{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_24948/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_24948","id":"gutenberg_24948","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24948","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore -- Finland","Kalevala -- Adaptations","Legends -- Finland"],"text":"Produced by Joe Longo and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHILDREN'S LIBRARY\n\n[Illustration: Snail]\n\n\nFINNISH LEGENDS\n\n\n[Illustration: Witch & Moon]\n\n[Illustration: Butterfly]\n\n\n\n\n_THE CHILDREN'S LIBRARY._\n\n\nTHE BROWN OWL.\nTHE CHINA CUP.\nSTORIES FROM FAIRYLAND.\nTALES FROM THE MABINOGION.\nTHE STORY OF A PUPPET.\nTHE LITTLE PRINCESS.\nIRISH FAIRY TALES.\nAN ENCHANTED GARDEN.\nLA BELLE NIVERNAISE.\nTHE FEATHER.\nFINN AND HIS COMPANIONS.\nNUTCRACKER AND MOUSE-KING.\nTHE PENTAMERONE.\nFINNISH LEGENDS.\n\n(_Others in the Press._)\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: FINNISH KOTA.]\n\n\n\n\nFINNISH LEGENDS\nFOR\nENGLISH CHILDREN\n\n\nBY\nR. EIVIND\n\n\n_SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS_\n\n\nLONDON\nT. FISHER UNWIN\n1893\n\n[Illustration: T. Fisher Unwin Printer's Mark]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe following stories cover almost all of the songs of the Kalevala, the\nepic of the Finnish people. They will lead the English child into a new\nregion in the fairy world, yet one where he will recognise many an old\nfriend in a new form. The very fact that they _do_ open up a new portion\nof the world of the marvellous, will, it is hoped, render them all the\nmore acceptable, and perhaps, when the child who reads them grows up to\nmanhood, will inspire an actual interest in the race that has composed\nthem.\n\nAnd this race and their land will repay study, for nowhere will one find\na more beautiful land than Finland, nor a braver, truer, and more\nliberty-loving people than the Finns, although, alas, their love for\nliberty may soon be reduced to an apparently hopeless longing for a lost\nideal. For the iron hand of Russian despotism has already begun to close\non Finland with its relentless grasp, and, in spite of former oaths and\npromises from the Russian Tsars, the future of Finland looks blacker and\nblacker as time goes on. Yet it is often the unforeseen that happens,\nand let us trust that this may be so in Finland's case, and that a\nbrighter future may soon dawn, and the dark clouds that now are\nthreatening may be once more dispersed.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn these stories Mr. T. M. Crawford's metrical translation of the\nKalevala has been quite closely followed, even to the adoption of his\nAnglicised, or rather Anglo-Swedish, forms for proper names, though in\nsome instances the original Finnish form has been reverted to. This was\ndone reluctantly, but the actual Finnish forms would seem formidable to\nchildren in many instances, and would probably be pronounced even\nfarther from the original than as they are given here. It is to be\nhoped, moreover, that those who may now read these stories will later\non read an actual translation of the Kalevala, and this is an\nadditional reason for adopting the terminology of the only English\ntranslation as yet made.[1]\n\n[1] A Finnish newspaper recently states that Mr. C. is now at work on an\nimproved translation.\n\nAs this book is only intended for children, it would be out of place to\ndiscuss the age, etc., of the Kalevala. Only it would seem proper to\nstate, that while the incantations and some other portions of the text\nare certainly very old, some of them no doubt dating from a period prior\nto the separation of the Finns and Hungarians, yet, as Professor Yrj\u00f6\nKoskinen remarks, \"The Kalevala in its present state is without doubt\nthe work of the _Karelian_ tribe of Finns, and probably dates from\n_after_ their arrival in Northern and North-Western Russia.\" This will\nof itself largely justify the making _Kalevala_ synonymous with the\npresent _Finland_, _Pohjola_ with the present Lapland, Karjala with the\npresent _Karjala_ (Anglice, _Karelia_) in South-Eastern Finland, etc.\nBut even if this were not so, yet the advantage of such localisation in\na book for children is of itself obvious.\n\nAs the land and people with which the stories are concerned is so\nunknown to English children, it has seemed best to have some sort of\nintroduction and framework in which to present them, and therefore\n\"Father Mikko\" was chosen as the story-teller.\n\nIf this little volume may in any degree awake some interest in the\nFinnish people its author will be amply satisfied, and its end will have\nbeen attained.\n\nR. EIVIND.\n\n_April 1893._\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                    PAGE\nFATHER MIKKO                           1\n\nTHE WORLD'S CREATION AND THE BIRTH\n  OF WAINAMOINEN                       8\n\nTHE PLANTING OF THE TREES             11\n\nWAINAMOINEN AND YOUKAHAINEN           15\n\nAINO'S FATE                           21\n\nWAINAMOINEN'S SEARCH FOR AINO         28\n\nWAINAMOINEN'S UNLUCKY JOURNEY         32\n\nWAINAMOINEN'S RESCUE                  36\n\nTHE RAINBOW-MAIDEN                    41\n\nILMARINEN FORGES THE SAMPO            50\n\nLEMMINKAINEN AND KYLLIKKI             59\n\nKYLLIKKI'S BROKEN VOW                 64\n\nLEMMINKAINEN'S SECOND WOOING          69\n\nLEMMINKAINEN'S DEATH                  73\n\nLEMMINKAINEN'S RESTORATION            77\n\nWAINAMOINEN'S BOAT-BUILDING           86\n\nWAINAMOINEN FINDS THE LOST WORDS      93\n\nTHE RIVAL SUITORS                     99\n\nILMARINEN'S WOOING                   106\n\nTHE BREWING OF BEER                  111\n\nILMARINEN'S WEDDING FEAST            118\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF THE SERPENT            124\n\nTHE UNWELCOME GUEST                  131\n\nTHE ISLE OF REFUGE                   136\n\nTHE FROST-FIEND                      144\n\nKULLERVO'S BIRTH                     151\n\nKULLERVO AND ILMARINEN'S WIFE        156\n\nKULLERVO'S LIFE AND DEATH            160\n\nILMARINEN'S BRIDE OF GOLD            166\n\nILMARINEN'S FRUITLESS WOOING         170\n\nWAINAMOINEN'S EXPEDITION AND THE\n  BIRTH OF THE KANTELE (HARP)        173\n\nTHE CAPTURE OF THE SAMPO             181\n\nTHE SAMPO IS LOST IN THE SEA         186\n\nTHE BIRTH OF THE SECOND KANTELE      190\n\nLOUHI ATTEMPTS REVENGE               194\n\nLOUHI STEALS THE SUN, THE MOON, AND\n  FIRE                               199\n\nTHE RESTORATION OF THE SUN AND MOON  205\n\nMARIATTA AND WAINAMOINEN'S DEPARTURE 210\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTABLE OF PROPER NAMES WITH PRONUNCIATION\n\n\n_Ahti_ (ach\u00b4-tee). Another name for Lemminkainen.\n\n_Ahto_ (ach\u00b4-to). God of the sea.\n\n_Ainikki_ (a\u00eb\u00b4nik-kee). Sister of Lemminkainen.\n\n_Aino_ (a\u00eb\u00b4no). Sister of Youkahainen.\n\n_Annikki_ (an\u00b4-nik-kee). Sister of Ilmarinen.\n\n_Hisi_ (hee\u00b4-see). Evil spirit; also called Lempo.\n\n_Iku Turso_ (ee\u00b4-koo-tur\u00b4-so). A sea-monster.\n\n_Ilmarinen_ (il\u00b4-ma-ree\u00b4-nen). The famous smith.\n\n_Ilmatar_ (il\u00b4-ma-tar). A daughter of the ether, mother of\n    Wainamoinen.\n\n_Imatra_ (ee\u00b4-ma-tra). Celebrated waterfall on the river Wuoksi,\n    near Viborg.\n\n_Kalerwoinen_ (kal\u00b4-er-woi\u00b4-nen) (_or_ Kalervo). Father of Kullervo.\n\n_Kalevala_ (ka\u00b4-lay-va\u00b4-la). The land of heroes. The home of\n    the Finns. The name of the Finnish epic poem.\n\n_Karjala_ (kar\u00b4-ya-la). The home of a Finnish tribe--a portion of\n    Finland (called also _Karelen_ in Swedish).\n\n_Kullervo_ (kul\u00b4-ler-vo). Slayer of the Rainbow-maiden.\n\n_Kura_ (ku\u00b4-ra). Ahti's companion to the Northland.\n\n_Lakko_ (lak\u00b4-ko). Ilmarinen's mother.\n\n_Lemminkainen_ (lem\u00b4-min-ka\u00eb\u00b4-nen). Also called _Ahti_. Son of\n    _Lempo_.\n\n_Lempo_ (lem\u00b4-po). Same as _Hisi_; also the father of Lemminkainen.\n\n_Louhi_ (loo\u00b4-chee). Mistress of Pohjola.\n\n_Lowjatar_ (low\u00b4-ya-tar). Tuoni's daughter; mother of the nine\n    diseases.\n\n_Lylikki_ (ly\u00b4-lik-kee). Maker of snow-shoes in Pohjola.\n\n_Mana_ (ma\u00b4-na). Also called Tuoni; god of death.\n\n_Manala_ (ma\u00b4-na-la). Also called Tuonela; the abode of Mana;\n    the Deathland.\n\n_Mariatta_ (Mar\u00b4-iat\u00b4-ta). The virgin mother of Wainamoinen's\n    conqueror.\n\n_Mielikki_ (meay\u00b4-lik-kee). The forest-goddess.\n\n_Osmotar_ (os\u00b4-mo-tar). The wise maiden who first made beer.\n\n_Otso_ (ot\u00b4-so). The bear.\n\n_Piltti_ (pilt\u00b4-tee). Mariatta's maid-servant.\n\n_Pohjola_ (poch\u00b4-yo-la). The Northland.\n\n_Ruotus_ (ru-o\u00b4-tus). A man who gives Mariatta shelter in his\n    stable.\n\n_Sampo_ (sam\u00b4-po). The magic mill forged by Ilmarinen, which\n    brought wealth and happiness to its possessor.\n\n_Suonetar_ (swo\u00b4-ne-tar). The goddess of the veins.\n\n_Suoyatar_ (swo\u00b4-ya-tar). The mother of the serpent.\n\n_Tapio_ (ta\u00b4-pe-o). The forest-god.\n\n_Tuonela_ (tuo\u00b4-nay-la). The abode of Tuoni; the Deathland; Manala.\n\n_Tuonetar_ (tuo\u00b4-nay-tar). The goddess of Tuonela.\n\n_Tuoni_ (tuo\u00b4-nee). The god of the Deathland; Mana.\n\n_Ukko_ (uk\u00b4-k(o). The greatest god of the Finns.\n\n_Untamo_ (un\u00b4-ta-mo). Kalervo's brother.\n\n_Wainamoinen_ (wa\u00eb\u00b4-na-moy\u00b4-nen). The chief hero of the\n    Kalevala; son of Kap\u00e9.\n\n_Wipunen_ (wi\u00b4-pu-nen). The dead magician from whom Wainamoinen\n    obtained the three lost words.\n\n_Wirokannas_ (wee\u00b4-ro-kan\u00b4-nas). The priest who baptized\n    Mariatta's son.\n\n_Wuoksi_ (wuok\u00b4-see). A river in South-Eastern Finland, connecting\n    Lakes Saima and Ladoga.\n\n_Youkahainen_ (yoo\u00b4-ka-cha\u00eb\u00b4-nen). A great minstrel and magician\n    of Pohjola.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nRemarks.--The Finnish _h_ is pronounced as a guttural; nearly as Ger.\n_ch_ in _ich_. This is represented by _ch_ in the above list.\n\nEvery vowel should be pronounced by itself--not run together so as to\nmake a totally different resultant sound, _e.g._ _Aino_ should be\npronounced not _i-no_, but _a\u00b4-ee-no_, the _a_ and _ee_\nbeing close together, with the greatest stress upon the _a_, etc.\n\n_i_ corresponds to English _y_ in _year_.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\nFINNISH KOTA                _Frontispiece_\n\nSLEIGHING IN FINLAND      _Facing page_ 7\n\nINTERIOR OF LAPP HUT           \"       37\n\nA LAPLAND WIZARD               \"       93\n\nLAPP WOMEN IN HOLIDAY COSTUME  \"      118\n\nMIMI IN HOLIDAY DRESS          \"      151\n\nA WATERFALL                    \"      181\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFATHER MIKKO\n\n\nFar up in the ice-bound north, where the sun is almost invisible in\nwinter, and where the summer nights are bright as day, there lies a land\nwhich we call Finland; but the people who live there call it _Suomenmaa_\nnow, and long, long ago they used to call it _Kalevala_ (which means the\n_land of heroes_). And north of Finland lies Lapland, which the Finns\nnow call _Lappi_, but in the olden days they called it Pohjola (that is,\n_Northland_). There the night lasts for whole weeks and months about\nChristmas, and in the summer again they have no night at all for many\nweeks. For more than half the year their country is wrapped in snow and\nfrost, and yet they are both of them a kind-hearted people, and among\nthe most honest and truthful in the world.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne dark winter's day an old man was driving in a sledge through the fir\nforest in the northern part of Finland. He was so well wrapped up in\nsheep-skin robes that he looked more like a huge bundle of rugs, with a\ncord round the middle, than anything else, and the great white\nsheep-skin cap which he wore hid all the upper part of his face, while\nthe lower part was buried in the high collar of his coat. All one could\nsee was a pair of bright blue eyes with frost-fringed eyelashes,\nblinking at the snow that was thrown up every now and then by his\nhorse's feet.\n\nHe was a travelling merchant from away up in the north-western part of\nRussia, and had been in southern Finland to sell his wares, at the\nwinter fairs that are held every year in the Finnish towns and villages.\nNow he was on his way home, and had come up through Kuopio, and had got\non past Kajana already, but now it had just begun to snow, and as the\nstorm grew worse, he pressed on to reach the cabin of a friend who lived\nnot far ahead; and he intended to stay there until the storm should\nsubside and the weather be fit for travelling once more.\n\nIt was not long before he reached the cabin, and getting out of his\nsledge slowly, being stiff from the cold and the cramped position, he\nknocked on the door with his whip-handle. It was opened at once, and he\nwas invited in without even waiting to see who it was, and was given the\nwelcome that is always given in that country to a wearied traveller. But\nwhen he had taken his wraps off there was a general cry of recognition,\nand a second even more hearty welcome.\n\n'Welcome, Father Mikko!'\n\n'What good fortune has brought you hither?'\n\n'Come up to the fire,' and a chorus of cries from two little children,\nwho greeted 'Pappa Mikko' with delight as an old and welcome\nacquaintance. Then the father of the family went out and attended to\nFather Mikko's horse and sledge, and in a few minutes was back again and\njoined the old man by the fire. Next his wife brought out the\nbrandy-bottle and two glasses, and after her husband had filled them, he\nand Father Mikko drank each other's health very formally, for that is\nthe first thing one must do when a guest comes in that country. You must\ntouch your glass against your friend's, and say 'good health,' and\nraising it to your lips drink it straight off, and all the time you must\nlook each other straight in the eyes.\n\nWhen this important formality was finished the four members of the\nfamily and Father Mikko made themselves comfortable around the fire,\nand they began to ask him how things had prospered with him since they\nhad seen him last, and to tell him about themselves--how Erik, the\nfather of the family, had been sick, and the harvest had been extra good\nthat year, and one of the cows had a calf, and all the things that\nhappen to people in the country.\n\nAnd then he told them of what was going on in the towns where he had\nbeen, and how every one was beginning to get ready for Christmas. And he\nturned to the two little children and told them about the children in\nthe towns--how they had had such a lovely time at 'Little Christmas,'[2]\nat the house he was staying in. How the little ones had a tiny little\ntree with wee wax candles on it exactly like the big tree they were to\nhave at Christmas, and how, when he left, all the children had begun to\nbe impatient for Christmas Eve, with its presents and Christmas fish and\nporridge.\n\n[2] A children's festival about one week before the real Christmas.\n\nAfter the old man had ended his account it was dinner-time, and they all\nate with splendid appetites, while Father Mikko declared that the\nherring and potatoes and rye-bread and beer made a far better dinner\nthan any he had had in the big cities in the south--not even in\nHelsingfors had he had a better. Then when dinner was over, and they\nhad all gathered round the fire again, little Mimi climbed up into\n'Pappa Mikko's' lap, and begged him to tell them '_all_ the stories he\nhad ever heard, from the very beginning of the world all the way down.'\nAnd her father and mother joined with her in her request, for in their\nland even the grown-up people have not become too grand to listen to\nstories. As for the little boy, Antero, he was too shy to say anything;\nbut he was so much interested to hear 'Pappa Mikko' that he actually\nforgot to nibble away at a piece of candy which 'Pappa Mikko' had\nbrought from St. Michel.\n\nThe old man smiled, for he was always asked for stories wherever he\nwent--he was a famous story-teller--and, stroking little Mimi's hair\ngently, he looked at the group around the fire before replying. There\nwas Erik, the father, a broad-shouldered man, with a dark,\nweather-beaten face and rather a sad look, as so many of his countrymen\nhave. His face showed that his struggle in the world had not been easy,\nfor he had to be working from the time he got up until he went to bed;\nand then when the harvest had been bad, and the winter much longer than\nusual, and everything seemed to go wrong--ah! it was so hard then to see\nthe mother and the little ones have only bark-bread to eat, and not\nalways enough of that, and one winter they had had nothing else for\nmonths. Erik wouldn't have minded for himself, but for them ...! Ah\nwell, that was all over now; he had been able at last to save up a\nlittle sum of money, and the harvests were extra good this year, and he\nhad bought Mother Stina a cloak for Christmas! Just think of it--a fine\ncloak, all the way from the fair at Kuopio!\n\nAnd next to Erik sat his wife Stina, a short, fat little woman, with\nsuch a merry face and happy-looking eyes that you could hardly believe\nthat she had lived on anything but the best herring and potatoes and\nrye-bread all her life. Close by her side was her little boy Antero, who\nwas only seven years old, and in his eagerness for the stories to\ncommence he still held his piece of candy in his hand without tasting\nit.\n\nThen there was little Mimi in Father Mikko's lap. She was nearly ten\nyears old, and was not a pretty little girl; but she had very lovely\nsoft brown eyes and curly flaxen hair, and a quiet, demure manner of her\nown, and her mother declared that when she grew up she would be able to\nspin and weave and cook better than any other girl in the parish, and\nthat the young man that should get her Mimi for a wife would get a real\ntreasure.\n\n[Illustration: SLEIGHING IN FINLAND.]\n\nAnd lastly, there was Father Mikko himself, an old man over sixty, yet\nstrong and hearty, with a long gray beard and gray hair, and eyes\nthat fairly twinkled with good humour. You could hardly see his mouth\nfor his beard and moustache, and certainly his nose _was_ a little too\nsmall and turned up at the end to be exactly handsome, and his\ncheek-bones _did_ stand out a little too high; but yet everybody, young\nand old, liked him, and his famous stories made him a welcome guest\nwherever he came.\n\nSo Father Mikko lit his queer little pipe, and settled down comfortably\nwith Mimi in his lap, and a glass of beer at his side to refresh himself\nwith when he grew weary of talking. There was only the firelight in the\nroom, and as the flames roared up the chimney they cast a warm, cosy\nlight over the whole room, and made them all feel so comfortable that\nthey thanked God in their hearts in their simple way, because they had\nso many blessings and comforts when such a storm was raging outside that\nit shook the house and drifted the snow up higher than the doors and\nwindows.\n\nThen Father Mikko began, and this is the first story that he told them.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE WORLD'S CREATION AND THE BIRTH OF WAINAMOINEN\n\n\nLong, long ago, before this world was made, there lived a lovely maiden\ncalled Ilmatar, the daughter of the Ether. She lived in the air--there\nwere only air and water then--but at length she grew tired of always\nbeing in the air, and came down and floated on the surface of the water.\nSuddenly, as she lay there, there came a mighty storm-wind, and poor\nIlmatar was tossed about helplessly on the waves, until at length the\nwind died down and the waves became still, and Ilmatar, worn out by the\nviolence of the tempest, sank beneath the waters.\n\nThen a magic spell overpowered her, and she swam on and on vainly\nseeking to rise above the waters, but always unable to do so. Seven\nhundred long weary years she swam thus, until one day she could not bear\nit any longer, and cried out: 'Woe is me that I have fallen from my\nhappy home in the air, and cannot now rise above the surface of the\nwaters. O great Ukko,[3] ruler of the skies, come and aid me in my\nsorrow!'\n\n[3] The chief god of the Finns before they became Christians.\n\nNo sooner had she ended her appeal to Ukko than a lovely duck flew down\nout of the sky, and hovered over the waters looking for a place to\nalight; but it found none. Then Ilmatar raised her knees above the\nwater, so that the duck might rest upon them; and no sooner did the duck\nspy them than it flew towards them and, without even stopping to rest,\nbegan to build a nest upon them.\n\nWhen the nest was finished, the duck laid in it six golden eggs, and a\nseventh of iron, and sat upon them to hatch them. Three days the duck\nsat on the eggs, and all the while the water around Ilmatar's knees grew\nhotter and hotter, and her knees began to burn as if they were on fire.\nThe pain was so great that it caused her to tremble all over, and her\nquivering shook the nest off her knees, and the eggs all fell to the\nbottom of the ocean and broke in pieces. But these pieces came together\ninto two parts and grew to a huge size, and the upper one became the\narched heavens above us, and the lower one our world itself. From the\nwhite part of the egg came the moonbeams, and from the yolk the bright\nsunshine.\n\nAt last the unfortunate Ilmatar was able to raise her head out of the\nwaters, and she then began to create the land. Wherever she put her hand\nthere arose a lovely hill, and where she stepped she made a lake. Where\nshe dived below the surface are the deep places of the ocean, where she\nturned her head towards the land there grew deep bays and inlets, and\nwhere she floated on her back she made the hidden rocks and reefs where\nso many ships and lives have been lost. Thus the islands and the rocks\nand the firm land were created.\n\nAfter the land was made Wainamoinen was born, but he was not born a\nchild, but a full-grown man, full of wisdom and magic power. For seven\nwhole years he swam about in the ocean, and in the eighth he left the\nwater and stepped upon the dry land. Thus was the birth of Wainamoinen,\nthe wonderful magician.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n'Ah!' said little Mimi, with a sigh of relief, 'I was afraid you weren't\ngoing to tell us about Wainamoinen at all.'\n\nAnd then Father Mikko went on again.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE PLANTING OF THE TREES\n\n\nWainamoinen lived for many years upon the island on which he had first\nlanded from the sea, pondering how he should plant the trees and make\nthe mighty forests grow. At length he thought of Sampsa, the first-born\nson of the plains, and he sent for him to do the sowing. So Sampsa came\nand scattered abroad the seeds of all the trees and plants that are now\non the earth,--firs and pine-trees on the hills, alders, lindens, and\nwillows in the lowlands, and bushes and hawthorn in the secluded nooks.\n\nSoon all the trees had grown up and become great forests, and the\nhawthorns were covered with berries. Only the acorn lay quiet in the\nground and refused to sprout. Wainamoinen watched seven days and nights\nto see if it would begin to grow, but it lay perfectly still. Just then\nhe saw ocean maidens on the shore, cutting grass and raking it into\nheaps. And as he watched them there came a great giant out of the sea\nand pressed the heaps into such tight bundles that the grass caught fire\nand burnt to ashes. Then the giant took an acorn and planted it in the\nashes, and almost instantly it began to sprout, and a tree shot up and\ngrew and grew until it became a mighty oak, whose top was far above the\nclouds, and whose branches shut out the light of the Sun and the Moon\nand the stars.\n\nWhen Wainamoinen saw how the oak had shut off all the light from the\nearth, he was as deeply perplexed how to get rid of it, as he had been\nbefore to make it grow. So he prayed to his mother Ilmatar to grant him\npower to overthrow this mighty tree, so that the sun might shine once\nmore on the plains of Kalevala.\n\nNo sooner had he asked Ilmatar for help than there stepped out of the\nsea a tiny man no bigger than one's finger, dressed in cap, gloves, and\nclothes of copper, and carrying a small copper hatchet in his belt.\nWainamoinen asked him who he was, and the tiny man replied: 'I am a\nmighty ocean-hero, and am come to cut down the oak-tree.' But\nWainamoinen began to laugh at the idea of so little a man being able to\ncut down so huge a tree.\n\nBut even while Wainamoinen was laughing, the dwarf grew all at once\ninto a great giant, whose head was higher than the clouds, and whose\nlong beard fell down to his knees. The giant began to whet his axe on a\nhuge piece of rock, and before he had finished he had worn out six\nblocks of the hardest rock and seven of the softest sandstone. Then he\nstrode up to the tree and began to cut it down. When the third blow had\nfallen the fire flew from his axe and from the tree; and before he had\ntime to strike a fourth blow, the tree tottered and fell, covering the\nwhole earth, north, south, east, and west, with broken fragments. And\nthose who picked up pieces of the branches received good fortune; those\nwho found pieces of the top became mighty magicians; and those who found\nthe leaves gained lasting happiness.\n\nAnd then the sunlight came once more to Kalevala, and all things grew\nand flourished, only the barley had not yet been planted. Now\nWainamoinen had found seven magic barley-grains as he was wandering on\nthe seashore one day, and he took these and was about to plant them; but\nthe titmouse stopped him, saying: 'The magic barley will not grow unless\nthou first cut down and burn the forest, and then plant the seeds in the\nwood-ashes.'\n\nSo Wainamoinen cut down the trees as the titmouse had said, only he\nleft the birch-trees standing. After all the rest were cut down an\neagle flew down, and, alighting on a birch-tree, asked why all the\nothers had been destroyed, but the birches left. And Wainamoinen\nanswered that he had left them for the birds to build their nests on,\nand for the eagle to rest on, and for the sacred cuckoo to sit in and\nsing. The eagle was so pleased at this that he kindled a fire amongst\nthe other trees for Wainamoinen, and they were all burnt except the\nbirches.\n\nWainamoinen then brought forth the seven magic barley-seeds from his\nskin-pouch, and sowed them in the ashes, and as he sowed he prayed to\ngreat Ukko to send warm rains from the south to make the seeds sprout.\nAnd the rain came, and the barley grew so fast that in seven days the\ncrop was almost ripe.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWAINAMOINEN AND YOUKAHAINEN\n\n\nThus Wainamoinen finished his labours and began to lead a happy life on\nthe plains of Kalevala. He passed his evenings singing of the deeds of\ndays gone by and stories of the creation, until his fame as a great\nsinger spread far and wide in all directions.\n\nAt this time, far off in the dismal Northland, there lived a young and\nfamous singer and magician named Youkahainen. He was sitting one day at\na feast with his friends, when some one came and told about the famous\nsinger Wainamoinen, and how he was a sweeter singer and a more powerful\nmagician than any one else in the world. This filled Youkahainen's heart\nwith envy, and he vowed to hasten off to the south and to enter into a\ncontest with Wainamoinen to see if he could not beat him.\n\nHis mother tried to persuade him not to go, but in vain, and he made\nready for the journey, declaring that he would sing such magic songs as\nwould turn old Wainamoinen into stone. Then he brought out his noble\nsteed and harnessed him to a golden sledge, and then jumping in, he gave\nthe steed a cut with his pearl-handled whip, and dashed off towards\nKalevala. On the evening of the third day he drew near to Wainamoinen's\nhome, and there he met Wainamoinen himself driving along the highway.\n\nNow Youkahainen was too proud to turn out of the road for any one, and\nso their sledges dashed together and were smashed to pieces, and the\nharnesses became all twisted up together. Then Wainamoinen said: 'Who\nart thou, O foolish youth, that thou drivest so badly that thou hast run\ninto my sledge and broken it to pieces?' And Youkahainen answered\nproudly: 'I am Youkahainen, and have come hither to beat the old\nmagician Wainamoinen in singing and in magic.'\n\nWainamoinen then told him who he was, and accepted the challenge, and so\nthe contest began. But Youkahainen soon found that he was no match for\nhis opponent, and at length he cried out in anger: 'If I cannot beat\nthee at singing and in magic, at least I can conquer thee with my bright\nsword.'\n\nWainamoinen answered that he would not fight so weak an opponent, and\nthen Youkahainen declared that he was a coward and afraid to fight. At\nlast these taunts made Wainamoinen so angry that he could not restrain\nhimself any longer, and he began to sing. He sang such wondrous spells\nthat the mountains and the rocks began to tremble, and the sea was\nupheaved as if by a great storm. Youkahainen stood transfixed, and as\nWainamoinen went on singing his sledge was changed to brushwood and the\nreins to willow branches, the pearl-handled whip became a reed, and his\nsteed was transformed into a rock in the water, and all the harness into\nseaweed. And still the old magician sang his magic spells, and\nYoukahainen's gaily-painted bow became a rainbow in the sky, his\nfeathered arrows flew away as hawks and eagles, and his dog was turned\nto a stone at his feet. His cap turned into a curling mist, his clothing\ninto white clouds, and his jewel-set girdle into stars.\n\nAnd at length the spell began to take effect on Youkahainen himself.\nSlowly, slowly he felt himself sinking into a quicksand, and all his\nstruggles to escape were in vain. When he had sunk up to his waist he\nbegan to beg for mercy, and cried out: 'O great Wainamoinen, thou art\nthe greatest of all magicians. Release me, I beg, from this quicksand,\nand I will give thee two magic bows. One is so strong that only the very\nstrongest men can draw it, and the other a child can shoot.'\n\nBut Wainamoinen refused the bows and sank Youkahainen still deeper. And\nas he sank, Youkahainen kept begging for mercy, and offering first two\nmagic boats, and then two magic steeds that could carry any burden, and\nfinally all his gold and silver and his harvests, but Wainamoinen would\nnot even listen to him. At length Youkahainen had sunk so far that his\nmouth began to be filled with water and mud, and he cried out as a last\nhope: 'O mighty Wainamoinen, if thou wilt release me I will give thee my\nsister Aino as thy bride.'\n\nThis was the ransom that Wainamoinen had been waiting for, for Aino was\nfamous for her beauty and loveliness of character, and so he released\npoor Youkahainen and gave him back his sledge and everything just as it\nhad been before. And when it was all ready Youkahainen jumped into it\nand drove off home without saying a word.\n\nWhen he reached home he drove so carelessly that his sledge was broken\nto pieces against the gate-posts, and he left the broken sledge there\nand walked straight into the house with hanging head, and at first\nwould not answer any of his family's questions. At length he said:\n'Dearest mother, there is cause enough for my grief, for I have had to\npromise the aged Wainamoinen my dear sister Aino as his bride.' But his\nmother arose joyfully and clapped her hands and said: 'That is no reason\nto be sad, my dear son, for I have longed for many years that this very\nthing should happen--that Aino should have so brave and wise a husband\nas Wainamoinen.'\n\nSo the mother told the news to Aino, but when she heard it she wept for\nthree whole days and nights and refused to be comforted, saying to her\nmother: 'Why should this great sorrow come to me, dear mother, for now I\nshall no longer be able to adorn my golden hair with jewels, but must\nhide it all beneath the ugly cap that wives have to wear. All the golden\nsunshine and the silver moonlight will go from my life.'\n\nBut her mother tried to comfort her by telling her that the sun and moon\nwould shine even more brightly in her new home than in her old, and that\nKalevala was a land of flowers.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n'I think Aino was very stupid not to want to leave that horrid Lapland,'\nsaid Mimi; 'but then I suppose she didn't know what a beautiful country\nours is,' she added thoughtfully.\n\nHere Antero, who only cared for the stories, mustered up enough courage\nto ask Pappa Mikko to go on, which the old man did at once.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAINO'S FATE\n\n\nThe next morning the lovely Aino went early to the forest to gather\nbirch shoots and tassels. After she had finished gathering them she\nhastened off towards home, but as she was going along the path near the\nborder of the woods she met Wainamoinen, who began thus:\n\n'Aino, fairest maid of the north, do not wear thy gold and pearls for\nothers, but only for me; wear for me alone thy golden tresses.'\n\n'Not for thee,' Aino replied, 'nor for others either, will I wear my\njewels. I need them no longer; I would rather wear the plainest clothing\nand live upon a crust of bread, if only I might live for ever with my\nmother.'\n\nAnd as she said this she tore off her jewels and the ribbons from her\nhair, and threw them from her into the bushes, and then she hurried\nhome, weeping. At the door of the dairy sat her mother, skimming milk.\nWhen she saw Aino weeping she asked her what it was that troubled her.\nAino, in reply, told her all that had happened in the forest, and how\nshe had thrown away from her all her ornaments.\n\nHer mother, to comfort her, told her to go to a hill-top near by and\nopen the storehouse there, and there in the largest room, in the largest\nbox in that room, she would find six golden girdles and seven\nrainbow-tinted dresses, made by the daughters of the Moon and of the\nSun. 'When I was young,' her mother said, 'I was out upon the hills one\nday seeking berries. And by chance I overheard the daughters of the Sun\nand Moon as they were weaving and spinning upon the borders of the\nclouds above the fir-forest. I went nearer to them, and crept up on a\nhill within speaking distance of them. Then I began to beseech them,\nsaying: \"Give some of your silver, lovely daughters of the Moon, to a\npoor but worthy maid; and I beg you, daughters of the Sun, give me some\nof your gold.\" And then the Moon's daughters gave me silver from their\ntreasure, and the Sun's daughters gave me gold that I might adorn my\nhair and forehead. I hastened joyfully home with my treasures to my\nmother's house, and for three days I wore them. Then I took them off\nand laid them in boxes, and I have never seen them since. But now, my\ndaughter, go and adorn thyself with gold and silk ribbons; put a\nnecklace of pearls around thy neck, and a golden cross upon thy bosom;\ndress thyself in pure white linen; put on the richest frock that is\nthere and tie it with a belt of gold; put silk stockings on thy feet and\nthe finest of shoes. Then come back to us that we may admire thee, for\nthou wilt be more beautiful than the sunlight, more lovely than the\nmoonbeams.'\n\nBut Aino would not be consoled, and kept on weeping. 'How happy I was in\nmy childhood,' she sang, 'when I used to roam the fields and gather\nflowers, but now my heart is full of grief and all my life is filled\nwith darkness. It would have been better for me if I had died a\nchild;--then my mother would have wept a little, and my father and\nsisters and brothers mourned a little while, and then all their sorrow\nwould have been ended.'\n\nAino wept for three days more, and then her mother once more asked her\nwhy she wept so, and Aino replied: 'I weep, O mother, because thou hast\npromised me to the aged Wainamoinen, to be his comforter and caretaker\nin his old age. Far better if thou hadst sent me to the bottom of the\nsea, to live with the fishes and to become a mermaid and ride on the\nwaves. This had been far better than to be an old man's slave and\ndarling.'\n\nWhen she had said this she left her mother and hastened to the\nstorehouse on the hill. There she opened the largest box and took off\nsix lids, and at the bottom found six golden belts and seven silk\ndresses. She chose the best of all the treasures there and adorned\nherself like a queen, with rings and jewels and gold ornaments of every\nsort.\n\nWhen she was fully arrayed she left the storehouse and wandered over\nfields and meadows and on through the dim and gloomy fir-forest, singing\nas she went: 'Woe is me, poor broken-hearted Aino! My grief is so heavy\nthat I can no longer live. I must leave this earth and go to Manala, the\ncountry of departed spirits. Father, mother, brothers, sisters, weep for\nme no longer, for I am going to live beneath the sea, in the lovely\ngrottos, on a couch of sea-moss.'\n\nFor three long weary days Aino wandered, and as the cold night came on\nshe at last reached the seashore. There she sank down, weary, on a rock,\nand sat there alone in the black night, listening to the solemn music of\nthe wind and the waves, as they sang her funeral melody. When at last\nthe day dawned Aino beheld three water-maidens sitting on a rock by the\nsea. She hastened to them, weeping, and then began to take off all her\nornaments and lay them carefully away. When at length she had laid all\nher gold and silver decorations on the ground, she took the ribbons from\nher hair and hung them in a tree, and then laid her silken dress over\none of the branches and plunged into the sea. At a distance she saw a\nlovely rock of all the colours of the rainbow, shining in the golden\nsunlight. She swam up and climbed upon it to rest. But suddenly the rock\nbegan to sway, and with a loud crash it fell to the bottom of the sea,\ncarrying with it the unhappy Aino. And as she sank down she sang a last\nsad farewell to all her dear ones at home--a song that was so sweet and\nmournful that the wild beasts heard it, and were so touched by it that\nthey resolved to send a messenger to tell her parents what had happened.\n\nSo the animals held a council, and first the bear was proposed as\nmessenger, but they were afraid he would eat the cattle. Next came the\nwolf, but they feared that he might eat the sheep. Then the fox was\nproposed, but then he might eat the chickens. So at length the hare was\nchosen to bear the sad tidings, and he promised to perform his office\nfaithfully.\n\nHe ran like the wind, and soon reached Aino's home. There he found no\none in the house, but on going to the door of the bath-cabin he found\nsome servants there making birch brooms. They had no sooner caught sight\nof him than they threatened to roast him and eat him, but he replied:\n'Do not think I have come hither to let you roast me. For I come with\nsad tidings to tell you of the flight of Aino and how she died. The\nrainbow-coloured stone sank with her to the bottom of the sea, and she\nperished, singing like a lovely song-bird. There she sleeps in the\ncaverns at the bottom of the sea, and on the shore she has left her\nsilken dress and all her gold and jewels.'\n\nWhen these tidings came to her mother the bitter tears poured from her\neyes, and she sang, 'O all other mothers, listen: never try to force\nyour daughters from the house they long to stay in, unto husbands whom\nthey love not. Thus I drove away my daughter, Aino, fairest in the\nNorthland.'\n\nSinging thus she sat and wept, and the tears trickled down until they\nreached her shoes, and began to flow out over the ground. Here they\nformed three little streams, which flowed on and grew larger and larger\nuntil they became roaring torrents, and in each torrent was a great\nwaterfall. And in the midst of the waterfalls rose three huge rocky\npillars, and on the rocks were three green hills, and on each of the\nhills was a birch-tree, and on each tree sat a cuckoo. And all three\nsang together. And the first one sang 'Love! O Love!' for three whole\nmoons, mourning for the dead maiden. And the second sang 'Suitor!\nSuitor!' wailing six long moons for the unhappy suitor. And the third\nsang sadly 'Consolation! Consolation!' never ending all his life long\nfor the comfort of the broken-hearted mother.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMother Stina looked at little Mimi very solemnly when this story was\nended, as if she wondered whether she herself would ever need to take to\nheart the warning of Aino's mother. But no one said anything, and Father\nMikko continued on with the next story.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWAINAMOINEN'S SEARCH FOR AINO\n\n\nWhen the news reached Wainamoinen he began to weep most bitterly, and\nthe tears fell all that day and night; but the next day he hastened to\nthe water's edge and prayed to the god of dreams to tell him where the\nwater-gods dwelt. And the dream-god answered him lazily, and told him\nwhere the island was around which the sea-gods and the mermaids lived.\n\nThen Wainamoinen hastened to his boat-house, and chose a copper boat,\nand in it placed fishing lines and hooks and nets, and when all was\nready he rowed off swiftly towards the forest-covered island which the\ndream-god had told him of. No sooner had he arrived there than he began\nto fish, using a line of silver and a hook of gold. But for many days he\nfished in vain, yet still he persevered. At last one day a wondrous\nfish was caught, and it played about and struggled a long time until at\nlength it was exhausted, and the hero landed it in the boat.\n\nWhen Wainamoinen saw it he was astonished at its beauty, but after\ngazing at it for some time he drew out his knife and was about to cut it\nup ready for eating. But no sooner had he touched the fish with his\nknife than it leapt from the bottom of the boat and dived under the\nwater. Then it rose again out of his reach and said to him: 'O ancient\nminstrel, I did not come hither to be eaten by thee, merely to give thee\nfood for a day.'\n\n'Why didst thou come then?' asked Wainamoinen.\n\n'I came, O minstrel, to rest in thine arms and to be thy companion and\nwife for ever,' the fish replied; 'to keep thy home in order and to do\nwhatever thou pleased. For I am not a fish; I am no salmon of the\nNorthern Seas, but Youkahainen's youngest sister. I am the one thou wert\nfishing for--Aino, whom thou lovest. Once thou wert wise, but now art\nfoolish, cruel. Thou didst not know enough to keep me, but wouldst eat\nme for thy dinner!'\n\nThen Wainamoinen begged her to return to him, but the fish replied:\n'Nevermore will Aino's spirit come to thee to be so treated,' and as it\nspoke the fish dived out of sight.\n\nStill Wainamoinen did not give up, but took out his nets and began\ndragging the waters. And he dragged all the waters in the lands of\nLapland and of Kalevala, and caught fish of every sort, only Aino, now\nthe water-maiden, never came into his net. 'Fool that I am,' he said at\nlength, 'surely I was once wise, had at least a bit of wisdom, but now\nall my power has left me. For I have had Aino in my boat, but did not\nknow until too late that I had even caught her.' And with these words he\ngave up his search and set off to his home in Kalevala. And on his way\nhe mourned that the joyous song of the sacred cuckoo had ceased, and he\nsang: 'I shall never learn the secret how to live and prosper. If only\nmy ancient mother were still living, she could give me good advice that\nthis sorrow might leave me.'\n\nThen his mother awoke from her tomb in the depths and spoke to him: 'Thy\nmother was but sleeping, and I'll now advise thee how this sorrow may\npass over. Go at once to the Northland, where dwell wise and lovely\nmaidens, far lovelier than Aino. Take one of them for thy wife; she will\nmake thee happy and be an honour to thy home.'\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n'I don't think he had much of a heart if he could be consoled so easily\nas all that,' said Mother Stina, a little indignantly.\n\n'Wait and you shall see,' said old Father Mikko with a smile; and he\ncontinued.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWAINAMOINEN'S UNLUCKY JOURNEY\n\n\nWainamoinen made ready for a journey to the Northland, to the land of\ncold winters and of little sunshine, where he was to seek a wife. He\nsaddled his swift steed, and mounting, started towards the north. On and\non he went upon his magic steed, galloping over the plains of Kalevala.\nAnd when he came to the shores of the wide sea, he did not halt, but\ngalloped on over the water without even so much as wetting a hoof of his\nmagic courser.\n\nBut wicked Youkahainen hated Wainamoinen for what he had done when he\ndefeated him in magic, and so he made ready a bow of steel. He painted\nit with many bright colours and trimmed it with gold and silver and\ncopper. Then he chose the strongest sinews from the stag, and at length\nthe great bow was ready. On the back was painted a courser, at each end\na colt, near the bend a sleeping maiden, near the notch a running hare.\nAnd after that he cut some arrows out of oak, put tips of sharpened\ncopper on them, and five feathers on the end. Then he hardened the\narrows and steeped them in the blood of snakes and the poison of the\nadder to give them magic power.\n\nWhen all was ready Youkahainen went out to wait for his enemy. For many\ndays and nights he watched in vain, but still he did not weary, and at\nlast one day at dawn he saw what seemed to be a black cloud on the\nwaters. But by his magic art he knew that it was Wainamoinen on his\nmagic steed. Then he went after his bow, but his mother stopped him and\nasked him whom he meant to shoot with his bow and poisoned arrows.\nYoukahainen replied: 'I have made this mighty bow and these poisoned\narrows for the old magician Wainamoinen, that I may destroy my rival.'\n\nHis mother reproved him, saying, 'If thou slayest Wainamoinen all our\njoy will vanish, all the singing and music will die with him. It is\nbetter that we have his magic music in this world than to have it all go\nto the underground world Manala, where the spirits of the dead dwell.'\n\nYoukahainen hesitated for a moment, but then envy and hatred filled his\nheart, and he replied: 'Even though all joy and pleasure vanish from the\nworld, yet will I shoot this rival singer, let the end be what it will.'\n\nWith these words he hastened out and took his stand in a thicket near\nthe shore. He chose the three strongest arrows from his quiver, and\nselecting the best among these three, he laid it against the string and\naimed at Wainamoinen's heart. And as he still waited for him to come\nnearer, he sang this incantation: 'Be elastic, bow-string mine, swiftly\nfly, O oaken arrow, swift as light, O poisoned arrow, to the heart of\nWainamoinen. If my hand too low shall aim thee, may the gods direct thee\nhigher. If mine eye too high shall aim thee, may the gods direct thee\nlower.'\n\nThen he let the arrow fly, but it flew over Wainamoinen's head and\npierced and scattered the clouds above. Again he shot a second, but it\nflew too low and penetrated to the depths of the sea. Then he aimed the\nthird, and it flew from his bow swift as lightning. Straight forward it\nflew, and struck the magic steed full in the shoulder so that\nWainamoinen was plunged headlong into the waves. And then arose a mighty\nstorm-wind, and the old magician was carried far out into the wide open\nsea.\n\nBut Youkahainen believed that he had killed his rival, and so went\nhome, rejoicing and singing as he went. And his mother asked him, 'Hast\nthou slain great Wainamoinen?' and he replied, 'I have slain old\nWainamoinen. Into the salt sea he plunged headlong, and the old magician\nis now at the bottom of the deep.'\n\nBut his mother replied: 'Woe to earth for what thou hast done. Joy and\nsinging are gone for ever, for thou hast slain the great wise singer,\nthou hast slain the joy of Kalevala.'\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAll his listeners seemed very much dissatisfied at the turn the story\nhad taken, so Father Mikko hastened to assure them that Wainamoinen was\nnot really dead, and then he began the next story.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWAINAMOINEN'S RESCUE\n\n\nBut Wainamoinen was not dead, but swam on for eight days and seven\nnights trying to reach land. And when the evening of the eighth day came\nand still no land was in sight, he began to grow tired and to despair of\never getting out alive.\n\nBut just then he spied an eagle of wonderful size flying towards him\nfrom the west. And the eagle flew up to him and asked who he was and how\nhe had come there in the ocean.\n\nAnd Wainamoinen replied: 'I am Wainamoinen, the great singer and\nmagician. I had left my home for the distant Northland, and as I\ngalloped over the ocean and neared the shore, the wicked Youkahainen\nkilled my steed with his magic arrows, and I was cast headlong into the\nwaters. And then a mighty wind arose and drove me farther and ever\nfarther out to sea, and now I have been struggling with the winds and\nwaves for eight long weary days, and I fear that I shall perish of cold\nand hunger before I reach any land.'\n\n[Illustration: INTERIOR OF LAPP HUT.]\n\nThe eagle replied: 'Do not be discouraged, but seat thyself upon my back\nand I will carry thee to land, for I have not forgotten the day when\nthou left the birch-trees standing for the birds to sing in and the\neagle to rest on.'\n\nSo Wainamoinen climbed upon the eagle's broad back and seated himself\nsecurely there, and off the eagle flew, straight to the nearest land.\nThere on the shore of the dismal Northland the eagle left him, and flew\noff to join his mate.\n\nWainamoinen found himself upon a bare, rocky point of land, without a\ntrace of human life about it, nor any path through the woods by which it\nwas surrounded. And he wept bitterly, for he was far from home, covered\nwith wounds from his battle with the winds and waters, and faint with\nhunger: three days and three nights he wept without ceasing.\n\nNow the fair and lovely daughter of old Louhi had laid a wager with the\nSun, that she would rise before him the next morning. And so she did,\nand had time to shear six lambs before the Sun had left his couch\nbeneath the ocean. And after this she swept up the floor of the stable\nwith a birch broom, and collecting the sweepings on a copper shovel, she\ncarried them to the meadow near the seashore. There she heard the sound\nof some one weeping, and hastening back she told her mother of it.\n\nThen Louhi, ancient mistress of the Northland, hurried out from her\nhouse and down to the seashore. There she heard the sound of weeping,\nand quickly pushed off from the shore in a boat and rowed to where the\nweeping Wainamoinen sat.\n\nWhen she came to him she said to him: 'What folly hast thou done to be\nin so sad a state?'\n\nWainamoinen replied: 'It is indeed folly that has brought me into this\ntrouble. I was happy enough at home before I went on this expedition.'\n\nThen Louhi asked him to tell her who he was of all the great heroes.\n\nWainamoinen replied: 'Formerly I was honoured as a great singer and\nmagician: I was called the \"Singer of Kalevala,\" the wise Wainamoinen.'\n\nThen Louhi said: 'Rise, O hero, from thy lowly couch among the willows,\ncome with me to my home and there tell me the story of thy adventures.'\nSo she took the starving hero into her boat and rowed him to the shore,\nand took him to her house. There she gave him food, and the warmth and\nrest and shelter soon restored to him all his strength. Then Louhi asked\nhim to relate his adventures, and he told her all that had happened to\nhim.\n\nWhen he had finished Louhi said to him: 'Weep no more, Wainamoinen, for\nthou shalt be welcome in our homes, thou shalt live with us and eat our\nsalmon and other fish.'\n\nWainamoinen thanked her for her kindness, but added: 'One's own country\nand table and home are the best and dearest. May the great god, Ukko,\nthe Creator, grant that I may once more reach my dear home and country.\nIt is better to drink clear water from a birchen cup in one's own home,\nthan in foreign lands to drink the richest liquors from the golden\nbeakers of strangers.'\n\nThen Louhi asked him: 'What reward wilt thou give me, if I carry thee\nback to thy beloved home, to the plains of Kalevala?'\n\nWainamoinen asked her what reward she would consider sufficient, whether\ngold or silver treasures, but Louhi answered: 'I ask not for gold or\nsilver, O wise Wainamoinen, but canst thou forge for me the magic Sampo,\nwith its lid of many colours, the magic mill that grinds out flour on\none side, and salt from another side, and turns out money from the\nthird? I will give thee, too, my daughter, as a reward, to be thy wife\nand to care for thy home.'\n\nBut Wainamoinen answered sadly: 'I cannot forge for thee the magic\nSampo, but take me to my country and I will send thee Ilmarinen, who\nwill make it for thee, and wed thy lovely daughter. Ilmarinen is a\nwondrous smith; he it was who forged the heavens, and so perfectly did\nhe do it that we cannot see a single mark of the hammer on them.'\n\nLouhi replied: 'Only to him who can forge the magic Sampo for me will I\ngive my daughter.' Then she harnessed up her sledge and put Wainamoinen\nin it and made him all ready for his journey home. And as he started off\nshe spoke these words to him: 'Do not raise thy eyes to the heavens, do\nnot look upward while the day lasts, before the evening star has risen,\nor a terrible misfortune will happen to you.'\n\nThen Wainamoinen drove off, and his heart grew light as he left the\ndismal Northland behind him on his way to Kalevala.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE RAINBOW-MAIDEN\n\n\nThe fair Rainbow-maiden, Louhi's daughter, sat upon a rainbow in the\nheavens, and was clad in the most splendid dress of gold and silver. She\nwas busy weaving golden webs of wonderful beauty, using a shuttle of\ngold and a silver weaving-comb.\n\nAs Wainamoinen came swiftly along the way which led from the dark and\ndismal Northland to the plains of Kalevala, before he had gone far on\nhis way he heard in the sky above him the humming of the\nRainbow-maiden's loom. Without thinking of old Louhi's warning, he\nlooked up and beheld the maiden seated on the gorgeous rainbow weaving\nbeauteous cloths. No sooner had he seen the lovely maiden than he\nstopped, and calling to her asked her to come to his sledge.\n\nThe Rainbow-maiden replied: 'Tell me what thou wishest of me.'\n\n'Thou shalt come with me,' Wainamoinen replied, 'to bake me\nhoney-biscuit, to fill my cup with foaming beer, to sing beside my\ntable, to be a queen within my home in the land of Kalevala.'\n\nBut the maiden replied: 'Yesterday I went at twilight to the flowery\nmeadows. There I heard a thrush singing, and I asked him, \"Tell me,\npretty song-bird, how shall I live most happily, as a maiden in my\nfather's home or as a wife by my husband's side?\" And the bird sang in\nreply, \"The summer days are bright and warm, and so is a maiden's\nfreedom; the winter is cold and dark, and so are the lives of married\nwomen. They are like dogs chained in a kennel, no favours are given to\nwives.\"'\n\nBut Wainamoinen answered the maiden: 'The thrush sings only nonsense.\nMaidens are treated like little children, but wives are like queens.\nCome to my sledge, O maiden, for I am not the least among heroes, nor am\nI ignorant of magic. Come, and I will make thee my wife and queen in\nKalevala.'\n\nThen the Rainbow-maiden promised to be his wife if he would split a\ngolden hair with a knife that had no edge, and take a bird's egg from\nthe nest with a snare that no one could see. Wainamoinen did both these\nthings, and then begged her to come to his sledge, for he had done what\nshe asked.\n\nBut she set another task for him, telling him she would marry him if he\ncould peel a block of sandstone and cut a whip-handle from ice without\nmaking a single splinter. And Wainamoinen did both these things, but\nstill the maiden refused to go until he had performed a third task. This\nwas to make from the splinters of her distaff a little ship, and to\nlaunch it into the water without touching it.\n\nThen Wainamoinen took the pieces of her distaff and set to work. He took\nthem to a mountain from which he got the iron for his work, and for\nthree days he laboured with hatchet and hammer. But on the evening of\nthe third day a wicked spirit, Lempo, caught his hatchet as he raised it\nup, and turned it as it fell, so that it hit a rock and broke in\nfragments, and one of the pieces flew into the magician's knee, and cut\nit, so that the blood poured out.\n\nThen Wainamoinen began to sing a magic incantation to stop the blood\nfrom flowing, but his magic was powerless against the evil Lempo, and he\ncould not stop the blood. Then he gathered certain herbs with wonderful\npowers, and put them on the wound, but still he could not heal it up,\nfor Lempo's spell was too powerful for his magic. So he got into his\nsledge again, and drove off at a gallop to seek for help. Soon he came\nto a place where the road branched off in three directions. He chose the\nleft-hand one, and galloped on till he reached a house. When he went to\nthe door he found only a boy and a baby inside, and when he had told\nthem what he wanted, the boy said, 'There is no one here that can help\nthee, but take the middle road, and perhaps thou wilt find help.'\n\nSo off he galloped to where the roads branched off, and then along the\nmiddle one to another house. There he found an old witch lying on the\nfloor, but she gave him the same answer that the boy had done, and sent\nhim to the right-hand road.\n\nOn this road he came to another cottage, where an old man with a long\ngray beard was sitting by the fire. And when Wainamoinen told him of his\ntrouble, the old man replied, 'Greater things have been done by but\nthree of the magic words; water has been turned to land, and land to\nwater.' On hearing this answer Wainamoinen rose from his sledge and went\ninto the cottage, and seated himself there. And all this time his knee\nwas bleeding, so that the blood was enough to fill seven huge birchen\npots.\n\nThen the old man asked him who he was, and bade him sing to him the\norigin[4] of the iron that had wounded him so, and Wainamoinen related\nthe following story of how iron was first made:\n\n[4] For they believed that a magic song that told the _origin_ of any\ntrouble would also cure it.\n\nLong ago after there were air and water, fire was born, and after the\nfire came iron. Ukko, the creator, rubbed his hands upon his left knee,\nand there arose thence three lovely maidens, who were the mothers of\niron and steel. These three maidens walked forth on the clouds, and from\ntheir bosoms ran the milk of iron, down unto the clouds and thence down\nupon the earth. Ukko's eldest daughter cast black milk over the\nriver-beds, and the second cast white milk over the hills and mountains,\nand the third red milk over the lakes and oceans; and from the black\nmilk grew the soft black iron-ore; from the white milk the\nlighter-coloured ore; and from the red milk the brittle red iron-ore.\n\nAfter the iron had lain in peace for a while, Fire came to visit his\nbrother Iron and tried to eat him up. Then Iron ran from him and took\nrefuge in the swamps and marshes, and that is how we now find iron-ore\nhidden in the marshes.\n\nThen was born the great smith, Ilmarinen, and the next morning after he\nwas born he built his smithy on a hill near the marshland. There he\nfound the hidden iron-ore, and carried it to his smithy and put it in\nthe furnace to be smelted. And Ilmarinen had not blown more than three\nstrokes of the bellows before the iron began to grow soft as dough. But\nthen Iron cried out to him, 'Take me from this furnace, Ilmarinen, save\nme from this cruel torture!' for the heat of the fire had grown\nunbearable.\n\n'Thou art not hurt, but only a little frightened,' Ilmarinen replied;\n'but I will take thee out, and thou shalt be a great warrior and slay\nmany heroes.'\n\nBut Iron swore by the hammer and anvil, 'I will injure trees and\nmountains, but I'll never kill the heroes. I will be men's servant and\ntheir tool, but will not serve for weapons.'\n\nSo Ilmarinen put the iron on his anvil, and made from it many fine\nthings and tools of every kind. But he could not harden the iron into\nsteel, though he pondered over it for a long time. He made a lye from\nbirch-ashes and water to harden the iron in, but it was all in vain.\n\nJust then a little bee came flying up, and Ilmarinen begged him to bring\nhoney from all the flowers in the meadows, that he might put it in the\nwater and so harden the iron to steel. But a hornet, one of the servants\nof the evil spirit Lempo, was sitting on the roof and overheard\nIlmarinen's words. And the hornet flew off and collected all the evil\ncharms he could find--the hissing of serpents, the venom of adders, the\npoison of spiders, the stings of every insect--and brought them to\nIlmarinen. He thought that the bee had come and brought him honey from\nthe meadows, and so mixed all these poisons with the water in which he\nwas to plunge the iron. And when he thrust the iron into the poisoned\nwater it was turned to hard steel, but the poisons made it forget its\noath and grow hard-hearted, and it began to wound men and cause their\nblood to flow in streams. This was the origin of steel and iron.\n\nWhen Wainamoinen had finished, the old man rose from the hearth and\nbegan an incantation to make the wound close up. First he cursed Iron\nthat it had become so wicked, and then he bade the blood cease to flow\nby the power of his magic. And as he went on he prayed to great Ukko\nthat if this magic incantation should not prove sufficient, Ukko himself\nwould come and stop the wound.\n\nBy the time he had finished his words of magic the blood ceased flowing\nfrom the wound. Then the old man sent his son to make a healing salve\nout of herbs, to take away the soreness from Wainamoinen's knee.\n\nFirst the youth made a salve from oak-bark and young shoots, and many\nsorts of healing grasses. Three days and three nights he steeped them in\na copper kettle, but when he had finished the salve would not do. Then\nhe added still other healing herbs, and steeped it for three days more,\nand at last it was ready. First he tried it on a birch-tree that had\nbeen broken down by wicked Lempo. He rubbed the salve on the broken\nbranches and said: 'With this salve I anoint thee, recover, O\nbirch-tree, and grow more beautiful than ever!'\n\nAnd the tree grew together and became more beautiful and strong than\never before. Then he tried the salve on broken granite boulders and on\nfissures in the mountains, and it was so powerful that it closed them\nall together as if they had never existed. After this he hurried home\nand gave the magic salve to his father, and told him what he had done\nwith it.\n\nThe old man anointed Wainamoinen's knee with it, saying: 'Do not rely on\nthine own virtue or power, but in thy creator's strength; do not speak\nwith thine own wisdom, but with great Ukko's. Whatever in thee is good\ncomes from Ukko.'\n\nNo sooner had the old man put on the salve and said these words, than\nWainamoinen was seized with a terrible pain, and lay rolling and\nwrithing on the floor in agony. But the old man bandaged up his knee\nwith a silken bandage, and prayed to Ukko to come to his assistance.\n\nAnd suddenly the pain left Wainamoinen and his knee became as strong\nand well as ever. Then he raised his eyes in gratitude to heaven and\nprayed thus to Ukko: 'Praise to thee, my Creator, for the aid that thou\nhast given me. For thou hast banished all my pain and trouble. O all ye\npeople of Kalevala, both those now living and those to come, boast not\nof the work that ye have done but give to God the praise, for the great\nUkko alone can make all things perfect, Ukko is the one master!'\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere was a moment's pause, and then little Mimi said that she was so\nglad Wainamoinen was well again, and asked Father Mikko to tell them\nwhat happened to him next. But the old man answered that he must have a\n_little_ time to breathe at least. So he filled his pipe again and\nlighted it, and Erik brought up some more beer, and they sat and smoked\nand drank beer and chatted for a while.\n\nThen, when he felt rested once more, Father Mikko obeyed Mimi's urgent\nrequest and began again to tell them how Wainamoinen got home, and what\nhappened afterwards.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nILMARINEN FORGES THE SAMPO\n\n\nNo sooner was Wainamoinen cured of his wound than he put his sledge in\norder and drove off at lightning speed towards Kalevala. For three days\nhe journeyed over hills and valleys, over marshes and meadows, and on\nthe evening of the third day he reached the land of Kalevala once again.\n\nThere, on the border line he halted, and began a magic song. And as he\nsang a fir-tree began to grow from the earth, and kept on growing until\nits top had grown up above the clouds and reached to the stars. When the\ntree had finished growing, Wainamoinen sang another magic song, so that\nthe moon was caught fast in the tree's branches and obliged to shine\nthere until Wainamoinen should reverse his spell. And then by another\nspell he made the stars of the Great Bear fast in the tree-top, and\nthen jumped into his sledge and drove on again to his home, with his\ncap set awry on his head, mourning because he had promised to send\nIlmarinen back to the Northland, to forge the magic Sampo as his ransom.\n\nAs he drove on he came to Ilmarinen's smithy, and he stopped and went in\nto him. Ilmarinen welcomed him and asked where he had been so long, and\nwhat had happened to him.\n\nThen Wainamoinen told him of his journey to the Northland, and all the\ndangers he had gone through, and he added: 'In a village there I saw a\nmaiden, who is the fairest in all the Northland. All there sing her\npraises, for her forehead shines like the rainbow and her face is fair\nas the golden moonlight. She is more beautiful than the sun and all the\nstars together, but she will not marry any suitor. But do thou go, dear\nIlmarinen, and see her wondrous beauty; forge the magic Sampo for her\nmother and then thou shalt win this lovely maiden to be thy wife.'\n\nBut Ilmarinen replied: 'O cunning Wainamoinen, I know that thou hast\npromised me as a ransom for thyself. But I will never go to that gloomy\ncountry, nor do I care for thy beautiful maiden; I will not go for all\nthe maids in Pohjola.'\n\nWainamoinen answered: 'But I can tell thee of still greater wonders,\nfor I have seen a giant fir-tree growing on the border of our own\ncountry; its top is higher than the clouds, and in its branches shine\nthe moon and the Great Bear.'\n\n'I will not believe thy wonderful story,' replied Ilmarinen, 'until I\nsee the tree with my own eyes and the moon and stars shining in it.'\n\n'Come with me,' said Wainamoinen, 'and I will show thee that I speak the\ntruth.' So off they set to see the wondrous tree. When they had come to\nit Wainamoinen asked Ilmarinen to climb the tree and to bring down the\nmoon and stars, and he at once began to climb up towards them.\n\nBut, while he was climbing, the fir-tree spoke to him, saying: 'Foolish\nhero, why hast thou so little knowledge as to try to steal the moon from\nmy branches?' No sooner had the tree said these words to Ilmarinen, than\nWainamoinen sang a magic spell, calling up a great storm-wind, and\nsaying to it: 'O storm-wind, take Ilmarinen and carry him in thy airy\nvessel to the dark and dismal Northland.'\n\nAnd the storm-wind came and heaped up the clouds so that they formed a\nboat, and seizing Ilmarinen from the tree it placed him in the clouds\nand rushed off to the north, carrying clouds and all with it. On and on\nhe sailed, rising higher than the moon, tossed about by the wind, until\nat last he came to the Northland and the storm-wind set him down in\nLouhi's courtyard.\n\nOld toothless Louhi saw him as he alighted, and asked him: 'Who art thou\nthat comest through the air, riding on the storm-wind? Hast thou ever\nmet the great smith Ilmarinen, for I have long been waiting for him to\ncome and forge the magic Sampo for me.'\n\n'I do indeed know him well,' he replied, 'for I myself am Ilmarinen.'\n\nAt these words Louhi hurried into the house and told her youngest\ndaughter to dress herself in all her most splendid clothes and\nornaments, for Ilmarinen was come to make the Sampo for them. So the\nmaiden chose her loveliest silken dresses, and placed a circlet of\ncopper round her brow, a golden girdle round her waist, and pearls about\nher neck, and in her hair she twisted threads of gold and silver. When\nshe was dressed she looked, with her rosy red cheeks and bright\nsparkling eyes, more lovely than any other maiden in all the Northland,\nand then she hurried to the hall to meet Ilmarinen.\n\nLouhi went to Ilmarinen and led him into the house, where there was a\nfeast spread ready for him. She gave him the best seat at the table, and\nthe choicest viands to eat, and gave him everything he wished for. Then\nshe asked him if he would forge the Sampo for her, and promised him, if\nhe would, her fairest daughter as his wife.\n\nIlmarinen was charmed with her daughter's beauty, and he promised to do\nwhat she asked. But when he went to look for a place to work in, he\ncould find no place, and not even so much as a pair of bellows to blow\nhis fire with. Still he was not discouraged, but for three days he\nwandered about, looking for a place to build a workshop. On the evening\nof the third day he saw a huge rock that was suited for his purpose, and\nthere he began to build. The first day he built the chimney and started\na fire; the second day he made his bellows and put them in place; the\nthird day he finished his furnace, and had all ready to begin his work.\n\nThen Ilmarinen made a magic mixture of certain metals and put them in\nthe bottom of the furnace. And he hired some of Louhi's men to work the\nbellows and keep putting fuel on the fire. Three long summer days the\nworkmen blew the bellows, until at length the base rock began to blossom\nin flames from the magic heat.\n\nOn the evening of the first day Ilmarinen bent over the furnace and took\nout a magic bow. It gleamed like the moon, had a shaft of copper and\ntips of silver, and was the most wonderful bow that had ever been made.\nBut it would not rest satisfied unless it killed a warrior every day,\nand two on feast-days. So Ilmarinen broke it into pieces and threw them\nback into the furnace, and tried again to forge the Sampo.\n\nOn the evening of the second day he looked into the furnace and drew\nforth a magic vessel. It was all purple, save the ribs that were of gold\nand the vase of copper, and it was the most beautiful vessel that ever\nhad been made. But wherever it went it always led men into quarrels and\nfights, so Ilmarinen broke it into pieces and threw it back into the\nfurnace.\n\nOn the evening of the third day he took out of the furnace a magic\nheifer, with horns of gold and the most beautifully-shaped head. But she\nwas ill-tempered and would not stay at home, but rushed through the\nforest and swamps and wasted all her milk on the ground. So Ilmarinen\ncut the magic heifer in pieces and threw them back into the furnace.\n\nAnd on the fourth evening he took out a wonderful plough, the\nploughshare of gold and the handles of silver and the beam of copper.\nBut it ploughed up fields of barley and the richest meadows, so\nIlmarinen threw it back into the furnace.\n\nThen he drove away all his workmen, and by his magic called up the\nstorm-winds to blow his bellows. They came from the North and South and\nEast and West, and they blew one day and then another and then a third,\nuntil the fire leapt out through the windows, the sparks flew from the\ndoor, and the smoke rose up and mingled with the clouds. And on the\nthird evening Ilmarinen looked into the furnace and beheld the magic\nSampo growing there. Quickly he took it out and placed it on his anvil,\nand taking a huge hammer the wonderful smith forged the luck-bringing\nSampo. From one side it grinds out flour, and from the other salt, and\nfrom the third it coins out money. And the lid is all the colours of the\nrainbow, and as it rocks back and forth it grinds one measure for the\nday, and one for the market and one for the storehouse.\n\nThen old Louhi joyfully took the luck-bringing Sampo and hid it in the\nhills of Lapland. She bound it with nine great locks, and by her\nwitchcraft made three roots grow all around it, two deep beneath the\nmountains and one beneath the seashore.\n\nAnd when he had finished the Sampo, Ilmarinen came to the lovely\ndaughter of Louhi and asked her if she were ready now to be his wife.\nBut she replied: 'If I should go with thee, and leave the Northland, all\nthe birds would cease to sing. No, never while I live will I give up my\nmaiden freedom, lest all the birds should leave the forest and the\nmermaids leave the waters.'\n\nSo Ilmarinen had made the Sampo all in vain, and he was now far from\nhome and had no way of returning. But Louhi came to him and asked him\nwhy he was grieving, and when she learned his trouble, and that he now\nwished to return to his own home, she provided him with a boat of\ncopper. And when he had set sail she sent the north wind to carry him on\nhis way, and on the evening of the third day he reached his home.\n\nThere Wainamoinen met him and asked if he had forged the magic Sampo.\n'Yes,' replied Ilmarinen, 'I have forged the Sampo, with its lid of many\ncolours. Louhi has the wondrous Sampo, but I have lost the beauteous\nmaiden.'\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n'Ah!' said little Mimi, 'old Louhi's daughter was just as mean as could\nbe, and of course she didn't keep her promise, because Lapps never can\nbe good people.'\n\n'Don't be too hard on the poor Lapps, my dear,' said Father Mikko, 'for\nyou see this happened a great many hundreds of years ago, and the whole\nworld has grown better since then. But now we will leave Ilmarinen and\nWainamoinen for a while, and I will tell you about the reckless\nLemminkainen and his adventures.'\n\nSo the old man began as follows:\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLEMMINKAINEN AND KYLLIKKI\n\n\nLong, long ago a son was born to Lempo, and he was named Lemminkainen,\nbut some call him Ahti. He grew up amongst the islands and fed upon the\nsalmon until he became a mighty man, handsome to look at and skilled in\nmagic. But he was not as good as he was handsome--he had a wicked heart,\nand was more famous for his dancing than for great deeds.\n\nNow at the time my story begins, there lived in the Northland a\nbeautiful maiden named Kyllikki. She was so lovely that the Sun had\nbegged her to marry his son and come and live with them. But she\nrefused, and when the Moon came and besought her to marry her son, and\nthe Evening Star sought her for his son, she refused them both. And\nafter that came suitors from all the countries round about, but the\nlovely Kyllikki would not marry one of them.\n\nWhen Lemminkainen heard of this, he resolved that he would win her\nhimself. But his aged mother tried to dissuade him, telling him that the\nmaiden was of a higher family than his own, that all the Northland women\nwould laugh at him, and then if he should try to punish them for their\nlaughter, that the warriors of the Northland would fall on him and kill\nhim. But all this did not make him change his mind, and he started off\nfor the distant Northland.\n\nWhen he came near to Kyllikki's home, all the women and maidens that saw\nhim began to laugh at him because he looked so poor, and yet dared to\ntry to win the fair Kyllikki's hand. When he heard them laughing, it\nmade him so angry that he drove on without paying any attention to how\nhe was driving, and when he came to the courtyard his sledge hit against\nthe gate-post and broke to pieces, and threw him out into the snow.\n\nHe rose up angrier than ever, but all those around only laughed the\nharder at him, and made all manner of fun of him. Then they offered him\na place as a shepherd on the mountains. So Ahti became a shepherd, and\nspent all the days on the hills, but in the evenings he went to their\ndances, and when he had shown them what a skilful dancer he was, he\nsoon became a great favourite with all the women, and they began to\npraise him instead of laughing at him.\n\nBut fair Kyllikki alone would have nothing to do with him--would not\neven look at him in spite of all his endeavours to win her. At last she\nwas tired out with his attentions, and told him that he had better\nreturn home, for she did not like him, and that so long as he stayed\nthere she would not even look at him.\n\nStill he did not go away, but waited until a chance came to carry out\nhis new plan. About a month after this, all the maidens were met\ntogether for a dance in a glen among the hills, and among them was\nKyllikki. Suddenly Lemminkainen came galloping up in his sledge and\nseized the fair Kyllikki as she was dancing with the rest, placed her in\nhis sledge, and drove off like the whirlwind, and as he flew by the\nfrightened maidens he cried out to them: 'Never tell that I have taken\nKyllikki, or I will cast a magic spell over your lovers, so that they\nwill all leave you and go off to the wars and will never come back to\ndance and make merry with you.'\n\nBut Kyllikki wept and begged Lemminkainen to give her back her freedom,\nsaying, 'Oh, give me back my freedom, cruel Lemminkainen; let me return\non foot to my grieving father and mother. If thou wilt not let me go, O\nAhti, I will curse thee and will call upon my seven valiant brothers to\npursue and kill thee. Once I was happy among my people, but now all my\njoy has gone since thou hast come to torment me, O cruel-hearted Ahti!'\n\nBut all her words could not move Lemminkainen to release her. Then he\nsaid to her: 'Dearest maiden, fair Kyllikki, cease thy weeping and be\njoyful; I will never harm thee nor deceive thee. Why shouldst thou be\nsorrowful, for I have a lovely home and friends and riches, and thou\nshalt never need to labour. Do not despise me because my family is not\nmighty, for I have a good spear and a sharp sword, and with these I will\ngain greatness and power for thy sake.'\n\nThen Kyllikki asked him: 'O Ahti, son of Lempo, wilt thou then be to me\na faithful husband; wilt thou swear to me never to go to battle nor to\nstrife of any sort?'\n\n'I will swear upon my honour,' Lemminkainen replied, 'that I will never\ngo to battle, if thou wilt promise in return never to go to dance in the\nvillage, however much thou mayst long for it.'\n\nSo the two swore before the great Ukko, Lemminkainen promising never to\ngo to battle, and Kyllikki that she would never go to the village\ndances. And then Lemminkainen rejoicing cracked his whip, and they\ngalloped on like the wind over hills and valleys towards the plains of\nKalevala.\n\nAs they came near to Lemminkainen's home, Kyllikki saw that it looked\ndreary and poor, and began to weep again, but Lemminkainen comforted\nher, telling her that now he would build a splendid mansion for her, and\nso she grew cheerful once more.\n\nThey drove up to his mother's cottage, and as they entered his mother\nasked him how he had fared. Ahti answered: 'I have well repaid the scorn\nof the Northland maidens, for I have brought the fairest of them with me\nin my sledge. I brought her well wrapt in bear-skins hither, to be my\nloving bride for ever. Beloved mother, make ready for us the best room\nand prepare a rich feast, that my bride may be content.'\n\nHis mother answered: 'Praised be gracious Ukko, that hath given me a\ndaughter. Praise Ukko, my son, that thou hast won this lovely maiden,\nthe pride of the Northland, who is purer than the snow, more graceful\nthan the swan, and more beautiful than the stars. Let us make our\ndwelling larger, and decorate the walls most beautifully in honour of\nthy lovely bride, the fairest maid of all creation.'\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nKYLLIKKI'S BROKEN VOW\n\n\nLemminkainen and Kyllikki lived together happily for many years, keeping\nthe promises they had made to each other. But one day Lemminkainen had\nnot come home from fishing by sunset, and then the longing to dance was\nmore than Kyllikki could withstand, and she went into the village and\njoined the maidens in their dance.\n\nAs soon as Lemminkainen came home, his sister Ainikki came to him and\ntold him how Kyllikki had broken her promise and had joined in the\ndance. Then Lemminkainen grew angry and sad at the same time, and he\nwent to his mother and asked her to steep his clothing in the blood of\nserpents, for he was going off to battle since Kyllikki could not keep\nher vow.\n\nKyllikki tried to persuade him not to leave her, telling him that she\nhad dreamt a dream, in which she saw their home in flames and the fire\nbursting out through the doors and windows and roof. But Lemminkainen\nreplied: 'I have no faith in women's dreams or maidens' vows. Bring me\nmy copper armour, mother, for I long to get to the wars, to go to dismal\nPohjola, there to win great stores of gold and silver.'\n\n'Stay at home, my dear son,' his aged mother said, 'and drink the beer\nin our cellars, sitting peaceably by thine own hearth, for we have more\nthan enough gold and silver. Only the other day, as our servants were\nploughing the fields they came upon a chest of gold and silver buried in\nthe ground--take this and be content.'\n\nWhen all this had no effect upon Lemminkainen, his mother began to tell\nhim of the magic of the Northland people, and that they would sing him\ninto the fire so that he would be burnt to death. But he replied: 'Long\nago three Lapland wizards tried to bewitch me, and employed their\nstrongest spells against me, but I stood unmoved. Then I began my own\nmagic songs, and before long I overcame them and sank them to the bottom\nof the sea, where they are still sleeping and the seaweed is growing\nthrough their hair and beards.'\n\nStill his mother tried to stop him, and his wife Kyllikki begged his\nforgiveness in tears. He stood listening to them and brushing out his\nlong black hair, but at last he became impatient, and threw the brush\nfrom him and cried out: 'I will not stay, but keep that brush, and when\nye see blood oozing from its bristles, then ye may know that some\nterrible misfortune has overtaken me.'\n\nSaying this he left them and put on his armour and harnessed his steed\ninto his sledge. Then he sang a song, calling on all the spirits of the\nwoods and the mountains and the waters and on great Ukko himself to help\nhim against the Northland wizards, and when his song was ended he drove\noff like the wind.\n\nIn the evening of the third day he reached a little village in the\nNorthland. Here he drove into a courtyard and called out: 'Is there any\none strong enough to attend to my horse and take care of my sledge.'\nThere was a child playing on the floor of the house, and it replied that\nthere was no one there to do it. Then Lemminkainen rode on to another\nhouse and asked the same question; and a man standing in the doorway\nreplied: 'There are plenty here that are mighty enough not only to\nunharness thy steed, but to conquer thee and drive thee to thy home ere\nthe sun has set.'\n\nThen Lemminkainen told him that he would return and slay him, and so\ndrove off to the highest house in the village. Here he cast a spell over\nthe watch-dog, so that he should not bark, and drove in. Then he struck\non the ground with his whip, and from the ground there arose a vapour\nthat concealed the sledge, and in the vapour was a dwarf that took his\nsteed and unharnessed it and gave it food. But Lemminkainen went on into\nthe house, having first made himself invisible. There he found a great\nmany people singing and making merry, and by the fires the Northland\nwizards were seated. He made his way on, and then took on his own shape\nagain and entered into the main hall, and cried out to those that were\nsinging to be silent.\n\nAs soon as she saw him the mistress of the house ran up to him and asked\nhim who he was, and how he had passed the watch-dog unnoticed. Then\nLemminkainen told her who he was, and instantly began to weave his magic\nspells, while the lightning shot from his fur mantle and flames from his\neyes. He sang them all under the power of his magic--some beneath the\nwaters, some into the burning fire, some beneath the heaped-up\nmountains. Only one poor old man, who was blind and lame, did he leave\nuntouched. And when the old man asked him why it was that he had alone\nbeen left, cruel Lemminkainen began to abuse him and to torment him with\nwords, until the old man, Nasshut, grew almost wild with anger, and\nhobbled away, swearing to have vengeance. Nasshut journeyed on and on,\nand at last arrived at the river Tuoni, which separates the land of the\ndead from the land of the living. There he waited until Lemminkainen\nshould come, for he knew, by his wizard's skill, that he would come\nthither soon.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLEMMINKAINEN'S SECOND WOOING\n\n\nAfter this Lemminkainen travelled on through dismal Pohjola until he\ncame to the home of aged Louhi. He went in to Louhi and begged her to\ngive him one of her daughters in marriage, but Louhi refused, saying:\n'Thou hast already taken one wife from Lapland, the fair Kyllikki, and I\nwill give thee neither the loveliest nor yet the ugliest of my\ndaughters.'\n\nStill Lemminkainen kept urging her, and at last, to get rid of him, she\nsaid: 'I will never give one of my daughters to a worthless man. Thou\nmayst not ask me again until thou bringest me the Hisi-reindeer.'\n\nThen Lemminkainen set to work to make his arrows and his darts. When\nthese were done he went to Lylikki, the great snow-shoe maker, and bade\nhim make a huge pair of snow-shoes, as he was going to hunt the\nHisi-reindeer. At first Lylikki tried to dissuade him, telling him he\ncould never succeed, but perhaps would die in the forest. But\nLemminkainen ordered him again to make the snow-shoes, and Lylikki set\nto work. He made them of wood, only a few inches wide, but longer than\nLemminkainen was tall, and with straps in the middle to fasten them on\nto the feet; and he also made a staff for Lemminkainen to push himself\nalong with, or to keep his balance with when he slid down the hills.\n\nAt length they were finished, and Lemminkainen put them on, and his\nquiver on his back, and took his snow-staff in his hand, and as he set\noff he cried out: 'There is no living thing in all the forest that can\nescape me now, when I take my mighty strides in Lylikki's snow-shoes.'\n\nBut the evil spirit Hisi overheard him as he boasted thus, and Hisi set\nto work to make an enchanted reindeer, that Lemminkainen would never be\nable to catch. So he took bare willow branches to make the horns, and\nwood for the head, the feet and legs were made of reeds, and the veins\nfrom withered grass, the eyes were made from daisies, the ears from\nflowers, and the skin of the rough fir-bark, and the muscles from\nstrong, sappy wood. When this magic reindeer was completed it was the\nswiftest and the finest-looking of all reindeer. And Hisi sent it off\nto Pohjola, telling it to lure Lemminkainen into the snow-covered\nmountains and there to wear him out with the cold and the fatigue of the\nchase. So the reindeer went forth to dismal Pohjola, and there it ran\nthrough the courtyards and the outhouses, overturning tubs of water,\nthrowing the kettles from their hooks, and upsetting the dishes that\nwere cooking before the fires. There was a frightful noise there, for\nall the dogs began to bark, and the children to cry, and the women to\nlaugh, and the men to shout. And then the magic reindeer went on its\nway.\n\nNow Lemminkainen had set out, as soon as his snow-shoes were ready, and\nhad hunted the whole world over for a trace of the Hisi-reindeer,\nrushing like the wind over mountains and valleys, until the fire shot\nfrom his snow-shoes, and his snow-staff smoked. But after he had\nwandered over the whole world and still had found no trace of the\nHisi-reindeer, he came at last to the corner of Northland where the\nmagic animal had just run through the courts upsetting everything, and\nthe children were still crying and the women laughing when he arrived.\nLemminkainen asked what the cause was of their uproar, and they told him\nhow the reindeer had been there.\n\nNo sooner had he heard this than off he flew over the snow, and as he\nwent he sang a spell, calling on the powers of Pohjola to enable him to\ncatch the Hisi-beast. After he had sung, he gave three huge strides with\nhis snow-shoes, and at the end of the third he caught up with the\nHisi-reindeer, and in another moment had it bound fast. Then he spoke to\nthe reindeer and patted it on the head, and bade it come with him to\nLouhi. But suddenly the animal made a mighty rush, snapped his bonds in\ntwo, and sprang away over the hills and valleys out of sight.\n\nLemminkainen started off after it, but at the first step his snow-shoes\nbroke right in two and threw him down, breaking his arrows and his\nsnow-staff in his fall. Then he arose and looked sadly at his broken\nshoes and arrows and stick, and said to himself: 'How shall I ever\nsucceed in my hunt, now that my shoes are broken, and the reindeer is\nonce more free?'\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLEMMINKAINEN'S DEATH\n\n\nFor a long time Lemminkainen sat considering whether he should give up\nthe chase and return to Kalevala, or still keep on after the\nHisi-reindeer. At length he regained hope and courage, and having sung\nan incantation that made his snow-shoes and arrows and staff whole\nagain, he started off once more.\n\nThis time he turned his steps to the home of Tapio, the god of the\nforest, and as he went he began to sing wondrous songs to Tapio and his\nwife Mielikki, begging them to help him, and promising them great stores\nof gold and silver if they would do so.\n\nAt last he arrived at Tapio's palace, which had window-frames of gold,\nand the palace itself was of ivory. And within it Mielikki and her\ndaughters were dressed in golden garments, and wore gold and gems in\ntheir hair, and pearls round their necks. And they all promised to help\nLemminkainen, and went off to drive the reindeer up to the palace so\nthat he might catch it. Nor had he long to wait before whole troops of\nreindeer came flocking into the palace courtyard, and Lemminkainen saw\namong them the Hisi-deer, and caught it.\n\nThen Lemminkainen sang a song of triumph, and having paid to Tapio's\nwife, Mielikki, the gold and silver he had promised, he hastened off\nwith the reindeer to Louhi's home. But when he gave the Hisi-deer to\nher, she said: 'I will give thee my fairest daughter if thou wilt catch\nand bridle for me the fiery Hisi-horse, that breathes smoke and fire\nfrom his mouth and nostrils.'\n\nSo Lemminkainen went off, taking with him a golden bridle to put on the\nhorse. For three days he wandered without catching sight of the\nHisi-horse, but on the third day he climbed to the top of a very high\nmountain, and from thence he spied the steed on the plain amongst the\nfir-trees, breathing smoke and flames from his mouth and nostrils and\neyes.\n\nWhen Lemminkainen saw him he prayed to great Ukko to send a shower of\nicy hail upon the fiery Hisi-steed, and presently a great shower of hail\nrained down, and every hailstone was larger than a man's head. After\nthe hail was over, Lemminkainen came up to the fiery horse and coaxed\nhim to let the golden bridle be slipped over his head. Then off they\nwent like the wind, the horse obeying Lemminkainen perfectly, and in a\nvery short time they arrived at Louhi's house. When he had given the\nHisi-horse to Louhi, Lemminkainen asked again for the hand of her\nfairest daughter. But Louhi told him she would not give him her daughter\nuntil he had killed the swan that swam on Tuoni's river, which flows\nbetween the land of the living and the dead.\n\nThen Lemminkainen started off fearlessly to seek the graceful swan of\nTuoni, and journeyed on and on until at length he came to the coal-black\nriver. There the old shepherd of Pohjola, Nasshut, was waiting for him,\nand, though blind, he heard Lemminkainen's footsteps, and sent a serpent\nfrom the death-river to meet him. The serpent stung Lemminkainen just\nover the heart, so that he fell down dead almost instantly, only having\ntime to call upon his ancient mother to help him.\n\nAnd Nasshut cast his body into the dismal river Tuoni, where it was\nwashed down through the rapids to the Deathland, Tuonela. There the son\nof the ruler of the Deathland took the body, and cutting it into five\nportions, cast them back into the stream, saying: 'Swim there now, O\nLemminkainen! float for ever in this river, so that thou mayst hunt the\nwild swan at thy leisure.'\n\nAnd thus the handsome Lemminkainen died, and was cast into the river of\nTuoni, that flows along the Deathland.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLEMMINKAINEN'S RESTORATION\n\n\nLemminkainen's mother began to grow uneasy at his long absence, and to\nfear that some trouble had befallen him. At last one day, as his wife,\nthe fair Kyllikki, was in her room, she noticed that drops of blood had\nbegun to flow from the bristles of Lemminkainen's hair-brush. Then she\nbegan to weep and mourn, and ran and told his mother, who came and saw\nthe blood oozing from the brush, and cried out:\n\n'Woe is me, for my son, my hero, is in some terrible distress; some\nawful misfortune has happened to him.' Saying this she hurried off, and\nwent straight to Louhi's house. There she asked what had become of her\nson, but Louhi only replied that she did not know, that he had driven\noff long ago in a sledge she had given him, and perhaps the wolves or\nbears had eaten him.\n\n'Thou art only telling falsehoods,' replied Lemminkainen's mother, 'for\nno bears or wolves can devour him; he would put them to sleep with his\nmagic singing. Now, tell me truly, O Louhi, whither thou hast sent my\nson, or I will destroy all thy storehouses and even thy magic Sampo.'\n\nAnd then Louhi said that she had given him a copper boat, and he had\nfloated off on the river; perhaps he had perished in the rapids below.\nBut Lemminkainen's mother answered: 'Thou art still speaking falsely.\nTell me the truth this time, or I will send plague and death upon thee.'\n\nThen Louhi answered the third time: 'I will tell thee the truth. I sent\nhim to fetch me the Hisi-reindeer, and then after the fire-breathing\nhorse, and last of all, after the swan that swims the death-stream,\nTuoni, that he might gain the hand of my fairest daughter. He may have\nperished there, for he has not come back since to ask for my daughter's\nhand.'\n\nNo sooner had Louhi said this than the anxious mother hurried off to\nhunt for her son. Over hills and valleys, through marsh and forest, and\nover the wide waters she went, but looked for him in vain. Then she\nasked the Trees if they had seen him but they answered: 'We have more\nthan enough to think of with our own griefs. We are cut down with cruel\naxes and burned to death, and no one pities us.'\n\nSo she wandered on and on, and finally she asked the Paths if they had\nseen her son pass by. But the Paths replied: 'Our own lives are too\nwretched to think of other people's sorrows. We are trodden under foot\nby beasts and men, and the heavy carts cut us in pieces.'\n\nNext she asked the Moon, but the Moon replied: 'I have trouble enough of\nmy own. I have to wander all alone in both summer and winter nights, and\nhave no rest.'\n\nNext she questioned the Sun, and he was kinder than the rest, and told\nher how her son had died in the gloomy river Tuoni.\n\nThen she hastened to Ilmarinen, the wondrous smith, and bade him make a\nhuge rake for her out of copper, with teeth a hundred fathoms long and\nthe handle five hundred fathoms. Ilmarinen quickly forged a magic rake,\nand she hurried off with it to the gloomy river Tuoni, praying as she\nwent: 'O Sun, whom Ukko hath created, shine for me now with magic power\ninto the kingdom of death, into dark Manala, and lull all the evil\nspirits there to sleep.'\n\nThe Sun came and sat upon a birch-tree near the river of Tuoni, and\nshone upon the Deathland, Tuonela, until all the spirits fell asleep.\nThen he rose, and hovering over them, warmed them into a yet deeper\nslumber, and then hurried back to his place in the sky.\n\nMeanwhile Lemminkainen's mother had raked a long time in the coal-black\nriver, but could find nothing. Then she waded in deeper and deeper,\nuntil she could reach into the deepest caverns with her rake. First, she\nfound his jacket, and then the rest of his clothing; and finally, the\nthird time she swept her rake along, it brought up Lemminkainen's body,\nbut the hands and arms and head were still missing. Still she went on\nwith her search, and at length all the pieces were gathered together.\n\nWhen she had laid them beside each other, in their proper positions, she\nbegan to pray to the goddess of the veins, Suonetar, and the maiden of\nthe ether, to come and join the different parts together, and to sew up\nthe wounds and make him whole. And then she prayed to the mighty Ukko to\nhelp them, and to heal every part that was wounded or bruised, to touch\nthem with his magic touch, and restore Lemminkainen to life.\n\nAnd Ukko did so, and Lemminkainen lived once more, but he was still\nblind and deaf and dumb. But his mother considered deeply how she might\nrestore these senses to him, and at length she called the little bee to\nher, and bade it go out and collect honey from the healing plants in\nthe meadows. So the bee flew away and returned very soon laden with\nhoney from all the healing plants, and she anointed her son with this,\nbut it only gave him his sight, and still left him deaf and dumb.\n\nAgain the mother sent off the bee, telling it to go across the seven\noceans, and to alight on an enchanted isle in the eighth. There it would\nfind magic honey to bring back. The bee did as it was told and found the\nmagic honey-balm in tiny earthen vessels, and flew back with seven\nvessels in its arms and seven on each shoulder, all filled with the\nmagic honey-balm. Lemminkainen's mother anointed him with this, and he\ncould hear, but still remained speechless.\n\nThen the mother bade the bee fly up to the seventh heaven and to bring\ndown from thence the honey of Ukko's wisdom, which was so abundant\nthere. When the bee declared that it could not fly so high, she told it\nthe way and sent it off. So the bee flew up and up, and at the end of\nthe first day it rested on the moon. At the end of the second day it\nreached the shoulders of the Great Bear, and on the third day it flew\nover the Great Bear's head and reached the seventh heaven of Ukko. There\nit found three golden kettles, and in the first was a balm that gave\nease to the heart, and the balm in the second gave happiness, but the\nbalm of the third kettle gave life. So the bee took some of the\nlife-giving balm and hastened back to earth.\n\nThen Lemminkainen's mother anointed him with this magic balm, speaking a\nmagic spell as she rubbed him with it, and immediately he awoke, and his\nfirst words were: 'Truly I have been sleeping long, but yet my sleep was\na sweet one, for I knew neither joy nor sorrow.'\n\nWhen his mother asked how he had gone thither and who it was that had\nharmed him, he told her all--how Louhi had sent him for the swan, and\nhow old Nasshut, the blind Northland shepherd, had sent the serpent\nagainst him and killed him, for he did not know the charm to cure the\nsting of serpents. Then his mother upbraided him for his ignorance, and\ntold him how the serpent was born from the marrow of the duck and the\nbrain of swallows, mixed with Suojatar's saliva, and she told him too\nwhat the spell was to use against them. Thus his mother brought him back\nto life and health, and he was wiser and handsomer than ever, but still\nhe was downhearted.\n\nHis mother asked him the reason of this, and he replied that he was\nstill thinking of Louhi's daughter and longing for her as his bride, but\nthat first he must shoot the wild swan. But his mother answered: 'Do\nnot think of the wild swan, nor yet of Louhi's daughters. Return with me\nto Kalevala to thy home, and thank and praise thy Maker, Ukko, that he\nhath saved thee, for I alone could never have saved thee from dismal\nManala.'\n\nSo Lemminkainen hastened home with his mother,--back again to his\npleasant home in Kalevala.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nEvery one expressed satisfaction that Lemminkainen had been restored to\nlife--'for, you see,' said Mimi, 'though he was really a bad man, he did\nso many wonderful things that you just can't help wishing for him not to\nbe killed.'\n\nBut now it had grown quite late, nearly nine o'clock, and so they all\nate their supper and then Erik and Father Mikko sat smoking and talking\nwhile Mother Stina and the little ones went into the other room to\nbed,--for Erik had actually two rooms in his house,--and it isn't every\nFinnish country cabin that has that, you know. They talked of their\ncountry, for that was the dearest subject to both of them,--they were\nintelligent men for their class,--and when Father Mikko told how the\nRussian Tsar was taking their liberties away from them, and was\nbeginning to break all his oaths and promises and would no doubt end up\nby making them as badly off as the people on the south side of the\nFinnish Gulf--when Father Mikko related all this, Erik's eyes flashed\nand he longed to be able to draw the sword to defend his beloved\ncountry's liberty.\n\nBut at last they had gone over all these things and were sleepy\nthemselves, so they made up their beds on some sheep-skin rugs on the\nfloor, and soon fell into a sound sleep.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe next day it was still storming, and so Father Mikko gave up all idea\nof leaving that day. About three o'clock in the afternoon--it was dark\nas night then--they had all finished dinner and settled down around the\nfire as on the day before, and Father Mikko was easily persuaded to go\non with his stories.\n\nErik was at work on a pair of snow-shoes, just like those that\nLemminkainen wore in the story of the hunt after the Hisi-deer. They\nwere nearly finished--about six feet long and five inches wide in the\nbroadest part, with a place in the middle to fasten them on to the feet,\nand the front ends were turned up. All that now remained to be done was\nto polish them off, and Erik worked at this while Father Mikko told his\nstories. The children had enough to do to watch 'Pappa' Mikko's face and\nlisten to the wonderful tales, and Mother Stina was busy with some\nsewing--she couldn't spin because the noise of the wheel would have\ndrowned Father Mikko's voice.\n\n'Now that we have brought Lemminkainen back from the Death-river,' the\nold man said, 'we will see what Wainamoinen was doing all this while.'\nSo he began as follows:\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWAINAMOINEN'S BOAT-BUILDING\n\n\nWainamoinen started to build a boat from the Rainbow-maiden's distaff,\nbut he had soon used up all his timber, and the boat was far from\nfinished. So he asked Sampsa (the planter of the first trees that grew\non earth) to go and search out the needful timber in order to finish the\nboat.\n\nSampsa started off with a golden axe upon his shoulder and a copper\nhatchet in his belt. He wandered through the mountain forests, and at\nlength came upon a great aspen, and was just going to cut it down, when\nthe aspen asked him what he wanted. 'I wish to take your timber for a\nvessel,' Sampsa replied, 'that the wise magician Wainamoinen is\nbuilding.' Then the aspen answered: 'All the boats that have been made\nof my wood have been but failures; they float but a little way, and\nthen sink to the ocean's bottom, for my trunk is full of hollow places,\nwhere the worms have eaten my wood.'\n\nSo Sampsa left the aspen and searched still further, until he came to a\npine-tree that was even taller than the aspen was. Sampsa struck a blow\nwith his axe, and at the same time asked the pine-tree if it would\nfurnish good timber for Wainamoinen's boat. But the pine-tree answered:\n'All the ships that have been made from me are useless. I am full of\nimperfections, for the ravens live among my branches and bring\nill-luck.'\n\nAnd Sampsa was obliged to leave the pine-tree and go on until he came to\na tremendous oak-tree, whose trunk was thicker than the height of even\nthe tallest men. And he asked the oak-tree if it would furnish wood for\nWainamoinen's boat. 'I will gladly furnish the wood,' replied the\noak-tree, 'for I am tall and sound and strong. The warm sun shines upon\nme for three months in the summer, and the sacred cuckoo dwells in my\nbranches and brings good fortune.' So Sampsa quickly felled the oak, and\nbrought the timber, skilfully hewn, to Wainamoinen.\n\nThe wise magician Wainamoinen then began to put his boat together by the\naid of magic spells. The first magic song that he sang joined the\nframework together, and the second song fastened the planking into the\nribs, and the third put the rowlocks in place and made the oars. But,\nalas! when all this was done, there were still three magic words needed\nto complete the stem and stern and bulwarks.\n\nWainamoinen saw that all his labour was in vain unless he found the\nthree magic words, for unless the stern and stem were fastened and the\nbulwarks built, the boat could never put to sea. He pondered long over\nwhere he might find the lost words, and after a while he concluded that\nthey might be found in the brains of swallows and the heads of swans and\nthe plumage of the sea-duck. But though he killed great numbers of these\nbirds, he could not find the three lost words. Then he thought that he\nmight find them on the tongues of reindeers or of the squirrels; but\nthough he killed great numbers of them, and found many words on their\ntongues, the three lost words were not there.\n\nThen he said to himself: 'I will seek the lost words in the kingdom of\nManala; there are countless words to be found there in the Deathland.'\nSo off he went, travelling for three weeks over hill and dale, through\nmarshes and thickets, until at length he came to the river of Tuoni.\nThere he called out in a voice like thunder: 'Bring a boat, O daughter\nof Tuoni, and ferry me over this black and fatal river.'\n\nTuoni's daughter, a wee little dwarf, but very wise and ancient, bade\nhim first say why he wished to come into the Deathland while he was\nstill alive. And first Wainamoinen answered that Tuoni himself, the\ndeath-god, had sent him. But the maid replied: 'Had Tuoni brought thee,\nhe would now be with thee, and thou wouldst be wearing his cap and\ngloves.' So Wainamoinen answered again: 'I was slain by an iron weapon.'\nBut the maid would not believe him, because he had no bleeding wound.\nThen he said the third time, that he had been washed there by the river.\nBut still the maid would not believe him, for his clothing was not wet.\nAnd the fourth time he said that fire had burnt him. But the maid\nreplied: 'If the fire had brought thee to Manala, thy hair and eyebrows\nand beard would be all singed and burnt. But now I ask thee for the last\ntime what it is that hath brought thee, living, hither. Tell me the\ntruth this time.'\n\nThen Wainamoinen told her that he had been building a boat by magic, but\nthat he yet lacked one spell, and had come thither to seek it. When he\nhad said this, Tuoni's daughter came across and rowed him to the\nopposite side, having first tried to dissuade him from coming. But\nWainamoinen was not afraid; and when he had landed he walked straight\nup to the abode of Tuoni.\n\nThere Tuonetar, Tuoni's wife, gave him a golden goblet filled with beer,\nsaying: 'Drink Tuoni's beer, O wise and ancient Wainamoinen!' But he\ncarefully inspected the liquor before he tasted it, and saw that it was\nblack and full of the spawn of frogs and poisonous serpent-broods; and\nhe said to Tuonetar: 'I have not come hither to drink Tuoni's poisons,\nfor they that do so will surely be destroyed.'\n\nTuonetar then asked him why he had come, and he told her of his\nboat-building, and how he still needed the three magic words, and that\nhe hoped to find them there. 'Tuoni will never reveal them,' Tuonetar\nsaid; 'nor shalt thou ever leave these gates alive;' and as she spoke\nshe waved the slumber-wand over Wainamoinen's head, and he sank into a\ndeep sleep. And to make sure of his not escaping, Tuoni's son, a hideous\nwizard with only three fingers, wove nets of iron and of copper, and set\nthem all through the river, to catch Wainamoinen if by any chance he\nshould get so far.\n\nBut Wainamoinen soon freed himself from Tuonetar's slumber-spell, and\nknowing in how great danger he was, he instantly transformed himself\ninto a serpent, and wriggled his way to the river, and through the nets\nthat had been set to catch him, until at length he came out safe into\nthe land of the living again; and the next morning, when Tuoni's wizard\nson went to look at his nets, he found all kinds of evil fish and\nserpents, but not the wise old magician.\n\nBut Wainamoinen prayed to Ukko: 'I thank thee, O Ukko, that thou hast\nprotected me; but never suffer any other of thy heroes, not even the\nwisest, to go against the laws of nature to the awful Tuonela. For there\nare but few who return from thence.'\n\nAnd then Wainamoinen called together the people on the plains of\nKalevala, and spoke to the young men and maidens, saying: 'Listen, all\nye young people. Never disobey your parents; never harm the innocent,\nnor wrong the weak, nor utter falsehood, else ye will pay the penance\nfor it in the gloomy prison of Manala; for there is the dwelling-place\nof the wicked, and a place for the guilty. Beneath the burning rocks\nthere are fiery couches, with pillows of hissing serpents, and coverlets\nof green writhing vipers. And the wicked there drink the blood of\nadders, but have nothing to eat at all. If ye would be happy, shun this\nabode of the wicked ones in Tuonela.'\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n'But I thought Wainamoinen wasn't to use any wood for his boat except\nthe pieces of the distaff,' said Mimi.\n\n'Well, you see,' said Father Mikko, 'the main thing was to build the\nboat by _magic_, and we'll see now how he did that. I don't believe a\nlittle extra wood made any difference.' So he went on:\n\n[Illustration: A LAPLAND WIZARD.]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWAINAMOINEN FINDS THE LOST WORDS\n\n\nWainamoinen had failed to find the three magic words in the Deathland,\nand now he sat and pondered whither he should go next to seek them.\nWhile he was thinking over this, a shepherd came to him and said: 'Thou\ncanst find a thousand words of wisdom on the tongue of the dead hero\nWipunen. I know the road that leads to his grave: first, thou must\njourney a long distance over the points of needles, and then a long way\nupon the edges of sharp swords, and then a third road on the edges of\nhatchets.'\n\nThen Wainamoinen considered how he should be able to walk over the\nneedles and swords and hatchets, and at last hit on a plan. He went to\nthe smith Ilmarinen and bade him make shoes of iron, and gloves of\ncopper, and a magic staff of the strongest metal, as he was going to\nseek the lost words from the wise Wipunen. Ilmarinen made him the shoes\nand gloves and staff, but said: \u2018The wise magician Wipunen died long\nages ago, he surely cannot tell thee the magic words.\u2019 Still Wainamoinen\nwas not disheartened, but began his journey. The first day he hurried\nalong over the points of needles, and all the second day over the sword\nedges, and on the evening of the third day he had come across the edges\nof the hatchets and reached the spot where Wipunen lay buried. From\nWipunen\u2019s shoulders grew great aspens, on each temple grew a birch-tree,\non his mighty chin an alder, from his beard grew willows, from his mouth\na fir-tree, and an oak upon his forehead. Then Wainamoinen drew his\nmagic hatchet from its leather sheath, and cut down all the trees that\nwere growing over Wipunen. And then he took his magic staff and thrust\nit between Wipunen\u2019s teeth and prised open his mouth, and as he did so,\nhe sang a spell to bring Wipunen\u2019s spirit back from the Deathland,\nTuonela. And when the spell was sung, Wipunen felt the pain of the staff\nwithin his mouth, and bit it so hard that he cut clear through the iron\noutside, but the centre was of steel, too hard even for Wipunen\u2019s teeth.\nSo he opened his mouth wide in anguish, and as he did so Wainamoinen\nslipped and fell headlong, armour and all, right down his throat. And\nWipunen said, as he swallowed him: \u2018I have eaten sheep and reindeer,\nbears and oxen, but I have never tasted a sweeter morsel than this.\u2019 But\nnow Wainamoinen was sorely per-plexed to know what he should do. After\npondering over the matter, he took a dagger that he wore, and from the\nwooden handle he built a boat by the aid of magic spells, and began to\nrow all through the old magician\u2019s body, through every single vein and\nvessel, but Wipunen scarcely felt it, and paid no attention to him. Then\nWainamoinen thought again, and taking off his armour he made it into a\nforge with bellows and all complete, and used his knees for an anvil and\nhis arm for a hammer, and started to work. For three days he worked away\ninside the magician\u2019s body, until the bellows blew a perfect whirl-wind\nand the anvilirang like thunder. At length old Wipunen could bear it no\nlonger and cried out : \u2018What great magician art thou, for I have eaten\nmany men and heroes, but never such an one as thou: for the smoke is\npouring from my nostrils, and the fire streams from my mouth, and my\nthroat is full of iron clinkers. Go and leave me, wretched torturer! Why\nhast thou come hither to hurt me? Art thou a trial sent by mighty Ukko,\nfor if so I will be resigned, but if thou art of some human race, I will\nsearch out thy tribe and destroy it. Leave my body, cease thy forging,\nlet me rest in peace and slumber. Or if thou wilt not leave me, I will\ncall on all the great magicians of the past, the spirits of the\nmountains and woods and seas and rivers, on Ilmatar, daughter of the\nether, to assist me. Or if these be not sufficient, I will call on\nmighty Ukko to drive thee forth. If thou art from the winds, then return\nto the copper mountains where they live; if from the sea, return to it;\nif from the forests, then return to them, or I will drive thee to the\nbottom of the coal-black river of Tuoni, whence thou shalt never move\nagain.'\n\n'I am well contented here,' said Wainamoinen, 'in these roomy caverns. I\ncan eat thy heart and flesh and for drink I will take thy blood. And I\nwill set my forge still deeper in thy vitals, and will swing my hammer\nstill harder on thy heart and lungs and liver. I shall never leave thee\nuntil I learn all thy wisdom, and the three lost words, that all thy\nmagic knowledge may not perish with thee from the earth.'\n\nThen Wipunen began to sing all his knowledge and his magic spells for\nWainamoinen. He sang the origin of witchcraft, the source of good and\nevil and how by the will of Ukko the water was first divided from the\nether. And next he sang of how the moon and sun were made, and whence\nthe colours of the rainbow came, and how the stars were sprinkled in the\nsky. Three whole days and nights he sang, until the stars and the moon\nstood still to listen, and the very waves of the sea and the tides\nceased to rise and fall, and the rivers stopped in their courses.\n\nAt length Wainamoinen had learned all the wisdom of the great magician,\nand the three lost words, and he made ready to leave Wipunen's body,\nbidding him open wide his mouth that he might get out and leave him for\never.\n\n'I have eaten many things, O Wainamoinen,' said Wipunen, 'bears and\nreindeer, wolves and oxen, but never such a thing as thou. Now thou hast\nfound the wisdom that thou seekest, go in peace and never come back to\nme.'\n\nThen he opened his mouth wide, and Wainamoinen glided forth and hastened\nswiftly as the deer to Kalevala. First he went into the smithy, and\nIlmarinen asked him if he had learned the lost words that would enable\nhim to finish his vessel. 'I have learned a thousand magic words,'\nanswered Wainamoinen, 'and among them are the lost words that I sought.'\n\nThereupon he hastened off to where his vessel lay, and with the three\nlost words he joined the stem and stern and raised the bulwarks. Thus he\nhad built the vessel with magic alone, and by magic art he launched it\ntoo, not touching it with foot or knee or hand, using only magic to push\nit. Thus was the task completed which should gain for him the\nRainbow-maiden in her beauty.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n'Oh! _do_ hurry and tell us about that,' said Mimi, and Father Mikko\ncontinued.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE RIVAL SUITORS\n\n\nNow the Rainbow-maiden was really the same as old Louhi's fairest\ndaughter, whom Wainamoinen had wooed, and for whom Ilmarinen had made\nthe magic Sampo, and Wainamoinen had learned this. So when the magic\nboat was finished, he made ready for a journey to the Northland, to try\nonce more to win the fair Pohjola maiden for his bride.\n\nHe ornamented the magic vessel with gold and silver, and painted it\nscarlet, and on the masts he set sails of linen, red, white, and blue.\nThen he stepped on board, and called on Ukko to protect and help him,\nand on the winds to aid him on his way, and off the magic boat flew\ntowards Pohjola, never needing an oar to help it.\n\nAnnikki, Ilmarinen's sister, was down by the seashore just at dawn that\nmorning, and as she gazed out over the sea, she saw a blue speck in the\ndistance. At first she thought it was a flock of birds, and then as it\ndrew nearer it looked like a great tree floating on the water, but at\nlast she saw that it was a vessel with but one man in it, and when it\ncame still nearer she recognised Wainamoinen.\n\nShe called out to him and asked him whither he was going. He replied\nthat he was come a-fishing, but Annikki said: 'Thy boat is not rigged\nlike a fisher-boat, nor hast thou lines or nets with thee. Tell me the\ntruth, O Wainamoinen!' And he answered the second time, that he had come\nto kill wild geese and ducks. But Annikki told him that she knew that\nwas untrue, for he had no hunting dogs in the vessel with him, nor any\nweapons. Then he told her that he was sailing to the wars. Annikki\nreplied: 'My father often used to sail to war, but in a ship with many\nrowers, and with many armed heroes on board, but thy vessel is surely\nnot fitted for battle. Now tell me the truth, O wise Wainamoinen, or\nelse I will send a storm-wind after thee and break thy ship in pieces.'\n\nThen he told her the truth, that he was going to woo the Rainbow-maiden,\nLouhi's daughter, and then Annikki knew that he spoke the truth. She\nhurried off to her brother's smithy and said to him: 'Dearest brother,\nif thou wilt forge for me a silver loom and gold and silver finger-rings\nand earrings, golden girdles and golden ornaments for my hair, I will\ntell thee something that is very important for thee to know.'\n\nSo Ilmarinen promised, and his sister said: 'O Ilmarinen, if thou hopest\never to wed the fair maid of Pohjola, thou must hasten and make thy\nsledge ready, for Wainamoinen is now sailing thither in a magic boat to\nwin her before thee.' Then Ilmarinen bade his sister prepare a magic\nsoap and make a bath ready for him while he was forging the gold and\nsilver ornaments that she had bargained for.\n\nWhen Ilmarinen had finished his work he found the bath and the magic\nsoap all ready for him, and he began to wash off the grime and dirt and\nsoot of the smithy. When he was through, and came out of the bath, he\nhad grown wonderfully bright and handsome, for the magic soap had made\nhis cheeks rosy and his eyes bright as moonlight. Then he put on his\nfinest garments, soft linen, and silken stockings, a blue vest and\nscarlet trousers, and a fur coat of sealskin, held by buttons made of\njewels, and a belt with golden buckles. After he was dressed he ordered\nhis magic sledge to be harnessed, and on the front placed six cuckoos\nand seven blue-birds that they might sing and charm the Northland\nmaiden.\n\nWhen all was ready Ilmarinen prayed to great Ukko to send snow that it\nmight cover all the country and let his sledge glide easily to Pohjola.\nAnd the snow came, and Ilmarinen wrapped himself up warmly in bear-skins,\nand drove off like the wind, first invoking Ukko's blessing on his\njourney. On he went, over hill and dale, with the cuckoos and blue-birds\nsinging on the sledge, and then he drove along the seashore to the north\nin a cloud of snow and sand and mist and sea-foam, looking out for\nWainamoinen's vessel. On the evening of the third day he caught up with\nWainamoinen, and called out to him: 'O ancient Wainamoinen, let us woo\nthe maiden peacefully, and let her choose which one of us she will.' To\nthis Wainamoinen agreed; and having promised not to use deceit of any\nsort against one another, they hurried on their way,--Wainamoinen\ncalling up the south wind to help him, and Ilmarinen's steed shaking the\nhills of Northland as he galloped on.\n\nSoon they drew near to Louhi's dwelling, and the watchdogs began to bark\nmore loudly than they had ever done before. Louhi's husband told his\ndaughter to go and see what the trouble was, but she replied that she\nwas busy grinding barley, and could not go. Then he told his wife to go,\nbut she was too busy cooking dinner. So the father grew angry, and\nsaid: 'Women are always busy either baking or sleeping; go, my son, and\nlearn what all the trouble is.' But the son refused, because he was busy\nsplitting wood.\n\nSo at last Louhi's husband was obliged to go himself, for the dogs kept\nbarking louder and louder. There, as soon as he had reached the gate, he\nsaw a scarlet-coloured ship sailing into the bay, and a sledge driving\nup along the shore at full speed. Then he hastened back into the house,\nand told them all that he had seen. And Louhi took a branch and gave it\nto her daughter, saying: 'Place this on the fire, my daughter, and if in\nburning it drips blood, then these strangers bring war and bloodshed;\nbut if clear water, then they come in peace.'\n\nSo the maiden put the branch on the fire, and as they watched it they\nsaw honey trickling out, and from this Louhi knew that the two men were\ncoming as suitors. Then they hastened out into the courtyard, and saw\nthe vessel in the harbour, painted scarlet, and an ancient white-bearded\nmagician at the helm; and on the land they saw a brightly-coloured\nsledge, with cuckoos and bluebirds singing on the front, and driven by a\nyoung and handsome hero.\n\nLouhi immediately recognised them both, and said to her daughter: 'Wilt\nthou have one of these suitors, dearest daughter? He that comes in the\nship is good old Wainamoinen, bringing countless treasures for thee from\nKalevala. The other in the sledge, with the singing birds, is the\nblacksmith Ilmarinen, who brings no presents save himself. When they\ncome into the house bring a pitcher of honey-drink, and give it to the\none that thou wilt follow. Give it to old Wainamoinen, for he brings\nthee countless treasures.'\n\nBut the daughter replied: 'I will never marry a man for riches, but for\nhis real worth. Mothers did not use to sell their daughters thus in the\nolden times to suitors whom they did not love. I shall choose Ilmarinen\nfor his true worth and wisdom.'\n\nOld Louhi grew angry at this, and tried to change her daughter's mind,\nbut all she could say did not move her; and just then Wainamoinen came\nto the house, and addressed the maiden thus: 'Come with me, O lovely\nmaiden, be my bride and honoured wife, and share my joys and sorrows\nwith me.'\n\nThe maiden answered: 'Hast thou built the magic vessel, using neither\nhand nor foot to touch it?'\n\n'I have built it, and brought it hither,' answered Wainamoinen. 'It is\nfinely made by magic, and will live in the worst of storms; nothing can\never sink it.'\n\nBut then the maiden said to him: 'I will not wed a husband born in the\nsea. Storms would bring us trouble, and the winds rack our hearts. I\ncannot go with thee, cannot marry thee, O Wainamoinen.'\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nILMARINEN'S WOOING\n\n\nJust as Wainamoinen had received his answer, Ilmarinen came hurrying\ninto the house and into the guest-room. There servants brought him\nhoney-drink in silver pitchers, but he said: 'I will never taste the\ndrink of Northland till I see the Rainbow-maiden. With her I will gladly\ndrink, for I have come hither to seek her hand.' Then Louhi said to him:\n'The maiden is not ready to receive thee, and thou may not woo her\nbefore thou hast ploughed the field of hissing serpents. Once the evil\nspirit Lempo ploughed it, but it has never been done since.'\n\nIlmarinen wandered off sadly, but while he was pondering over what he\nshould do, he saw the lovely maid herself. He went up to her and said:\n'Long ago I forged the Sampo for thee, and then thou promised to become\nmy wife. But now thy mother demands that I first plough the field of\nserpents before I win thee.' But the maiden comforted him, and told him\nhow to plough the field with a plough of gold and silver and copper.\n\nSo Ilmarinen went off and built a smithy, and placed in the furnace gold\nand silver and copper and iron. And from these he forged a plough, with\nploughshare of gold and beam of silver and copper handles; and for\nhimself he made boots and gloves and armour of iron; and as he worked he\nsang magic spells to give his work power to overcome the serpents. Then\nhe harnessed to the plough the fire-breathing Hisi-horse, and went into\nthe field. There were serpents of every sort, creeping and crawling over\none another, and hissing horribly, but Ilmarinen cast a spell over them,\nand ploughed the field, so that all the snakes were buried in the\nfurrows. And then he went to Louhi, and claimed her daughter's hand.\n\nBut Louhi refused to let him have her daughter until he should catch the\ngreat bear of Manala, and bring him to her. So he went off to the maid\nagain, and told her what old Louhi had demanded of him. The lovely\nmaiden instructed him how to prepare a muzzle for the bear, forging it\nof steel on a rock beneath the water, at a spot where three currents\nmet together, and the straps were to be of steel and copper mixed. And\nIlmarinen made a muzzle as she had directed, and set off for Manala, the\ndismal Deathland. As he went he prayed to the goddess of the mists to\nsend a fog where the great bear of Manala was, so that he might not see\nIlmarinen as he approached. And the goddess sent the fog, and Ilmarinen\nwas able to creep up to the bear and throw the magic muzzle over his\nhead, and then to lead him to Louhi without any trouble.\n\nWhen he had brought the bear to her, he asked her again for her lovely\ndaughter's hand. But Louhi said to him: 'Thou must perform one more task\nstill, and then, when that is done, thou shalt have my dear daughter.\nCatch for me the monster-pike that lives in the river of Tuoni, but thou\nmay not use hook, nor line, nor nets, nor boat. Hundreds have been sent\nto catch it, but all have died in Tuoni's dark waters.'\n\nAnd now Ilmarinen was deeply discouraged, and went off to tell the\nmaiden of this third task, which he thought it was impossible to do. But\nshe told him to forge an eagle in his magic furnace, and that the eagle\nwould catch the monster-pike for him. So Ilmarinen went to work and\nforged an eagle in his smithy: talons of iron, beak of steel and copper.\nAnd when the eagle was entirely made from iron and copper, he mounted\non its back and bade it fly away to the river of Tuoni, there to catch\nthe monster-pike. When they had reached the bank, Ilmarinen dismounted\nand began to search for the pike, while the eagle hovered over the\nwater. While Ilmarinen was searching, a huge monster rose from the\ndepths and tried to seize him, but the eagle swooped down, and with one\nbite of his mighty beak, wrenched off the monster's head. Still\nIlmarinen continued his search, until at last the monster-pike itself\nrose up to seize him. But as it came to the surface, the giant-eagle\nswooped down upon it, and buried its talons in the pike's flesh. Then\nthe fish, maddened with the pain, rushed down to the deepest caverns,\ndragging the eagle with it until the bird had to loose its hold and soar\naloft again. A second time the eagle swooped down and struck deep into\nthe pike's shoulders; but the pike dived to the bottom again and\nescaped. At last the eagle made a third descent, and this time grasped\nthe pike firmly with his beak of steel, and planted his talons firmly on\nthe rocks, and this time he succeeded in dragging the pike from out the\nriver.\n\nThen the eagle flew off with the pike to the top of a tall pine-tree,\nand there ate the body of his victim, leaving the head for Ilmarinen.\nBut the eagle himself soared up into the air, up beyond the clouds, and\nat length disappeared behind the sun.\n\nIlmarinen returned to Louhi with the pike's head and again claimed her\ndaughter in marriage. Louhi answered him: 'Thou hast performed this last\ntask but badly, since thou only brought me the worthless head. But\nstill, since thou hast completed the other tasks also, I will give thee\nmy fair daughter. Thou hast won the Maid of Beauty, to be the help and\njoy of all thy future life.'\n\nBut while Ilmarinen was rejoicing in his good fortune, the aged\nWainamoinen wandered sorrowfully homewards, bewailing his sad lot, thus\nto be compelled to live without a wife to cheer his home. 'Woe is me,'\nhe sang, 'that I did not woo and marry in my youth, for the old men\ncannot hope to conquer the young ones when they go a-wooing.'\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen this story was ended, Father Mikko stopped a while to rest, and the\nothers discussed the stories that he had just told. All were pleased\nthat the Rainbow-maiden had chosen Ilmarinen instead of the aged\nWainamoinen, and little Antero asked 'Pappa' Mikko what they had had to\neat at the wedding--he was rather more deeply interested in things to\neat than anything else--so Father Mikko continued, after he had rested a\nwhile.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE BREWING OF BEER\n\n\nGreat preparations were now made in Louhi's home for her daughter's\nwedding with Ilmarinen. In distant Karjala, a part of Kalevala, was a\ngreat ox, the largest in the world. It took a weasel seven days to\ntravel round his neck and shoulders; the swallow had to fly a whole day\nwithout resting, to get from one horn-tip to the other; the squirrel\ntravelled thirty days, starting from the tail, before he reached the\nshoulders. This great ox was led by a thousand heroes to Pohjola, to\nLouhi's house, but when he had come thither, no one could be found to\nkill him.\n\nThen there came an aged hero from Karjala, and went up to the ox to kill\nhim with his war-club. But the ox turned and gave him one fierce glance,\nand the old warrior dropped his club and ran away and hid in the\nforest. Then they sent forth far and near to find some one to kill the\nox, but no one came. At last there arose from the sea a tiny dwarf, who,\nwhen he stepped on land, grew suddenly into a giant, with hands of iron,\na copper-coloured face, a hat of flint upon his head, and sandstone\nshoes upon his feet. As soon as this sea-spirit saw the ox, he rushed at\nit and killed it with one blow of his golden sword. Thus was the meat\nprovided for the feast.\n\nThe banquet-hall was so large that when a dog barked at one door no one\ncould hear him at the opposite side, and when a cock crowed on the roof\nno one on the ground could hear him. Louhi went in thither, to see that\nall was being put in readiness, but while she was there she said aloud\nas if to herself: 'Whence will I get the liquor for my guests, for I\nknow nothing of the secret of beer-brewing?'\n\nAn old man was sitting beside the fire, and he answered her: 'Beer comes\nfrom barley, hops, and water. The seed of the hops were scattered\nloosely over the earth, and from them arose the graceful hop-vine,\nclimbing over everything. The barley was planted in the land of\nKalevala, and it grew and flourished there.\n\n'Then the hops, clinging to the trees, began to hum, and the barley and\nthe water in the wells to sing, saying: \"Let us join our forces\ntogether, that we may live united, for that is far better than to be\nseparated as we now are.\" So the ancient maiden Osmotar took six golden\ngrains of barley, seven hops, and seven cups of water, and set them in a\ncaldron on the fire. There she let them steep and boil during the warm\nsummer days, and at length poured off the liquor into tubs made of\nbirch-wood. Now she pondered long how she should make the liquor ferment\nand cause it to foam and sparkle.\n\n'Then Osmotar called one of the Kalevala maidens and bade her step into\nthe birchen tub. The maiden did so, and on looking around she saw a\nsplinter of wood lying on the bottom. She picked it up, thinking it was\nworthless, but nevertheless she took it to Osmotar. Osmotar rubbed her\nhands upon her knees and turned the bit of wood into a white squirrel.\nAs soon as she had made the squirrel, she sent it off to Tapio's\nkingdom, to the great forest, and commanded it to bring her cones from\nthe magic fir-trees and young shoots from the magic pines. And the\nsquirrel hurried off and travelled through the forest until it came to\nTapio's home. There it found three magic pine-trees growing, and three\nfir-trees beside them, and having taken the young shoots and the cones\nand stowed them in its pouch, it came back again to Osmotar. But when\nshe put the cones and pine-shoots into the beer, it still refused to\nferment.\n\n'So Osmotar made the Kalevala maiden get into the birchen tub once more,\nand this time the maiden found a chip upon the bottom. When she took it\nto Osmotar, the latter rubbed her hands upon her knees again, and turned\nthe chip into a magic golden-breasted marten. Then she sent the marten\noff to the dens of the mountain bears, to gather the foam from their\nangry lips as they fought with one another. The marten flew away, and\nsoon returned with the foam that it had gathered from the mouths of the\nraging bears. But when Osmotar added it to the liquor there was no\neffect, and the beer remained as still as ever.\n\n'For a third time, then, the maid of Kalevala stepped into the tub, and\nthis time found a pod on the bottom. Osmotar took the pod and rubbed it\nbetween her hands and knees, and there flew out of it a honeybee. She\nsent the bee off to the Islands of the Sea, telling it to go to a meadow\nthere, where a maiden lay asleep, and growing by the maiden's side there\nwere honey-grasses and fragrant flowers. From these the bee was to\ncollect the honey and bring it back. The bee flew off straight over the\nocean, and on the evening of the third day reached the Isles of the\nSea, where it found the maiden fast asleep amongst the flowers, clad in\na silver robe, with a girdle of copper. By her grew the loveliest and\nsweetest of flowers and grasses, and the bee loaded itself down with\ntheir honey and returned to Osmotar with it. This time, when the honey\nwas placed in the beer it began to ferment and rise and bubble and foam\nuntil it filled all the tubs and ran over on the sands.\n\n'When the beer was ready, all the heroes of Kalevala came to drink it,\nand Lemminkainen drank so much that he became intoxicated. But Osmotar,\nnow that she had made the beer, did not know how to keep it, for it was\nstill running out of the tubs and over everything. While she was sitting\nand grieving over this, the robin sang to her from an aspen, and told\nher to put it into strong oaken barrels bound with copper hoops, and\nthus the last difficulty was overcome.\n\n'Thus was beer first brewed from hops and barley,' continued the old\nman, 'and the beer of Kalevala is famed to strengthen the feeble, to\ncheer the sad, to make the old young, and the timid brave. It makes the\nheart joyful and puts wise sayings on the tongue, but the fool it makes\nstill more foolish.'\n\nThus the old man ended his account of the origin of beer, and Louhi,\nwho had listened to him carefully, took all the tubs she had and put\nhops and barley in them, and water on top, and then lit huge fires to\nheat stones, that she might drop them in the mixture and make it boil.\nShe made such a great quantity of beer that the springs were emptied and\nthe forests grew small, and such a vast column of smoke went up as\nfilled half of Pohjola and was seen even in distant Karjala and\nLemminkainen's home. And all the people there thought it arose from some\nmighty battle between great heroes. But Lemminkainen pondered over it,\nand at last he found out that it was the fires for Louhi's beer-making\nfor the wedding feast, and he grew bitterly angry, for Louhi had refused\n_him_ her daughter's hand, and now had given her to Ilmarinen.\n\nBut now the beer was ready and was stored away in casks hooped with\ncopper, and thousands of delicate dishes were made ready for the feast.\nBut when all was nearly ready the beer began to grow impatient in its\ncasks, and cried out for the guests to come that songs might be sung in\nits honour. So Louhi sent first for a pike and a salmon to sing its\npraises, but they could not do it. Next she sent for a boy, but the boy\nwas too ignorant to sing the praises of the beer, and all this time the\nbeer was calling out more and more loudly from its prison. Then Louhi\ndetermined to invite the guests at once, lest the beer should break\nforth from the casks.\n\nSo she called one of her servants and said to her: 'Go, my trusted\nservant, and call together all the Pohjola people to the banquet. Go out\ninto the highways too, and bring in all the poor and blind and cripples,\nthe old and the young, that they may be merry at my daughter's wedding.\nAnd ask all the people of Karjala and the ancient Wainamoinen, but be\nsure thou dost not invite wild Lemminkainen.' At this the servant asked\nwhy she was not to ask Lemminkainen, and Louhi answered: 'Lemminkainen\nmust not come, for he loves war and strife, and would bring disturbance\nand sorrow to our feast, and scoff at our maidens.'\n\nAnd the servant, having learned from Louhi how she should recognise\nLemminkainen, set off and invited rich and poor, old and young, the\ndeaf, the blind, and the cripples in all Pohjola and Karjala, but did\nnot ask Lemminkainen.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nILMARINEN'S WEDDING FEAST\n\n\nAt length the guests began to arrive, and Ilmarinen came escorted by\nhundreds of his friends, driving a coal-black steed, and with the same\nbirds singing on his sledge as when he came to woo the Rainbow-maiden,\nLouhi's fairest daughter. When he alighted from his sledge, Louhi sent\nher best servants to take the steed and give him the very best of food\nin a manger of pure gold. But as Ilmarinen advanced to enter the house,\nthey found that he was too tall to pass through the doorway without\nstooping, which would have been very unlucky: so Louhi had to have the\ntop beam taken away before he could enter.\n\nInside the dwelling was so changed that no one would have recognised it.\nLouhi had cast a magic spell over it, and all the beams and door and\nwindow-sills were made from bones that gleamed like ivory; the\nwindows were adorned with trout-scales, and the fires were set in\nflowers; and the seats and tables and floors were of gold and silver and\ncopper, with marble hearth-stones and silken carpets on the floors.\nLouhi bade Ilmarinen welcome when he came into the guest-hall, and\ncalling up her servant-maidens, she gazed at her daughter's suitor. The\nmaidens bore wax tapers, and by their light the bridegroom looked\nhandsomer than ever, and his eyes sparkled like the waves of the sea.\n\n[Illustration: LAPP WOMAN IN HOLIDAY COSTUME.]\n\nThen Louhi bade the maidens lead Ilmarinen to the seat of honour at the\ntable in the great hall, and then all the other guests took their\nplaces, and the feast began. First of all the daintiest dishes of every\nsort were served by Louhi to the bridegroom--honey-biscuits,\nriver-salmon, butter, bacon, and every delicacy one can think of--and\nafter he was served, the servants took the dishes around to the others.\nAfter this the foaming beer was brought in silver pitchers, and all were\nserved in the same order.\n\nAll the heroes and magicians assembled there began to grow merry, and\nWainamoinen said that some one should sing the praises of the beer. But\nno one else could be found to do it, and all pressed Wainamoinen to\nsing, so at last he arose and began. He sang of the beer first, and\nthen from his great stock of wisdom he sang them one song after the\nother of the days of old, until every guest grew happy from his magic\npower of song. But when Wainamoinen had finished his singing, he added:\n'Yet I am but a poor singer. For if great Ukko should sing his perfect\nsongs of wisdom, he would sing the oceans into honey and the sands to\nberries, and the pebbles into barley, the rivers into beer, the fruit to\ngold, and the mountains into bread. Grant thy blessing, great Ukko, upon\nthis feast of ours. Send joy and health and comfort to all those here,\nthat we may ever look back with pleasure to Ilmarinen's marriage with\nthe fair Maiden of the Rainbow.'\n\nThus Wainamoinen, the great singer, ended his singing, and the time had\ncome for the bride and bridegroom to leave for their distant home in\nKalevala. But first must Osmotar, the wise maiden, instruct the bride as\nto her future life. Osmotar told her that she must henceforth be\nthoughtful and not foolish, that she must love her husband's kinsfolks\nas her own. Osmotar told her, too, never to be idle, and then instructed\nher in all the many household duties of the wives of Kalevala, but at\nthe same time impressed it upon her how wicked she would be if with all\nthis she were to forget her own parents. After this Osmotar turned to\nthe bridegroom and bade him ever love his bride and honour her, nor ever\ntreat her ill.\n\nThus she advised them both, and they made ready to leave. But the Maiden\nof the Rainbow wept, because she was leaving all the joys and pleasures\nof her youth, and those she loved, to go to a distant land, where all\nwould be new and strange, and perhaps, too, hard for her. Yet at length\nall the farewells had been said, the last goodbye was spoken, and the\ntwo got into their sledge and the next instant the swift black steed\nflew off like an arrow, rushing on toward the land of Kalevala, leaving\nfar behind them the gloomy Northland, which was yet so dear to the\nRainbow-maiden, and which she was never to see again.\n\nThree days they journeyed onward over hill and valley without stopping,\nand the third evening brought them in sight of Ilmarinen's smithy, and\nthey could see the smoke rising from the chimneys of their home. There\nthey found that they had been expected for a long time, and there was\ngreat rejoicing when their sledge drove up, with the birds singing\nmerrily on its front, and all bright and happy.\n\nLakko, Ilmarinen's mother, received them at the door and welcomed the\nfair Rainbow-maiden most heartily, and when the bridal pair had taken\noff their furs, she served them with the very best of food and\ndrink--choicest bits of reindeer, wheaten biscuit, honey-cakes, and fish\nof all sorts, and the best of beer. And while they ate, the others, who\nhad been old Louhi's guests, began to arrive, and soon there was a great\nfeast going on, almost as great a one as there had been before at\nLouhi's.\n\nWhile they were all feasting, Wainamoinen arose and began to sing again.\nThis time he sang the praises of the bridegroom's father and mother, and\nthe bride and groom, and ended up with praising the guests that were\nassembled there. Then he and many of the guests took their leave and\njourneyed off together to their homes. Three days they drove on\ntogether, and Wainamoinen kept on singing all the time, until suddenly\nhis song was cut short, for his sledge ran into a birch-tree and was\nbroken into pieces. But Wainamoinen considered the case and then said:\n'Is there any one here who will go to Tuonela, to the Deathland, for the\nauger of Tuoni, that I may mend my sledge with it?' But no one would\nventure on so perilous a journey, so at length Wainamoinen went himself\nand obtained Tuoni's magic auger, and with its aid, on his return, he\nput together his magic sledge again.\n\nThen he harnessed up his steed once more and galloped off to his home.\nThus ended Ilmarinen's wedding and the feasts that followed it.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThese two stories took Antero's fancy, and he begged that 'Pappa Mikko\nwould tell about some more times when they had good things to eat.'\n\nBut Father Mikko said: 'People can't be eating all the time, Antero, and\nI think the others would rather hear about what Lemminkainen did, when\nhe heard of the feast and was not invited himself.'\n\nMimi cried 'Yes, yes!' and so the old man began.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF THE SERPENT\n\n\nAs Lemminkainen was ploughing his fields one day, he heard the noise of\nsledges as if a vast number of people were on their way past. At once he\nguessed the reason, for they were the guests going to Ilmarinen's\nwedding, while he alone had not been invited. Then his face turned pale\nwith anger, and he left his ploughing and hastened off to his house.\nWhen he arrived there, he asked his mother to give him a hearty meal,\nand after that he went to the bath-house and after the bath put on his\nfinest garments, as if going to a feast.\n\nHis mother asked him where he was going and he told her that he was\nbound for the great feast that Louhi had prepared. But his mother tried\nto keep him from going, telling him that they did not want him there, or\nelse they would have invited him, but he answered: 'This sword with its\nsharp edges constantly reminds me that I am needed in distant Pohjola.'\nHis mother spoke again, saying: 'Do not go, my dear son, for Death will\nmeet thee thrice upon the way.' Lemminkainen replied that he did not\nfear Death, but would overcome him, but at the same time asked his\nmother what the first danger would be.\n\n'When thou hast travelled for one day,' she replied, 'thou wilt come to\na stream of fire, with a fiery cataract, and in the fire-fall a rock,\nand on the rock a fiery hill, and on its top an eagle made of flames,\nwho devours all that approach him.'\n\nLemminkainen answered that he would easily pass this danger, and asked\nto know the second. His mother told him: 'When thou hast travelled two\ndays, thou wilt come to a fiery pit filled with red-hot stones, and no\none has ever been able to pass over it.'\n\nBut Lemminkainen thought but little of this second danger, and asked his\nmother to tell him what the third one was. She replied: 'When thou hast\ngone one day farther, and hast come to Pohjola, the wolf and the black\nbear will attack thee, and many hundred men have perished in their\njaws.' But he told her how easily he would overcome them and then have\nconquered all the dangers of the journey. Then his mother added: 'There\nare three things still to conquer. When thou reachest Louhi's dwelling,\nthou wilt find walls built of iron rising up to the sky, and surrounded\nby railings of spears on which are serpents and all manner of venomous\ncreatures twisting and creeping about; and right before the gateway lies\nthe largest of them all, longer than the rafters of a house. And beyond\nall this, thou wilt find great hosts of armed warriors, who have grown\nangry over their beer and they will certainly kill you. And if thou\nshouldst come into the courtyard, thou wilt find it full of sharp\nstakes, to hold the heads of those that go thither unbidden. Do not\nforget how thou once fared in Pohjola, that had I not saved thee thou\nwouldst now be at the bottom of Tuoni's river.'\n\nYet after she had warned him of all this, Lemminkainen would not be\npersuaded to remain at home, but put on his magic armour of copper and\ntook his father's sword, and his own strongest bow. Then he had his\nsteed hitched to a sledge and went out into the courtyard to drive off.\nThere his mother bade him farewell and gave him some last words of\nadvice, telling him that if he should come to the feast, to drink but\nhalf of his goblet of beer, for there were serpents in the other half,\nand to behave modestly and not to try to take the best of everything for\nhimself.\n\nWhen she had ended, Lemminkainen jumped upon his sledge, cracked his\nwhip, and drove off like the wind. He had not gone far before a flock of\nwild birds flew across his road and dropped a few feathers on the\nground. Lemminkainen stopped and picking them up put them carefully in\nhis leather pouch, 'for,' he thought, 'no one knows what may happen.' As\nsoon as he had picked up the feathers he was off again, but he had not\ngone far when his steed stopped in terror, for there, right in front of\nthem, was a broad river of fire, and a fire-fall with a rock in the\nmiddle, and on the rock a fiery hill, and on the hill a flaming eagle.\n\nThe Eagle asked him whither he was going, and Lemminkainen replied that\nhe was hurrying to Louhi's feast and begged the Eagle to let him pass.\n'Truly thou shalt pass,' the Eagle answered, 'but only through the\nflames and down my throat.' But Lemminkainen was not dismayed. He took\nout the feathers from his pouch and rubbed them between his fingers, and\npresently there arose a whole flock of birds and flew straight down the\neagle's mouth so that its hunger was satisfied, then Lemminkainen was\nable to pass over the river by the help of his magic, and to drive on\nhis way.\n\nHe drove for another day and then his horse suddenly stopped again in\nterror, for there was a huge pit full of fire right in front, which\nstretched as far as one could see to east and west. Yet Lemminkainen was\nnot discouraged, but prayed to great Ukko, that he would send a great\nstorm from all the four points of the compass, and fill the pit with\nsnow. And the snow came and as it fell into the seething pit of fire it\nmelted and formed a lake; and Lemminkainen quickly cast a spell upon\nthis lake so that a solid bridge of ice was formed over it, and he drove\nover in perfect safety.\n\nThus the second danger was passed and he drove on more swiftly than\never. After another day's journey, when he had come near to Louhi's\nabode, his horse stopped again, trembling with fear. This time there\nwere a fierce wolf and a great black bear in the road. But Lemminkainen\nput his hand into his leathern pouch and pulled out a tuft of wool. This\nhe rubbed between his hands and breathed on it, and it changed into a\nwhole flock of sheep, on which the bear and the wolf jumped and left\nLemminkainen to pursue his journey in peace.\n\nIn a very short time he had reached Louhi's house. But there he found\nthe great wall of iron and the fence of spears and the horrible snakes\nand lizards that his mother had told him of. Yet he pulled out his magic\nbroad sword and cut an opening through the wall and the fence of spears\nand the mass of serpents, and passed through to the gateway. There he\nfound a huge serpent with a hundred eyes, each as large as bowls, and a\nthousand tongues long as javelins, and teeth like hatchets. Lemminkainen\nsang one spell, but it was not powerful enough, and the huge monster\nstarted to rush at him and seize him in its awful mouth. But\nLemminkainen just in time began to sing a stronger spell.\n\nFor evil things cannot bear to have their wicked origin told, and if\ntherefore one sings the source of any evil, one makes it harmless at\nonce, so Lemminkainen sang: 'If thou wilt not give room for me to pass,\nI will sing of thy evil origin, will tell how thy horrid head was made.\nSuoyatar, thy evil mother, once spat upon the waves of the sea. The\nspittle was rocked by the waves and warmed by the sun, until after a\nlong time it was washed ashore. There the daughters of Ukko, the\nCreator, saw it, and said: \"What would happen if great Ukko were to\nbreathe the breath of life into this writhing, senseless mass?\" But Ukko\noverheard them and said: \"Naught but evil comes from evil, therefore I\nwill not give it life.\"\n\n'Now, wicked Lempo heard what Ukko had said, and he himself breathed\ninto it the breath of life, and shaped it to the form of a serpent,\nadding to the spittle all manner of evil things, every poisonous plant\nand thing from the Deathland. This was thine origin, O Serpent, vilest\nthing of all creation; therefore clear the pathway that I may enter the\nhalls of the hostess Louhi.'\n\nThus sang Lemminkainen, and the serpent uncoiled itself and crawled\naway, while Ahti himself went on through the gateway.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE UNWELCOME GUEST\n\n\nThus Lemminkainen came unbidden to Louhi's abode, but he had arrived too\nlate for the feast. He entered the house with such a mighty tread that\nthe floors bent under him and the walls and ceilings creaked as he\nadvanced. Louhi's husband was seated in the guest-room, and Lemminkainen\nsaid to him: 'The same greeting to thee that thou givest to me! Are\nthere food and beer here for a stranger and barley for a hungry steed?'\n\nLouhi's husband answered: 'I have never yet refused a place in my\nstables for a stranger's horse, and if thou wilt act honestly there is a\nplace for thee between the iron kettles.'\n\nLemminkainen said: 'When my father Lempo comes to a house as a guest, he\nis well received and given the place of honour. Why should I, his son,\nbe put between the pots and kettles to be covered with soot?' With these\nwords he walked up to the table, and taking his seat he waited to be\nserved.\n\nThen Louhi said to him: 'O Lemminkainen, thou wert not invited hither,\nand I feel that thou bringest sorrow with thee. All our dinner was eaten\nand our beer drunk yesterday, and we have nothing left for thee.'\n\nThis made Lemminkainen very angry, and he replied: 'O toothless mistress\nof Pohjola, thou hast managed thy feast very badly, for thou hast had\ndelicacies of every sort for the others, who gave but trifling presents,\nwhile for me, who have sent the most of all, thou hast nothing at all\nafter my long journey.'\n\nThen Louhi called up one of her meanest servants and bade her serve the\nguest. And there came a little short woman, who made ready a soup out of\nfish-bones and fish-heads and crusts of bread and turnip-stalks, and\nbrought him the worst of the servants' beer to quench his thirst with.\nLemminkainen looked into the pitchers of beer, and saw snakes and worms\nand lizards floating about in them. This made him furiously angry, yet\nhe resolved to drink the beer at any rate, and then to punish them for\ntheir evil treatment of him. So he drew a fish-hook out of his magic\nwallet, and with it he caught all the evil creatures in the beer and\nkilled them with his sword, and drank the beer.\n\nWhen he had done this, he turned to the host and upbraided him for his\nbad treatment, and finally said that as the Pohjola folk could not treat\nguests decently, perhaps he could purchase good beer at least. At this\nLouhi's husband grew angry and conjured up a little lake in the floor at\nLemminkainen's feet, and bade him quench his thirst at that. But\nLemminkainen conjured up a bull with gold and silver horns, that drank\nup all the water. Then Louhi's husband conjured up a wolf to devour the\nbull, but Ahti called up a rabbit to draw off the wolf's attention. Next\nthe host conjured up a dog to eat the rabbit, but Ahti drew away the dog\nby means of a squirrel that he called up by his magic. At that the host\nmade a golden marten to catch the squirrel, and Lemminkainen a\nscarlet-coloured fox which ate the golden marten. Next the host conjured\na hen to distract the scarlet fox, and Lemminkainen made a hawk to tear\nthe hen to pieces.\n\nThen old Louhi's husband cried: 'We shall never be happy here until thou\nart driven out, O evil Ahti,' and with these words he drew his sword and\nchallenged Lemminkainen to combat. So Ahti drew his sword also, and\nwhen the two were measured, they found that Ahti's was the shorter by\nhalf an inch.\n\nThen Lemminkainen said to his host: 'Although thou hast the longer\nsword, yet thou shalt begin the fight.'\n\nAfter this they placed themselves in position, and the host of Pohjola\nbegan. But so powerful was Lemminkainen's magic that he only hit the\nwalls and floor and rafters, but could not touch Ahti himself. Then\nLemminkainen said sneeringly: 'What harm have the walls and rafters\ndone, that thou shouldst cut them to pieces. But come, let us go out\ninto the courtyard, that the hall may not be covered with blood.'\n\nSo they went out into the yard, and there they spread out an ox-hide,\nand took up their places on it to continue the fight. Lemminkainen again\nallowed the host to begin, and the latter struck three mighty blows, but\nstill could not harm Ahti. Then the battle began in real earnest, and\nthe sparks flew from their swords until it seemed as if there were a\nsheet of flame flowing from Lemminkainen's sword and down upon the head\nand shoulders of his opponent. And when he saw this, Lemminkainen said:\n'O thou son of Pohjola, see how thy neck is shining like the ocean at\ndawn.'\n\nThe other turned without thinking, to see what it was, and quick as\nlightning Lemminkainen whirled his sword round his head, and with one\nblow cut off the host's head as easily as one cuts the top from a\nturnip, and the head rolled along on the ground. In the yard were\nhundreds of sharp stakes, and on all but one there was a human head. So\nLemminkainen quickly took the host's head and stuck it on the empty\nstake, and then went into the house and ordered Louhi to bring him water\nto wash his hands, as he had just slain her husband.\n\nBut Louhi hastened out and called in hundreds of armed warriors to\navenge her husband's death. And in a very short time Lemminkainen saw\nthat he must either flee or else be killed if he remained.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE ISLE OF REFUGE\n\n\nLemminkainen hastened from Louhi's house and looked around for his\nsledge and steed to escape from the Pohjola men. But both had\ndisappeared, and in their place he found only a clump of willows. As he\nstood there, wondering what he should do next, the noise of armed men\nrunning together grew louder and louder, and he knew that they would\nsoon reach him. So Lemminkainen changed himself into an eagle, and rose\nup into the clouds. As he flew towards the south he met a gray hawk\nflying northward, and called to it: 'O Gray Hawk, fly to Pohjola and\ntell the warriors of the Northland that they will never catch the Eagle,\nLemminkainen, ere he reaches his home in distant Kalevala.'\n\nThen he flew on home and taking on again his own form, he went to his\nmother's house. When she saw the troubled look in his face, she guessed\nthat some great danger threatened him, and began to ask him if it were\nthis, or that, or the other that troubled him, but to all her questions\nhe answered 'no.' At length she bade him tell her, then, what his\ntrouble was, and he replied: 'All the men of Northland are sharpening\ntheir swords and spears to kill thy unlucky son Ahti, for I have slain\nthe host of Pohjola, Louhi's husband, in a quarrel, and the men of\nNorthland will soon come hither to avenge it.'\n\nHis mother then reminded him how she had warned him of the journey and\nits troubles, and asked him where he was going to take refuge.\nLemminkainen replied that he did not know, and asked his mother to help\nhim, and she answered: 'If I should turn thee into a tree, thou might be\ncut down for firewood. Or if into a berry, the maidens might pluck thee.\nOr if to a fish, thou would never have a happy life. But if thou wilt\nswear to me not to go to war again for sixty years, then I will tell\nthee of a distant isle, far off across the ocean, where thou mayst rest\nin safety.'\n\nSo Lemminkainen gave his promise, on his honour, not to fight for sixty\nyears, and then his mother told him how to find the isle of refuge. He\nmust sail across nine seas and in the middle of the tenth he would come\nto the island, where his father had once taken refuge long before. There\nhe must stay until the third year was come, and then he might return to\nhis home.\n\nLemminkainen took enough provisions in his boat for a long journey, and\nthen bidding farewell to his mother and his home he sailed away. When he\nhad raised the linen sails, he called up a fair wind to drive him\nonward, and for three months he sailed on without a moment's rest, until\nat length he reached the magic Isle of Refuge.\n\nFirst, he asked the people of the island if there was room there for his\nboat, and on receiving their consent he drew it up out of the water.\nNext he asked them if he might take refuge and conceal himself there,\nand they granted this too; but when he asked for a little ground to\ncultivate, and a place in the forest to cut down the trees, they told\nhim that the whole island had long ago been divided up amongst them, and\nthat he must live in one of their houses if he wished to stay on the\nisland.\n\nBut Lemminkainen was not satisfied with this, and told them that he only\nwished to be allowed to go into the forest and sing some few magic songs\nthere, and this they willingly allowed him to do. So he went into the\nforest and began to sing the most wondrous spells, making oak-trees to\ngrow up around him, and on each branch an acorn, and on each acorn sat\na cuckoo. Then the cuckoos began to sing, and gold fell from every beak,\nand silver from their wings, and copper from their feathers, until the\nisle was abundantly supplied with precious metals. Then Lemminkainen\nsang again, and turned the sand to gems and the pebbles into pearls, and\nhe covered the whole island with flowers, and made little lakes with\ngold and silver ducks swimming in them, until every one was delighted,\nand the maidens most of all.\n\nThen Ahti said: 'If I were in a fine castle I would conjure up the most\nwonderful feasts and sing the grandest songs you have ever heard.' No\nsooner had he said this than they led him to their finest castle, and\nthere he conjured up a splendid feast, with knives and forks and all the\ndishes made of gold and silver. From this time on Ahti was treated as an\nhonoured guest, and spent his time most delightfully. In every village\non the island were seven castles, and in each castle were seven\ndaughters, and all of these made Lemminkainen welcome as he went from\none to another according to his fancy. Thus he spent the whole of his\nyears of exile; but there was one maid, old and ugly, and living in a\nremote village, whom he neglected.\n\nAt length the time of his return was come, and he made up his mind to\nleave. But just as he had decided to go, the maid whom he had neglected\ncame to him and bade him beware, for she was going to take revenge for\nhis slighting her; but Lemminkainen scarcely heard her, for he was so\nbusy thinking about his journey home. But the maiden went around to all\nthe men of the island, and told them evil stories about Lemminkainen,\nand then she went and burned his boat.\n\nThe next morning Lemminkainen started off to bid his friends the maidens\nfarewell, but he had not gone far before he saw the men getting their\nweapons ready to come and attack him, and he saw that he must fly\nimmediately if he wished to escape alive. So he hastened down to his\nboat, but when he reached it there were only the ashes left. At first he\ndid not know what to do, but he spied seven broken pieces of planks and\na few fragments from a broken distaff, and taking these he began to sing\nsome mystic spells over them. No sooner had he finished his incantations\nthan a magic boat stood ready before him, and he got into it and sailed\naway. But before he was far from the shore all the maidens came down to\nthe beach and began to weep and beg him to come back and dwell with them\nfor ever. But Lemminkainen answered them that he felt a great longing to\nsee his home once more and his mother, yet that he was truly sorrowful\nto leave them, but it must be so. And so he sailed on until the isle was\nout of sight.\n\nThe boat sailed on and on for two days and nights, but on the third day\ncame a mighty storm-wind, and tossed the vessel about until it broke all\nin pieces, and left Lemminkainen struggling in the waters. He swam for\nlong days and nights, struggling with the waves, until at length he\nreached a rocky point projecting out into the ocean. There he landed and\nsoon found his way to a castle that was built upon the rocks. He told\nthe mistress of the castle how he had been in the water for days and\ndays, and was almost perishing from hunger, and she, being a\nkind-hearted woman, gave him a splendid feast of bread and butter, veal\nand bacon, and fish and honey-cakes, and when he had eaten that and\nrested, she gave him a new boat, loaded with provisions, in which to\nfinish his journey.\n\nSo off he sailed again, and after many weary days of sailing he at\nlength reached his beloved island-home. But when he landed and went up\nto where the house had stood, there was not a sign of anything left. The\nwhole place was all overgrown with trees and bushes.\n\nThen Lemminkainen sat down and began to weep; but it was not for the\nloss of his home and all his riches that he wept but for his beloved\nmother. As he sat there he caught sight of an eagle flying in the air\nabove, and Ahti asked him if he knew what had happened to his mother.\nBut the eagle could only tell him that his people had all perished long\ngo. Next he asked the raven, and the raven told him that his people had\nbeen killed by his enemies from Pohjola.\n\nOn hearing this Lemminkainen began again to mourn her loss, and to look\nabout for some dear relic that he might keep in remembrance of her. But\nas he looked he suddenly came on a faint pathway leading away from the\nhouse, and on it he saw the prints of light feet. He began to follow it\neagerly, over hill and valley until he reached the gloomy forest. There\nit led him to a hidden glade, right in the middle of the island, and\nthere he found a humble cabin, and his gray-haired mother weeping in it.\n\nAhti cried aloud for joy at the sight of her, and then he told her how\nhe had mourned her as dead. She asked him in return how he had spent\nthose years on the Isle of Refuge, and he told her all; how charming the\nlife there was, and how he had enjoyed himself there, but that at the\nend all the men of the isle had come to hate him, because the maidens\nadmired him so much, and how through their jealousy and the hatred of\nthe one maid whom he had neglected, he had nearly lost his life. And\nwhen he had ended his story they both gave thanks to great Ukko that\nthey had found each other again.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE FROST-FIEND\n\n\nWhen the next day began to dawn, Lemminkainen went to the beach, that\nwas hidden behind a projecting point, where his vessels lay. He found\nthem still there, but as he approached he heard the rigging wailing in\nthe wind, and saying: 'Must we lie here for ever and rot, since Ahti has\nsworn not to go to war for sixty long years?'\n\nThen Lemminkainen cried out to his vessels: 'Mourn no more, my good\nwarships, for soon ye shall be filled with warriors and hastening to the\nbattle.' When he had uttered these words he hurried back to his mother\nand bade her sorrow no longer over the insult that the Pohjola warriors\nhad offered to her, for he was going now to make war on them in order to\npunish them for it.\n\nHis mother, when she heard his intention, besought him earnestly not to\ngo to war and break his oath to her, for some great misfortune would\nsurely come upon him. But he paid no heed to her, and went to seek his\nfriend Kura to accompany him on his expedition. When he came to the isle\non which Kura lived, he went up to the house and said: 'O my dear friend\nKura, dost thou not remember the time when we fought together long ago\nagainst the men of dismal Northland? Come with me now and be my\ncompanion in another war against them.'\n\nNow Kura's father was sitting by the window, whittling out a javelin,\nand his mother was near the door skimming milk, and his brother and\nsisters were also working near by. And all of them cried out that Kura\ncould not go to war, for he was but lately married, and they bade\nLemminkainen leave him.\n\nBut Kura himself jumped up from where he was lying before the fire, and\nbegan to put on his armour in great haste. On his helmet were wolves of\nbronze, and a horse on each javelin. Then Kura took his mighty spear,\nand going forth into the court he hurled it towards the north; and it\nflew on and on, whistling through the air, until at length it fell upon\nthe earth of the distant Northland. And after this Kura touched his\njavelin against Lemminkainen's spear and promised to be his faithful\ncomrade in the expedition. So the two great warriors made all needful\npreparation and set forth to sail to dismal Pohjola.\n\nBut Louhi knew by magic art that they were coming, and she called the\nBlack-frost to her, and gave him these commands: 'Hasten forth, O\nBlack-frost, and freeze all the wide sea. Freeze Lemminkainen's vessel\nfast in the ice, and freeze the magician himself in his vessel, so that\nhe may never more awaken from his icy sleep until I myself may choose to\nfree him.'\n\nSo the Black-frost hastened off to do her bidding. And first he stripped\nthe leaves off the trees and took all the colour from the flowers on his\nway to the seashore. When he reached the shore, the first night he\nfroze all the rivers that empty into the sea and the waters along the\nshore, but he did not touch the open sea that night. But on the second\nnight he froze all the sea, and the ice kept growing thicker and thicker\nall around Lemminkainen's vessel, until at last the Black-frost even\nbegan to freeze Lemminkainen's hands and feet and ears.\n\nBut when Lemminkainen felt this he began to sing an incantation against\nthe Black-frost, saying: 'Black-frost, evil child of the Northland and\nonly son of Winter, thou mayst freeze the trees and waters and the very\nstones,--but let me be in peace. Freeze the iron mountains till they\nburst in sunder; freeze Wuoksi and Imatra, but do not try to harm me,\nfor I will sing thine origin and make thee powerless. For thou wert born\non the borders of the ever-dismal Northland, and wert fed by crawling\nsnakes. The Northwind rocked thee to sleep in the marshes, and thus thou\ngrew, a thing of evil, and at last the name of Frost was given thee. And\nas thou became larger, thou didst learn to rend the trees in winter and\nto cover all the lakes with ice. But if thou wilt not leave me now, I\nwill cast thee into Lempo's fiery hearth, and will lay thee on the\nanvil, that Ilmarinen may pound thee to pieces with his mighty hammer.'\n\nNow the Frost-fiend knew how great a magician Lemminkainen was, and\ntherefore he agreed that he would leave the two warriors unharmed, but\nkeep their ship frozen up as it was. And so Ahti and Kura had to leave\ntheir vessel and journey over the ice to land. At length they reached\nthe country called Starvation-land, and there they found a house, but\nthere was no food in it. So they went on still farther, over hill and\nvalley, and as they went, Lemminkainen gathered soft moss from the\ntree-trunks and made stockings of it to keep their feet warm.\n\nOn and on they went, seeking for some pathway to guide them, but all was\none snow-covered wilderness. Then Kura said: 'Alas, O Ahti; we came\nhither to take vengeance on the men of Pohjola, but I fear that we shall\nleave our own bones here, and our flesh be food for eagles and ravens.\nWe shall never learn the pathway that can guide us to our homes. My poor\nmother will never know what has become of me--whether I have perished in\nthe heat of battle, or on some lonely hill, or in some dismal forest.\nShe can only mourn me as one dead, and sit and weep bitter tears.'\n\nThen Lemminkainen said: 'My aged mother, think of our former happy days,\nwhen all went well and all was joy and happiness. But now sorrow and\nmisfortune are come upon me, yet shall we not despair; for we are young\nand strong, and will give way neither to hunger nor to evil sorcerers,\nbut will use the prayer my father used to pray, saying: \"Guard us, O\nthou great Creator; shield us in thine arms, and give us of thy wisdom.\nBe our guardian and our Father, that thy children may not wander from\nthe path which thou hast given them.\"'\n\nThen when Lemminkainen had finished speaking, he took his cares and made\nfleet coursers of them, and the reins he made of days of evil, and from\nhis pains he made the saddles. Then he and Kura galloped off each to his\nown home, and thus Lemminkainen was once more returned to his aged\nmother's arms. Now let us leave him there, and Kura with his bride and\nkinsfolk, and speak hereafter of other heroes.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThus Father Mikko ended, adding: 'And I think we must stop now for the\nnight, for it is getting late.' Then they had supper, and it was not\nlong before all of them had gone to bed and were sound asleep.\n\nEarly the next morning they were all awakened by a dull thud and a\nsmothered shout. Erik and Father Mikko jumped up and lit a lantern, and\nthen hurried to the door, which stood open. They had dug a passage-way\nout through the snow the day before, and they saw that the walls of snow\nhad just caved in, and sticking out of the middle of the heap was a pair\nof small legs waving about wildly in the air.\n\nThe next minute they had pulled out the owner of the legs, and little\nAntero stood before them, looking very much frightened and very foolish\ntoo. He had his snow-shoes and some meat with him, and managed to\nexplain, between his sobs, that he had intended to go and hunt for\nreindeer in Lapland, the way Lemminkainen did in the story, but his\nsnow-shoe had caught in the wall and disaster had overtaken him. The\nwould-be hero was promptly taken in charge by Mother Stina, and soon all\nwas quiet again.\n\nWhen they went out the next morning, they found that the snow had long\nsince stopped, but the wind was blowing so hard and it was so bitterly\ncold, that Father Mikko was easily persuaded to stay another day.\n\nAfter dinner they settled down exactly as the day before, Mimi in\n'Pappa' Mikko's lap again, and in a few minutes he began to tell them\nsome more of his wonderful stories.\n\n'I will tell you about some one you have not heard of yet,' Father Mikko\nsaid; 'about _Kullervo_, though I am sure you will none of you like\nKullervo himself--but yet the story itself may be interesting.' So he\nbegan.\n\n[Illustration: MIMI IN HOLIDAY DRESS.]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nKULLERVO'S BIRTH\n\n\nMany ages ago there was a mother who had three sons, and one of them\ngrew up to be a prosperous merchant, but the other two were carried\noff--one to distant Pohjola and one to Karjala. And the one in Pohjola\nwas named Untamo, but the one in Karjala was called Kalerwoinen.\n\nOne day Untamo set his nets near Kalerwoinen's home to catch salmon, but\nin the evening Kalerwoinen came by and took all the fish out of the nets\nand carried them off home. When Untamo found it out he went to his\nbrother, and soon they fell to blows; but neither could conquer the\nother, though they gave one another sound beatings. After this had\nhappened, Kalerwoinen sowed some barley near Untamo's barns; and\nUntamo's sheep broke into the field and ate the barley, and then\nKalerwoinen's dog killed the sheep. This made Untamo so angry that he\ncollected a great army and marched against his brother to put him and\nall his tribe to death. And when they reached Kalerwoinen's home they\nburned all the houses and killed every one except Kalerwoinen's daughter\nUntamala.\n\nNow not long after this a child was born to Untamala, and she named him\nKullervo. Then they laid the fatherless infant in the cradle and began\nto rock him, but he began at once to make the cradle rock without\nassistance, and he rocked for three whole days, so hard that his hair\nstood quite on end. On the third day he began to kick until he had burst\nhis swaddling clothes, and then he crept out of the cradle and broke\nthat also in pieces. When Kullervo was only three months old he began to\nspeak, and the first words which he uttered were these: 'When I have\ngrown big and strong I will avenge the murder of my grandfather\nKalerwoinen and his people.'\n\nAt this Untamo was greatly alarmed, and took counsel with his people as\nto what should be done with the child. At length they hit upon a plan.\nThey took the child and bound him firmly in a willow basket and then put\nhim in the lake among the bulrushes. After three days had passed they\nwent to see if he were dead, but he had broken loose from the basket and\nwas sitting on the waves, fishing with a copper rod and a golden line;\nso they took him back again to the house. Next Untamo ordered a great\nheap of dried brushwood to be collected together, and a pile was made\nhigher than the tree-tops; on the top of this they set the boy and then\nset fire to the pile. It burned three whole days, and then Untamo sent\nmen to see if the child was dead; but they found him sitting in the\nmiddle of the fire raking the coals together with a copper rod, and not\na hair of his head was even singed.\n\nThen they took him home and considered again how they should kill him,\nand this time they took him and crucified him on an oak-tree. And on the\nthird day they came and found that he had painted an armed warrior on\nevery leaf, made fast though he was to the tree, and so they took him\ndown and brought him home again. This time they saw that they could not\nharm him, so Untamo told him that he would take him as a servant, and\nthat if he did well he should be paid well.\n\nWhen Kullervo had grown a little, he was set to take care of a baby, and\nwas given very careful instructions as to how to rock it and attend to\nall its wants; but the cruel Kullervo treated it harshly, and in the\nevening killed it and burned the cradle in the fire. So Untamo was\nafraid to give him any further employment about the house, but bade him\ngo out and cut down the forest on the mountain side. Then Kullervo went\nto the smith and bade him make a huge axe of copper, and when it was\nready he spent one day in sharpening it and another in making the\nhandle, and then hastened off to the forest. There he chose the biggest\ntree on all the mountain side and felled it at one blow. Six more huge\ntrees were cut down just as easily, but then Kullervo grew disgusted\nwith the work, and pronounced a curse over the whole mountain, and\nstopped working.\n\nSo when Untamo came in the evening to see how he was getting on, and\nfound only seven trees felled, he saw that he must set Kullervo to some\nother task. The next day, therefore, he took him into a field and bade\nhim build a fence round it. As soon as Untamo was gone, Kullervo set to\nwork, using whole trees and raising the fence higher than the clouds;\nand when he had finished there was no gate to enter by, and the fence\nwas so high that no one could climb over it. When Untamo came and saw\nwhat he had done, and that no one could now get into the field, he told\nKullervo that he was unfitted for such work, and must go and thresh the\nrye and barley.\n\nThen Kullervo made a flail and set to work. And he threshed so hard that\nall the grain was beaten to powder and the straw was broken up into\nuseless pieces. But when Untamo saw this, he grew very angry, and cried\nout that Kullervo was a wretched workman who spoiled whatever he\ntouched, and the next day he took him off and sold him to the blacksmith\nIlmarinen in distant Karjala. And the price Ilmarinen paid was three old\nworn-out kettles, seven worthless sickles, and three old scythes and\nhoes and axes, surely quite enough for such a fellow as Kullervo.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nKULLERVO AND ILMARINEN'S WIFE\n\n\nAs soon as the purchase was completed, Kullervo asked Ilmarinen and his\nwife to give him some work for the next day. So they decided to make him\na shepherd. But the wife, once the Rainbow-maiden, did not like the new\nservant, so she baked him a cheat-loaf--a very thick loaf, half of\nbarley, half of oatmeal, and with a great flint-stone in the centre, and\naround the flint-stone was melted butter. Then she gave it to Kullervo\nand told him not to eat it until he was out on the pasture-ground.\n\nThe next morning Ilmarinen's wife showed Kullervo the cattle, and bade\nhim take them to the open glades among the forests, where they would\nfind food in abundance. Then she addressed a prayer to Ukko that he\nwould guard the flock in case the shepherd should neglect them. And she\nsought the aid too of all the goddesses of the forest and the daughters\nof summer and the spirits of the fountains and the brooks, to care for\nher cattle and watch over them. And she also sang a spell to keep away\nthe bear from coming and devouring them. And when all these prayers and\nspells were ended she sent Kullervo off with the herds.\n\nKullervo drove them off to their pastures in the woods, carrying his\nlunch in a basket on his arm. And as he walked he sang of his hard lot\nas a slave, and how he was given only the scraps and crusts to eat,\nwhile his master and mistress fed on honey-cakes and wheaten biscuit. At\nlength the time came for him to eat his luncheon, and he sat down and\ndrew the cheat-loaf from the basket. But instead of eating it at once he\nturned it carefully over and over in his hands, and thought: 'Many\nloaves are fine to look at on the outside, but are nothing but chaff\ninside,' and he drew out his knife to try the loaf.\n\nThis knife was the one thing that his mother had kept of all her\nfather's possessions, and Kullervo looked upon it as something sacred.\nNow as he plunged it into the cheat-loaf it hit right upon the hard\nflint in the centre and broke in several pieces. Then Kullervo sat down\nand began to weep over his loss, and to ponder how he should revenge\nit. But a raven was sitting in a tree near by and overhead him talking\nto himself, and the raven said: 'Why art thou so distressed, Kullervo?\nDrive the herd away, one half to the wolves' and the other half to the\nbears' dens, so that they may all be devoured. And then when it is time\nto return home call together the wolves and bears and make them look\nlike cattle, by thy magic art, and drive them home for thy mistress to\nmilk. Thus thou wilt repay this insult.'\n\nAt these words Kullervo jumped up and did as the raven had said. And\nwhen the sun was setting in the west, Kullervo hastened homeward,\ndriving bears and wolves before him, but by a magic spell he made them\nlook like cattle. And as he went, he said to them: 'Seize my hateful\nmistress when she comes to milk the cattle, and tear and rend her in\npieces.' And he took a cow-horn and made a bugle of it and blew till the\nhills rang, to announce his return.\n\nWhen he reached the cow-yard, Ilmarinen's wife greeted him joyfully, for\nit was late and she had feared that something had happened. And she told\nher oldest maid-servant to go and milk the cows as she herself was busy.\nBut Kullervo said: 'Thou shouldst go thyself, for the cows are in better\ncondition to-night than they have ever been before.' And so she went,\nand when she saw them she cried out in wonder: 'Truly my cattle are\nbeautiful to-night, for their hair glistens like the fur of lynxes, and\nis soft as ermine skin.'\n\nWith these words she seated herself to begin milking, but all at once\nthe wolves and bears appeared in their true shapes and began to tear her\nto pieces. Then she cried out to Kullervo, when she saw what he had\ndone, but he answered: 'If I have done evil thou hast done still greater\nevil, for thou hast baked a stone inside my bread, and I have broken on\nit my knife, the only relic of my mother's people.'\n\nThen Ilmarinen's wife began to beg him to aid her, and promised him the\nbest of everything to eat, and that he should never have to work again.\nBut Kullervo would not listen to her prayers, but rejoiced at her agony,\nand then the wolves and bears made one more onset, and she fell and\ndied. Such was the end of the beauteous Rainbow-maiden, for whom so many\nhad wooed, and who had become the pride and joy of Kalevala.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nKULLERVO'S LIFE AND DEATH\n\n\nThen Kullervo hastened off, before Ilmarinen should come home and find\nout what had happened. And after he was at a safe distance he began to\nplay upon the bugle he had made, until Ilmarinen ran out of his smithy\nto see who it could be, and there before him in the courtyard Ilmarinen\nsaw the body of his wife and learned what had happened: and he sat down\nand wept bitterly, for all the joy of his life was now gone from him.\n\nBut Kullervo hastened on, and as he went he mourned his hard lot. When\nhe had gone a little way he met an old witch on the road, and she asked\nhim whither he was going. 'I shall journey to the dismal Northland,'\nanswered Kullervo, 'there to slay the wicked Untamo, who has killed all\nmy kinsfolk.' Then the witch said: 'Thou art wrong, for thy father and\nthy sisters escaped from Untamo's wrath, and now thy mother has joined\nthem and they are living happily together on the distant borders of\nKalevala.' And when Kullervo begged her to tell him the way to them she\ndid so, and he hastened off to find them.\n\nAt length he reached his parents' abode, but at first they did not\nrecognise him. But when he spoke to his mother she knew him at once, and\nembraced him and kissed him, and made him welcome in his new home. And\nthen they related to one another all that had happened in the years they\nhad been apart, and his mother ended by saying: 'Praised be Ukko that\nthou hast come back to us; but there is yet one absent one--thy eldest\nsister strayed away many years ago, hunting berries on the hills, and we\nhave never seen or heard of her since.'\n\nSo Kullervo settled down to live with his parents, and began to work\nwith the others. The first day they all went out to fish for salmon, and\nKullervo was put at the oars to row their boat. Then he asked whether he\nshould row with all his strength, or only a little part of it, and they\ntold him that he could not pull too hard. So he put forth all his\ngiant's strength, and in a minute the boat was all broken to pieces.\n\nHis father said: 'I see that thou art too clumsy to row; perhaps thou\nwilt do better to drive the salmon into the nets.' And Kullervo asked\nagain whether he should use all his strength, and he received the same\nanswer as before. So he set to work beating the water to scare the fish\ninto the net; but he beat so hard that he mixed all the mud on the\nbottom with the water, and pounded the salmon all to pulp and destroyed\nall the nets.\n\nThen his father saw that he was not fit for such work, so he sent him\noff to pay the yearly taxes. Kullervo did so, and after he had paid them\nhe started off in his sledge to drive home again. He had not driven far\nwhen he met a lovely maiden, whom he asked to get into his sledge and\ncome with him to his home and marry him. But she made fun of him, and he\ndrove off in anger. When he had driven still farther he met another\nmaiden, still more lovely than the first, and this one he at length\npersuaded to get into his sledge and come home with him and marry him.\nBut when they had driven along for two days towards his home, the maiden\nasked him about his kinsfolk, and he told her that he was Kalervo's son.\n\nNo sooner had the maiden heard this than she gave a great cry of anguish\nand cried out: 'Alas, then, thou art my brother! For I am Kalervo's\ndaughter, who wandered off one day to pick berries and never returned,'\nand with these words she jumped from the sledge and hastened weeping to\na river near by. There she plunged beneath the icy waters and was never\nseen again alive, but her lifeless body floated down to the black river\nof Tuoni.\n\nBut Kullervo unharnessed his steed from the sledge and galloped off home\nand there related to his mother all that had occurred, and how he had\nunknowingly been the cause of his sister's death, and when he had\nfinished his story, he added: 'Woe is me that I did not die long ago.\nBut now I must hasten off to gloomy Pohjola, there to slay the wicked\nUntamo, and myself be also slain.' Having said this he also made ready\nhis armour and ground his broadsword until it was as sharp as a razor.\nBut before he went, he asked his father and brother and sister and\nmother if they would grieve when they heard of his death. And all but\nhis mother told him that they would never sorrow over the death of such\nan evil fellow. But his mother alone said that, in spite of all the evil\nhe had done, her mother's love was still strong and that she would weep\nover him for years to come.\n\nThereupon Kullervo went forth on his journey to the icy Northland, but\nbefore he had gone far a messenger came and told him that his father was\ndead and asked Kullervo to come back and help bury him, but he would\nnot come. And a little later he was told of the death of his brother and\nthen of his sister, and last of all of his mother. Still he refused to\ncome to bury any of them, only, when the news of his mother's death\nreached him, he mourned that he had not been with her in her last\nmoments, and bade the servants bury her with every possible honour and\nrespect.\n\nNow as he neared the home of Untamo's tribe, he prayed to Ukko to endow\nhis sword with magic powers, so that Untamo and all his people might be\nsurely slain. And Ukko did as he had asked, and with the magic sword\nKullervo slew, single-handed, all Untamo's people, and burned all their\nvillages to ashes, leaving behind him only dead bodies and smoking\nruins.\n\nThen he hastened home, and found that it was only too true that all his\nfamily had died while he was away; and he went out to his mother's grave\nand wept over it. But as he wept, his mother spoke to him from the grave\nand bade him let their old dog lead him into the forest to the home of\nthe wood-nymphs, who would care for him. So Kullervo set off, led by the\nfaithful dog. But on the way they came to the grassy mound where\nKullervo had met his long-lost sister, and there he found that even the\ngrass and the flowers and the trees were weeping. Suddenly overcome with\nsorrow, he drew forth his magic sword from out its scabbard, and,\nbidding a last farewell to all the world, he thrust the handle firmly\ninto the earth and threw himself upon the sword-point, so that it\npierced his heart. Thus ended the evil life of Kullervo.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThey were all silent for a moment when the sad story of Kullervo's life\nand death was ended, and then Mimi said: 'I wish you'd tell us about\nnice men like Ilmarinen and Wainamoinen, Pappa Mikko; Kullervo was real\nhateful.'\n\n'Well, then, I will tell you of what Ilmarinen did when he had lost his\nwife, the Rainbow-maiden,'--and the old man began.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nILMARINEN'S BRIDE OF GOLD\n\n\nAfter Ilmarinen's wife had been so cruelly slain, he wept for three\nwhole days and nights without ceasing. And after that for three months\nhe did not go into his smithy nor even so much as lift his hammer from\nthe ground. And as he mourned he cried: 'Woe is me, for all is weariness\nand sorrow now that my dear wife is slain, and there is no more rest for\nme in my home.'\n\nBut after the three months of mourning were past, Ilmarinen went out and\ndug up a great quantity of gold and silver and cut down thirty\nsledge-loads of birch-trees, which he burnt to charcoal. Then he put the\ncharcoal in the bottom of his furnace and laid a large piece of gold and\na still larger piece of silver on top, and closing the furnace, he\nstarted the fire and set the workmen to blowing the bellows; but the\nmen were lazy and let the fire go out. So Ilmarinen drove them all away\nand began to blow the fire by magic spells alone. Three days he worked\nthe bellows by his magic spells, and on the evening of the third day he\nlooked inside the furnace, hoping to see an image rising from the melted\ngold and silver. And there came forth a lovely lamb all gold and silver,\nand every one admired its beauty save Ilmarinen, who said: 'Get back\ninto the furnace, for I only desire a beauteous bride, born of the\nmelted gold and silver.'\n\nSo he threw the lamb back into the furnace and added still more gold and\nsilver and other magic metals, and then set his workmen to blow the\nbellows again. But they proved lazy this time too, and he had once more\nto use his magic spells to blow the fire. Again he looked into the\nfurnace, on the evening of the third day, and this time there arose a\ncolt of gold and silver and with hoofs of shining copper. Every one\nadmired the beautiful colt save Ilmarinen, who threw it back into the\nfurnace.\n\nOnce more he added gold and silver and set the workmen to blow the\nbellows, but they neglected their work this time too. Then he blew the\nfire by magic, and cast other magic spells over the furnace, so that the\ngold and silver should grow into a lovely maiden. When he looked into\nthe furnace on the evening of the third day, he saw at last the figure\nof a maiden rising from the flames, but it had neither feet nor hands\nnor ears. So Ilmarinen took her from the fire and forged unceasingly\nuntil feet and hands and ears were all completed, and the maiden was now\nthe most beautiful that any one had ever seen, but yet she could not\nwalk, nor talk, nor see, nor hear.\n\nBut Ilmarinen carried the golden maiden out of the smithy and took her\nto the bath-room where he washed the golden and silver image and then\ntook it and laid it in his couch, in his wife's place. That night he\nheaped up bear-skins and rugs of all kinds on top of the bed, hoping\nthat the image would come to life from the warmth, but it was all in\nvain, and Ilmarinen was almost frozen himself when he rose next morning.\nThen he said to himself: 'Surely this lovely maiden was not meant to be\nmy bride. I will take her to Wainamoinen, and perhaps she may come to\nlife for him.'\n\nSo off he went and offered the beautiful image to Wainamoinen, telling\nhim that he had brought a lovely maiden to be Wainamoinen's bride now in\nhis old age. But Wainamoinen, after praising the image's beauty, said:\n'My dear brother Ilmarinen, it is better to throw this image back into\nthy furnace, and to forge from the melted metal a thousand useful\ntrinkets. For I will never wed an image made of gold and silver.'\n\nAnd then Wainamoinen turned to those of his people who were standing\nnear by, and said to them: 'Never bow to any image made of gold or\nsilver, for they cannot see, nor hear, nor speak, and they will only\nbring you sorrow.'\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nILMARINEN'S FRUITLESS WOOING\n\n\nSo Ilmarinen cast the maid of gold into a corner of his smithy and\nharnessed up his sledge and drove off to the dismal Northland, to ask\nLouhi to give him another of her daughters in marriage. Three days he\njourneyed, and on the evening of the third he reached old Louhi's home.\n\nLouhi asked him how her daughter, the Rainbow-maiden, fared, and\nIlmarinen, with hanging head and sorrowful face, told how his poor wife\nhad perished, and ended up his story by asking Louhi to give him her\nnext fairest daughter to be his wife. But Louhi grew angry and upbraided\nhim with not having guarded her other daughter, and thus being guilty of\nher death, and she scornfully refused to give him another of her\ndaughters.\n\nBut Ilmarinen went into the house in great anger and there addressed\nLouhi's next fairest daughter, begging her to come to his home with him\nand become his wife. The maid replied: 'I will never marry the man who\nhas been the cause of my dear sister's death. And even if I were to\nmarry I would wish a nobler suitor than a mere blacksmith.' Then\nIlmarinen grew pale with anger, and seizing the maiden in his mighty\narms he rushed off to his sledge and drove off like the wind before any\none could stop him.\n\nThe poor maid wept and begged Ilmarinen to release her and to let her\ndie by the roadside, rather than to take her thus to his home. 'If thou\nwilt not release me,' she said, 'I will change into a salmon and escape\nthee.' But Ilmarinen told her that he would pursue her in the shape of a\npike. Then the maiden said, first, that she would become an ermine, but\nIlmarinen told her he would turn into a snake and catch her; and then\nshe said that she would become a swallow, but Ilmarinen threatened to\nbecome an eagle.\n\nSo they drove on and on, and the maiden wept the whole time, and begged\nIlmarinen to let her go, even if it were only to die in the snow, but he\nrefused and grew more and more angry at her obstinacy. At length they\nreached Ilmarinen's home and he took the maiden into the house. But\nhere, seeing there was no hope of escape, she determined to make him so\nangry that he would kill her and thus she would be freed from him. So\nshe began to make fun of him and to scorn him and laugh at him, until at\nlength Ilmarinen was in such a rage that he scarcely knew what he was\ndoing, and drew his sword to kill her.\n\nBut the sword refused to do this cruel deed, saying: 'I was born to\ndrink the blood of warriors, but not of such a pure and lovely maid as\nthis.' So Ilmarinen, being unable to kill her, began to weave a magic\nspell about her, and in a few minutes she changed all of a sudden into a\nseagull, and flew off screaming towards the sea-cliffs.\n\nAnd when he had done this, Ilmarinen went out and got into his sledge\nand drove off to his brother Wainamoinen. When he arrived, Wainamoinen\nasked him why he was so sad, and whether all was well in Pohjola. To\nthis Ilmarinen replied: 'Why should not all be well in Pohjola? They\nhave the Sampo there, and until it leaves them they will always\nprosper.' And then Wainamoinen asked him of the maiden whom he had gone\nto woo. 'I have turned that hateful maid into a seagull,' Ilmarinen\nanswered, frowning, 'and now she flies shrieking above the rolling\nwaves, and will never have another suitor.'\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWAINAMOINEN'S EXPEDITION AND THE BIRTH OF THE KANTELE (HARP)\n\n\nWainamoinen reflected on what Ilmarinen had said of the prosperity of\nthe Northland, and at length proposed that they should go and capture\nthe Sampo and bring it back to Kalevala. But Ilmarinen said: 'It will be\nhard to carry off the Sampo, for Louhi has fastened it with nine great\nlocks, and around it grow three roots, beneath the mountain and the\nwaters and the sands.'\n\nStill Wainamoinen persuaded him to go, and Ilmarinen went to his smithy\nand began to forge a sword for Wainamoinen. And when it was finished, it\nwas so strong, by the power of the magic spells that had been used in\nmaking it, that it would cut through the hardest flint stones.\n\nThen the two heroes put on their armour and made their sledges ready,\nand drove off along the seashore northward. But they had not gone far\nbefore they heard a voice lamenting. They drove up to the spot whence\nthe voice seemed to come, and there they found a ship lying deserted on\nthe sands.\n\nWainamoinen asked the ship what it was lamenting over, and the ship\nreplied: 'Alas, I weep because I am obliged to remain here idle; for I\nwas built to be a warship, and I long to sail filled with warriors\nagainst the foe, but I am left here to lie alone and rot to pieces.'\nThen Wainamoinen said: 'Thou shalt lie here no longer, but we will sail\nin thee against the men of Pohjola. But tell me whether thou art a magic\nship that can sail without wind, or oarsmen, or pilot.' 'Nay,' the ship\nreplied, 'I cannot sail if the wind or oars do not help me on and some\none guide me with the rudder. But give me these to help me, and I can\nsail faster than any other ship in the world.'\n\nThen they left their sledges and launched the ship and stepped aboard.\nAnd Wainamoinen began to sing his wondrous spells, and in an instant one\nside of the vessel was filled with bearded warriors, and the other with\nlovely maids, and in the middle came powerful gray-bearded heroes. First\nhe set the young men at the oars, but however hard they strove they\ncould not budge the ship. And next the maidens tried, but they too\nfailed. Last of all the mighty gray-bearded heroes took the oars, but\nyet the vessel did not move. Then Ilmarinen himself grasped the oars,\nand in a moment the vessel was moving through the waters at full speed,\nwith old Wainamoinen at the helm.\n\nThey had not gone far when they came to an island, and on the shore was\na man working on a fishing-boat. As they drew nearer he looked up and\nhailed them, asking whither they were bound. Wainamoinen answered: 'O\nstupid Lemminkainen, dost thou not recognise us, and canst thou not\nguess whither we are bound?' Then Lemminkainen, for it was really he,\nsaid: 'I recognise you both now. It is Ilmarinen who is rowing, and thou\nart Wainamoinen. But tell me whither ye are sailing?'\n\nThen Wainamoinen told him that they were bound for Pohjola to capture\nthe magic Sampo, and, on hearing this, Lemminkainen begged to go with\nthem, saying that he would fight valiantly with them. So they took him\non board, and the three great heroes sailed on their way. But before\nthey had gone much farther, they came to a place where there were lovely\nmaidens singing sweetly on the shore, but all around were hidden rocks\nand whirlpools, and their vessel was near sinking. But Lemminkainen knew\nthe spell that would compel the maidens to calm the whirlpools, and to\nlead the ship in safety past all the hidden reefs out into open water\nagain. And when Lemminkainen had sung this spell, old Wainamoinen was\nable to steer in safety through the foam-covered rocks and out into open\nwater; but no sooner were they clear than the vessel stopped as suddenly\nas if she were anchored to the spot.\n\nIlmarinen and Lemminkainen then plunged a long pole to the bottom of the\nwaters, and strove to push the ship ahead, but it was impossible. Then\nWainamoinen bade Lemminkainen look beneath the vessel to see what it was\nthat stopped them, and they found that it was no hidden reef or\nsand-bar, but a mighty pike on whose shoulders the vessel had stuck\nfast. At Wainamoinen's order, Lemminkainen drew his sword and aimed a\nmighty blow at the monster, but he missed it and fell overboard. He was\ndrawn out all dripping, and the others consoled him for his failure.\nNext Ilmarinen drew his sword and struck at the monster, but at the\nfirst blow his sword broke in pieces. At last Wainamoinen, reproaching\nthe others for their feebleness, drew his magic sword, and with one\nthrust he impaled the monster on it. Then lifting the monster out of the\nwater he cut him into pieces and let them fall on the water, and float\nin towards land.\n\nThus the vessel was free at last. But the heroes were weary with their\nexertions, and so they rowed in to land, and there gathered up the\nfragments of the fish that had floated to the shore. Wainamoinen handed\nthese pieces to the maidens who were with them in the vessel, and they\nprepared the most delicious feast from the pike, having enough and to\nspare for all on board. And they piled the bones in a heap on the rocks.\n\nThen Wainamoinen looked at the pile of bones, and after pondering deeply\nhe said: 'Wondrous things may be made from these bones, if only I can\nfind a skilful workman to carry out my designs and make the\n_kantele_.'[5] But no workman could be found who was wise enough to\nunderstand Wainamoinen's directions, for no one had ever heard of a\n_kantele_ before. At length old Wainamoinen saw that there was no one\nwho could help him, and so he set to work himself. He made the arches of\nthe harp from the pike's jawbones, and the pins that hold the strings he\nmade from the teeth, and for the strings he took hairs from the tail of\na magic steed.\n\n[5] A sort of harp that is sometimes used even now in Finland.\nPronounced _kan\u00b4-tay-lay_. It usually has five strings.\n\nAnd at last the _first kantele_ was finished, and it was so beautiful\nthat every one crowded round to look at it. When it was all ready\nWainamoinen handed it to those around to try their skill, but they could\nonly make discords whenever they touched it. Then Lemminkainen bade the\nothers leave it to him, for _he_ would show them how to play upon it.\nBut when he touched the strings it sounded worse than when any of the\nothers had tried it. And after one and all had tried it, and found that\nit only gave forth discords, they proposed to throw it into the sea. But\nthe harp said: 'I shall never perish in the sea, but will bring great\njoy to Kalevala. Put me in my maker's hands, and I will sing for him.'\nSo they took it and laid it at the aged Wainamoinen's feet.\n\nThen the great magician took the wondrous kantele and rested it upon his\nknee. First he tuned it, tightening all the strings until they sounded\nsweetly together, and then he swept his hands across them, and a flood\nof wonderful melody poured forth from the kantele. And as the wondrous\nnotes resounded in the air, every living thing that heard them stopped\nand listened. From the forests came the bears and ermines, and the\nwolves and lynxes. Even Tapio the forest-god drew near, with all his\nattendant spirits, enchanted by the magic sounds. From the sea the\nfishes came to the edge of the waters, and the sea-god Ahto with his\nwater-spirits. The daughters of the Sun and Moon stopped their spinning\non the clouds, and dropped their spindles, so that the threads were\nbroken in two.\n\nFor three whole days the magic kantele poured forth its melody beneath\nWainamoinen's skilful fingers, until every one that heard it wept, and\neven the master-player himself was at last moved to tears by the power\nof his own playing. The bright teardrops flowed down his long beard and\nover his garments, and on over the earth in sparkling streams, until\nthey were lost in the waters of the deep sea. And then the music ceased,\nand Wainamoinen laid the kantele aside and said: 'Is there any one here\nwho can gather up my teardrops from the sea?' But all were silent, for\nthey could not do it.\n\nBut a raven came flying up and offered to attempt it, and Wainamoinen\npromised him the most beautiful plumage if he should succeed, but the\nraven tried and failed. Then came a duck, and Wainamoinen made it the\nsame promise. And the duck swam off and dived down to the ocean's\ndepths, and at length it had collected every teardrop and brought them\nto the great magician, but a wondrous change had taken place in them,\nfor they were no longer tears, but the most beautiful pearls.\n\nThus were pearls first created, and for this the blue duck received its\nlovely plumage.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n'That is the loveliest story of all,' cried Mimi. 'How I wish I could\nhave heard Wainamoinen's music! Was his kantele like the one pappa has\nup in the loft, Pappa Mikko? If it was, I wish pappa would play on\nours.'\n\n'I expect they are just alike,' replied Father Mikko; 'and when your\npappa's pappa was alive, I remember that he used to play on the kantele\nvery sweetly, but there are not many in our land that can play the\nkantele now.'\n\n'Well,' said Mimi, with a sigh, 'I suppose there aren't, so you might as\nwell tell us what Wainamoinen did next, Pappa Mikko, please.'\n\nAnd Father Mikko began again.\n\n[Illustration: A WATERFALL.]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE CAPTURE OF THE SAMPO\n\n\nAfter the magic kantele was finished, the three great heroes and\nmagicians sailed away again towards the dismal Northland. Ilmarinen led\nthe rowers on one side of the ship, and Lemminkainen on the other, and\nold Wainamoinen steered. They soon reached Pohjola and landed near\nLouhi's house.\n\nWhen they had drawn their vessel up on land, they all went up to Louhi's\nhouse, and Wainamoinen told her that they were come for the Sampo; that\nif she would only give them the many-coloured lid they would go away\ncontent, but if not, they would take the whole Sampo by force. Then\nLouhi grew very angry and called together all the Northland warriors to\nslay them. But Wainamoinen began to play upon his kantele, and so\nwonderfully sweet were the tunes that he played, that the warriors\nforgot all about fighting and began to weep, and all the maidens of\nPohjola began to dance. Still Wainamoinen played on and on, until a deep\nslumber came upon all the Northland folk. Then he ceased playing, and\ncast a powerful spell over them, so that they should not awake.\n\nWhen all the Pohjola folk were sound asleep the three great heroes went\nto the mountains to seek the magic Sampo. And as they went Wainamoinen\nplayed such wonderful music that the great cliffs opened before them,\nand left them an open road to where the Sampo lay hid. When they had\ncome near the cavern in which the Sampo lay, they sent Lemminkainen to\nenter the cave and bring it out. He, boasting of his strength, went into\nthe cavern, and seizing hold of the magic Sampo, he put forth all his\nstrength to lift it up, but it remained immovable, for the roots had\ngrown deep into the earth, and bound it down tightly.\n\nThen Lemminkainen remembered a huge ox that he had seen out in the\nfields, with horns seven fathoms long, and he went after it and hitched\nit to the biggest plough he could find, and began to plough all around\nthe roots which held the Sampo down. And in a very short while the roots\nbecame loosened, and they were able to pick up the magic Sampo and\ncarry it on board their vessel.\n\nAs soon as it was safely on board they sailed away, leaving all the\nPohjola folk sleeping. On they flew towards their homes in Kalevala; but\nLemminkainen grew weary of the silence, and asked Wainamoinen why he\nwould not sing to cheer them. But Wainamoinen answered that song would\nonly disturb the rowers, and that it was best never to rejoice until all\ndanger was past. At length, when they had gone three days on their\njourney, Lemminkainen grew angry at Wainamoinen's silence, and began to\nsing himself. But his voice sounded harsh and unmelodious, and it made\nthe very ship tremble.\n\nFar off on the land a crane was standing amidst the rushes, amusing\nitself by counting its toes. But when it heard Lemminkainen's attempts\nat singing, it was so frightened that it flew off screaming over\nPohjola, and by its screeching it awoke all the slumbering people. As\nsoon as Louhi awoke she hurried off to her barns and cattle-pens to see\nif anything had been stolen, but she found everything all right. Next\nshe hurried to the mountains, to the cavern where she had hidden the\nSampo, but when she came there she found the cavern empty, and saw how\nher visitors had torn the Sampo loose from its fastenings.\n\nThen Louhi returned to her house pale with anger and fear, for she knew\nthat if the Sampo were lost that all the prosperity of the Northland\nwould be lost with it. So she called up the goddess of the fogs, and\nsent her out to delay Wainamoinen's vessel. And then she called on\nIko-Turso--a wicked monster living in the depths of the sea--to swim to\nthe ship and sink it, and to eat the men in it, but to bring back the\nSampo to Pohjola once more. And she prayed, moreover, to great Ukko that\nif the sea-monster should not succeed, that Ukko himself would send a\nfearful tempest to wreck the vessel.\n\nFirst came the goddess of the fog, and wrapped them in such a thick mist\nthat they could not move. Three days they lay so, and then Wainamoinen\ndrew his sword, exclaiming: 'We shall all perish here in the fog if no\nattempt is made to drive it away,' and with these words he struck the\nwaves with his sword. From the blade there flowed a stream of honey, and\nall at once the fog broke up, and left the way clear before them. But\nscarcely had the fog disappeared than they heard a mighty roaring sound,\nand the foam began to shoot up from the water alongside, and to cover\nthe ship. Then Wainamoinen leaned over the vessel's side, and stretching\nout his arm he grasped something that he saw in the water, and pulled up\nthe awful monster Iko-Turso. But the monster was so affrighted by being\nlifted out of the water that he promised to leave them in peace, and\nnever to appear above the waters again if Wainamoinen would only release\nhim. So Wainamoinen let him go, and the second danger was past.\n\nBut now came the third and most terrible of all, for Ukko sent a mighty\nstorm-wind, which lashed the waves into a fury, and stirred up the ocean\nto its very bottom. And at the very first pitch of the ship the magic\nkantele was swept overboard by the waves, and Ahto, the sea-god, caught\nit and carried it off to his home beneath the waves. Then Wainamoinen\nbegan to bewail the loss of his wonderful instrument; but as the storm\ngrew worse, and tossed their ship about like a feather, all on board\nbegan to despair of ever reaching land alive. But Wainamoinen gave them\ncomfort and courage, and he and Ilmarinen and Lemminkainen by their\nmagic spells quietened the winds and the waves, and repaired the damage\nwhich the vessel had suffered from the storm. And then they went on\ntheir way in peace.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE SAMPO IS LOST IN THE SEA\n\n\nBut when Louhi found that all her magic had failed, she assembled all\nher warriors, and embarked them in her largest ship, and herself sailed\noff to recapture the Sampo by force of arms. Before long they came in\nsight of Wainamoinen's vessel, and when he saw that Louhi was pursuing\nhim with such a mighty host of warriors, he cried out to Ilmarinen and\nLemminkainen to row with all their might, in order to escape from their\npursuers. So all the rowers rowed until the vessel fairly trembled, and\nthe foam was tossed up from the bow as high as the clouds, but still\nthey could not gain on their pursuers.\n\nThen Wainamoinen saw that he must use some other means, so he took out a\npiece of flint from his tinder-box and dropped it into the water, saying\nas he did so: 'Rise up from the bottom of the sea into a mighty\nmountain, so that Louhi's ship may be dashed to pieces.' And suddenly a\nmountain of rock sprang up out of the water, and before Louhi could stop\nher ship it had hit upon the rocks and was wrecked.\n\nBut Louhi was not to be outdone in magic, so she took the timbers of the\nship and made from them a magic eagle, using the rudder for its tail and\nfive sharp iron scythes for its talons. And on his wings and back she\nposted all her warriors, and then the magic eagle rose up into the air.\nIt made one circle round the heavens, and then lit upon the mast of\nWainamoinen's vessel, almost overturning it by its weight. Wainamoinen\nfirst prayed to Ukko for aid, and then he asked Louhi if she would\nconsent now to divide the Sampo between them. But she scorned his offer,\nand the eagle made a swoop downward to pick up the Sampo in its talons.\nBut Lemminkainen raised his sword, and no sooner had the eagle grasped\nthe Sampo than he brought down his sword with such force that every\ntalon was cut off but one.\n\nThen the eagle flew up on to the mast once more, and upbraided\nLemminkainen because he had broken his promise to his mother that he\nwould not go to war for sixty years. But Wainamoinen, believing that his\nlast hour was come, took the rudder in his hand and struck the eagle\nsuch a mighty blow that all the warriors fell from its wings and back\ninto the water. Then the eagle made one more swoop down upon the vessel,\nand, with the one talon it had left, it dragged the Sampo over the side\nof the ship so that it fell to the bottom of the ocean and was broken to\npieces. And it is this that has brought so much wealth to the sea, for\nwhere the Sampo is there will always be wealth also. But a few pieces of\nthe lid floated ashore to Kalevala, and it is therefore that our country\nhas now the harvests that before that grew in the dismal Northland.\n\nBut Louhi threatened Wainamoinen, saying: 'I will steal away thy silver\nmoonlight and thy golden sunlight. I will send the frost and hail to\nkill thy crops, and will send the bear--Otso--from the forests to kill\nthy cattle and sheep. I will send upon thy people nine diseases, each\none of them more fatal than the one before.' Then Wainamoinen replied:\n'No one from dismal Northland can harm us of Kalevala, Only Ukko rules\nthe fate of peoples, and he will guard my crops from frost and hail, and\nmy cattle from the bear, Otso. Thou mayst hide evil people in thy\nNorthland caverns, but thou canst never steal the Sun and Moon, and all\nthy frosts and plagues and bears may turn against thyself.'\n\nAnd then Louhi departed to her home, weeping for the loss of the magic\nSampo, and ever since that time there have been famines and poverty in\ngloomy Pohjola. But Wainamoinen and the other heroes returned home\nrejoicing, and on the shore they found fragments of the Sampo's lid.\nThen Wainamoinen prayed to Ukko to be merciful and kind to them, and to\nprotect them from frost and hail and bears, and to let the golden light\nof the Moon and Sun shine for ever on the plains of Kalevala.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n'Ah!' said Erik, half smiling, 'it's a great pity that the whole Sampo\ndidn't float ashore to our country, for perhaps then there would never\nhave been any famines in our land at all,' and he sighed as he thought\nof some of the hard winters in years past.\n\n'All is in God's hands,' said Father Mikko reverently, 'and we must take\nboth good and ill as they come to us--it is not for us to say what we\nwould wish. Let us be thankful that even a part of the Sampo floated\nhither,' he added, smiling.\n\nThere was a few moments' silence, and then Mimi asked what Wainamoinen\nhad done about his lost kantele, so Father Mikko went on.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE BIRTH OF THE SECOND KANTELE\n\n\nWhen the heroes had returned home, and found the fragments of the Sampo\non the shore, they wished to make merry over the good fortune which even\nthese fragments were sure to bring, but Wainamoinen could not give them\nmusic, since the wondrous kantele had been lost in the sea. Then he bade\nIlmarinen make a huge rake with copper teeth a hundred fathoms long and\nthe handle a thousand fathoms, and when the rake was ready, Wainamoinen\ntook it, and sailing out over the sea in a magic vessel that needed\nneither sails nor oars to move it, he raked over the whole bottom of the\nocean. But he only raked up shells and seaweed, and found no trace of\nthe kantele.\n\nThen Wainamoinen returned sadly home, saying: 'Never again shall I pour\nforth floods of music to the people of Kalevala from the magic strings\nof my kantele.' And driven on by his grief he left his house and went\nfar off into the forest. As he wandered there he heard the birch-tree\nlamenting, and Wainamoinen asked the tree why it was unhappy when it had\nsuch lovely silver leaves and tassels. To this the birch-tree replied:\n'Thou thinkest that I am always happy, and that my leaves and tassels\nmust always be whispering joy. But, alas! I am so weak and feeble, and\nmust always stand alone without a word of sympathy. Others rejoice at\nthe coming of the spring, but I am robbed of bark and tassels and tender\ntwigs, and am cut up for firewood, and then in the winter time the frost\nand the cold biting winds kill my young shoots and strip me of my silver\nleaves and leave me cold and naked.'\n\nWhile the birch-tree was speaking, Wainamoinen's face began to brighten,\nand he finally exclaimed: 'Weep no more, good birch-tree, for I will\nturn thy grief into joy and make thee sing the most marvellous songs.'\nHaving said this he set to work to make a new kantele, taking birch-wood\nfor the framework. At length the frame was all ready, but he did not\nknow of what to make the pegs. Suddenly he came upon a great oak-tree on\nwhich grew golden-coloured acorns, and on each acorn sat a sacred\ncuckoo singing its melody. So Wainamoinen took a piece of the oak and\nmade the pegs from it.\n\nBut the harp was not yet finished, for the five strings were still\nlacking. Then Wainamoinen journeyed on through the forest, until at\nlength he came to where a forest-maiden was sitting on a mound and\nsinging, and her long golden hair was falling loose over her shoulders.\nSo Wainamoinen went up to her and begged her to give him some of her\ngolden tresses, from which to weave the five strings for the kantele.\nAnd the maiden willingly gave up a portion of her golden hair, and from\nit Wainamoinen wove five strings, and at last the second kantele was\ncomplete. Then Wainamoinen sat down upon a rock and placed the kantele\nupon his knees, and after putting all the strings in tune he began to\nplay. The fairy music resounded over hill and dale, until at length the\nvery mountains began to dance with delight, and the rocks were rent in\nsunder and floated on the surface of the ocean. The trees of the forest,\ntoo, laughed with joy and began to dance about like children. The young\nmen and maidens rejoiced as they listened to the music, and the\ngray-haired men and women were amazed, while the babies tried to crawl\nto where the sweet sounds came from.\n\nThe magic music resounded far and wide over Kalevala, and all the wild\nbeasts of the forest fell upon their knees in wonder, while the birds\nperched upon the trees about him and accompanied the music with their\nsinging. The fish left their homes beneath the waters and crowded to the\nshore to listen. And everything in nature, from earth and air and water,\ncame to listen to the magic sweetness of Wainamoinen's playing.\n\nThree days and more he played unceasing; playing in the houses of his\npeople until their very beams rejoiced, and wandering through the\nforest, where the trees all bent in homage to him and waved their\nbranches to his music. Then over the meadows, still playing, until the\nvery ferns and flowers laughed with delight and the bushes chimed in in\nunison with the magic music of the kantele.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n'Oh! I'm so glad that he got another kantele,' cried little Mimi,\ndelighted. 'And now what is coming next, Pappa Mikko?'\n\n'I shall tell you all of Louhi's attempt at revenge on the heroes who\ncaptured the Sampo,' he replied; 'and how they all failed, and then I\nshall wind up with the last story of all!'\n\nAfter having rested a while, the old man continued.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLOUHI ATTEMPTS REVENGE\n\n\nLouhi grew more and more angry and envious when she heard how prosperous\nand happy all the folk of Kalevala were, since the fragments of the\nSampo had floated to their shore. So she pondered long in her evil\nheart, how she might send them sorrow and misfortune. Now just at that\ntime the old witch Lowjatar, Tuoni's daughter, came to Louhi and asked\nfor shelter from the storms and cold, and Louhi took her in and treated\nher like an honoured guest. And while Lowjatar was there, nine children\nwere born to her, all horrible diseases, and she named them Colic,\nFever, Plague, Pleurisy, Ulcer, Consumption, Gout, Sterility, and\nCancer. And then Louhi's evil heart rejoiced, and she took the nine\ndiseases and sent them into Kalevala, there to harass and kill\nWainamoinen's people.\n\nAnd when the diseases came, every one in Kalevala, both young and old,\nfell ill of all sorts of illnesses, and Wainamoinen at first did not\nknow whence all this evil had come. But soon by his magic power he\nlearned that it came from the children of Tuoni's daughter, Lowjatar,\nand then he set to work to drive them away. First he took all those that\nwere ill to the bath-houses, and then he brought buckets of water and\nheated blocks of stone until he had filled the whole room with warm\nsteam. Then he prayed to Ukko to drive away all these diseases from\nthem, and to send these evil spirits to Tuoni's kingdom, where they\nbelonged.\n\nAfter Wainamoinen had prayed thus to Ukko, he took a magic balsam and\nrubbed it over all those that were ill, and sang magic spells over them,\nand then prayed once more to Ukko for success, and at length he drove\nout the nine diseases and saved his people from dying.\n\nWhen the nine diseases had been driven out of Kalevala, the news of\nWainamoinen's victory over them came at length to the old witch Louhi,\nand she grew angrier than ever that her revenge had failed. But she\npondered over what means of revenge she should try next, and at length\nshe hit upon another plan. She went out into the forest and cast a magic\nspell upon the hugest bear in all the Northland--the great Otso[6]--and\nhe hastened from his Pohjola home and began to kill the flocks and herds\nin Kalevala.\n\n[6] _Otso_ = bear.\n\nThen Wainamoinen hastened to Ilmarinen, and bade him make a\ntriple-pointed spear with which to kill Otso. And when the spear was\nready, Wainamoinen hastened off to the forest to find the bear, singing\nas he went, and calling upon the forest-god Tapio and his wife to grant\nhim success in his hunt. He had not gone far before he heard his dog\nbark, and hurrying up to the spot he found Otso standing facing the dog\nand trying to snap him up, and before the bear perceived him,\nWainamoinen was able to end Otso's life with a single thrust of his\nmagic spear.\n\nWhen Otso was dead, Wainamoinen threw the body across his shoulder and\nhastened off home, singing songs of rejoicing as he went. And when he\nreached his house there was great rejoicing, and every one came out to\nwelcome the dead bear, addressing it as if Otso were some honoured guest\ncome to see them. First Wainamoinen sang a song of praise to the dead\nOtso, and bade his people welcome him with all due honour. And then the\npeople answered with the most extravagant expressions of pleasure and\nwelcome and admiration for Otso, and offered him all the best things in\nthe house, and when all this ceremony was over they took off the fur and\ncut the body up ready for cooking, and prepared the steaks and joints to\nmake a grand feast.\n\nAt length the whole of the bear was cooked, and a great feast was spread\nin Wainamoinen's house on golden dishes, and with sparkling beer in\ncopper beakers. And when all were seated at the table, Wainamoinen rose\nand sang the story of Otso's birth and life. And this is the story which\nhe sang: 'Long ago a maiden walked in the ether on the edges of the\nclouds, and as she walked she threw down wool and hair upon the waters\nfrom two boxes that she carried. The wool and hair were floated in to\nthe shore, and there Mielikki, wife of the forest-god, found them and\njoined the wool and hair together by magic spells. Then she laid the\nbundle in a birch-bark basket and bound it in the top of the lofty pine,\nand there the young bear was rocked into life.\n\n'Otso grew quickly and became graceful in his movements, although his\nfeet were clumsy and his ankles crooked, his mouth large and forehead\nbroad; but he still had no teeth or claws. Then Mielikki said: \"I would\ngive thee claws and teeth, Otso, but I fear that thou wilt use them to\nharm people with.\" But Otso fell on his knees and swore that he would\nnever harm the good. So Mielikki took the hardest knots from all the\ntrees to make him teeth and claws, but all of them were too weak. Then\nshe went to a magic fir that grew in Tapio's kingdom, and which had\nsilver branches and golden cones, and from these she made Otso's claws\nand teeth. Thus was Otso born and reared.'\n\nSo they feasted and made merry, and when the feast was over they all\ntried to see which could pull out Otso's teeth and claws, in order to\npreserve them for their magic power. And of all the men there only the\naged Wainamoinen could draw them out. When this was done, Wainamoinen\ncalled for his kantele and bade them light torches, as it was already\ndark. Then he sang sweet songs and played lovely music, so that the long\nevening passed away like magic, and he sang of the hunter's victory and\nprayed to Ukko always to give good fortune to the hunters of Kalevala.\n\nThus were Louhi's two first attempts at revenge unsuccessful.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLOUHI STEALS THE SUN, THE MOON, AND FIRE\n\n\nWhen these two dangers were overcome, Wainamoinen played upon his\nkantele so sweetly that the Sun and Moon came down from their stations\nin the sky to listen to his music. But evil Louhi crept upon them\nunawares and made both Sun and Moon her captives, and carried them off\nto the dismal Northland, and there she hid them both in caverns in the\nmountains, that they might never again shine upon Kalevala. Next Louhi\ncrept back to Kalevala and stole all the fire from the hearths, and left\nall their homes cold and cheerless. Then there was nothing but black\nnight in the world, and great Ukko himself did not know what to do\nwithout the light of the Sun and Moon.\n\nUkko wandered all over the clouds to find out what had become of the\nSun and Moon, and at last he whirled his fire-sword round his head so\nthat the lightning flashed over the whole sky. From this lightning he\nkindled a little fire, and putting it in a gold and silver cradle, he\ngave it to the Ether-maidens to rock and care for, until it grew into a\nsecond Sun. So the Fire-child was cared for tenderly, and he grew fast;\nbut one day the maidens were not watching him closely, and he escaped\nfrom them, and bursting through the clouds with a noise like a\nthunder-clap, he shot across the heavens like a red fire-ball.\n\nThen Wainamoinen said to Ilmarinen: 'Come, let us see what this fire is\nthat is fallen from the heavens.' And so they set out towards the spot\nwhere the ball of fire had seemed to fall. Soon they came to a wide\nriver and set to work to make a magic boat to cross it, and in a very\nshort time the boat was made, and they rowed over. On the other bank\nthey were met by the oldest of the Ether-maidens, who asked them whither\nthey were going.\n\nSo they told her who they were, and that they had lost all fire and\nlight in Kalevala, so that they were come to seek the fire that they had\nseen fall from the heavens. Then the Ether-maiden told them what had\nhappened, saying: 'After the Fire-child had begun to grow, he escaped\nfrom us one day and bursting through the clouds he came down to\nPohjola. There he killed youths and babes and old people, until he was\ndriven away by a magic spell. He fled thence, burning fields and forests\non his way, until at length he plunged into a great lake, and made the\nwaters boil and rage. Then the fish held a council how to get rid of\nhim, and it was decided that one of them must swallow him. First the\nsalmon tried, but failed, and then the bold whiting made a dash and\nsucceeded in swallowing the evil Fire-child. After this the waters of\nthe lake grew quiet, and all went on as before.\n\n'But soon the whiting was seized with terrible pains and began to swim\nround in agony, begging for some one to kill him and put him out of his\nsufferings. For a long time he swam about unheeded, but at last a trout\nseized the whiting and swallowed him. For a while all was quiet again,\nbut then the trout began to suffer in his turn. Still every fish was\nafraid to swallow him, until a pike darted up and ate up the trout. But\nthen the pike was seized with the same pains, and he is now swimming\nabout in great agony, but none will help him.'\n\nWhen the Ether-maiden had finished her account of what had happened,\nWainamoinen and Ilmarinen wove a great net from seaweed, and hurrying to\nthe lake they began to draw the net all through it in order to catch\nthe Fire-fish. But the net was a poor one, and they failed to catch the\npike that had swallowed the other fish and the Fire-child.\n\nThen the two magicians gave up their useless net, and, choosing an\nisland near by, they resolved to plant flax that they might make a\nstronger and better net. They went to Tuoni's kingdom before they could\nfind the proper seed, and found it there under the care of a tiny\ninsect. When they had brought the seed from the Deathland, they planted\nit on the shore, in the ashes of a ship that had been burnt there, and\nin a single night the flax had grown up and ripened. Then they pulled\nit, and washed and dried and combed it, and took it to the Kalevala\nmaidens to spin. Soon the spinning was done and the net was woven.\n\nSo the two great heroes took the flaxen net and hastened back to the\nlake and began to drag for the Fire-fish. But they only caught common\nfish, and the pike remained hidden in the deep caverns. Then Wainamoinen\nmade the net longer and wider and they tried again, but though they\ncaught fish of every species, the Fire-fish was not amongst them.\nWainamoinen then prayed to Ahto, god of the ocean, and his wife,\nWellamo, that they would drive the Fire-fish into his nets. Scarcely\nhad Wainamoinen finished speaking, when a little dwarf rose from the\nwaters and offered to help them. They accepted the tiny man's aid, and\nwhile they drew their nets, the dwarf beat the waters with a magic pole\nand scared all the fish toward them. And as they drew, Wainamoinen sang\na magic charm to bring the fish in still greater numbers.\n\nThis time the net was full of pike, and they dragged it to the shore\nrejoicing, and among them they found the Fire-fish. So they threw the\nother fish back into the water, and Wainamoinen drew his knife and began\nto cut up the Fire-fish. Inside of the pike he found the trout, and\ninside of the trout the whiting, and on opening the whiting he came upon\na ball of blue yarn. Wainamoinen quickly unwound the blue ball, and\nwithin that found a red ball, and when he had opened the red ball he\ncame to the ball of fire in the middle.\n\nThey pondered how they should get the fire to Kalevala, and at last\nIlmarinen seized it in his hands to carry it off. But it singed\nWainamoinen's beard and burned Ilmarinen's hands dreadfully, and then it\njumped out of their reach and rolled off over field and forest, burning\neverything in its course. Wainamoinen hastened after it, and at length\ncaught it hidden in a mass of punk-wood. Then he took it and put it,\nwood and all, in a copper box and hastened off home. Thus the fire\nreturned to Kalevala.\n\nBut Ilmarinen, suffering great agony from his burnt hands, hastened to\nthe sea to lave them in the cool water. And he called up the ice and\nfrost and snow to come and cool his parched hands, and, when all these\nproved insufficient, he called on great Ukko to send him some healing\nbalm to take away the cruel torture. And Ukko granted his prayer and his\nhands were healed. Then Ilmarinen returned home and rejoiced to find\nthat Wainamoinen had already brought the fire thither.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE RESTORATION OF THE SUN AND MOON\n\n\nThough the Fire had been restored to Kalevala, still the golden Moon and\nthe silver Sun were lost, and the frost came and killed the crops, and\nthe cattle began to die of hunger. Every living thing felt sick and\nfaint in the dark, dreary world. Then one of the maidens of Kalevala\nsuggested to Ilmarinen to make a moon of gold and a sun of silver, and\nto hang them up in the heavens; so Ilmarinen set to work. While he was\nforging them, Wainamoinen came and asked what he was working at, and so\nIlmarinen told him that he was going to make a new sun and moon. But\nWainamoinen said: 'This is mere folly, for silver and gold will not\nshine like the sun and moon.' Still Ilmarinen worked on, and at length\nhe had forged a moon of gold and a sun of silver, and hung them in\ntheir places in the sky. But they gave no light, as Wainamoinen had\nsaid.\n\nThen Wainamoinen determined to find out where the sun and moon had gone.\nSo he cut three chips from an alder-tree, and laying them on the ground\nbefore him, he cast many magic spells over them. Then when all was\nready, he asked the alder-chips to tell him truly where the sun and moon\nwere hid. The alder-chips then answered, that they were hidden in the\ncaverns of the mountains of Pohjola.\n\nNo sooner had Wainamoinen heard this, than he made ready for a journey\nand started off for the dismal Northland. When he had travelled three\ndays and was come to the borders of Pohjola, he found a wide river in\nthe road and no boat to cross over in. So he built a huge fire on the\nshore, and soon such a dense column of smoke arose that Louhi sent some\none to see what was the matter. But when Wainamoinen called to the\nmessenger to bring him a boat, the man made no reply, but hurried back\nto Louhi and told her that it was Wainamoinen, who was coming to her\nhouse.\n\nThen Wainamoinen saw that he could never get across in that way, so he\nchanged himself into a pike and swam over very easily, and then changed\nback to his own shape when he had reached the opposite shore. He\nhastened on with mighty strides, and soon reached Louhi's dwelling.\nThere he was met as if he were a most honoured guest, and they invited\nhim into the hall. Wainamoinen went in unsuspectingly, but no sooner was\nhe inside than he found himself surrounded by crowds of armed warriors.\n\nThe warriors asked him in a threatening tone why he had come thither.\nBut Wainamoinen was not frightened, but answered boldly that he had come\nto seek the Sun and the Moon. Then the chief of the warriors replied:\n'We have the Sun and Moon safe in a mountain cavern, and thou shalt\nnever get them back, nor shalt thou leave this hall alive.' No sooner\nhad he finished speaking than Wainamoinen drew his magic sword, and fell\nupon those that stood between him and the door. They gave way before\nhim, and in a moment he was out in the courtyard, where he could have\nroom to fight fairly. All the warriors rushed at him with drawn swords\nand lifted spears, and the fire flashed from their weapons. But\nWainamoinen was more than a match for all of them, and in a very short\ntime he had stretched them all lifeless on the ground.\n\nThen he left the court and hastened on to find the Sun and Moon. Soon he\ncame to a solitary birch-tree, and beside the tree stood a carved\npillar of stone, which concealed an opening in the rocks. Wainamoinen\ngave three blows with his magic sword, and the pillar broke in pieces,\nshowing behind it an entrance into the rock; but the entrance was shut\nby a massive door, and there was only a little crack through which he\ncould peep. Inside he saw the Sun and Moon prisoners, but though he\ntried with all his strength and all his magic spells to open the door,\nit still remained tightly shut, and he could not budge it so much as an\ninch.\n\nWainamoinen began to despair of ever succeeding in liberating the Sun\nand Moon, and he hastened off home to ask for Ilmarinen's help. He\ndirected him to forge a whole set of skeleton-keys, so that some one of\nthem would fit the lock of the door to the Sun's prison. Ilmarinen went\nto work and soon his anvil was ringing merrily to the blows of his\nhammer.\n\nNow Louhi had grown very much alarmed after Wainamoinen had slain all\nher warriors, and so she assumed the shape of an eagle and flew away to\nKalevala to see what was going on there. She heard the merry ring of\nIlmarinen's work and flew down and lit in the window of the smithy.\nThere she asked what he was doing, and the cunning Ilmarinen replied: 'I\nam forging a collar of steel for the neck of evil Louhi, and with it I\nshall bind her fast to the rocks.'\n\nLouhi was terribly alarmed at this, so she flew off to Pohjola and\nreleased the Sun and Moon from prison immediately, and sent them up to\ntheir places in the heavens. Then the silver sunlight and the golden\nmoonlight returned once more to Kalevala, and Ilmarinen, and\nWainamoinen, and all the people offered up a prayer that they might\nnever again be deprived of the blessed Sun and Moon.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n'It would have served old Louhi right if Ilmarinen _had_ made a steel\ncollar and put it round her neck,' said Mimi. 'But I'm so glad that\nWainamoinen always got the best of it,' she added.\n\n'There was one time when he was defeated, however,' said Father Mikko,\n'and now I shall tell it you. It is the last story, and is about\nWainamoinen's departure from Kalevala.' So he began.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMARIATTA AND WAINAMOINEN'S DEPARTURE\n\n\nThere lived a fair and lovely maiden in Kalevala, called Mariatta. She\nwas the loveliest and purest of virgins, and tended her parents' flocks\nupon the mountain sides. Here one day, as she was watching the sheep,\nshe heard a voice calling to her, and on looking round she found that it\nwas a bright red berry calling to her, and asking her to pluck it.\nMariatta did not know that this was a magic berry, so she picked it and\nput it to her lips to eat it. But the berry rolled from her lips down\ninto her bosom, and said to her: 'Thou shalt have a son, and he shall\nbecome a mighty man and drive forth the old magician Wainamoinen.'\n\nThen Mariatta took the flocks home and was so silent and still that her\nparents noticed it and asked her what was the matter. So she told them\nwhat had happened, but they grew angry and would not keep her in their\nhouse, for they did not believe the story about the berry.\n\nPoor Mariatta was now obliged to wander about without a shelter from the\ncold winds. At length she sent a servant, who had remained faithful to\nher and had accompanied her, to a village of Pohjola to ask for shelter\nfrom an old man named Ruotus. The maid, Piltti, went to Ruotus and told\nhim of Mariatta's hard lot, but Ruotus and his wife would not have her\nin their house, but only grudgingly consented to let her go to a stable\nin the forest, where the Fire-horse of Hisi was kept.\n\nSo Mariatta was obliged to go to the stable in the dense forest far off\nfrom every human being, and there she begged the Hisi-horse to keep her\nwarm by his fiery breath. The Hisi-horse was kinder to her than men had\nbeen, for he let her lie down comfortably in his manger, and kept her\nwarm with his fiery breath. There the babe was born, and his mother grew\nhappy once more, in spite of her sorrowful circumstances. But one night,\nwhile she slept, the babe disappeared, and the poor mother was\noverwhelmed with grief.\n\nThen she wandered forth and looked everywhere for him, but in vain. So\nshe asked the North-star if he had seen her son. But the North-star\nanswered: 'I would not tell thee even if I knew. For it is thy son who\nhath made me and set me here in the bitter cold.' And next Mariatta\nasked the Moon, and received the same answer as the North-star had\ngiven. Then she went to the Sun and asked him. And the Sun said: 'I know\nvery well where thy son is hidden, for he made me and put me here to\nshine with my silver light. He lies sleeping yonder in the Swampland.'\nSo Mariatta hastened to the spot that the Sun had pointed out and there\nfound her babe sleeping peacefully in the water among the rushes.\n\nThen she returned with the babe to her father's house, and this time he\nreceived her and allowed her to live there in peace. And the child grew\nin beauty and wisdom, and his mother called him Flower, but others\ncalled him Son-of-Sorrow. Then his mother called in an old man,\nWirokannas, to baptize the child, but Wirokannas said: 'First must some\none see if the child shall become an honest man, or a wicked wizard, for\nif he be not honest I will not baptize him.'\n\nSo Wainamoinen was called to examine the child--it was only two weeks\nold then--and see if it would grow up a noble man or not. Wainamoinen\ncame and saw the child, and then said: 'Since this child is only a poor\noutcast, born in a manger, and having no father save a berry, let him be\ncast out on to the hillsides or into the marshes to perish.'\n\nBut all at once the babe himself began to speak, saying: 'O aged\nWainamoinen, foolish hero, thou hast given a false decision. Thou\nthyself hast done great wrongs, yet hast not been punished. Thou gavest\nthine own brother Ilmarinen to ransom thy poor life. Thou persecuted the\nlovely Aino so that she perished in the deep sea, yet thou wert not\nkilled for all this.'\n\nThen Wirokannas saw that this was truly a magic babe, and he baptized\nhim to become a mighty hero, and a ruler and king over Kalevala.\n\nYears passed by after this, and Wainamoinen felt his power gradually\nleaving him and going over to Mariatta's child. So the ancient hero,\nwith a sad heart, sang his last magic spell in Kalevala, and made a\nmagic boat of copper to sail away in. Then he cast loose from the shore\nand sailed off towards the west, singing as he went: 'Fare ye well, my\npeople. Many suns shall rise and set on Kalevala until the people shall\nat length regret my absence and shall call upon me to come back with my\nmagic songs and wisdom. Fare ye well.'\n\nThus Wainamoinen, in his magic boat of copper, left Kalevala. On he\nsailed to the land of the setting sun, and at length he reached the\nhaven and anchored his boat, never again to return to Kalevala. But the\nwondrous kantele and all his songs and wisdom remain among us to this\nday.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n'And now,' said Father Mikko, 'I have told you my last story--old\nWainamoinen has left Kalevala and the rule of the Christ-child has\nbegun. Under it our land has advanced and grown comfortable and\nhappy--let us only pray that we may never be less so.'\n\nThey were all silent for some time, and then all of them thanked Father\nMikko heartily for the pleasure that he had given them. Soon after this\nthey had supper and went to bed, and the next morning Father Mikko drove\noff in his sledge, the moonlight covering all the country with a flood\nof silver, and soon he had disappeared into the dark and silent\nfir-forest; but not before he had promised them all that he would stop\nthere again next year if possible.\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA\nSELECTED LIST\nOF\nJUVENILE BOOKS\n\n\n_Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s._\n\nCHILDREN'S STORIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, from Shakespeare to Tennyson.\nBy H. C. WRIGHT.\n\n  \"A genial book.\"--_Speaker._\n\n\n_Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt edges, 5s._\n\nBOYS' OWN STORIES. By ASCOTT R. HOPE. 3rd Edition. Eight Illustrations.\n\n  \"The stories are well told.\"--_Pall Mall Gazette._\n\n_Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt edges, 5s._\n\nROYAL YOUTHS: A Book of Princehoods. By ASCOTT R. HOPE. Illustrated.\n\n\"Well told and full of interest.\"--_National Observer._\n\n\n_Large crown 8vo, cloth, gilt edges, 5s._\n\nROBINSON CRUSOE. Newly Edited after the original Editions. 19 full-page\nIllustrations.\n\n  \"Gives an account of Defoe which is very much to the\n  point.\"--_Spectator._\n\n\n_Imperial 16mo, cloth extra, gilt edges, 3s. 6d._\n\nDICK'S HOLIDAYS, and What He Did with Them. Illustrated. Cheaper\nEdition.\n\n  \"A volume for which every budding botanist who gets it has\n  good reason to be thankful.\"--_Pall Mall Gazette._\n\n\n_Small 8vo, cloth, gilt edges, 3s. 6d._\n\nWHEN MOTHER WAS LITTLE. By S. P. YORKE. 13 full-page Illustrations.\n\n  \"In all respects an agreeable and well-written\n  story.\"--_Spectator._\n\n_8vo, cloth, gilt edges, 6s._\n\nTWO LITTLE CONFEDERATES. By THOMAS NELSON PAGE. Illustrated.\n\n  \"A delightful book.\"--_Saturday Review._\n\n\n_Medium 4to, paper boards, 3s. 6d._\n\nDADDY JAKE, the Runaway, and Other Stories. By JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS\n(\"Uncle Remus\"). Illustrated.\n\n  \"A fresh and delightful addition to those quaint and\n  laughable tales which have made the author of 'Uncle Remus'\n  loved and fancied wherever the English tongue is\n  spoken.\"--_Observer._\n\n\n_Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s._\n\nSIX GIRLS: A Home Story. By FANNIE B. IRVING. Illustrated.\n\n  \"Its interest is well sustained from first to\n  last.\"--_Scotsman._\n\n\n_Square Imperial 16mo, cloth, 5s._\n\nIN THE TIME OF ROSES: A Tale of Two Summers. By FLORENCE SCANNELL. 32\nIllustrations.\n\n  'A very successful book.'--_Academy._\n\n_Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, bevelled boards, 3s. 6d._\n\nALEXIS AND HIS FLOWERS. By BEATRIX CRESSWELL. Illustrated.\n\n  \"The book is a very pleasant one--a nosegay of everlasting\n  blooms of fancy.\"--_Academy._\n\n\n_Square 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d._\n\nTHE PRINCE OF THE HUNDRED SOUPS. By VERNON LEE. Illustrated.\n\n  \"I devoured it from cover to cover with a new\n  zest.\"--_Truth._\n\n\n_Imperial 16mo, cloth, 3s. 6d._\n\nTHE BIRD'S NEST, and Other Sermons for Children of all ages. By Rev. S.\nCOX, D.D. 3rd Edition.\n\n  \"Real honest preaching made fascinating and instructive by\n  an exquisite literary style.\"--_Methodist Times._\n\n\n_Small crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d._\n\nEVERY-DAY MIRACLES. By BEDFORD POLLARD. Illustrated.\n\n  \"A work worthy of the highest praise.\"--_Graphic._\n\n\n_Imperial 16mo, cloth gilt, gilt edges, 3s. 6d._\n\nFAIRY TALES FROM BRENTANO. Told in English by KATE F. KR\u0152KER. 3rd\nEdition.\n\n  \"Welcome in the nursery. The translation has been very\n  cleverly accomplished.\"--_Academy._\n\n_Illustrated paper boards, 5s.; cloth, gilt edges, 6s._\n\nNEW FAIRY TALES FROM BRENTANO. By KATE F. KR\u0152KER. 8 coloured\nIllustrations.\n\n  \"I read the book with edification and delight.\"--_Truth._\n\n\n_Medium 4to, paper boards, 3s. 6d._\n\nTHE BROWNIES: Their Book. By PALMER COX. 4th Edition. Illustrated.\n\n  \"The Brownies are such prime favourites.\"--_Guardian._\n\n\n_Medium 4to, cloth, 6s._\n\nANOTHER BROWNIE BOOK. By PALMER COX. Illustrated.\n\n  \"The illustrations are perhaps even more mirthful than the\n  letterpress, but both are admirable.\"--_Morning Post._\n\n\n_4to, bevelled boards, 3s. 6d._\n\nMARJORIE AND HER PAPA: How they wrote a Story and made Pictures for it.\nA Book for Children.\n\n  \"Altogether a book to be desired by and for\n  children.\"--_Spectator._\n\n\n\n\n\"_The best of all children's Magazines._\"\n\nSPECTATOR.\n\n_St. Nicholas For Young Folks._\n\nCONDUCTED BY\nMARY MAPES DODGE\n\nPrice 1s. monthly.\n\nSUITABLE FOR\n\nCHILDREN OF BOTH SEXES,\nCHILDREN OF ALL AGES, and\nCHILDREN OF ALL SIZES.\n\nEach Part contains 80 pp. of interesting matter, illustrated by about 50\nhigh-class Engravings.\n\n_The Half-yearly Volumes, price 8s. each, are handsomely bound in red\ncloth, gilt._\n\nLONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN,\nPATERNOSTER SQUARE, E.C.\n\n+--------------------Transcriber's Note-----------------------+\n|                                                             |\n| Minor punctuation and printing errors have been corrected.  |\n|                                                             |\n| Spelling and hyphenation corrections:                       |\n|                                                             |\n| Page xiii     Wuvksi replaced with Wuoksi                   |\n| Page xv       pronunced changed to pronounced               |\n| Page 191      alway changed to always                       |\n|                                                             |\n| 1 occurrence of sheepskin changed to sheep-skin             |\n| 1 occurrence of bearksins changed to bear-skins             |\n| 1 occurrence of bluebirds changed to blue-birds             |\n| 1 occurrence of sea-weed changed to seaweed                 |\n| 1 occurrence of sea-shore changed to seashore               |\n| 1 occurrence of sea-gull changed to seagull                 |\n| 1 occurrence of snowshoes changed to snow-shoe              |\n|                                                             |\n+-------------------------------------------------------------+","title":"Finnish Legends for English Children","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":45788}