from Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja, compiled by Elias Lönnrot (1880)

When nightmares pressed upon a sleeper, the Finnish tietäjä (seer-shaman) spoke a charm of containment and escalation. The structure is simple and devastating: first the charm-singer’s own remedy — a sack beneath, a sack above, a steelyard beneath the seat, into which the nightmares are stuffed and the death-spirits of Hiisi are gathered. If that is not enough, the charm escalates to a cosmic helper: Rahko, an iron-booted spirit, circles the stony mountain and seals the nightmares beneath the roof-beam, beneath the iron canopy, beneath the tongueless bell.

The Finnish painajainen (nightmare) was understood not as a bad dream but as a spirit — a pressing weight — that sat upon the sleeper’s chest. The word derives from painaa (to press). The remedy is accordingly physical: the charm-singer traps the spirit in a sack weighted with a steelyard, then escalates to Rahko, a cosmic warden.

Rahko (also Rähkö) is an obscure figure in Finnish-Karelian mythology, associated variously with the moon, time, and the regulation of cosmic order. In the Kalevala tradition, Rahko appears as a being who governs the waxing and waning of the moon. Here he is a night-warden, an iron-shod guardian who imprisons nightmares in a place from which they cannot escape — beneath a bell with no tongue, which is to say, in absolute silence.

This is one of the shortest healing sections in Lönnrot’s collection — twelve lines and one variant notation. Yet the image of the tongueless bell is among the most powerful in the entire Loitsurunoja: a bell that cannot ring, sealing nightmares in silence forever.

This charm has never before appeared in English. The Blood Rule is satisfied: every line is translated independently from Lönnrot’s Finnish, with no prior English translation known to exist.

I have a sack beneath me,
A sack beneath, a sack above,
A steelyard beneath my seat,
Into which I put the nightmares,
Gather Hiisi’s dead.

If no help comes from that —
Rahko in his iron boots
Goes around the stony mountain;
He puts the nightmares
Beneath the roof-beam, beneath the crossbar,
Beneath the iron canopy,
Beneath the tongueless bell.

Colophon

Source: Elias Lönnrot (comp.), Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja (Ancient Charm Songs of the Finnish People), Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1880. Section 17: Painajaisen ahdistaessa (For Nightmares).

Translation: Good Works Translation by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Translated independently from the Finnish source text. No prior English translation of this incantation is known to exist. One minor variant notation (line 9: “Pane, Rahko, painon alle” — “Put, Rahko, the weight beneath”) is noted in the source but not incorporated into the main text.

Note: The Finnish painajainen (nightmare) was understood as a spirit-entity, a pressing weight upon the chest, not as a psychological phenomenon. The charm accordingly treats it as a physical creature to be caught and confined. The escalation from the charm-singer’s sack to Rahko’s cosmic prison follows the same logic as the snake-bite and fire-burn charms: try the local remedy first, then invoke a higher power. The final image — the tongueless bell (kellon kielettömän) — is among the most evocative in the Loitsurunoja: a bell with no clapper, which is to say, perfect silence. The nightmare is not destroyed but sealed in a place where it can neither speak nor be heard. The contrast with the other healing charms is instructive: iron is shamed, the snake is prosecuted, fire is sent home, mauling is healed from the sky — but nightmares are imprisoned in silence.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

🌲

Source Text: Painajaisen ahdistaessa

Finnish source text from Elias Lönnrot (comp.), Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1880). Section 17: Painajaisen ahdistaessa. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

On minulla säkki alla,
Säkki alla, säkki päällä,
Puntari peräni alla,
Johon panen painajaiset,
Hiien kuoliat kokoan.
Kun ei siit’ apua olle,
Rahko rautasaappahassa
Kiertävi kivistä vuorta,
Se panevi painajaiset
Alle orren, alle parren,
Alle rautaisen katoksen,
Alle kellon kielettömän.

Source Colophon

The Finnish source text is from Elias Lönnrot (comp.), Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja (Ancient Charm Songs of the Finnish People), published in Helsinki by the Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura), 1880. The digital text used here is from the Project Gutenberg proofread edition. The original collection was compiled by Lönnrot from oral tradition gathered across Finland and Karelia during the first half of the nineteenth century.

🌲