# Kalevala (Kirby 1907)/Notes 1

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NOTES TO RUNOS I—XXV
(These are by the translator, when not otherwise stated. K. K. indicates Prof. Kaarle Krohn, and A. M. Madame Aino Malmberg. For proper names, refer to the Glossary at the end of Vol. II.)
RUNO I
11. Kulta, “golden,” here rendered “dearest,” is a term constantly applied in the Kalevala to anything dear or precious.
20. “Pohja, the North, or Pohjola, the North Land, is chiefly used for the dark North, where the sun is hidden. Poetically used for a homestead in the Kalevala. Occasionally it is used as synonymous with Lapland.” (K. K.)
21. When singing to the accompaniment of a harp, two Finns clasp their hands together, and sway backwards and forwards, in the manner described in the text. Compare Acerbi’s Travels to the North Cape, I., chaps. xx. and xxiii., and the illustration opposite his Vol. I., p. 226.
61. Probably the honey of humble-bees (Bombus) is here meant, or the expression may be merely figurative.
63, 64. The metre allows the translation of the names of the cows to be inserted here.
110. Ilmatar, the Daughter of the Air;—tar is the usual feminine suffix in Finnish, and is generally to be understood to mean “daughter of ——.” In the following passages we have the combined Finnish version of the widespread cosmogonical myths of the Divine Spirit brooding over the waters of Chaos; and the Mundane Egg. In the First Recension of the Kalevala, however, and in many Finnish ballads, an eagle is said to have built her nest on the knees of Väinämöinen after he was thrown into the sea by the Laplander, and the Creation-Myth is thus transferred to him.
229-244. In the Scandinavian Mythology the world was created in a similar manner by Othin and his brothers from the body of the giant Ymir.
289. Vaka vanha Väinämöinen—these are the usual epithets applied to Väinämöinen in the Kalevala. “Vanha” means old; “vaka” is variously interpreted: I have used “steadfast” by Prof. Krohn’s advice, though I think “lusty” might be a better rendering.
320. The ring-finger is usually called the “nameless finger” in Finnish.
RUNO II
27. The Bird Cherry (Prunus Padus).
29. The Mountain Ash, or Rowan Tree, is a sacred tree in Finland, as in Scotland.
​83. The Great Oak-tree is a favourite subject in Finnish and Esthonian ballads.
117. Finnish and Esthonian water-heroes are sometimes described as entirely composed of copper.
211. Compare the account of the breaking up of the Sampo, and the dispersal of its fragments, in Runo XLIII.
245. The summer ermine is the stoat, which turns white in winter in the North, when it becomes the ermine. The squirrel also turns grey in the North in winter.
376. The cuckoo is regarded as a bird of good omen.
RUNO III
15. We here find Väinämöinen, the primeval minstrel and culture-hero, the first-born of mortals, living in an already populated world. There seems to be a similar discrepancy in Gen. iv. 14-17.
35. Women were held in great respect in heroic times in most Northern countries.
58. “I will bewitch him who tries to bewitch me.” (K. K.)
72. A gold-adorned, or perhaps merely handsome, sledge.
154. Probably another epithet for the seal.
156. The powan, or fresh-water herring (Coregonus), of which there are several marine and fresh-water species. They are chiefly lake-fish of the Northern Hemisphere, and in the British Islands are better known in Scotland and Ireland, and in the North of England, than in the South.
168. The word used here may also mean the elk or ox.
230. The Arch of Heaven in the Kalevala means the rainbow.
231, 232. The Sun and Moon are male deities in Finnish, with sons and daughters.
233. The constellation of the Great Bear.
273. Most of the heroes of the Kalevala, except Kullervo, have black hair, and the heroines, except the wife of Ilmarinen, golden hair.
411, 412. A common ransom in Finnish and Esthonian stories.
459. The episode of Aino is a great favourite in Finland, and the name is in common use. The story often furnishes material to poets, sculptors, etc.
533. Different stories are told of the origin of both Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen, and they are often called brothers.
RUNO IV
4. Bath-whisks are used to heighten the circulation after bathing. “The leaves are left on the stems. The bath-whisks for the winter are all made early in the summer, when the leaves are softest. Of course they become quite dry, but before using, they are steeped in hot water till they become soft and fragrant.” (A. M.)
75. “The store-houses where the peasant girls keep their clothes and ​ornaments are sometimes very pretty, and the girls always sleep there in summer. There are other store-houses for food.” (A. M.)
121. According to Speke, Central African women are compelled to drink large quantities of milk, to make them inordinately fat, which is considered a great beauty.
206. Fuligala glacialis.
295. Prof. Krohn thinks the sea and not a lake is here intended.
308. This passage is hardly intelligible. “I have heard some people suggest that Aino perhaps took a birch branch to be used as a bath-whisk.” (A. M.)
377. There are many popular tales in Finnish relating to animals, especially the bear, wolf, and fox, but this is the only illustration of the true “beast-epos” in the Kalevala.
413. “The sauna, or bath-house, is always a separate building; and there Finnish people take extremely hot baths almost every evening.” (A. M.) It is also used for confinements.
RUNO V
220. Here a human mother, rather than Ilmatar, seems to be ascribed to Väinämöinen. Visits to parents’ graves for advice and assistance are common in Scandinavian and Esthonian literature. Commentators have also quoted the story of Achilles and Thetis, but this is hardly a parallel case.
RUNO VI
120. This passage is again inconsistent with the legend of Väinämöinen being the son of Ilmatar.
RUNO VII
19. The word used here is “poika,” which literally means a boy, or a son.
51, 52. The original admirably expresses the hovering motion of the bird:
Lenteleikse, liiteleikse, Katseleikse, käänteleikse.
142. In the original “the song of a cock's child.”
177, 178. Weeping appears no more disgraceful to the heroes of the Kalevala than to those of the Iliad. Still, Väinämöinen not unfrequently plays a very undignified part when in difficulties.
241. Louhi recognized him, though he would not mention his name.
286. “Virsu is a shoe made of birch bark.” (A.M.)
311. It appears that the magic mill called a Sampo could only be forged by a competent smith from materials which Louhi alone possessed, and which, perhaps, she could not again procure. Otherwise ​Ilmarinen could have forged another for himself, and it would have been unnecessary for the heroes to steal it. The chain forged by the dwarfs, according to the Prose Edda, for binding the wolf Fenrir, was also composed of materials which could not again be procured. “It was fashioned out of six things; to wit, the noise made by the footfall of a cat, the beards of women, the roots of stones, the sinews of bears, the breath of fish, and the spittle of birds.”
RUNO VIII
3, 4. The daughter of Louhi is never mentioned again in connection with the rainbow; and it is quite incorrect to call her the Maiden of the Rainbow, as some writers have done, for no such title is ever applied to her in the poem.
35. There are so many instances of maidens being carried off, or enticed into sledges, in the Kalevala, that it seems almost to have been a recognized legal form of marriage by capture.
57. Finnish magicians profess to understand the language of birds; but the passage in the text is probably intended only in jest.
152. In the Icelandic saga of Grettir, the hero mortally wounds himself in the leg while trying to chop up a piece of driftwood on which a witch had laid her curse.
179. The Finns supposed that if the origin of any hostile agent was known, and could be recited to it, its power for evil was at an end. In Denmark, the naming of any person or thing was an evil omen, and liable to bring about its destruction.
217, 218. Finnish hamlets are sometimes built on a hillside in the manner described.
RUNO IX
35, 36. Here we seem to have an allusion to the first chapter of Genesis.
44. The same epithet, Luonnotar, is sometimes applied to Ilmatar, and thus Väinämöinen might literally be called the brother of Iron.
111, 112. Pallas Athene sprang armed from the brain of Zeus; Kama, in India, the son of the Sun, was born with armour and earrings; and Mexitli in Mexico was born with a spear in his hand.
231. Hornets often build their nests under the eaves of houses.
242. Both frogs and toads exude a more or less poisonous secretion from the skin.
433. Honeydew seems to be meant here.
525, 526. An imaginary mountain to which the sorcerers professed to be able to banish pain and sickness.
RUNO X
306. Compare the account of the forging of the Gold and Silver Bride in Runo XXXVII.
​311. “Ilmarinen first employs ordinary servants, and then calls the winds to his assistance.” (K. K.)
331. In the Icelandic sagas, we read of the sword Tyrfing, forged by dwarfs, which, if ever drawn, could not again be sheathed till it had slain at least one victim.
332. Literally, “on best days.”
414. In the story of Ala Ed-Deen Abush-Shamat, in the 1001 Nights, we read of a magic bead with five facets, on which were engraved a camel, an armed horseman, a pavilion, a couch, etc., according to the use intended to be made of each facet.
RUNO XI
31-42. Salme and Linda are similarly wooed by the Sun, the Moon, and a Star in the Esthonian poem, Kalevipoeg (see Kirby’s Hero of Esthonia, I., pp. 10-15).
264-266. These names mean respectively Blackies, Strawberries, Cranberries. “I think Lemminkainen means that he has no cows, and only calls these different berries his cows.” (A.M.)
306. Lemminkainen appears to have been afraid that some one else might carry oft his wife, if she showed herself in public (especially Untamo, says Prof. Krohn).
385. The Snow Bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis), a white bird more or less varied with black.
RUNO XII
25. The meaning is a little uncertain. Literally, “the only boy,” as Madame Malmberg suggests. The commentary renders it, “the gallant youth.”
93. The Finns and Lapps often hide money in the ground. The word used in l. 94 is “penningin,” from “penni,” a word common to most Teutonic and Northern languages.
211, 212. Such omens of death are common in fairy tales; as, for instance, the bleeding knives in the story of the Envious Sisters in the 1001 Nights. The bleeding trees in medieval romance belong to rather a different category of ideas.
233. Lemminkainen seems to have hidden himself to escape further remonstrances from his mother and Kyllikki.
262. Probably a creature like a kelpie or Phooka.
474. We are not told how Louhi escaped; but she seems to have come to no harm.
RUNO XIII
105. The part played by Hiisi in the Kalevala usually resembles that played by Loki in the Scandinavian Mythology.
​109. Animals, etc., are often thus constructed in Finnish, Esthonian, and Siberian mythology by gods, demons, and magicians. They do not seem able to create from nothing, but to manufacture what they please or what they can from pre-existing materials, however incongruous.
111. I suppose rushes are here intended.
RUNO XIV
33. The word here translated “islands” properly means a wooded hill surrounded by marshland.
47, 48. Mielikki’s gold and silver are the spoils of the chase.
69. Honey is sometimes used in the Kalevala for anything sweet and agreeable, just as golden is used for anything beautiful.
103, 104. It appears that the hunter’s fortune in the chase was foretold by the rich or shabby garments worn by the forest-deities.
142. Finnish women often wear a blouse over their other garments.
216. Kuningas (king) is a Teutonic word, which rarely occurs in the Kalevala. The heroes are patriarchs, or chiefs of clans: not kings, as in Homer.
248. There is often much confusion of terms in the Kalevala. The creature here mentioned is generally called an elk, but often a reindeer, and in this line a camel-foal.
304. When the inferior deities are dear or too weak, the heroes appeal to the higher Gods.
308. The reference here seems to be to Gen. vii. 11. “The whole passage is of Christian origin.” (K. K.)
RUNO XV
7. Compare Homer, Iliad, III., 311-314.
240. This episode slightly resembles the story of Isis and Osiris.
498. The constellation of Orion is variously called by the Finns, the Moonshine, the Sword of Kaleva, and the Scythe of Väinämöinen.
559-562. This conceit is common in fairy tales (especially in Russian ones) in the case of heroes wakened from the dead. Sometimes it takes a comic form; and sometimes, as in the present case, a pathetic one.
617 “Dirty-nosed” is a common opprobrious expression in Esthonia.
RUNO XVI
27. The account of the boatbuilding in “Hiawatha’s Sailing” is evidently imitated from this passage.
128. In Roman times divination from birds was chiefly taken from their flight or feeding.
RUNO XVII
20. Roads of this description are thoroughly Oriental in character.
86. In Icelandic sagas we often find heroes roused from their graves, but this is usually attempted in order to obtain a sword which has been buried with them.
93-104. Hiawatha was also swallowed by the sturgeon Nahma, but the circumstances were quite different.
211. Note the resonance of the line:
Kuusista kuhisevista.
237. Ahava, a dry cold wind that blows in March and April, probably corresponding to our cold spring east wind.
285, 286. Vipunen here refers to himself as a little man, which I presume is to be understood figuratively, as I have rendered it.
RUNO XVIII
379. Compare Cuchullain’s wooing of Eimer in Irish story.
RUNO XIX
33. This episode is very like the story of Jason and Medea.
210. “The wolf Fenrir opens his enormous mouth; the lower jaw reaches to the earth, and the upper one to heaven, and would in fact reach still further were there space to admit of it.” (Prose Edda.)
217. Vetehinen, a water-spirit.
311. “Ukko’s bow” here means the rainbow, broken by the fiery eagle. It may be worth noting that in the Scandinavian Mythology, the sons of Fire (Muspell) are to ride over the rainbow, and break it to pieces, on their way to battle with the gods.
483. In the Danish Ballads there are several stories of children speaking in their cradles, but generally to vow vengenance against an enemy.
RUNO XX
17. The Great Ox is a stock subject in Finnish and Esthonian ballad literature.
RUNO XXI
161. The Glutton or wolverine, a well-known animal in sub-Arctic Europe, Asia, and America.
182-186. These civilities sound very Oriental.
393. This curious passage may have been partly suggested by the “coats of skin,” and “the land flowing with milk and honey” of the Old Testament.
RUNO XXII
76. The word used here for father is taatto, which curiously recalls the Welsh tad. (English, dad.)
194. In the Scandinavian Mythology the giantess Skadi was required to choose a husband from among the gods by looking at their feet only.
RUNO XXIII
330. The usual word to express a long time is viikko, a week.
469, 470. These infernal damsels play various parts in the Kalevala, as boat-women, death-bringers, etc., and here we find them in the character of Furies.
487. The term “snowy month” is used for the period between Feb. 20 and March 20. I have rendered it March.
787-792. Perhaps this is only figurative, as in the case of the unpropitious forest-deities.
RUNO XXIV
119. The roots of the marsh arum (Calla palustris), not a British plant, though naturalized in a pond at Ripley. The most usual substitute for more wholesome food in times of famine is bread composed of a mixture of fir-bark and rye.
240. Slav peasant women are said sometimes to regard beating as a sign of affection on the part of their husbands, but this does not seem to be the case with the Finns. In the Kalevala we read a good deal about wife-beating in theory, but find very little of it in practice; and even the licentious and violent Lemminkainen never thinks of beating his wife when he quarrels with her.
279-296. A similar story is told to the Princess by her confidante Olga, in the Russian opera Rusalka (water-nymph), Act III. scene i.
“And now I’d better sing a little song:
As they passed in our street, A man besought his wife, ‘Why don’t you look pleasant? You are my delight, Darling Mashenka.’ “But the woman was obstinate, And averted her little head; ‘Oh, I don’t want your caresses, Nor your pretty speeches; I’m not very well, And I’ve got a headache.’ ​“But under a birch tree The man taught his wife; ‘Wait a bit, my darling, I’ll beat that tune out of you,
In my own way.’ “Then the woman was sorry, Bowed low as the waistband. ‘Don’t frighten yourself, dearest,
And do not be troubled, I find myself better, My headache has gone.’“
446, 450, 454. The commentary explains the word used here to mean “wander round thee,” an alteration which I consider unnecessary except in the last line.
467. From the sarcastic tone of this speech, Ilmarinen seems to have been quite tired and disgusted with all the fuss, in which most of our readers will probably sympathize with him.
RUNO XXV
47. According to popular usage, a son is ennobled by being called a brother.
97. In some of the legends of Sigurd and Brynhilda, Brynhilda is represented as lying asleep in a tower of glass, encompassed by a circle of fire, through which Sigurd had to ride to wake her. In this story she is the prototype of the Sleeping Beauty.
157. We often read in Russian folk-tales of revolving huts supported on fowls’ legs.
159. The favourite weapon of the Icelander Skarphedin, the son of Njal, was a bell which rang out shortly before any person was to be killed by it.
169. In the dales of Yorkshire it used to be considered very inhospitable not to leave the door open at mealtimes.
289, 290. Saxony and Viro are Germany and Esthonia.
564. Apparently a sort of master of the ceremonies at Finnish weddings, corresponding to the Russian svat, or matchmaker.
596. The scoter duck, (Oidemia nigra).
642. Brows; literally, eyelashes.
646. Her shift-collar.
665, 666. The beautiful Esthonian story of the Dawn, the Moon, and the Morning and Evening Twilight will be found in Jones and Kropf’s Folk-Tales of the Magyars, pp. 326-328, and in Ruby’s Hero of Esthonia, II., pp. 30-34.
END OF VOL. I
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