a basic, albeit thread-like plot.

wonderful boat

Väinämöinen meets by chance with a maiden of the North, as beautiful as day. In response to the proposal to become his wife, she agrees on the condition that the hero builds a magical boat for her from fragments of a spindle. The inspired hero set to work so zealously that the ax could not hold back and injured himself. The blood did not subside in any way, I had to visit a healer. Here is the story of how the iron came about.

The healer helped, but the hero never returned to work. With a spell, he raised his wind grandfather, who sought out and delivered the most skilled blacksmith, Ilmarinen, to Pohjola, the country of the North. The blacksmith obediently forged for the maiden of the North the magical Sampo mill, which brings happiness and wealth. These events contain the first ten runes of the epic.

Treason

In the eleventh rune, a new heroic character appears - Lemminkäinen, completely replacing the previous events from the songs. This hero is warlike, a real sorcerer and a great lover of women. Having introduced the listeners to the new hero, the narration returned to Väinämöinen. What the hero in love did not have to endure in order to achieve his goal: he even descended into the underworld, let himself be swallowed by the giant Viipunen, but still got the magic words that were needed to build a boat from a spindle, on which he sailed to Pohjola to marry.

It wasn't there. During the absence of the hero, the northern maiden managed to fall in love with the skilled blacksmith Ilmarinen and married him, refusing to fulfill her word given to Väinämöinen. Not only the wedding is described in detail here, with all its customs and traditions, even the songs that were sung there are given, clarifying the duty and obligation of the husband to his wife and the wife to her husband. This storyline ends only in the twenty-fifth song. Unfortunately, the very brief content of "Kalevala" does not contain the exceptionally sweet and numerous details of these chapters.

sad tale

Further, six runes tell about the remote adventures of Lemminkäinen in the northern region - in Pohjola, where the Northern one reigns, not only no longer a virgin, but also spiritually corrupted, with an unkind, acquisitive and selfish character. With the thirty-first rune begins one of the most piercing and deeply sensual stories, one of the best parts of the entire epic.

For five songs, it tells about the sad fate of the beautiful hero Kullervo, who unknowingly seduced his own sister. When the whole situation was revealed to the heroes, both the hero himself and his sister could not bear the sin they had committed and died. This is a very sad story, written (and, apparently, translated) exquisitely, penetratingly, with great feeling sympathy for the characters so severely punished by fate. The epic "Kalevala" gives many such scenes, where love for parents, for children, for native nature is sung.

War

The next runes tell how three heroes united (including the unlucky blacksmith) in order to take away the magical treasure - Sampo from the evil Northern maiden. The heroes of Kalevala did not give up. Nothing could be decided by battle here, and it was decided, as always, to resort to sorcery. Väinämöinen, like our Novgorod gusler Sadko, built himself a musical instrument - a kantele, enchanted nature with his play and put all northerners to sleep. Thus the heroes stole Sampo.

The Mistress of the North pursued them and plotted against them until the Sampo fell into the sea. She sent monsters, pestilence, all kinds of disasters to Kaleva, and meanwhile Väinämöinen did new tool, on which he played even more magically than he returned the sun and moon stolen by the mistress of Pohjola. Having collected the fragments of Sampa, the hero did a lot of good things for the people of his country, a lot of good deeds. Here, the Kalevala almost ends with a rather long joint adventure of three heroes. Retelling this story is no substitute for reading a work that has inspired many artists to create great works. This must be read in its entirety to be truly enjoyed.

divine baby

So, the epic came to its last rune, very symbolic. This is practically an apocrypha for the birth of the Savior. The maiden from Kaleva - Maryatta - gave birth to a divinely wonderful son. Väinämöinen was even afraid of the power that this two-week-old child possessed, and advised him to kill him immediately. What the baby hero shamed, reproaching for injustice. The hero listened. He finally sang a magical song, got into a wonderful canoe and left Karelia to a new and more worthy ruler. Thus ends the epic "Kalevala".