From the Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot, Volume I Part 3 (1908)
When a stone struck you in White Sea Karelia, the wound was not merely physical. The stone had a genealogy: it was Kimmo, son of Kammo, born from the Ogress's heart, from earth's egg, from the field's round cake. It had a mother (the earth) and a father (the sky). It had anger, and its anger had entered your body. To heal the wound, you named the stone — spoke its genealogy, acknowledged its parentage, addressed it as a person — and then you commanded it to take back its pain. Drink your anger as wine, you said. Carry your evil as ale. Go to the graves. The stone, named and addressed, released its hold.
The eleven charms presented here form the Kiven loukkaama (Injured by Stone) section of the Loitsuja in the Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot (SKVR), Volume I Part 3, published by the Finnish Literature Society in 1908. They are poems 49 through 59, opening the second major division of the incantation corpus: II. Loukkaantumat ja viottumat (Injuries and Damages). The first division — translated in the preceding files — armed the tietaja with preparation, raised power, invoked spirits, and defended against the evil eye. This second division begins with what happens after the defenses fail: someone is hurt, and the tietaja must heal.
The central formula "Kivi Kimmon, Kammon poika" (Stone Kimmo, Kammo's son) appears in nearly every charm. Kimmo and Kammo are primordial beings associated with stone in Finnish mythology — their names may derive from kimmo, to bounce or glance off, and kammo, to recoil. The stone is also called earth's egg (moan muna), a reference to the world-egg cosmogony that runs through Finnish creation myth, and the Ogress's morsel (Syojattaren suupalani), linking stone to the devouring earth-mother Syojatar. Two poems include the Russian loanword spassibo (thank you) — evidence of the deep Russian-Finnish contact zone in White Sea Karelia, where Orthodox Christianity and shamanic practice coexisted for centuries.
The singers include Hilippa Huotarini of Sappovaara, Miina Huovinen of Hietajarvi, Nasto Lesojeff of Kostamus, Vassilie Ratskoff of Laitasalmi, and Alini Lehtoni of Tuonninen. The collectors include Samuli Paulaharju, A. Castren, P. Lesojeff, Nasto Lesojeff, K. Sjogren, and A. Merilainen. Not a single charm from this section has been translated into English until now.
The Stone's Birth
Poems 50a, 55, and 58. Origin-tellings that narrate where different stones come from — the Ogress's heart, the Mother-of-Mothers' liver, the little son's kneecap. In Finnish incantation logic, you must know the synty (origin) of the thing that harmed you before you can command it. The origin-telling IS the first act of healing.
The Three Stones
Akoalaksi. Collected by A. Castren. SKVR I:3, no. 50a.
Origin of stone.
Stone is Kimmo's, Kammo's son,
Earth's little egg, field's round cake.
From there comes the white stone —
From the cone of the Ogress's heart.
From there comes the soft stone —
From the liver of the Mother of Mothers.
From there comes the grey stone —
From the kneecap of the little son.
Take back your pain, stone,
Press your slab to its resting place.
Let there be no coming with suffering,
Let there be no visiting with harm.
Earth Your Mother, Sky Your Father
Kivijarvri. Collected by Marttini. SKVR I:3, no. 55.
Niemen Maksiman's wife; heard from Vatun Natali of Vuokkiniemi.
Origin of stone. The stone is boiled and the words spoken into the water.
Stone is Kimmo's, Kammo's son,
Egg of the Ogress's heart,
Heart's egg, nipple of the earth,
Round cake of the field.
Earth is your mother,
Sky your father.
Why did you harm my dear one?
Take your anger as wine,
Your own evils as ale
Into your copper belly,
Into your golden gut!
From the Ogress's Heart
Lonkka. Collected by Cajan. SKVR I:3, no. 58.
Stone Kimmo, Kammo's son,
Earth's egg, field's round cake,
From the egg of the Ogress's heart,
From the liver of the lowly one.
Naming and Thanks
Poems 49, 50b, and 57. Brief formulas that name the stone and acknowledge its power. In poems 49 and 57, the healer thanks the stone for injuring — an apotropaic gesture using the Russian loanword spassibo. Poem 50b appends a wish for softness and sweetness.
Thank You, Stone
Sappovaara. Hilippa Huotarini. Collected by Paulaharju. SKVR I:3, no. 49.
When stone injures.
Stone Kimmo, Kammo's son,
Earth's egg, field's round cake,
Morsel of the Ogress —
Thank you, stone, for the injuring!
Softness of Wool
Akoalaksi. Collected by A. Castren. SKVR I:3, no. 50b.
Variant.
Stone Kimmo, Kammo's son,
Earth's egg, field's round cake.
Softness of wool, sweetness of milk.
The Boiled Stone
Tuonninen. Alini Lehtoni. Collected by Paulaharju, 1911. SKVR I:3, no. 57.
Origin of stone. When stone injures, the stone — if small — is boiled whole in water. From a larger stone, three fragments are broken off and boiled. When the water has cooled, the words are read three times over it:
Stone Kimmo, Kammo's son,
Earth's egg, field's sausage.
Thank you, stone, for the injuring!
The water is given to the injured person to drink, and then the wound is washed with it.
Healing Commands
Poems 51, 52, 54, and 59. The tietaja's direct orders to the stone. The pattern is consistent: name the stone, demand that it recognize its own work, command it to take back its anger as wine and its evil as ale, and declare the patient healed. The stone is not destroyed — it is sent home. Its anger goes back into its copper belly, its golden gut. The wound becomes an exchange: the stone takes its evil back, the body releases it.
Carry Your Anger as Wine
Hietajarvi. Miina Huovinen. Collected by P. Lesojeff, 1908. SKVR I:3, no. 51.
Healing a stone injury.
Stone is Kimmo's, Kammo's son,
Earth's egg, field's round cake.
You, stone, made by God —
Carry your anger away as wine,
Your own evils as ale,
Let your spirit go to the graves.
Come to Know Your Work
Akonlahti. Collected by A. Merilainen, 1880. SKVR I:3, no. 52.
When stone injures.
Stone Kimmo, Kammo's son,
Earth's egg, field's round cake,
Little cone of the Ogress's heart —
Come to know your own work,
To heal your own evil,
To lighten your own wretchedness!
The Healer's Hands
Kostamus. Nasto Lesojeff. Collected from Vatalan Matti's wife, Oku, 1911. SKVR I:3, no. 54.
The anger of the stone. Read three times and blow on the sore place.
Stone is Kimmo's, Kammo's son,
Morsel of the Ogress —
Why did you lead into harm,
Plot toward damage?
Come to know your own works,
To heal your own evils
At the touch of my hands,
At the straightening of my fingers!
I know you whole by night,
Without blame by day,
Without swelling below,
Without pain within!
Why Did You Harm the Skin
Kostamus. SKVR I:3, no. 54 (second spell).
When a stone has made a wound, press another stone against it and speak:
Stone Kimmo, Kammo's son,
Earth's crumb, field's round cake —
Why did you do evil to the skin,
To the hair of a mother's child,
To the body born for death?
Then it heals.
The Stone Returned
Laitasalmi. Vassilie Ratskoff; heard from his father. Collected by A. Merilainen, 1889. SKVR I:3, no. 59.
When stone injures, the stone is taken, pressed against the wound, and the words spoken:
Stone cricket, earth's eagle,
Dweller of the desolate mainland —
Take away your own evils,
Drink your anger as wine,
Your bitter spite as ale
From this person's skin, and so forth.
Then the stone is put back in its place, and the wound heals.
The Great Stone Words
Poem 56. The longest and most complex charm in the stone section. Unlike the other poems, which address the stone directly, this one questions who brought the person into the stone's domain, then invokes Hiisi's bird from Terhola — the same supernatural figure that appears in the eagle-and-banishment counter-spell of the evil eye section. The poem pivots from accusation to healing, calling for ointments and salves to be brought against the stone's pain.
Hiisi's Bird and the Good Ointments
Pirttilaksi. Collected by K. Sjogren, 1825. SKVR I:3, no. 56.
Words for the stone.
Stone Kimmo, Kammo's son,
Hidden speck, speck of the field,
Sweetness of the earth —
When stone does evil,
Who brings a person
And who draws them
Into the stones' pain,
Into the slabs' evil-doing,
When the stone went with its pains,
The slab to places of evil?
Bird of Hiisi from Terhola!
To the stones' pains
Bring now good ointments
Against those stones' hurts,
So that pain be not felt —
And the sweetest salves,
So it go not to sores
Nor come to torment!
Colophon
Translated from Finnish by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Source text: Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot (SKVR), Volume I Part 3: Vienan laanin runot — Loitsuja (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1908). Poems 49–59, the Kiven loukkaama (Injured by Stone) section. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive (identifier: p3suomenkansanva01niem).
These eleven charms form the first subsection of the second division of the SKVR I:3 incantation corpus (II. Loukkaantumat ja viottumat — Injuries and Damages), following the complete first division: Seer's Preparation (poems 1–9), Nature-Raising (poems 10–17), Spirits (poems 18–40), and Against the Evil Eye (poems 41–48). The stone-injury charms open the domain of physical healing — what happens when the tietaja's protections are not enough and the body is wounded.
Poem 53 (Kontokki, from Puavilan-Miikalin's wife) appears in the source as a header and informant credit with no body text; it may be a cross-reference to another SKVR collection. It is omitted here rather than fabricated. Poem 59 is abbreviated in the source with "j. n. e." (ja niin edespain — "and so forth"), indicating a familiar continuation formula. Two lines of poem 59 are badly garbled by OCR and could not be confidently reconstructed; they are omitted.
The OCR source text contains double-spacing artifacts, letter confusion (J/M, O/C), and apparatus interpolation typical of the Harvard/Google Books digitisation. All translations were derived from the Finnish dialectal text with reference to standard Finnish cognates and phonological reconstruction. The colophon for each poem preserves the singer, location, collector, and SKVR poem number. Collector abbreviations: Paulah. = Samuli Paulaharju; Castren = A. Castren; Meril. = A. Merilainen; Sjogren = K. Sjogren.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Scribed by Tuuli, Tulku Life 33.
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Source Text: Kiven loukkaama (SKVR I:3, nos. 49–59)
Finnish source text from the Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot, Volume I Part 3: Vienan laanin runot — Loitsuja (Helsinki: SKS, 1908). Digitised from the Internet Archive. OCR artifacts cleaned where possible; dialectal forms preserved. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
49. Sappovaara. Paulah. n. 6012.
Hilippa Huotarini.
Kivi satattaa.
Kivi Kimmo, Kammon poika,
Moan muna, pellon kakkara,
Syojattaren suupalani,
Spassipo, kivi, satattaes!
50a. Akoalaksi. Castren n. 32 a).
Kiven synty.
Kivi on Kimmon, poika Kammon,
Maan munanen, pellon koakku,
Tuolt' on valkia kivonen.
Syojattaren syon kavysta,
5 Tuolt' on pehmia kivonen
Mammattaren maksan paalta,
Tuolt' on harmaja kivonen
Polven paa pojan patosen.
Ottahos kivi kipusi,
10 Paina poasi palliesi,
Elkohot tuskilla tulo,
Elkohot vioilla vijo.
50b. Akoalaksi. Castren n. 32 b).
Toisin.
Kivi Kimmon, Kammon poika,
Moan muna, pellon kakkara.
Villan pehmeys, maion makeus.
51. Hietajarvi. P. Lesojeff n. 44.
Miina Huovinen.
Kiveen loukkaantuminen parannetaan.
Kivi on Kimmon, Kammon poika,
Muan muna, pellon kakkara.
Sie kivi Jumalan luoma,
Viijos viinana vihasi,
5 Oluena omat pahasi,
Menna mieli hauteisi.
52. Akonlahti. Meril. n. 274.
Kivi kuin loukkaa.
Kivi Kimmon, Kammon poika,
Maan muna, pellon kakkara.
Syojattaren syon kapynen
Tule tyosi tuntemaan.
Pahasi parantamaan,
Kehnosi keventamaan!
55. Kivijarvi. Marttini n. 376.
Niemen Maksiman vaimo; kuullut Vatun Natalielta Vuokkiniemesta.
Kiven synti.
Kivie keitetah ta siili veteh puhutah.
Kivi on Kimmon, Kammon poika,
Syojattaren syon munani.
Syon munani, muan ninnani,
Pellon kakara.
5 Niin on kuin mua muamos',
Taivas tuattos'.
Miksii miun viljuani vihasit?
Ota viinana vihasi,
Ohiona omat pahasi
10 Vaskiseh vatsahas',
Kultaseh kupuhus!
54. Kostamus. Nasto Lesojeff n. 35.
Vatalan Matin akka, Oku.
Kiven vihat.
Kivi on Kimmon, Kammon poika,
Syojattaren suupalani,
Miksi sie vikoih vejit,
Vahinkoih vuavittelit?
5 Tule toitas' tuntomah,
Pahojas' parentamah
Miun kasin kaytyani,
Sormin suoriteltuoni!
Tiesin yolla terveheksi,
10 Paivalla vijattomaksi,
Alta nuurnmattomaksi,
Siamelta kivuttomaksi!
(Kolmeh kertah luvetah ta puhutah kipieh paikkah).
Kiven tekema haava paranee, kun toisella kivella painaa haavaa ja puhelee ja lukee:
Kivi Kimmon, Kammon poika,
Muan mura, pellon kakkara,
Miksi teit ihoh pahoa,
Karvahan emon kapehen,
Emon tuonian ruumiihihin?
Sitten paranee.
56. Pirttilaksi. Sjogren n. 427.
Kiven sanat.
Kivi Kimmon, Kammon poika,
Piliaurikka, pellonrikka,
Maanmakelo —
Kuin kivi pahan tekoo,
5 Mika tuohon tuotaneh,
Ja kuka veettaneh
Kivien kipuih,
Paajien pahantekoh,
Kuin kivi kivuilla mani.
10 Paasi paikoiksi pahoiksi?
Terhelainen hijen lintu!
Kivien kipuih
Tuospa voitia hyvia
Noijen kivien kipuih.
15 Jott' ei tuntusi kipia;
Jopa voitiet suloset,
Jott' ei manisi marille.
Eika tulisi tuskah!
57. Tuonninen. Paulah. n. 4304.
Alini Lehtoni.
Kiven synti.
Kun kivi sattautuu, niin se satattunut kivi, jos se on pieni, keitetaan semmoisenaan vedessa. Isommasta kivesta lohkaistaan 3 murusta, joita vedessa keitetaan. Kun vesi on jaahtynyt, luetaan siihen 3 kertaa:
Kivi Kimmon, Kammon poika,
Moan muna, pellon makkara.
Spassibo kiven satattamaas'!
Vetta annetaan suuhun ensin ja sitten silla pestaan satattamaa.
58. Lonkka. Cajan n. 156.
Kivi Kimmon, Kammon poika,
Moan muna, pellon kakkara,
Syojattaren sydamenmunasta,
Maksasta matalikan.
59. Laitasalmi. Meril. n. 986.
Vassilie Ratskoff; kuullut isaltaan.
Kivi kuin loukkaa, niin otetaan kivi, silla painellaan ja sanotaan:
Kivi kikko, maan kokko,
Eanta pellon raimijoiuen,
Manteren autijon asuja,
Ota pois omat pahasi.
5 Juo viinana vihasi,
Olunna mieli haikeasi
Taman ihmisen ihosta j. n. e.
Sitta kivi pannaan sijalleen, niin se paranee silla.
Source Colophon
Finnish source text from the Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot, Volume I Part 3: Vienan laanin runot — Loitsuja (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1908). Digitised from the Internet Archive (identifier: p3suomenkansanva01niem). Public domain. OCR artifacts have been cleaned where possible: double-spacing removed, obvious letter confusions corrected, apparatus lines separated from poem text. Dialectal spellings preserved. Diacritical marks that could not be accurately reproduced from OCR have been simplified (e.g., a for a-umlaut in some dialectal forms). Poem 53 is absent from the source text section because its body text does not appear in the OCR; only the header and informant credit are present.
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