Kullervo

“ The sword said, Why should I not like to feed on guilty flesh and drink wicked blood, I that feed on the flesh of the good [Pg 446] and drink the blood of the sinless? Kullervo set the sword hilt in the earth, and threw himself on the point. (Kalewala, übertragen von Schiefner, runes 35, 36.)
The dialogue between Kullervo and his mother is very like a passage in another Finnish rune, 'Werinen Pojka,' 'The Bloody Son,' Schröter, Finnische Runen, 124, ed. 1819; 150, ed. 1834. This last is a form of the ballad known in Scottish as 'Edward,' No 13, or of 'The Twa Brothers,' No 49. ”

“ Runo XXXIV.—Kullervo and his Parents Argument
Kullervo escapes from the homestead of Ilmarinen, and wanders sorrowfully through the forest, where he meets with the Old Woman of the Forest, who informs him that his father, mother, brothers and sisters are still living (1-128) . Following her directions he finds them on the borders of Lapland (129-188) . His mother tells him that she had long supposed him to be dead, and also that her elder daughter had been lost when gathering berries (189-246) . ”

“ Pictures hang from all the branches,
Carved and painted by Kullervo;
And the heroes, thick as acorns,
With their swords and spears adjusted
Fill the branches of the oak-tree,
Every leaf becomes a soldier. ”

“ Kullervo still wandered onwards,
Aimlessly he hurried forward,
For a day through thickest forest,
Through the timber-grounds of Hiisi, 40
And at evening, when it darkened,
Down upon the ground he threw him.
There the orphan boy was sitting,
And the friendless one reflected:
"Wherefore have I been created,
Who has made me, and has doomed me,
Thus 'neath moon and sun to wander
'Neath the open sky for ever?
"Others to their homes may journey,
And may travel to their dwellings, 50
But my home is in the forest,
And upon the heath my homestead. ”

“ They were all silent for a moment when the sad story of Kullervo's life and death was ended, and then Mimi said: 'I wish you'd tell us about nice men like Ilmarinen and Wainamoinen, Pappa Mikko; Kullervo was real hateful.'
'Well, then, I will tell you of what Ilmarinen did when he had lost his wife, the Rainbow-maiden,'—and the old man began. ”

“ 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) . ”

“ Untamo thereon reflected,
"Such a one is quite unfitted 230
To attend to little children,
Rock the babes with little fingers.
Now I know not where to send him,
Nor what work I ought to give him.
Perhaps he ought to clear the forest?"
So he went to clear the forest.
Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring
Answered in the words which follow:
"Now I first a man can deem me,
When my hands the axe are wielding. 240
I am handsomer to gaze on,
Far more noble than aforetime,
Five men's strength I feel within me
And I equal six in valour." ”

“ Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,
Set himself to do the threshing,
And the rye to chaff he pounded,
Into very chaff he threshed it.
Soon thereafter came the master,
Strolling forth to gaze around him, 350
See how Kalervo's son threshed it,
And how Kullervoinen pounded.
All the rye to chaff was pounded,
Into very chaff he'd threshed it.
Untamoinen then was angry.
"As a labourer he is useless.
Whatsoever work I give him,
All his work he spoils from malice. ”

“ Now as he neared the home of Untamo's tribe, he prayed to Ukko to endow his sword with magic powers, so that Untamo and all his people might be surely slain. And Ukko did as he had asked, and with the magic sword Kullervo slew, single-handed, all Untamo's people, and burned all their villages to ashes, leaving behind him only dead bodies and smoking ruins. ”

“ Runo XXXI.—Untamo and Kullervo Argument
Untamo wages war against his brother Kalervo, overthrows Kalervo and his army, sparing only a single pregnant woman of the whole clan. She is carried away to Untamo's people, and gives birth to her son Kullervo (1-82) . Kullervo resolves in his cradle to take revenge on Untamo, and Untamo attempts several times to put him to death, but without success (83-202) . When Kullervo grows up, he spoils all his work, and therefore Untamo sells him as a slave to Ilmarinen (203-374) . ”

“ Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,
Uttered then the words which follow:
"Ukko, thou, of Gods the highest,
Shoot me not as she has prayed thee, 280
Shoot the wife of Ilmarinen,
Do thou kill this wicked woman,
Ere from off this spot she riseth,
Or can move herself from off it."
Then did Ilmarinen's housewife,
Wife of that most skilful craftsman,
On the spot at once fall dying,
Fell, as falls the soot from kettle,
In the yard before her homestead,
In the narrow yard she perished. ”

“ Ujunoff ja ryssät sisälle.
Kullervo ja Jouto tuovat ulkoa vastaanrimpuilevaa Marvaa.
KULLERVO. Katsos, Orma! Vipuun kävi vanha varis.
MARVA. Mitä tahdotte minusta? Päästäkää pois näkemästä näitä päiviä pahoja. Liiaksi olen jo vanha teidän rääkätä, repiä!
JOUTO. Eihän rääkätä sinua, kun oot vaan avuksi tässä.
MARVA. Ei minusta mitään apua.
ORMA. Antaa toki vanhan olla.
KULLERVO (suuttuen) . Jo nyt on saatana tässä! Teist' on aina vain vastusta!
JOUTO. Liiaks istuu orja heissä. Aina vaan ovat kärttäneet isäntäinsä suosiota. Meitä nuorempia polettu takanapäin liiatenkin. ”

“ AS soon as the purchase was completed, Kullervo asked Ilmarinen and his wife to give him some work for the next day. So they decided to make him a shepherd. But the wife, once the Rainbow-maiden, did not like the new servant, so she baked him a cheat-loaf—a very thick loaf, half of barley, half of oatmeal, and with a great flint-stone in the centre, and around the flint-stone was melted butter. ”

“ For a man the most unskilful,
For a slave completely worthless.
Runo XXXII.—Kullervo and the Wife of Ilmarinen Argument
The wife of Ilmarinen makes Kullervo her herdsman and maliciously bakes him a stone in his lunch (1-32) . She then sends him out with the cattle, after using the usual prayers and charms for their protection from bears in the pastures (33-548) . ”

“ He returns home, and finds the whole country laid waste, and only his mother in hiding. Against her advice, he persuades his old comrade Tiera to join him in another expedition against Pohjola, but Louhi sends the Frost against them, and they are driven back in great distress.
Runos XXXI.-XXXVI. A chief named Untamo lays waste the territory of his brother Kalervo, and carries off his wife. She gives birth to Kullervo, who vows vengeance against Untamo in his cradle. Untamo brings Kullervo up as a slave, but as he spoils everything he touches, sells him to Ilmarinen. ”

“ Runo XXXIII.—The Death of Ilmarinen's Wife Argument
While Kullervo is in the pasture in the afternoon he tries to cut the cake with his knife which he completely spoils, and this goes to his heart the more because the knife was the only remembrance left to him of his family (1-98) . To revenge himself on the mistress, he drives the cattle into the marshes to be devoured by beasts of the forest, and gathers together a herd of wolves and bears, which he drives home in the evening (99-184) . When the mistress goes to milk them she is torn to pieces by the wild beasts (185-296) . ”

“ Esthonians call dwarfs "Ox-knee people"; i. e. people as high as an ox's knee.
137. Like Simple Simon.
337. It is obvious that some of the youthful exploits of Kwasind (slightly varied, after Longfellow's manner) are imitated from those of Kullervo. (Compare also Runo XXXV., 11-68.)
RUNO XXXII
24. The rye-bread, on which the Finnish peasants largely subsist, is described as baked in very hard round loaves, like quoits, which are strung on a pole. But Kullervo's cake seems to have been prepared to look nice on the outside. ”

“ The unmanly lamentations of the heroes over a fate that has not befallen them may remind us of Grimm's story of "Die kluge Else." It will also be noticed that the heroes are only concerned about their mothers; and Tiera has as little thought for his virgin bride as Lemminkainen has for Kyllikki.
RUNO XXXI
1. The tragedy of Kullervo is the favourite episode of the Kalevala in Finland, next to that of Aino. The preamble (lines 1-10) is the same as the opening of the Esthonian Kalevipoeg. ”

“ Sea-beasts are very rarely mentioned in the Kalevala, for nearly all aquatic animals referred to are lake- or river-fish. Here the allusion is probably to the story of Jonah.
RUNO XXXVI
80. Literally "the rest of his flesh." Having regard to the supposed powers of Finnish magicians, this passage is not to be taken merely as an impudent rejoinder, but as asserting powers which Kullervo actually claimed to be able to exert. ”

“ Met by friendly villagers and well quartered. These people need phone and a guard the same as at Verkne Palenga. Find that people here view the villages of Ostrov and Kuzomen with distrust. Kulikoff, a prominent leader in the Bolo Northern army, hails from one of these villages. Spent an hour with the village schoolmaster. Had a big audience of men and boys. Sgt. Young and interpreter came through from Pinega to untangle the sleigh situation. We find that it is again all set here for an early start with one hundred sleighs. A spoiled can of M. & V. makes headquarters party desperately sick. ”

“ This is Kullerwoinen's answer:
"It is best that thou shouldst perish,
Let destruction overtake thee,
There is ample room in Mana,
Room for all the dead in Kalma,
There the worthiest must slumber,
There must rest the good and evil."
Ilmarinen's wife made answer:
"Ukko, thou O God in heaven,
Span the strongest of thy cross-bows,
Test the weapon by thy wisdom,
Lay an arrow forged from copper,
On the cross-bow of thy forging ”

“ The sweet, fragrant air of the autumn countryside was filling her lungs, a sense of well-being pervaded her body in the exercise in which she delighted, and so the youthful heart of her had turned aside from the cares which lurked in the background, and sought only the image of the man who was already beginning to occupy so great a part of her life.
The Princess Vita was a well-known figure in the neighborhood. She was known as Madame Vladimir, who occupied Redwithy Farm, standing in a sleepy hollow nearly two miles outside Wednesford. ”

“ The church at Kulleby was no dear, old-fashioned Swedish church, with its low white stone walls and its high black roof. The bell had no quaintly-formed tower of its own outside and quite separate from the sacred edifice, like an ecclesiastical functionary whose own soul has never entered into the Holy of holies. No; the parish of Kulleby had its pride in a great new wooden sanctuary, with nothing about its exterior, from foundation to belfry, that might not be seen in any Protestant land whatever. ”

“ As soon as they came to the bark hut, Nikita Koltoma sprang out before them, took his iron staff of fifty poods, and began to wave it at them in different directions. In a little while he had killed the whole army, and of the great, mighty heroes he left but one alive. “Go,” said he, “to thy Tsarevna, Yelena the Beautiful, and tell her not to waste her army further. She cannot frighten us with armies. Now I have fought with you alone; what will happen to your kingdom when my comrades wake? We will not leave a stone upon a stone; we will scatter everything over the open field.” ”

“ It is a strong point that the very craft of General Kolfort itself has helped us. We have, as it were, a free hand for making our preparations. He is as anxious as we are that those Bulgarians who are opposed to the Prince, and would help me, but fear Russia, should be secured to us; and this has given us just the cover for our work that we needed. We shall triumph, Count, for the cause of truth is ours, and Bulgaria shall be free;” and her voice rang with earnestness. ”

“ The significance of his simple statement would no longer be denied. Vita caught her breath. Her swift, upward glance in his direction had something of the alarm which he desired to witness in it.
He removed his foot from the silken cushion and stood up.
"Princess," he went on, "I came to England with very stringent orders——"
"Who gives Frederick von Berger orders?" cried Vita impulsively. "Not even the Emperor. There is only one person who gives orders to Prince von Berger in Germany—himself. It is useless to deny it. All that you have done here—are doing—is of your own initiative." ”

“ They dreaded as unlucky and impious close touch with any one who had just been hanging from the gallows. But Kuengolt cried: "Let him share my bed. It is large enough for both of us."
And when everybody was laughing at this, her mother said pleasantly: "You are quite right, my little daughter." And looking closely at the boy she added: "From the very first moment I saw the poor little chap enter the door a strange foreboding crept over me, as though a good angel were coming who will yet bring us a blessing. That much is certain, according to my idea: he will not be of evil to us all!" ”