New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-10-28
THE KALEVALA.
THE NATIONAL EPIC OF FINLAND.


philoogists were naturally the first to collect and
publish it, but for years after 1t had been printed
Europe generally continued in ignorance of the
existence of this literary treasure. Even now,
though it has been translated into Swedish, Ger
man and French, it has been left for an American
scholar to give it its first English version. The
history of the Kalevala is brief and unsatisfactory
There is no tradition regarding it. Until less
than century ago it transmitted orally, hav-
ing been handed down after the manner Ct the
Vedas and sung by the Finnish bards much ms
the great Indian epic, the Mababbarata, was sung
by those of IIindustan. or its antiquity the only
evidence is derived from the poem itself, and that
which is most relied upon is negative, namely, the
absence of all mention of any Of the neighbor
nations and races known to modern history.
Firms and Lapps are the only peoples that figure
in the Kalevala. But while this lack of all ref
erence to Russian or Scandinavian ncighbors is
open to the Interpretation put upon it, 1t is per-
haps too soon to conclude that the Finnish epic
is as venerable as at present supposed One
historical fact certainly appears TO initiate strongly
against the theory of its remote antiquity.
Tacitus mentions the Firms (FennD in his
"Germania He says Of them The Firms
are extremely wild, ard live in abject poverty.
They have no arms, no horses no dwellings; they
they sleep on the ground. Their only resources
are their arrows, which for the lack Of iron are
tipped with bone' This was written in the
second century of our era. If it is trustworthy
description of the Firms Of the period, the latter
were at that time in an extremely backward and
undeveloped condition, and cannot be recognized
as the people described in the Kaevala For 1t is
certain that the latter was written by those who
knew and enjoyed the use of iron as well as copper
Tor bronco; who built stately houses; who
decorated their apartments; who had several in
dustrial arts who skilled in the forging and
working Of many metals; who made and tempered
STEEL whose weapons were the sword, javclin
spear, club and battleaXe as well as the bow; who
understood and practised agriculture; who built
granaries for their surplus crops; who brewed
beer and made mead; who used horses for draft,
travelled in sledges. built boats deliberately, and
may be said generally to have attained stage of
civilization very far beyond the patent savagery
Of the Firms whom Tacitus describes. To make
the antiquity Of the Kalevala plausible n.y.
pothesis, therefore. it would seem to be necessary
TO assume an early Finnish development followed
by reversion to barbarsm But il is evident at
the first mention of such notion that it is I'M
scientific, strained, and without support or proba-
bility. There is no ground for supposing that
evidence attainable indicates slow but uninter-
rupted advance. There is also another feature of
the Kalevala which is suggestive Of much more
recent origin than has been assigned to it hitherto
We allude to the Rune of Mariatta, in which the
legend Of a vrgin-born child Of miraculous power
is embodied. 1t is argued by some scholars and
the position is strong one, that there have been
so many pre-Christian legends of this type as to
destroy the force Of considerations intended to
prove the post-Christian origin of similar tradi-
tons. Due weight must be accorded to this
representation, for it is founded on facts; but
nevertheless when we find in an epic the age of
which can only be surmised from internal testi-
mony, SO remarkable a version of the immaculate
conception, have in the absence of anything
pointing unambiguously Ito Oriental or other
sources at least the right TO demand that the
doctrine of probabilities shall not be strained or
perverted in order to fortfy the no doubt fascinat
ing hypothesis Of an archaic origin.
When indeed we turn to the mythology of the
Kaevala we find many perpexing circumstances
and some which may possibly be regarded as
supporting theory Of great antiquity. The
remarkable parallelism between the magic of
the Kalevala and that of the Chaldaeans has been
discussed at some length by Lenormant lie
Magic chez les Accathieus, and 1t is rather curious
that Dr. Crawford makes 10 reference to this
work in his interesting introduction to the poem
The method by which the Kalcvala has been
preserved is in itself an argument on the side
of great antiquity. Oral transmission is probably
a practice which originated in Asia, where it has
been certainly employed from time immemorial
1t is true that in Europe, prior to the invention
OF printing, the scholars memory was his library,
and that mnemonic culture being Indispensable to
all who aspired to know literature. was carried to
a pitch scarcely to be credited at
the present time. But it is questionable whether
any race so rude and undeveloped as the Films
of Tacitus attained to the careful systematic
memorizng Of important literature, even suppos-
ing such people to have Observation-Disclosures
than by introduction from without-any such
literary matters. OF course, the authority of
Tacitus is open to impeachment. He may have
had little no personal knowledge of the Firms
They may have been much more advanced in the
second century than he gives them credit for
being. But all that can be said with confidence
is that the kalevala deals with a comparatively
forward state Of civilization, and that it possesses
analoges with mythologies of Asia too apparent
to be overlooked, and too close to be explained
on any other hypothesis than that of racial aftin
ity. The Kaevala is full of magical deeds and
nominations, and one OF the oldest of Oriental
doctrines pervadcs it, namely, the power Of the
spoken word upon nature spirits. This is identi-
cal with the Vedantic doctrine Of the Mantia,
according to which the most miraculous things
could be done by the rhythmica chanting of verses
from the Vedas. The myth OF the lost word
also appears in the Kalevala the principal hero,
Wainomoimen, going through course Of expe-
ditions and labors in order TO secure the potent
secret The heroes of the Kaevala are all
magicans and it is to be observed that most
of Mi chnd ~
singing or chanting.
Wainomomen sings his boat together, sings IL
into the water sings a phantom crew into 1t,
sings froward maiden into a seagull, sings his
aneiems to sleep when he goes, with Ilmarincn
and Lemminkainen, TO obtain possession of the
magic Sampo, or talisman which Ilmarinen had
forrnd Iemminlxannn is almost ennallu nn1yerfnl