thou shalt be welcome in our homes, thou shalt live with us and eat our
salmon and other fish.'
Wainamoinen thanked her for her kindness, but added: 'One's own country
and table and home are the best and dearest. May the great god, Ukko,
the Creator, grant that I may once more reach my dear home and country.
It is better to drink clear water from a birchen cup in one's own home,
than in foreign lands to drink the richest liquors from the golden
beakers of strangers.'
Then Louhi asked him: 'What reward wilt thou give me, if I carry thee
back to thy beloved home, to the plains of Kalevala?'
Wainamoinen asked her what reward she would consider sufficient, whether
gold or silver treasures, but Louhi answered: 'I ask not for gold or
silver, O wise Wainamoinen, but canst thou forge for me the magic Sampo,
with its lid of many colours, the magic mill that grinds out flour on
one side, and salt from another side, and turns out money from the
third? I will give thee, too, my daughter, as a reward, to be thy wife
and to care for thy home.'
But Wainamoinen answered sadly: 'I cannot forge for thee the magic
Sampo, but take me to my country and I will send thee Ilmarinen, who
will make it for thee, and wed thy lovely daughter. Ilmarinen is a
wondrous smith; he it was who forged the heavens, and so perfectly did
he do it that we cannot see a single mark of the hammer on them.'
Louhi replied: 'Only to him who can forge the magic Sampo for me will I
give my daughter.' Then she harnessed up her sledge and put Wainamoinen
in it and made him all ready for his journey home. And as he started off
she spoke these words to him: 'Do not raise thy eyes to the heavens, do
not look upward while the day lasts, before the evening star has risen,
or a terrible misfortune will happen to you.'
Then Wainamoinen drove off, and his heart grew light as he left the
dismal Northland behind him on his way to Kalevala.
[Illustration]
THE RAINBOW-MAIDEN
The fair Rainbow-maiden, Louhi's daughter, sat upon a rainbow in the
heavens, and was clad in the most splendid dress of gold and silver. She
was busy weaving golden webs of wonderful beauty, using a shuttle of
gold and a silver weaving-comb.
As Wainamoinen came swiftly along the way which led from the dark and
dismal Northland to the plains of Kalevala, before he had gone far on
his way he heard in the sky above him the humming of the
Rainbow-maiden's loom. Without thinking of old Louhi's warning, he
looked up and beheld the maiden seated on the gorgeous rainbow weaving
beauteous cloths. No sooner had he seen the lovely maiden than he
stopped, and calling to her asked her to come to his sledge.
The Rainbow-maiden replied: 'Tell me what thou wishest of me.'
'Thou shalt come with me,' Wainamoinen replied, 'to bake me
honey-biscuit, to fill my cup with foaming beer, to sing beside my
table, to be a queen within my home in the land of Kalevala.'
But the maiden replied: 'Yesterday I went at twilight to the flowery
meadows. There I heard a thrush singing, and I asked him, "Tell me,
pretty song-bird, how shall I live most happily, as a maiden in my
father's home or as a wife by my husband's side?" And the bird sang in
reply, "The summer days are bright and warm, and so is a maiden's
freedom; the winter is cold and dark, and so are the lives of married
women. They are like dogs chained in a kennel, no favours are given to
wives."'
But Wainamoinen answered the maiden: 'The thrush sings only nonsense.
Maidens are treated like little children, but wives are like queens.
Come to my sledge, O maiden, for I am not the least among heroes, nor am
I ignorant of magic. Come, and I will make thee my wife and queen in
Kalevala.'
Then the Rainbow-maiden promised to be his wife if he would split a
golden hair with a knife that had no edge, and take a bird's egg from
the nest with a snare that no one could see. Wainamoinen did both these
things, and then begged her to come to his sledge, for he had done what
she asked.
But she set another task for him, telling him she would marry him if he
could peel a block of sandstone and cut a whip-handle from ice without
making a single splinter. And Wainamoinen did both these things, but
still the maiden refused to go until he had performed a third task. This
was to make from the splinters of her distaff a little ship, and to
launch it into the water without touching it.
Then Wainamoinen took the pieces of her distaff and set to work. He took
them to a mountain from which he got the iron for his work, and for
three days he laboured with hatchet and hammer. But on the evening of
the third day a wicked spirit, Lempo, caught his hatchet as he raised it
up, and turned it as it fell, so that it hit a rock and broke in
fragments, and one of the pieces flew into the magician's knee, and cut
it, so that the blood poured out.
Then Wainamoinen began to sing a magic incantation to stop the blood
from flowing, but his magic was powerless against the evil Lempo, and he
could not stop the blood. Then he gathered certain herbs with wonderful
powers, and put them on the wound, but still he could not heal it up,
for Lempo's spell was too powerful for his magic. So he got into his
sledge again, and drove off at a gallop to seek for help. Soon he came
to a place where the road branched off in three directions. He chose the
left-hand one, and galloped on till he reached a house. When he went to
the door he found only a boy and a baby inside, and when he had told
them what he wanted, the boy said, 'There is no one here that can help
thee, but take the middle road, and perhaps thou wilt find help.'
So off he galloped to where the roads branched off, and then along the
middle one to another house. There he found an old witch lying on the
floor, but she gave him the same answer that the boy had done, and sent
him to the right-hand road.
On this road he came to another cottage, where an old man with a long
gray beard was sitting by the fire. And when Wainamoinen told him of his
trouble, the old man replied, 'Greater things have been done by but
three of the magic words; water has been turned to land, and land to
water.' On hearing this answer Wainamoinen rose from his sledge and went
into the cottage, and seated himself there. And all this time his knee
was bleeding, so that the blood was enough to fill seven huge birchen
pots.
Then the old man asked him who he was, and bade him sing to him the
origin[4] of the iron that had wounded him so, and Wainamoinen related
the following story of how iron was first made:
[4] For they believed that a magic song that told the _origin_ of any
trouble would also cure it.
Long ago after there were air and water, fire was born, and after the
fire came iron. Ukko, the creator, rubbed his hands upon his left knee,
and there arose thence three lovely maidens, who were the mothers of
iron and steel. These three maidens walked forth on the clouds, and from
their bosoms ran the milk of iron, down unto the clouds and thence down
upon the earth. Ukko's eldest daughter cast black milk over the
river-beds, and the second cast white milk over the hills and mountains,
and the third red milk over the lakes and oceans; and from the black
milk grew the soft black iron-ore; from the white milk the
lighter-coloured ore; and from the red milk the brittle red iron-ore.
After the iron had lain in peace for a while, Fire came to visit his
brother Iron and tried to eat him up. Then Iron ran from him and took
refuge in the swamps and marshes, and that is how we now find iron-ore
hidden in the marshes.
Then was born the great smith, Ilmarinen, and the next morning after he
was born he built his smithy on a hill near the marshland. There he
found the hidden iron-ore, and carried it to his smithy and put it in
the furnace to be smelted. And Ilmarinen had not blown more than three
strokes of the bellows before the iron began to grow soft as dough. But
then Iron cried out to him, 'Take me from this furnace, Ilmarinen, save
me from this cruel torture!' for the heat of the fire had grown
unbearable.
'Thou art not hurt, but only a little frightened,' Ilmarinen replied;
'but I will take thee out, and thou shalt be a great warrior and slay
many heroes.'
But Iron swore by the hammer and anvil, 'I will injure trees and
mountains, but I'll never kill the heroes. I will be men's servant and
their tool, but will not serve for weapons.'
So Ilmarinen put the iron on his anvil, and made from it many fine
things and tools of every kind. But he could not harden the iron into
steel, though he pondered over it for a long time. He made a lye from
birch-ashes and water to harden the iron in, but it was all in vain.
Just then a little bee came flying up, and Ilmarinen begged him to bring
honey from all the flowers in the meadows, that he might put it in the
water and so harden the iron to steel. But a hornet, one of the servants
of the evil spirit Lempo, was sitting on the roof and overheard
Ilmarinen's words. And the hornet flew off and collected all the evil
charms he could find--the hissing of serpents, the venom of adders, the
poison of spiders, the stings of every insect--and brought them to
Ilmarinen. He thought that the bee had come and brought him honey from
the meadows, and so mixed all these poisons with the water in which he
was to plunge the iron. And when he thrust the iron into the poisoned
water it was turned to hard steel, but the poisons made it forget its
oath and grow hard-hearted, and it began to wound men and cause their
blood to flow in streams. This was the origin of steel and iron.
When Wainamoinen had finished, the old man rose from the hearth and
began an incantation to make the wound close up. First he cursed Iron
that it had become so wicked, and then he bade the blood cease to flow
by the power of his magic. And as he went on he prayed to great Ukko
that if this magic incantation should not prove sufficient, Ukko himself
would come and stop the wound.
By the time he had finished his words of magic the blood ceased flowing
from the wound. Then the old man sent his son to make a healing salve
out of herbs, to take away the soreness from Wainamoinen's knee.
First the youth made a salve from oak-bark and young shoots, and many
sorts of healing grasses. Three days and three nights he steeped them in
a copper kettle, but when he had finished the salve would not do. Then
he added still other healing herbs, and steeped it for three days more,
and at last it was ready. First he tried it on a birch-tree that had
been broken down by wicked Lempo. He rubbed the salve on the broken
branches and said: 'With this salve I anoint thee, recover, O
birch-tree, and grow more beautiful than ever!'
And the tree grew together and became more beautiful and strong than
ever before. Then he tried the salve on broken granite boulders and on
fissures in the mountains, and it was so powerful that it closed them
all together as if they had never existed. After this he hurried home
and gave the magic salve to his father, and told him what he had done
with it.
The old man anointed Wainamoinen's knee with it, saying: 'Do not rely on
thine own virtue or power, but in thy creator's strength; do not speak
with thine own wisdom, but with great Ukko's. Whatever in thee is good
comes from Ukko.'
No sooner had the old man put on the salve and said these words, than
Wainamoinen was seized with a terrible pain, and lay rolling and
writhing on the floor in agony. But the old man bandaged up his knee
with a silken bandage, and prayed to Ukko to come to his assistance.
And suddenly the pain left Wainamoinen and his knee became as strong
and well as ever. Then he raised his eyes in gratitude to heaven and
prayed thus to Ukko: 'Praise to thee, my Creator, for the aid that thou
hast given me. For thou hast banished all my pain and trouble. O all ye
people of Kalevala, both those now living and those to come, boast not
of the work that ye have done but give to God the praise, for the great
Ukko alone can make all things perfect, Ukko is the one master!'
* * * * *
There was a moment's pause, and then little Mimi said that she was so
glad Wainamoinen was well again, and asked Father Mikko to tell them
what happened to him next. But the old man answered that he must have a
_little_ time to breathe at least. So he filled his pipe again and
lighted it, and Erik brought up some more beer, and they sat and smoked
and drank beer and chatted for a while.
Then, when he felt rested once more, Father Mikko obeyed Mimi's urgent
request and began again to tell them how Wainamoinen got home, and what
happened afterwards.
[Illustration]
ILMARINEN FORGES THE SAMPO
No sooner was Wainamoinen cured of his wound than he put his sledge in
order and drove off at lightning speed towards Kalevala. For three days
he journeyed over hills and valleys, over marshes and meadows, and on
the evening of the third day he reached the land of Kalevala once again.
There, on the border line he halted, and began a magic song. And as he
sang a fir-tree began to grow from the earth, and kept on growing until
its top had grown up above the clouds and reached to the stars. When the
tree had finished growing, Wainamoinen sang another magic song, so that
the moon was caught fast in the tree's branches and obliged to shine
there until Wainamoinen should reverse his spell. And then by another
spell he made the stars of the Great Bear fast in the tree-top, and
then jumped into his sledge and drove on again to his home, with his
cap set awry on his head, mourning because he had promised to send
Ilmarinen back to the Northland, to forge the magic Sampo as his ransom.
As he drove on he came to Ilmarinen's smithy, and he stopped and went in
to him. Ilmarinen welcomed him and asked where he had been so long, and
what had happened to him.
Then Wainamoinen told him of his journey to the Northland, and all the
dangers he had gone through, and he added: 'In a village there I saw a
maiden, who is the fairest in all the Northland. All there sing her
praises, for her forehead shines like the rainbow and her face is fair
as the golden moonlight. She is more beautiful than the sun and all the
stars together, but she will not marry any suitor. But do thou go, dear
Ilmarinen, and see her wondrous beauty; forge the magic Sampo for her
mother and then thou shalt win this lovely maiden to be thy wife.'
But Ilmarinen replied: 'O cunning Wainamoinen, I know that thou hast
promised me as a ransom for thyself. But I will never go to that gloomy
country, nor do I care for thy beautiful maiden; I will not go for all
the maids in Pohjola.'
Wainamoinen answered: 'But I can tell thee of still greater wonders,
for I have seen a giant fir-tree growing on the border of our own
country; its top is higher than the clouds, and in its branches shine
the moon and the Great Bear.'
'I will not believe thy wonderful story,' replied Ilmarinen, 'until I
see the tree with my own eyes and the moon and stars shining in it.'
'Come with me,' said Wainamoinen, 'and I will show thee that I speak the
truth.' So off they set to see the wondrous tree. When they had come to
it Wainamoinen asked Ilmarinen to climb the tree and to bring down the
moon and stars, and he at once began to climb up towards them.
But, while he was climbing, the fir-tree spoke to him, saying: 'Foolish
hero, why hast thou so little knowledge as to try to steal the moon from
my branches?' No sooner had the tree said these words to Ilmarinen, than
Wainamoinen sang a magic spell, calling up a great storm-wind, and
saying to it: 'O storm-wind, take Ilmarinen and carry him in thy airy
vessel to the dark and dismal Northland.'
And the storm-wind came and heaped up the clouds so that they formed a
boat, and seizing Ilmarinen from the tree it placed him in the clouds
and rushed off to the north, carrying clouds and all with it. On and on
he sailed, rising higher than the moon, tossed about by the wind, until
at last he came to the Northland and the storm-wind set him down in
Louhi's courtyard.
Old toothless Louhi saw him as he alighted, and asked him: 'Who art thou
that comest through the air, riding on the storm-wind? Hast thou ever
met the great smith Ilmarinen, for I have long been waiting for him to
come and forge the magic Sampo for me.'
'I do indeed know him well,' he replied, 'for I myself am Ilmarinen.'
At these words Louhi hurried into the house and told her youngest
daughter to dress herself in all her most splendid clothes and
ornaments, for Ilmarinen was come to make the Sampo for them. So the
maiden chose her loveliest silken dresses, and placed a circlet of
copper round her brow, a golden girdle round her waist, and pearls about
her neck, and in her hair she twisted threads of gold and silver. When
she was dressed she looked, with her rosy red cheeks and bright
sparkling eyes, more lovely than any other maiden in all the Northland,
and then she hurried to the hall to meet Ilmarinen.
Louhi went to Ilmarinen and led him into the house, where there was a
feast spread ready for him. She gave him the best seat at the table, and
the choicest viands to eat, and gave him everything he wished for. Then
she asked him if he would forge the Sampo for her, and promised him, if
he would, her fairest daughter as his wife.
Ilmarinen was charmed with her daughter's beauty, and he promised to do
what she asked. But when he went to look for a place to work in, he
could find no place, and not even so much as a pair of bellows to blow
his fire with. Still he was not discouraged, but for three days he
wandered about, looking for a place to build a workshop. On the evening
of the third day he saw a huge rock that was suited for his purpose, and
there he began to build. The first day he built the chimney and started
a fire; the second day he made his bellows and put them in place; the
third day he finished his furnace, and had all ready to begin his work.
Then Ilmarinen made a magic mixture of certain metals and put them in
the bottom of the furnace. And he hired some of Louhi's men to work the
bellows and keep putting fuel on the fire. Three long summer days the
workmen blew the bellows, until at length the base rock began to blossom
in flames from the magic heat.
On the evening of the first day Ilmarinen bent over the furnace and took
out a magic bow. It gleamed like the moon, had a shaft of copper and
tips of silver, and was the most wonderful bow that had ever been made.
But it would not rest satisfied unless it killed a warrior every day,
and two on feast-days. So Ilmarinen broke it into pieces and threw them
back into the furnace, and tried again to forge the Sampo.
On the evening of the second day he looked into the furnace and drew
forth a magic vessel. It was all purple, save the ribs that were of gold
and the vase of copper, and it was the most beautiful vessel that ever
had been made. But wherever it went it always led men into quarrels and
fights, so Ilmarinen broke it into pieces and threw it back into the
furnace.
On the evening of the third day he took out of the furnace a magic
heifer, with horns of gold and the most beautifully-shaped head. But she
was ill-tempered and would not stay at home, but rushed through the
forest and swamps and wasted all her milk on the ground. So Ilmarinen
cut the magic heifer in pieces and threw them back into the furnace.
And on the fourth evening he took out a wonderful plough, the
ploughshare of gold and the handles of silver and the beam of copper.
But it ploughed up fields of barley and the richest meadows, so
Ilmarinen threw it back into the furnace.
Then he drove away all his workmen, and by his magic called up the
storm-winds to blow his bellows. They came from the North and South and
East and West, and they blew one day and then another and then a third,
until the fire leapt out through the windows, the sparks flew from the
door, and the smoke rose up and mingled with the clouds. And on the
third evening Ilmarinen looked into the furnace and beheld the magic
Sampo growing there. Quickly he took it out and placed it on his anvil,
and taking a huge hammer the wonderful smith forged the luck-bringing
Sampo. From one side it grinds out flour, and from the other salt, and
from the third it coins out money. And the lid is all the colours of the
rainbow, and as it rocks back and forth it grinds one measure for the
day, and one for the market and one for the storehouse.
Then old Louhi joyfully took the luck-bringing Sampo and hid it in the
hills of Lapland. She bound it with nine great locks, and by her
witchcraft made three roots grow all around it, two deep beneath the
mountains and one beneath the seashore.
And when he had finished the Sampo, Ilmarinen came to the lovely
daughter of Louhi and asked her if she were ready now to be his wife.
But she replied: 'If I should go with thee, and leave the Northland, all
the birds would cease to sing. No, never while I live will I give up my
maiden freedom, lest all the birds should leave the forest and the
mermaids leave the waters.'
So Ilmarinen had made the Sampo all in vain, and he was now far from
home and had no way of returning. But Louhi came to him and asked him
why he was grieving, and when she learned his trouble, and that he now
wished to return to his own home, she provided him with a boat of
copper. And when he had set sail she sent the north wind to carry him on
his way, and on the evening of the third day he reached his home.
There Wainamoinen met him and asked if he had forged the magic Sampo.
'Yes,' replied Ilmarinen, 'I have forged the Sampo, with its lid of many
colours. Louhi has the wondrous Sampo, but I have lost the beauteous
maiden.'
* * * * *
'Ah!' said little Mimi, 'old Louhi's daughter was just as mean as could
be, and of course she didn't keep her promise, because Lapps never can
be good people.'
'Don't be too hard on the poor Lapps, my dear,' said Father Mikko, 'for
you see this happened a great many hundreds of years ago, and the whole
world has grown better since then. But now we will leave Ilmarinen and
Wainamoinen for a while, and I will tell you about the reckless
Lemminkainen and his adventures.'
So the old man began as follows:
[Illustration]
LEMMINKAINEN AND KYLLIKKI
Long, long ago a son was born to Lempo, and he was named Lemminkainen,
but some call him Ahti. He grew up amongst the islands and fed upon the
salmon until he became a mighty man, handsome to look at and skilled in
magic. But he was not as good as he was handsome--he had a wicked heart,
and was more famous for his dancing than for great deeds.
Now at the time my story begins, there lived in the Northland a
beautiful maiden named Kyllikki. She was so lovely that the Sun had
begged her to marry his son and come and live with them. But she
refused, and when the Moon came and besought her to marry her son, and
the Evening Star sought her for his son, she refused them both. And
after that came suitors from all the countries round about, but the
lovely Kyllikki would not marry one of them.
When Lemminkainen heard of this, he resolved that he would win her
himself. But his aged mother tried to dissuade him, telling him that the
maiden was of a higher family than his own, that all the Northland women
would laugh at him, and then if he should try to punish them for their
laughter, that the warriors of the Northland would fall on him and kill
him. But all this did not make him change his mind, and he started off
for the distant Northland.
When he came near to Kyllikki's home, all the women and maidens that saw
him began to laugh at him because he looked so poor, and yet dared to
try to win the fair Kyllikki's hand. When he heard them laughing, it
made him so angry that he drove on without paying any attention to how
he was driving, and when he came to the courtyard his sledge hit against
the gate-post and broke to pieces, and threw him out into the snow.
He rose up angrier than ever, but all those around only laughed the
harder at him, and made all manner of fun of him. Then they offered him
a place as a shepherd on the mountains. So Ahti became a shepherd, and
spent all the days on the hills, but in the evenings he went to their
dances, and when he had shown them what a skilful dancer he was, he
soon became a great favourite with all the women, and they began to
praise him instead of laughing at him.
But fair Kyllikki alone would have nothing to do with him--would not
even look at him in spite of all his endeavours to win her. At last she
was tired out with his attentions, and told him that he had better
return home, for she did not like him, and that so long as he stayed
there she would not even look at him.