E-text prepared by R. Cedron, V. L. Simpson,
and the
Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
()
EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS
TRANSLATED FROM THE FINNISH
BY W. F. KIRBY, F.L.S., F.E.S.
IN 2 VOLS. VOL. 1
KALEVALA
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. INC.
Made in Great Britain
at The Temple Press Letchworth
and decorated by Eric Ravilious
for
J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
Aldine House Bedford St. London
First Published in this Edition 1907
Reprinted 1914, 1923, 1936
INTRODUCTION
The Kalevala, or the Land of Heroes, as the word may be freelyrendered, is the national epic of Finland, and as that country and itsliterature are still comparatively little known to English readers, somepreliminary explanations are here necessary.
On reference to a map of Europe, it will be seen that the north-westernportion of the Russian Empire forms almost a peninsula, surrounded,except on the Norwegian and Swedish frontiers, by two great arms of theBaltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland; the two greatlakes, Ladoga and Onega; the White Sea, and the Arctic Ocean. In thenorth of this peninsula is Lapland, and in the south, Finland.
The modern history of Finland begins with the year 1157, when thecountry was conquered from the original inhabitants by the Swedes, andChristianity was introduced. Later on, the Finns became Lutherans, andare a pious, industrious, and law-abiding people, the upper classesbeing highly educated.
During the wars between Sweden and Russia, under Peter the Great and hissuccessors, much Finnish territory was wrested from Sweden, and St.Petersburg itself stands on what was formerly Finnish territory. Whenwhat was left of Finland was finally absorbed by Russia in 1809, specialprivileges were granted by Alexander I. to the Finns, which hissuccessors confirmed, and which are highly valued by the people.
The upper classes speak Swedish and Finnish; and the lower classeschiefly Finnish. Finnish is upheld by many Finns from patriotic motives,and there is a considerable modern literature in both languages.Translations of most standard works by English and other authors arepublished in Finnish.
The Finns call their country Suomi or Marshland; and it is [Pg. viii]oftenspoken of as the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. The language they speakbelongs to a group called Finnish-Ugrian, or Altaic, and is allied toLappish and Esthonian, and more distantly to Turkish and Hungarian,There are only twenty-one letters in the alphabet; the letter J ispronounced like Y (as a consonant), and Y almost as a short I. The firstsyllable of every word is accented. This renders it difficult toaccommodate such words as Kālĕvăiā to the metre; but Ihave tried to do my best.
The Finlanders are very fond of old ballads, of which a great numberhave been collected, especially by Elias Lönnrot, to whom it occurred toarrange a selection into a connected poem, to which he gave the name ofKalevala. This he first published in 1835, in two small volumescontai