In the _Bulletin of the Michigan Ornithological Club_ H. S. Warren says
that nature and nature-worship form the center of all the life of the
ancient Finns, and he quotes freely from Crawford's translation of "The
Kalevala," the national epic of Finland. He says that, "as the English
language is not strong in diminutives, and therefore lacks some of the
most effective means for the expression of affectionate, tender, and
familiar relations, in this respect all translations from the Finnish
into English must fall short of the original, the former being the
language of a people who live pre-eminently close to nature, and are at
home among the animals of the wilderness, beasts and birds, winds and
woods and waters, falling snows and flying sands." The metre is like
that of "Hiawatha," and is the characteristic verse of the Finns.
As to birds, the duck lays the mundane egg. "Then the water-mother
finds a place upon her own knees for the duck to rest, where it lays an
egg which rolls into the sea. There it breaks and is transformed into
the earth."
From one half the egg, the lower,
Grows the nether vault of Terra;
From the upper half remaining
Grows the upper vault of heaven;
From the white part come the moonbeams,
From the yellow part the sunshine.
* * * * *
Wainamoinen, wise and ancient,
Made himself an ax for chopping,
Then began to clear the forest,
Then began the trees to level,
Felled the trees of all descriptions,
Only left the birch tree standing,
For the birds a place of resting,
Where might sing the sweet-voiced cuckoo,
Sacred bird in sacred branches.
Down from heaven came the eagle,
Through the air he came a-flying,
That he might this thing consider--
And he spake the words that follow:
The eagle inquires of the ancient singer, Wainamoinen, why he has left
the birch tree only standing; and upon being assured it was left solely
for the use of the birds, he commends Wainamoinen's "hero-judgment."
There is a lesson in forestry for the modern day.
Wainamoinen, old and trusty,
Turned his face and looked about him;
Lo! there comes a springtime cuckoo,
Spying out the slender birch tree--
Rests upon it, sweetly singing:
"Wherefore is the slender birch tree
Left unharmed of all the forest?"
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
"Therefore I have left the birch tree,
Left the birch tree only growing,
Home for thee for joyous singing;
Call thou here, O sweet-voiced cuckoo,
Sing thou here from throat of velvet,
Sing thou here with voice of silver,
Sing the cuckoo's golden flute-notes;
Call at morning, call at evening,
Call within the hour of noontide,
For the better growth of forests,
For the ripening of the barley,
For the richness of the Northland,
For the joy of Kalevala."
Thus is the cuckoo looked upon as a prophetic bird, or perhaps a
mediator between the man and his gods.
The woodpecker is another sacred bird of "The Kalevala." In that epic
he is not directly named, perhaps, because he was so very sacred,
but the minor wood god, Nyyrikki, upon whom Lemminkainen calls in
his distress to help him track the elk, is, like his father, Tapio,
evidently a survival of Pikker, the woodpecker.
O Nyyrikki, mountain hero,
Son of Tapio of forests,
Hero with the scarlet headgear,
Notches make along the pathway,
Landmarks upward on the mountain,
That the hunter may not wander.