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THE KALEVALA is vaguely known by the general public as the national epic of Finland. It is a tale
of wild fancy, enticing absurdity and wonderfully primitive traits, actually magical and
cosmological throughout. It is all the more important in that the Ugro-Finnic tradition has
different roots from Indo-European ones. Until the 19th century the epic existed only in fragments
entrusted to oral transmission among peasants. From 1820 to 1849, Dr. Elias Lonnrot undertook to
collect them in writing, wandering from place to place in the most remote districts, living with the
peasantry, and putting together what he heard into some kind of tentative sequence. Some of the
most valuable songs were discovered in the regions of Archangel and Olonetz in the Far North,
which now belong again to Russia. The 1849 final edition of Lonnrot comprises 22,793 verses in
fifty runes or songs. A large amount of new material has been discovered since. The poem has
taken its name from Kaleva, a mysterious ancestral personage who appears nowhere in the tale.
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three sons: Vainamoinen, [n1 The name is Vainamoinen, due to vowel harmonization, but we had
pity on the typesetter.] "old and truthful," the master of magic song; Ilmarinen, the primeval smith,
the inventor of iron, who can forge more things than are found on land or sea; and the "beloved,"
or "lively," Lemminkainen, a sort of Arctic Don Juan. "Kullervo, the Hamlet-like one whose story
was told earlier, fair-haired Kullervo "with the bluest of blue stockings," is another "son of Kaleva,"
but his adventures seem to unfold separately, they tie up only at one point with Ilmarinen, and
It is time now to deal with the main line of events. The epic opens with a very poetical theory of
the origin of the World. The virgin daughter of the air, Ilmatar, descends to the surface of the
waters, where she remains floating for seven hundred years until Ukko, the Finnish Zeus, sends his
bird to her. The bird makes its nest on the knees of Ilmatar and lays in it seven eggs, out of which
the visible world comes. [7 colors in rainbow] But this world remains empty and sterile until
Vainamoinen is born of the virgin and the waters. Old since birth, he plays the role, as it were, of
"midwife" to nature by causing her to create animals and trees by his magic song. An inferior
magician from Lapland, Youkahainen, challenges him in song and is sung step by step into the
ground, until he rescues himself by promising Vainamoinen his sister; the lovely Aino. But the girl
will not have Vainamoinen, he looks too old. She wanders off in despair and finally comes to a
lake. She swims to a rock, seeking death; "when she stood upon the summit, on the stone of
many colors, in the waves it sank beneath her." Vainamoinen tries to fish for her, she swims into
his net as a salmon, mocks him for not recognizing her, and then escapes forever. Vainamoinen
decides to look for another bride, and embarks upon his quest. His goal is the country of Pohjola,
the "Nonh country," a misty land "cruel to heroes," strong in magic, vaguely identified with
Lapland. Events unfold as in a dream, with surrealistic irrelevance. The artlessness, the wayward
charm and the bright nonsense suggest Jack and the Beanstalk, but behind them appear the
fossil elements of a tale as old as the world--at least the world of man's consciousness--whose
meaning and thread were lost long ago. The pristine archaic themes remain standing like
monumental ruins.
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The main sequence is built around the forging and the conquest of a great mill, called the Sampo
(rune 10 deals with the forging, runes 39-42 with the stealing of the Sampo).
Comparetti's studies have shown that the Sampo adventure is a distinct unit (like Odysseus'
voyage to the underworld), "a mythic formation which has remained without any action that can
be narrated" and which was then fitted more or less coherently into the rest of the tradition. [n2 D.
Comparetti, The Traditional Poetry of the Finns (1898).]. Folk legend has lost its meaning, and
treats the Sampo as some vague magic dispenser of bounty, a kind of Cornucopia, but the
Vainamoinen, "sage and truthful," conjurer of highest standing, is cast upon the shore of Pohjola
much as Odysseus lands on Skyra after his shipwreck. He is received hospitably by Louhi, the
Mistress (also called the Whore) of Pohjola, who asks him to build for her the Sampo, without
explanation. He tells her that only Ilmarinen, the primeval smith, can do it, so she sends
Vainamoinen home on a ship to fetch him. Ilmarinen, who addresses his "brother" and boon
companion rather flippantly as a liar and a vain chatterer, is not interested in the prospect, so
Vainamoinen, ancient of days and wise among the wise, has recourse to an unworthy trick. He
lures the smith with a story of a tall pine, which, he says, is growing
Near where Osmo's field is bordered.
Ilmarinen does not believe him; they both go there, to the edge of Osmo's field,
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[n3 The magic spell, published in the Variants and translated by Comparetti, was sung by Ontrei in
1855.]
In this utterly unintended manner, Ilmarinen lands in Pohjola, and not even the dogs are barking,
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Ilmarinen agrees to the proposal, and looks around three days for a proper spot on which to erect
his smithy, "in the outer fields of Pohja." The next three days his servants keep working the
bellows.
Ilmarinen casts the boat back into the fire, and on the following day he gazes anew at the bottom
of the furnace,
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And a heifer then rose upward,
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Ilmarinen does not gain his reward, not yet. He returns without a bride. For a long while we hear
nothing at all about the Sampo. Other things happen: adventures, death, and resuscitation of
Lemminkainen, then Vainamoinen's adventures in the belly of the ogre. This last story deserves
telling. Vainamoinen set about building a boat, but when it came to putting in the prow and the
stern, he found he needed three words in his rune that he did not know, however much he
sought for them. In vain he looked on the heads of the swallows, on the necks of the swans, on
the backs of the geese, under the tongues of the reindeer. [n5 In the Eddic lay of Sigrdrifa, the
valkyria enumerates the places where can be found hugruna, i.e., the runes that give wisdom and
knowledge, among which are the following: the shield of the sun, the ear and hoof of his horses,
the wheel of Rognir's chariot, Sleipnir's teeth and Bragi's tongue, the beak of the eagle, the clutch
of the bear, the paw of the wolf, the nail of the Norns, the head of the bridge, etc. (Sigrdr. vs. 13-
17).] He found a number of words, but not those he needed. Then he thought of seeking them in
the realm of Death, Tuonela, but in vain. He escaped back to the world of the living only thanks to
potent magic. He was still missing his three runes. He was then told by a shepherd to search in
the mouth of Antero Vipunen, the giant ogre. The road, he was told, went over swords and
sharpened axes.
Ilmarinen made shoes, shirt and gloves of iron for him, but warned him that he would find the
great Vipunen dead. Nevertheless, the hero went. The giant lay underground, and trees grew over
his head. Vainamoinen found his way to the giant's mouth, and planted his iron staff in it. The
giant awoke and suddenly opened his huge mouth. Vainamoinen slipped into it and was
swallowed. As soon as he reached the enormous stomach, he thought of getting out. He built
himself a raft and floated on it up and down inside the giant. The giant felt tickled and told him
in many and no uncertain words where he might go, but he did not yield any runes. Then
Vainamoinen built a smithy and began to hammer his iron on an anvil, torturing the entrails of
Vipunen, who howled out magic songs to curse him away. But Vainamoinen said, thank you, he
was very comfortable and would not go unless he got the secret words. Then Vipunen at last
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Many days and nights he sang, and the sun and the moon and the waves of the sea and the
waterfalls stood still to hear him. Vainamoinen treasured them all and finally agreed to come out.
Vipunen opened his great jaws, and the hero issued forth to go and build his boat at last.
The story then switches abruptly to introduce Kullervo, his adventures, incest and suicide. When
Kullervo incidentally kills the wife that Ilmarinen had bought so dearly in Pohjola, the tale returns
again to Ilmarinen's plight. He forges for himself "Pandora," a woman of gold. Finding no pleasure
with her, he returns to Pohjola and asks for the second daughter of Louhi. He is refused. Ilmarinen
then captures the girl, but she is so spiteful and unfaithful that he changes her into a gull. Then
he visits Vainamoinen, who asks for news from Pohjola. Everything is fine there, says Ilmarinen,
thanks to the Sampo. They decide, therefore, to get hold of the Sampo, even against Louhi's will.
The two of them go by boat, although Ilmarinen is much more in favor of the land route, and
Lemrninkainen joins them. The boat gets stuck on the shoulder of a huge pike. Vainamoinen kills
the fish and constructs out of his jawbones (appendix #10) the Kantele, a harp which nobody can
play properly except Vainamoinen himself. There follows a completely Orphic chapter about
Vainamoinen's Kantele music, the whole world falling under its spell. Finally, they arrive at Pohjola,
and Louhi, as was to be expected, will not part with the Sampo, nor will she share it with the
heroes. Vainamoinen then plays the Kantele until all the people of Pohjola are plunged in sleep.
Then the brothers go about stealing the Sampo, which turns out to be a difficult task.
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The Sampo, then, is brought on board the Ship--just as Mysingr the pirate brought Grotte on
board his boat--and the heroes row away as fast as possible. Lemminkainen wants music--you can
row far better with it, he claims. Vainamoinen demurs, so Lempi's son sings quite by himself, with
Thus, pursuit begins; impediment after magic impediment is thrown across their path by Louhi,
wretched hostess of Pohjola but Vainamoinen overcomes them. He causes her warship to be
wrecked upon a cliff which he has conjured forth, but on that occasion his beloved Kantele, the
harp, sinks to the bottom of the sea. Finally, Louhi changes herself into a huge eagle which fills
the space between waves and clouds, and she snatches the Sampo away.
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Fragments of the colored cover are floating on the surface of the sea. Vainamoinen collects many
of them, but Louhi gets only one small piece; hence Lapland is poor, Suomi (Finland) well off and
fertile. Vainamoinen sows the fragments of Sampo, and trees came out of it:
Vainmnoinen constructs a new Kantele, of birchwood this time, and with the hairs of a young
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The grasping Louhi hides sun and moon in an iron mountain. Ilmarinen forges a substitute sun
and moon, but they will not shine properly. Eventually, Louhi sets free the luminaries, since she
has become afraid of the heroes; repeatedly she complains that her strength has left her with the
Sampo.
But time is running out, too, on the ancient Vainamoinen. All that is left for him to do is kindle a
new fire, and he does. Beginning far back, he had sung all there was to sing.
Now a Miraculous Child was born, heralding a new era. Vainamoinen knew that there was not
room for both of them in the world. If the child lived, he must go. [도깨비 – 김고은 같은 운명]
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Actually, there are more runes which tell of Vainamoinen's departure, as we learn from Haavio. He
plunges
Or, he sailed
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This is the Vortex that swallows all waters, the one that comes of the destruction of Grotte, which
must be dealt with later. Its Norse name is Hvergelmer; its most ancient name is Eridu. But that
It is difficult for moderns to grasp the quality of that ancient recitation, the laulo, of only a few
notes going on interminably with freely improvised verbal "cadenzas," yet with a core of formulas
rigidly preserved in the canonic form. It is not actually folk poetry in the accepted sense even
though its "copyists," its "printers" and its "publishers" are only peasants with an iron memory. [n6
M. Haavio, Vainamoinen, Eternal Sage (1952), p. 40 (quoting Setala).]. An old laulaja who recited
"You and I know that this is the real Truth about how the world began." He said this after
centuries of Christendom, never doubting, for the essence of the rune was an incantation, sung or
murmured (cf. the German raunen), which brings things back to their actual beginning, to the
"deep origins." To heal a wound from a sword, the laulaja had to sing the rune of the "origin of
iron," and one wrong word would have ruined its power. In this way fragments of ageless
antiquity remained embedded in living folk poetry. Those whom the Greeks called the "nameless
ones," typhlos aner, who had preserved the epic rhapsodies, reach out to meet us almost in our
days, in those humble villages of the Far North, their names of our own time: Arhippa Perttunen,
Out of the whole bewildering story, one thing is established beyond controversy, that the Sampo
is nothing but heaven itself. The fixed adjective kirjokansi, "many-coloured," did apply to the cover
of the heavenly vault in Finnish folk poetry, as Comparetti and others showed long ago. As for the
name Sampo, it resisted the efforts of linguists, until it was found that the word was derived from
the Sanskrit skambha, pillar, pole. [n7 See chapter VIII.]. Because it "grinds," Sampo is obviously a
mill. But the mill tree is also the world axis, so the inquiry returns to the Norse mill, and to the
complex of meanings involved in the difficult word ludr (with radial r) which
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stands for the timbers of the mill and reappears as loor, a wind instrument. This involves time
both ways: the setting and scansion of time. This does not present embarrassing ambiguity, but a
The Sampo is--or was--the dispenser of all good things and this is delightfully underscored by the
many variants which insist that because most of it fell into the sea, the sea is richer than the land.
Men were bound to compare the teeming life of Arctic waters with the barren land in the Far
North. But the Sampo did undergo a catastrophe as it was being moved, and that clinches the
parallel with Grotte. The astronomical idea underlying these strange representations has been
described in\ the Intermezzo, and will be taken up again in chapter IX.