"LEMMINKAINEN'S HOME-FARING
"It was in pursuit of the Swan of Tuonela that Lemminkainen, the reckless magician-hero of 'The Kalevala,' lost his life. The capture of the sacred bird was the last test of his courage and devotion before he could win the bride of his heart. But Nasshut, the crippled shepherd, who bore a grudge against Lemminkainen, watched for his approach, hurled at him a serpent snatched from the death-stream, and flung him, mortally wounded, into the 'coal-black waters':
"'There the blood-stained son of death-landThere Tuoni's son and heroCuts in pieces Lemminkainen.'
"The Finnish hero shares the fate of Osiris. But the fifteenth rune relates how his aged and faithful mother implores 'the immortal blacksmith' Ilmarinen to forge her a huge rake:
"'Lemminkainen's faithful motherRakes the river of Tuoni,
"To her belt in mud and waterDeeper, deeper rakes the death-stream,Rakes the river's deepest caverns.'
"By untiring perseverance she recovers all the missing members, knits them together by her incantations, and finally restores her son to life. When his thoughts revert to the woman he loves, for whose sake he has accomplished a series of heroic exploits, his mother persuades him in these words:
"'Let the swan swim on in safetyIn the whirlpool of Tuoni.Leave the maiden in the NorthlandWith her charms and fading beautyWith thy fond and faithful motherGo at once to KalevalaTo thy native fields and fallows.'[137]
"Then the hero, consoled by the maternal love, which inflicts no sting and exacts no useless sacrifices, starts on his homeward way."
FOOTNOTES:[134]Elias Lönnrot, the Finnish scholar, issued the "Kalevala" ("a word which signifies the dwelling of the heroes, 'sons of Kaleva'—the Walhalla of Scandinavian mythology"), the result of his researches and labors among the national folklore of the Finns, in 1835. "The 'Kalevala' depicts the ancient Finnish people as a race of free barbarians endowed with many noble qualities, whose religion was a mild nature-worship, demanding no blood sacrifices. The primitive inhabitants of Finland—or Suomi, as it is still called in the vernacular—believed that all objects in nature were inhabited and ruled by invisible deities. They had more faith in thewordthan in thesword; therefore the bard and the rune-singer—he who possessedthe word of origin—was more honored by them than the warrior, the shedder of blood. For them the word of origin lay concealed in the heart of nature. This tendency to seek mind in the visible world is also characteristic of all the literature and art of modern Finland. It has been transmitted to a whole series of poets, whether, like Runeberg, Franzen, and the elder Topelius, they sang in Swedish, or adopted the Finnish idiom with Lönnrot and his successors. To this imaginative people the making of songs was a part of existence—almost a primal instinct. Of the three principal personages of 'The Kalevala,' Vainamoinen, the Finnish Orpheus, stands out as the ideal hero of the race. Profound wisdom and the power of magic song are his special attributes."—ROSA NEWMARCH.[135]See page 12 (foot-note).[136]See page 75 (foot-note).[137]This and the preceding verse translations are from the English version of "The Kalevala" by John Martin Crawford.
FOOTNOTES:
FOOTNOTES:
[134]Elias Lönnrot, the Finnish scholar, issued the "Kalevala" ("a word which signifies the dwelling of the heroes, 'sons of Kaleva'—the Walhalla of Scandinavian mythology"), the result of his researches and labors among the national folklore of the Finns, in 1835. "The 'Kalevala' depicts the ancient Finnish people as a race of free barbarians endowed with many noble qualities, whose religion was a mild nature-worship, demanding no blood sacrifices. The primitive inhabitants of Finland—or Suomi, as it is still called in the vernacular—believed that all objects in nature were inhabited and ruled by invisible deities. They had more faith in thewordthan in thesword; therefore the bard and the rune-singer—he who possessedthe word of origin—was more honored by them than the warrior, the shedder of blood. For them the word of origin lay concealed in the heart of nature. This tendency to seek mind in the visible world is also characteristic of all the literature and art of modern Finland. It has been transmitted to a whole series of poets, whether, like Runeberg, Franzen, and the elder Topelius, they sang in Swedish, or adopted the Finnish idiom with Lönnrot and his successors. To this imaginative people the making of songs was a part of existence—almost a primal instinct. Of the three principal personages of 'The Kalevala,' Vainamoinen, the Finnish Orpheus, stands out as the ideal hero of the race. Profound wisdom and the power of magic song are his special attributes."—ROSA NEWMARCH.
[134]Elias Lönnrot, the Finnish scholar, issued the "Kalevala" ("a word which signifies the dwelling of the heroes, 'sons of Kaleva'—the Walhalla of Scandinavian mythology"), the result of his researches and labors among the national folklore of the Finns, in 1835. "The 'Kalevala' depicts the ancient Finnish people as a race of free barbarians endowed with many noble qualities, whose religion was a mild nature-worship, demanding no blood sacrifices. The primitive inhabitants of Finland—or Suomi, as it is still called in the vernacular—believed that all objects in nature were inhabited and ruled by invisible deities. They had more faith in thewordthan in thesword; therefore the bard and the rune-singer—he who possessedthe word of origin—was more honored by them than the warrior, the shedder of blood. For them the word of origin lay concealed in the heart of nature. This tendency to seek mind in the visible world is also characteristic of all the literature and art of modern Finland. It has been transmitted to a whole series of poets, whether, like Runeberg, Franzen, and the elder Topelius, they sang in Swedish, or adopted the Finnish idiom with Lönnrot and his successors. To this imaginative people the making of songs was a part of existence—almost a primal instinct. Of the three principal personages of 'The Kalevala,' Vainamoinen, the Finnish Orpheus, stands out as the ideal hero of the race. Profound wisdom and the power of magic song are his special attributes."—ROSA NEWMARCH.
[135]See page 12 (foot-note).
[135]See page 12 (foot-note).
[136]See page 75 (foot-note).
[136]See page 75 (foot-note).
[137]This and the preceding verse translations are from the English version of "The Kalevala" by John Martin Crawford.
[137]This and the preceding verse translations are from the English version of "The Kalevala" by John Martin Crawford.