Kalevala (Kirby 1907)/Runo 1
KALEVALA
Runo I.—Birth of Väinämöinen
Argument
Prelude (1–102). The Virgin of the Air descends into the sea, where she is fertilized by the winds and waves and becomes the Water-Mother (103–176). A teal builds its nest on her knee, and lays eggs (177–212). The eggs fall from the nest and break, but the fragments form the earth, sky, sun, moon and clouds (213–244). The Water-Mother creates capes, bays, sea-shores, and the depths and shallows of the ocean (245–280). Väinämöinen is born from the Water-Mother, and is tossed about by the waves for a long time until he reaches the shore (281–344).
I am driven by my longing,
And my understanding urges
That I should commence my singing,
And begin my recitation.
I will sing the people's legends,
And the ballads of the nation.
To my mouth the words are flowing,
And the words are gently falling,
Quickly as my tongue can shape them,
And between my teeth emerging. 10
Dearest friend, and much-loved brother,
Best beloved of all companions,
Come and let us sing together,
Let us now begin our converse,
Since at length we meet together,
From two widely sundered regions.
Rarely can we meet together,
Rarely one can meet the other,
In these dismal Northern regions,
In the dreary land of Pohja. 20
Let us clasp our hands together,
Let us interlock our fingers;
Let us sing a cheerful measure,
Let us use our best endeavours,
While our dear ones hearken to us,
And our loved ones are instructed,
While the young are standing round us,
Of the rising generation,
Let them learn the words of magic,
And recall our songs and legends, 30
Of the belt of Väinämöinen,
Of the forge of Ilmarinen,
And of Kaukomieli’s sword-point,
And of Joukahainen’s crossbow:
Of the utmost bounds of Pohja,
And of Kalevala's wide heathlands.
These my father sang aforetime,
As he carved his hatchet’s handle,
And my mother taught me likewise,
As she turned around her spindle,
When upon the floor, an infant,
At her knees she saw me tumbling, 40
As a helpless child, milk-bearded,
As a babe with mouth all milky.
Tales about the Sampo failed not,
Nor the magic spells of Louhi.
Old at length became the Sampo;
Louhi vanished with her magic;
Vipunen while singing perished;
Lemminkainen in his follies. 50
There are many other legends;
Songs I learned of magic import;
Some beside the pathway gathered;
Others broken from the heather;
Others wrested from the bushes;
Others taken from the saplings,
Gathered from the springing verdure,
Or collected from the by-ways,
As I passed along as herd-boy,
As a child in cattle-pastures, 60
On the hillocks, rich in honey,
On the hills, for ever golden,
After Muurikki, the black one,
By the side of dappled Kimmo.
Then the Frost his songs recited,
And the rain its legends taught me;
Other songs the winds have wafted,
Or the ocean waves have drifted;
And their songs the birds have added,
And the magic spells the tree-tops.70
In a ball I bound them tightly;
And arranged them in a bundle;
On my little sledge I laid it,
On my sleigh I laid the bundle;
Home upon the sledge I brought it,
Then into the barn conveyed it;
In the storehouse loft I placed it,
In a little box of copper.
In the cold my song was resting,
Long remained in darkness hidden. 80
I must draw the songs from Coldness,
From the Frost must I withdraw them,
Bring my box into the chamber,
On the bench-end lay the casket,
Underneath this noble gable,
Underneath this roof of beauty.
Shall I ope my box of legends,
And my chest where lays are treasured?
Is the ball to be unravelled,
And the bundle’s knot unfastened?90
Then I’ll sing so grand a ballad,
That it wondrously shall echo,
While the rye-bread I am eating,
And the beer of barley drinking.
But though ale should not be brought me,
And though beer should not be offered,
I will sing, though dry my throttle,
Or will sing, with water only,
To enhance our evening’s pleasure,
Celebrate the daylight’s beauty,100
Or the beauty of the daybreak,
When another day is dawning.
I have often heard related,
And have heard the song recited,
How the nights closed ever lonely,
And the days were shining lonely.
Only born was Väinämöinen,
And revealed the bard immortal,
Sprung from the divine Creatrix,
Born of Ilmatar, his mother.110
Air’s young daughter was a virgin,
Fairest daughter of Creation.
Long did she abide a virgin,
All the long days of her girlhood,
In the Air’s own spacious mansions,
In those far extending regions.
Wearily the time passed ever,
And her life became a burden,
Dwelling evermore so lonely,
Always living as a maiden,120
In the Air’s own spacious mansions,
In those far-extending deserts.
After this the maid descending,
Sank upon the tossing billows,
On the open ocean’s surface,
On the wide expanse of water.
Then a storm arose in fury,
From the East a mighty tempest,
And the sea was wildly foaming,
And the waves dashed ever higher.130
Thus the tempest rocked the virgin,
And the billows drove the maiden,
O’er the ocean’s azure surface,
On the crest of foaming billows,
Till the wind that blew around her,
And the sea woke life within her.
Then she bore her heavy burden,
And the pain it brought upon her,
Seven long centuries together,
Nine times longer than a lifetime.140
Yet no child was fashioned from her,
And no offspring was perfected.
Thus she swam, the Water-Mother,
East she swam, and westward swam she,
Swam to north-west and to south-west,
And around in all directions,
In the sharpness of her torment,
In her body’s fearful anguish;
Yet no child was fashioned from her,
And no offspring was perfected.150
Then she fell to weeping gently,
And in words like these expressed her:
“O how wretched is my fortune,
Wandering thus, a child unhappy!
I have wandered far already,
And I dwell beneath the heaven,
By the tempest tossed for ever,
While the billows drive me onward,
O’er this wide expanse of water,
On the far-extending billows.160
“Better were it had I tarried,
Virgin in aërial regions,
Then I should not drift for ever,
As the Mother of the Waters.
Here my life is cold and dreary,
Every moment now is painful,
Ever tossing on the billows,
Ever floating on the water.
“Ukko, thou of Gods the highest,
Ruler of the whole of heaven,170
Hasten here, for thou art needed;
Hasten here at my entreaty.
Free the damsel from her burden,
And release her from her tortures.
Quickly haste, and yet more quickly,
Where I long for thee so sorely.”
Short the time that passed thereafter,
Scarce a moment had passed over,
Ere a beauteous teal came flying
Lightly hovering o’er the water,180
Seeking for a spot to rest in,
Searching for a home to dwell in.
Eastward flew she, westward flew she,
Flew to north-west and to southward,
But the place she sought she found not,
Not a spot, however barren,
Where her nest she could establish,
Or a resting-place could light on.
Then she hovered, slowly moving,
And she pondered and reflected,190
“If my nest in wind I ’stablish
Or should rest it on the billows,
Then the winds will overturn it,
Or the waves will drift it from me.”
Then the Mother of the Waters,
Water-Mother, maid aërial,
From the waves her knee uplifted,
Raised her shoulder from the billows,
That the teal her nest might ’stablish,
And might find a peaceful dwelling.200
Then the teal, the bird so beauteous,
Hovered slow, and gazed around her,
And she saw the knee uplifted
From the blue waves of the ocean,
And she thought she saw a hillock,
Freshly green with springing verdure.
There she flew, and hovered slowly,
Gently on the knee alighting,
And her nest she there established,
And she laid her eggs all golden,210
Six gold eggs she laid within it,
And a seventh she laid of iron.
O’er her eggs the teal sat brooding,
And the knee grew warm beneath her;
And she sat one day, a second,
Brooded also on the third day;
Then the Mother of the Waters,
Water-Mother, maid aërial,
Felt it hot, and felt it hotter,
And she felt her skin was heated,220
Till she thought her knee was burning,
And that all her veins were melting.
Then she jerked her knee with quickness,
And her limbs convulsive shaking,
Rolled the eggs into the water,
Down amid the waves of ocean,
And to splinters they were broken,
And to fragments they were shattered.
In the ooze they were not wasted,
Nor the fragments in the water,230
But a wondrous change came o’er them,
And the fragments all grew lovely.
From the cracked egg’s lower fragment,
Now the solid earth was fashioned,
From the cracked egg’s upper fragment,
Rose the lofty arch of heaven,
From the yolk, the upper portion,
Now became the sun’s bright lustre;
From the white, the upper portion,
Rose the moon that shines so brightly;240
Whatso in the egg was mottled,
Now became the stars in heaven,
Whatso in the egg was blackish,
In the air as cloudlets floated.
Now the time passed quickly over,
And the years rolled quickly onward,
In the new sun’s shining lustre,
In the new moon’s softer beaming.
Still the Water-Mother floated,
Water-Mother, maid aërial,250
Ever on the peaceful waters,
On the billows’ foamy surface,
With the moving waves before her,
And the heaven serene behind her.
When the ninth year had passed over,
And the summer tenth was passing,
From the sea her head she lifted,
And her forehead she uplifted,
And she then began Creation,
And she brought the world to order,260
On the open ocean’s surface,
On the far extending waters.
Wheresoe’er her hand she pointed,
There she formed the jutting headlands;
Wheresoe’er her feet she rested,
There she formed the caves for fishes;
When she dived beneath the water,
There she formed the depths of ocean;
When towards the land she turned her,
There the level shores extended,270
Where her feet to land extended,
Spots were formed for salmon-netting;
Where her head the land touched lightly,
There the curving bays extended.
Further from the land she floated,
And abode in open water,
And created rocks in ocean,
And the reefs that eyes behold not,
Where the ships are often shattered,
And the sailors’ lives are ended.280
Now the isles were formed already,
In the sea the rocks were planted;
Pillars of the sky established,
Lands and continents created;
Rocks engraved as though with figures,
And the hills were cleft with fissures.
Still unborn was Väinämöinen;
Still unborn, the bard immortal.
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Rested in his mother’s body290
For the space of thirty summers,
And the sum of thirty winters,
Ever on the placid waters,
And upon the foaming billows.
So he pondered and reflected
How he could continue living
In a resting-place so gloomy,
In a dwelling far too narrow,
Where he could not see the moonlight,
Neither could behold the sunlight.300
Then he spake the words which follow,
And expressed his thoughts in this wise:
“Aid me Moon, and Sun release me,
And the Great Bear lend his counsel,
Through the portal that I know not,
Through the unaccustomed passage.
From the little nest that holds me,
From a dwelling-place so narrow,
To the land conduct the roamer,
To the open air conduct me,310
To behold the moon in heaven,
And the splendour of the sunlight;
See the Great Bear’s stars above me,
And the shining stars in heaven.”
When the moon no freedom gave him,
Neither did the sun release him,
Then he wearied of existence,
And his life became a burden.
Thereupon he moved the portal,
With his finger, fourth in number,320
Opened quick the bony gateway,
With the toes upon his left foot,
With his nails beyond the threshold,
With his knees beyond the gateway.
Headlong in the water falling,
With his hands the waves repelling,
Thus the man remained in ocean,
And the hero on the billows.
In the sea five years he sojourned,
Waited five years, waited six years,330
Seven years also, even eight years,
On the surface of the ocean,
By a nameless promontory,
Near a barren, treeless country.
On the land his knees he planted,
And upon his arms he rested,
Rose that he might view the moonbeams,
And enjoy the pleasant sunlight,
See the Great Bear’s stars above him,
And the shining stars in heaven.340
Thus was ancient Väinämöinen,
He, the ever famous minstrel,
Born of the divine Creatrix,
Born of Ilmatar, his mother.