Kalevala (Kirby 1907)/Runo 35
Runo XXXV.—Kullervo and his Sister
Argument
Kullervo attempts to do different kinds of work for his parents, but only succeeds in spoiling everything, so his father sends him to pay the land-dues (1-68). On his way home he meets his sister who was lost gathering berries, whom he drags into his sledge (69-188). Afterwards, when his sister learns who he is, she throws herself into a torrent, but Kullervo hurries home, relates his sister's terrible fate to his mother, and proposes to put an end to his own life (189-344). His mother dissuades him from suicide, and advises him to retire to some retreat where he may be able to recover from his remorse. But Kullervo resolves before all things to avenge himself on Untamo (345-372).
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
With the very bluest stockings,
After this continued living,
In the shelter of his parents,
But he comprehended nothing,
Nor attained to manly wisdom,
For his rearing had been crooked,
And the child was rocked all wrongly,
By perversest foster-father,
And a foolish foster-mother.10
Then to work the boy attempted,
Many things he tried his hand at,
And he went the fish to capture,
And to lay the largest drag-net,
And he spoke the words which follow,
Pondered as he grasped the oar:
“Shall I pull with all my efforts,
Row, exerting all my vigour;
Shall I row with common efforts,
Row no stronger than is needful?”20
And the steersman made him answer,
And he spoke the words which follow:
“Pull away with all your efforts,
Row, exerting all your vigour,
Row the boat in twain you cannot,
Neither break it into fragments.”
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
Pulled thereat with all his efforts,
Rowed, exerting all his vigour,
Rowed in twain the wooden rowlocks,30
Ribs of juniper he shattered,
And he smashed the boat of aspen.
Kalervo came forth to see it,
And he spoke the words which follow:
“No, you understand not rowing,
You have split the wooden rowlocks,
Ribs of juniper have shattered,
Shattered quite the boat of aspen.
Thresh the fish into the drag-net,
Perhaps you’ll thresh the water better.”40
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
Then went forth to thresh the water,
And as he the pole was lifting,
Uttered he the words which follow:
“Shall I thresh with all my efforts,
Putting forth my manly efforts;
Shall I thresh with common efforts,
As the threshing-pole is able?”
Answered thereupon the net-man,
“Would you call it proper threshing,50
If with all your strength you threshed not,
Putting forth your manly efforts?”
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
Threshed away with all his efforts,
Putting forth his manly efforts.
Into soup he churned the water,
Into tow he threshed the drag-net,
Into slime he crushed the fishes.
Kalervo came forth to see it,
And he spoke the words which follow:60
“No, you understand not threshing,
Into tow is threshed the drag-net,
And the floats to chaff are beaten,
And the meshes torn to fragments,
Therefore go and pay the taxes,
Therefore go and pay the land-dues.
Best it is for you to travel,
Learning wisdom on the journey.”
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
With the very bluest stockings,70
And with yellow hair the finest,
And with shoes of finest leather,
Went his way to pay the taxes,
And he went to pay the land-dues.
When he now had paid the taxes,
And had also paid the land-dues,
In his sledge he quickly bounded,
And upon the sledge he mounted,
And began to journey homeward,
And to travel to his country.80
And he drove, and rattled onward,
And he travelled on his journey,
Traversing the heath of Väino,
And his clearing made aforetime.
And by chance a maiden met him,
With her yellow hair all flowing,
There upon the heath of Väino,
On his clearing made aforetime.
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
Checked the sledge upon the instant,90
And began a conversation,
And began to talk and wheedle:
“Come into my sledge, O maiden,
Rest upon the furs within it.”
From her snowshoes said the maiden,
And she answered, as she skated,
“In thy sledge may Death now enter,
On thy furs be Sickness seated.”
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
With the very bluest stockings,100
With his whip then struck his courser,
With his beaded whip he lashed him.
Sprang the horse upon the journey,
Rocked the sledge, the road was traversed,
And he drove and rattled onward,
And he travelled on his journey,
On the lake’s extended surface,
And across the open water,
And by chance a maiden met him,
Walking on, with shoes of leather,110
O’er the lake’s extended surface,
And across the open water.
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
Checked his horse upon the instant,
And his mouth at once he opened,
And began to speak as follows:
“Come into my sledge, O fair one,
Pride of earth, and journey with me.”
But the maiden gave him answer,
And the well-shod maiden answered:120
“In thy sledge may Tuoni seek thee,
Manalainen journey with thee.”
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
With the very bluest stockings,
With the whip then struck his courser,
With his beaded whip he lashed him.
Sprang the horse upon his journey,
Rocked the sledge, the way was shortened,
And he rattled on his journey,
And he sped upon his pathway,130
Straight across the heaths of Pohja,
And the borders wide of Lapland.
And by chance a maiden met him,
Wearing a tin brooch, and singing,
Out upon the heaths of Pohja,
And the borders wide of Lapland.
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
Checked his horse upon the instant,
And his mouth at once he opened,
And began to speak as follows:140
“Come into my sledge, O maiden,
Underneath my rug, my dearest,
And you there shall eat my apples,
And shall crack my nuts in comfort.”
But the maiden made him answer,
And the tin-adorned one shouted:
“At your sledge I spit, O villain,
Even at your sledge, O scoundrel!
Underneath your rug is coldness,
And within your sledge is darkness.”150
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
With the very bluest stockings,
Dragged into his sledge the maiden,
And into the sledge he pulled her,
And upon the furs he laid her,
Underneath the rug he pushed her.
And the maiden spoke unto him,
Thus outspoke the tin-adorned one:
“From the sledge at once release me,
Leave the child in perfect freedom,160
That I hear of nothing evil,
Neither foul nor filthy language,
Or upon the ground I’ll throw me,
And will break the sledge to splinters,
And will smash your sledge to atoms,
Break the wretched sledge to pieces.”
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
With the very bluest stockings,
Opened then his hide-bound coffer,
Clanging raised the pictured cover,170
And he showed her all his silver,
Out he spread the choicest fabrics,
Stockings too, all gold-embroidered,
Girdles all adorned with silver.
Soon the fabrics turned her dizzy,
To a bride the money changed her,
And the silver it destroyed her,
And the shining gold deluded.
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
With the very bluest stockings,180
Thereupon the maiden flattered,
And he wheedled and caressed her,
With one hand the horse controlling,
On the maiden’s breast the other.
Then he sported with the maiden,
Wearied out the tin-adorned one,
’Neath the rug all copper-tinselled,
And upon the furs all spotted.
Then when Jumala brought morning,
On the second day thereafter,190
Then the damsel spoke unto him,
And she asked, and spoke as follows:
“Tell me now of your relations,
What the brave race that you spring from,
From a mighty race it seems me,
Offspring of a mighty father.”
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
Answered in the words which follow:
“No, my race is not a great one,
Not a great one, not a small one,200
I am just of middle station,
Kalervo’s unhappy offspring,
Stupid boy, and very foolish,
Worthless child, and good for nothing.
Tell me now about your people,
And the brave race that you spring from,
Perhaps from mighty race descended,
Offspring of a mighty father.”
And the girl made answer quickly,
And she spoke the words which follow:210
“No, my race is not a great one,
Not a great one, not a small one,
I am just of middle station,
Kalervo’s unhappy daughter,
Stupid girl, and very foolish,
Worthless child, and good for nothing.
“When I was a little infant,
Living with my tender mother,
To the wood I went for berries,
’Neath the mountain sought for raspberries.220
On the plains I gathered strawberries,
Underneath the mountain, raspberries,
Plucked by day, at night I rested,
Plucked for one day and a second,
And upon the third day likewise,
But the pathway home I found not,
In the woods the pathways led me,
And the footpath to the forest.
“There I stood, and burst out weeping,
Wept for one day and a second,230
And at length upon the third day,
Then I climbed a mighty mountain,
To the peak of all the highest.
On the peak I called and shouted,
And the woods made answer to me,
While the heaths re-echoed likewise:
‘Do not call, O girl so senseless,
Shout not, void of understanding!
There is no one who can hear you,
None at home to hear your shouting.’240
“Then upon the third and fourth days,
Lastly on the fifth and sixth days,
I to take my life attempted,
Tried to hurl me to destruction,
But by no means did I perish,
Nor could I, the wretched perish.
“Would that I, poor wretch, had perished,
Hapless one, had met destruction,
That the second year thereafter,
Or the third among the summers,250
I had shone forth as a grass-blade,
As a lovely flower existed,
On the ground a beauteous berry,
Even as a scarlet cranberry,
Then I had not heard these horrors,
Would not now have known these terrors.”
Soon as she had finished speaking,
And her speech had scarce completed,
Quickly from the sledge she darted,
And she rushed into the river,260
In the furious foaming cataract,
And amid the raging whirlpool,
There she found the death she sought for,
There at length did death o’ertake her,
Found in Tuonela a refuge,
In the waves she found compassion.
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
From his sledge at once descended,
And began to weep full loudly,
With a piteous lamentation.270
“Woe my day, O me unhappy,
Woe to me, and all my household,
For indeed my very sister,
I my mother’s child have outraged!
Woe my father, woe my mother,
Woe to you, my aged parents,
To what purpose have you reared me,
Reared me up to be so wretched!
Far more happy were my fortune,
Had I ne’er been born or nurtured,280
Never in the air been strengthened,
Never in this world had entered.
Wrongly I by death was treated,
Nor disease has acted wisely,
That they did not fall upon me,
And when two nights old destroy me.”
With his knife he loosed the collar,
From the sledge the chains he severed,
On the horse’s back he vaulted,
On the whitefront steed he galloped,290
But a little way he galloped,
But a little course had traversed,
When he reached his father’s dwelling,
Reached the grass-plot of his father.
In the yard he found his mother,
“O my mother who hast borne me,
O that thou, my dearest mother,
E’en as soon as thou hadst borne me,
In the bath-room smoke hadst laid me,
And the bath-house doors had bolted,300
That amid the smoke I smothered,
And when two nights old had perished,
Smothered me among the blankets,
With the curtain thou hadst choked me,
Thrust the cradle in the fire,
Pushed it in the burning embers.
“If the village folk had asked thee,
‘Why is in the room no cradle?
Wherefore have you locked the bath-house?’
Then might this have been the answer:310
‘In the fire I burned the cradle,
Where on hearth the fire is glowing,
While I made the malt in bath-house,
While the malt was fully sweetened.’”
Then his mother asked him quickly,
Asked him thus, the aged woman:
“O my son, what happened to thee,
What the dreadful news thou bringest?
Seems from Tuonela thou comest;
As from Manala thou comest.”320
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
Answered in the words which follow:
“Horrors now must be reported,
And most horrible misfortunes.
I have wronged my very sister,
And my mother’s child dishonoured.
“First I went and paid the taxes,
And I also paid the land-dues,
And by chance there came a maiden,
And I sported with the maiden,330
And she was my very sister,
And the child of mine own mother.
“Thereupon to death she cast her,
Plunged herself into destruction,
In the furious foaming cataract,
And amid the raging whirlpool.
But I cannot now determine
Not decide and not imagine
How myself to death should cast me,
I the hapless one, should slay me,340
In the mouths of wolves all howling,
In the throats of bears all growling,
In the whale’s vast belly perish,
Or between the teeth of lake-pike.”
But his mother made him answer:
“Do not go, my son, my dearest,
To the mouths of wolves all howling,
Nor to throats of bears all growling,
Neither to the whale’s vast belly,
Neither to the teeth of lake-pike.350
Large enough the Cape of Suomi,
Wide enough are Savo’s borders,
For a man to hide from evil,
And a criminal conceal him.
Hide thee there for five years, six years,
There for nine long years conceal thee,
Till a time of peace has reached thee,
And the years have calmed thine anguish.”
Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,
Answered in the words which follow:360
“Nay, I will not go in hiding,
Fly not forth, a wicked outcast,
To the mouth of Death I wander,
To the gate of Kalma’s courtyard,
To the place of furious fighting,
To the battle-field of heroes.
Upright still is standing Unto,
And the wicked man unfallen,
Unavenged my father’s sufferings,
Unavenged my mother’s tear-drops,370
Counting not my bitter sufferings,
Wrongs that I myself have suffered.”