Runo XXXIV: Kullervo and His Parents

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,He, the youth with blue-dyed stockings,And with yellow hair the finest,And with shoes of finest leather,Hurried quickly on his journeyFrom the home of Ilmarinen,Ere report could reach the masterOf the death his wife had suffered,And might harm him in his anger,And he might at once destroy him.

From the smith he hurried piping,Joyful left the lands of Ilma,On the heath his horn blew loudly,Shouted loudly in the clearing,And he dashed through plains and marshes,While the heath re-echoed loudly,And his horn kept loudly blowing,And made horrible rejoicing.

In the smithy did they hear it,At the forge the smith was standing,To the lane he went to listen,To the yard to look around him,Who was playing in the forest,And upon the heath was piping.

Then he saw what just had happened,Saw the truth without deception,There he saw his wife was resting,Saw the fair one who had perished,Where she in the yard had fallen,On the grass where she had fallen.

Even while the smith was standing,All his heart was dark with sorrow;Many nights he spent in weeping,Many weeks his tears were flowing,And his soul like tar was darkened,And his heart than soot no lighter.

Kullervo still wandered onwards,Aimlessly he hurried forward,For a day through thickest forest,Through the timber-grounds of Hiisi,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,But my home is in the forest,And upon the heath my homestead.In the wind I find my fire-place,In the rain I find my bathroom.

"Never, Jumala most gracious,Never in the course of ages,Form a child thus mis-created,Doomed to be for ever friendless,Fatherless beneath the heavens,From the first without a mother,As thou, Jumala, hast made me,And hast formed me to be wretched,Formed me like a wandering seagull,Like a seagull on the lake-cliffs.Shines the sun upon the swallow,Brightly shines upon the sparrow,In the air the birds are joyous,I myself am never happy,On my life the sun shines never,And my life is always joyless.

"Now I know not who has nursed me,And I know not who has borne me,For, as water-hens are used to,Or as ducks among the marshes,Like the teal on shore she left me,Or in hollow stone, merganser.

"I was small, and lost my father,I was weak, and lost my mother,Dead is father, dead is mother,All my mighty race has perished,Shoes of ice to wear they left me,Filled with snow they left my stockings,On the ice they left me lying,Rolling on the platform left me,Thus I fell into the marshes,And amid the mud was swallowed.

"But in all my life I never,Never in my life I hastened,Through the swamp to make a platform,Or a bridge in marshy places;But I sank not in the marshes,For I had two hands to help me,And I had five nimble fingers,And ten nails to lift me from it."

Then into his mind it enteredIn his brain he fixed the notionUnto Untamo to journey,There his father's wrongs avenging,Father's wrongs, and tears of mother,And the wrongs himself had suffered.

Then he spoke the words which follow:"Wait thou, wait thou, Untamoinen,Watch thou, of my race destroyer!If I seek thee out in battle,I will quickly burn thy dwelling,And thy farms to flame deliver."

Then an old dame came to meet him,Blue-robed Lady of the Forest,And she spoke the words which follow,And in words like these expressed her:"Whither goeth Kullervoinen,Where will Kalervo's son hasten?"

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,Answered in the words which follow:"In my mind the thought has entered,In my brain has fixed the notionHence to other lands to wander,Unto Untamo's own village,There my father's death avenging,Father's wrongs, and tears of mother,There with fire to burn the houses,And to burn them up completely."

But the old wife made him answer,And she spoke the words which follow:"No, your race has not yet perished,Nor has Kalervo been murdered;For your father still is living,And on earth in health your mother."

"O my dearest of old women,Tell me, O my dear old woman,Where I yet may find my father,Where the fair one who has borne me?"

"Thither is thy father living,There the fair one who has borne thee,Far away on Lapland's borders,On the borders of a fishpond."

"O my dearest of old women,Tell me, O my dear old woman,How I best can journey to them,And the road I may discover?"

"Easy 'tis for thee to journey,Though to thee unknown the pathway.Through the forest must thou journey,By the river thou must travel,Thou must march one day, a second,And must march upon the third day,Then must turn thee to the north-west,Till you reach a wooded mountain,Then march on beneath the mountain,Go the left side of the mountain,Till thou comest to a river,(On the right side thou wilt find it,)By the riverside go further,Till three waterfalls rush foaming,When thou comest to a headland,With a narrow tongue projecting,And a house at point of headland,And beyond a hut for fishing.There thy father still is living,There the fair one who has borne thee,There thou'lt also find thy sisters,Two among the fairest maidens."

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,Started then upon his journey,And he marched one day, a second,Likewise marched upon the third day,Then he turned him to the north-west,Till he reached a wooded mountain,Then he marched halfway below it,Turning westward from the mountain,Till at length he found the river,And he marched along the river,On the west bank of the river,Past three water-falls he journeyed,Till at length he reached a headlandWith a narrow tongue projecting,And a house at point of headland,And beyond, a hut for fishing.

Thereupon the house he entered,In the room they did not know him."From what lake has come the stranger,From what country is the wanderer?"

"Is your son then all forgotten,Know you not your child, your offspring,Who by Untamo's marauders,With them to their home was carried,Greater not than span of father,Longer not than mother's spindle?"

Then his mother interrupted,And exclaimed the aged woman,"O my son, my son unhappy,O my golden brooch so wretched,Hast thou then, with eyes yet living,Wandered through these countries hither,When as dead I long had mourned thee,Long had wept for thy destruction?

"I had two sons in the past days,And two daughters of the fairest,And among them two have vanished,Two are lost among the elder,First my son in furious battle,Then my daughter, how I know not.Though my son has reached the homestead,Never has returned my daughter."

Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring,In his turn began to question."How then has your daughter vanished,What has happened to my sister?"

Then his mother made him answer,And she spoke the words which follow:"Thus has disappeared my daughter,Thus it happened to your sister.To the wood she went for berries,Sought for raspberries 'neath the mountain,There it is the dove has vanished,There it is the bird has perished,Thus she died without our knowledge,How she died we cannot tell you.

"Who is longing for the maiden?Save her mother, no one missed her.First her mother went to seek her,And her mother sought, who missed her,Forth I went, unhappy mother,Forth I went to seek my daughter,Through the wood like bear I hurried,Speeding through the wastes like otter,Thus I sought one day, a second,Sought her also on the third day.When the third day had passed over,For a long time yet I wandered,Till I reached a mighty mountain,And a peak of all the highest,Calling ever on my daughter,Ever grieving for the lost one.

"'Where is now my dearest daughter?O my daughter, come thou homeward!'

"Thus I shouted to my daughter,Grieving ever for the lost one,And the mountains made me answer,And the heaths again re-echoed,'Call no more upon thy daughter,Call no more, and shout no longer,Never will she come back living,Nor return unto her household,Never to her mother's dwelling,To her aged father's boathouse.'"