Kalevala, The Land Of The Heroes Volume I Part 41

RUNO VI

120. This pa.s.sage is again inconsistent with the legend of Vainamoinen 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, kaanteleikse.

142. In the original "the song of a c.o.c.k's child."

177, 178. Weeping appears no more disgraceful to the heroes of the _Kalevala_ than to those of the _Iliad_. Still, Vainamoinen 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 t.i.tle 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 pa.s.sage 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 Vainamoinen might literally be called the brother of Iron.

111, 112. Pallas Athene sprang armed from the brain of Zeus; Karna, 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 x.x.xVII.

311. "Ilmarinen first employs ordinary servants, and then calls the winds to his a.s.sistance." (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 off 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 mediaeval 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