Back Aa

Kalevala: the Epic Poem of Finland (Crawford Translation)

Close

<h2>RUNE XXXIV. KULLERVO FINDS HIS TRIBE-FOLK.</h2> Kullerwoinen, young magician, In his beauteous, golden ringlets, In his magic shoes of deer-skin, Left the home of Ilmarinen Wandered forth upon his journey, Ere the blacksmith heard the tidings Of the cruel death and torture Of his wife and joy-companion, Lest a bloody fight should follow. Kullerwoinen left the smithy, Blowing on his magic bugle, Joyful left the lands of Ilma, Blowing blithely on the heather, Made the distant hills re-echo, Made the swamps and mountains tremble, Made the heather-blossoms answer To the music of his cow-horn, In its wild reverberations, To the magic of his playing. Songs were heard within the smithy, And the blacksmith stopped and listened, Hastened to the door and window, Hastened to the open court-yard, If perchance he might discover What was playing on the heather, What was sounding through the forest. Quick he learned the cruel story, Learned the cause of the rejoicing, Saw the hostess dead before him, Knew his beauteous wife had perished, Saw the lifeless form extended, In the court-yard of his dwelling. Thereupon the metal-artist Fell to bitter tears and wailings, Wept through all the dreary night-time, Deep the grief that settled o’er him, Black as night his darkened future, Could not stay his tears of sorrow. Kullerwoinen hastened onward, Straying, roaming, hither, thither, Wandered on through field and forest, O’er the Hisi-plains and woodlands. When the darkness settled o’er him, When the bird of night was flitting, Sat the fatherless at evening, The forsaken sat and rested On a hillock of the forest. Thus he murmured, heavy-hearted: “Why was I, alas! created, Why was I so ill-begotten, Since for months and years I wander, Lost among the ether-spaces? Others have their homes to dwell in, Others hasten to their firesides As the evening gathers round them: But my home is in the forest, And my bed upon the heather, And my bath-room is the rain-cloud. “Never didst thou, God of mercy, Never in the course of ages, Give an infant birth unwisely; Wherefore then was I created, Fatherless to roam in ether, Motherless and lone to wander? Thou, O Ukko, art my father, Thou hast given me form and feature; As the sea-gull on the ocean, As the duck upon the waters, Shines the Sun upon the swallow, Shines as bright upon the sparrow, Gives the joy-birds song and gladness, Does not shine on me unhappy; Nevermore will shine the sunlight, Never will the moonlight glimmer On this hapless son and orphan; Do not know my hero-father, Cannot tell who was my mother; On the shore, perhaps the gray-duck Left me in the sand to perish. Young was I and small of stature, When my mother left me orphaned; Dead, my father and my mother, Dead, my honored tribe of heroes; Shoes they left me that are icy, Stockings filled with frosts of ages, Let me on the freezing ice-plains Fall to perish in the rushes; From the giddy heights of mountains Let me tumble to destruction. “O, thou wise and good Creator, Why my birth and what my service? I shall never fall and perish On the ice-plains, in the marshes, Never be a bridge in swamp-land, Not while I have arms of virtue That can serve my honored kindred!” Then Kullervo thought to journey To the village of Untamo, To avenge his father’s murder, To avenge his mother’s tortures, And the troubles of his tribe-folk. These the words of Kullerwoinen: “Wait, yea wait, thou Untamoinen, Thou destroyer of my people; When I meet thee in the combat, I will slay thee and thy kindred, I will burn thy homes to ashes!” Came a woman on the highway, Dressed in blue, the aged mother, To Kullervo spake as follows: “Whither goest, Kullerwoinen, Whither hastes the wayward hero?” Kullerwoinen gave this answer: “I have thought that I would journey To the far-off land of strangers, To the village of Untamo, To avenge my father’s murder, To avenge my mother’s tortures, And the troubles of my tribe-folk.” Thus the gray-haired woman answered: “Surely thou dost rest in error, For thy tribe has never perished, And thy mother still is living With thy father in the Northland, Living with the old Kalervo.” “O, thou ancient dame beloved, Worthy mother of the woodlands, Tell me where my father liveth, Where my loving mother lingers!” “Yonder lives thine aged father, And thy loving mother with him, On the farthest shore of Northland, On the long-point of the fish-lake!” “Tell me, O thou woodland-mother, How to journey to my people, How to find mine honored tribe-folk.” “Easy is the way for strangers: Thou must journey through the forest, Hasten to the river-border, Travel one day, then a second, And the third from morn till even, To the north-west, thou must journey. If a mountain comes to meet thee, Go around the nearing mountain, Westward hold thy weary journey, Till thou comest to a river, On thy right hand flowing eastward; Travel to the river border, Where three water-falls will greet thee; When thou comest to a headland, On the point thou’lt see a cottage Where the fishermen assemble; In this cottage is thy father, With thy mother and her daughters, Beautiful thy maiden sisters.” Kullerwoinen, the magician, Hastens northward on his journey, Walks one day, and then a second, Walks the third from morn till evening; To the north-west walks Kullervo, Till a mountain comes to meet him, Walks around the nearing mountain; Westward, westward, holds his journey, Till he sees a river coming; Hastens to the river border, Walks along the streams and rapids Till three waterfalls accost him; Travels till he meets a headland, On the point he spies a cottage, Where the fishermen assemble. Quick he journeys to the cabin, Quick he passes through the portals Of the cottage on the headland, Where he finds his long-lost kindred; No one knows the youth, Kullervo, No one knows whence comes the stranger, Where his home, nor where he goeth. These the words of young Kullervo: “Dost thou know me not, my mother, Dost thou know me not, my father? I am hapless Kullerwoinen, Whom the heroes of Untamo Carried to their distant country, When my height was but a hand-breadth.” Quick the hopeful mother answers: “O my worthy son, beloved, O my precious silver-buckle, Hast thou with thy mind of magic, Wandered through the fields of Northland Searching for thy home and kindred? As one dead I long have mourned thee, Had supposed thee in Manala. Once I had two sons and heroes, Had two good and beauteous daughters, Two of these have long been absent, Elder son and elder daughter; For the wars my son departed, While my daughter strayed and perished; If my son is home returning, Yet my daughter still is absent.” Kullerwoinen asked his mother: “Whither did my sister wander, What direction did she journey?” This the answer of the mother: “This the story of thy sister: Went for berries to the woodlands, To the mountains went my daughter, Where the lovely maiden vanished, Where my pretty berry perished, Died some death beyond my knowledge, Nameless is the death she suffered. Who is mourning for the daughter? No one mourns her as her mother, Walks and wanders, mourns and searches, For her fairest child and daughter; Therefore did the mother wander, Searching for thy lovely sister, Like the bear she roamed the forest, Ran the glenways like the adder, Searched one day and then a second, Searched the third from morn till even, Till she reached the mountain-summit, There she called and called her daughter, Till the distant mountains answered, Called to her who had departed: ‘Where art thou, my lovely maiden, Come my daughter to thy mother!’ “Thus I called, and sought thy sister, This the answer of the mountains, Thus the hills and valleys echoed: ‘Call no more, thou weeping mother, Weep no more for the departed; Nevermore in all thy lifetime, Never in the course of ages, Will she join again her kindred, At her brother’s landing-places, In her father’s humble dwelling.’” <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2