Collected by Elias Lönnrot, Helsinki, 1831
The fourth fascicle of Kantele Taikka taikka Suomen Kansan sekä Wanhoja että Nykysempiä Runoja ja Lauluja (Songs and Poems of the Finnish People, Old and More Recent, Volume IV) appeared in 1831 — the last of Lönnrot's student-era collections, gathered from five parishes spanning Karelia and Lapland: Kesälahti, Kittilä, Ilomantsi, Eno, and Pielisjärvi. The j.n.e. markers throughout (ja niin edelleen, "and so forth") record oral abbreviation: Lönnrot trusted that the continuation formulas were known, and noted only the opening phrases.
Four texts are translated here. The first is Pakkasen Synty (The Origin of Frost) — Frost is born from willow-brushwood, baptized at a silver spring at the navel of a golden cliff, and named the fingernail-stiffener and toe-tip tormenter; he is addressed as son of Puhuri the Blizzard, and sent away from the speaker's body to freeze the sea, the marshes, and ultimately Lapland, where his company is welcome and reindeer await him. The second is Kalman Synty (The Origin of Death) — Kalma, the personified death-spirit who embodies the corpse and everything that clings to the dead, is addressed with formal courtesy ("fair Death, beautiful Death, bright-blooded Death!"), reminded of its ancient origin in Adam and Eve, and redirected back to the painted church and the holy field — the tar-porch, the hundred-planked bier, the copper bells — where it properly belongs and may cuckoo in golden branches. The third is Myrskyn Sanat (Storm Words) in two brief variants: in the first, Jesus, Ilmarinen, and Väinämöinen ride together in a boat that emerges from a cloud, heading into the hard churning sea; in the second, the three are dispatched to groom Hiisi's elk and wash his reindeer, so that the storm-creatures stop drinking the poor mistress's beer. The fourth is Karhun Synty (The Birth of the Bear) from Kesälahti — the shortest charm, invoking the bear's divine ancestors Juumi's Old Man and Old Woman, and reminding the bear that neither its father nor its great lord-elder ever commanded it to eat innocent blood.
All four texts are independently translated from the 1831 Finnish source (Project Gutenberg #48202). No public-domain English translation of these texts exists. The j.n.e. abbreviation marks in Lönnrot's text appear here as [...] to indicate oral continuation passages not transcribed in full.
I. Pakkasen Synty — The Origin of Frost
The frost origin-charm: Frost is born from willow-brushwood, christened at a silver spring, and named the toe-tip tormenter and fingernail-stiffener. Addressed as son of Puhuri the Blizzard, he is ordered away from the speaker's body — first to the sea (where Lady Rauna of Northland could not freeze it herself), then to the marshes, and finally conjured to Lapland, where he belongs.
Frost was born from willow-bushes,
a small frost-bite from the brushwood,
from a father of eternal ruin,
from a mother who was no mother.
The boy was carried to be christened,
borne forward under the baptism,
to the silver-streaming spring,
at the navel of the golden cliff.
A name was placed on him there,
given and conferred on the boy.
The wicked one was named Frost —
stiffener of fingernails,
tormenter of toe-tips.
Frost, son of Blizzard,
down-feather of the hard sky!
Your pasture is in the milk-sea,
in the hollow of the summer ewe,
in the fenlands of good Liminka.
Winters you ride on the boundary roads,
summers you shimmer in the springs.
Do not freeze my fingernails,
do not torment my toe-tips,
do not frostbite my head,
do not lift my ears with cold.
Go instead to freeze the sea —
Lady Rauna of Northland
went herself to freeze the sea,
froze the bays, froze the ponds,
but could not freeze the sea itself.
There go, away from me —
there they are calling for you,
there your help is needed.
There a finch sits on the open water,
a wagtail on the waves,
whose claws have not yet frozen,
whose small head has not yet suffered cold.
And go to freeze the marshes —
freeze the swamps, freeze the lands.
Sokka first froze the swamps,
Sokka the swamps, Frost the lands.
Where shall I conjure you?
To Lapland's open land,
to the long far reaches of the North —
there it is good for you to be.
There you level the frost-ground,
linger in the cold air,
dwell beneath the season's stake,
kill reindeer in their skins,
eat meat close by,
and knead the troublesome snow.
II. Kalman Synty — The Origin of Death
Kalma — the Finnish death-spirit, embodiment of the corpse and everything that clings to the dead — is addressed with formal courtesy: "fair Death, beautiful Death, bright-blooded Death." The charm acknowledges Kalma's ancient origin in Adam and Eve, then redirects it back to the painted church, the hundred-planked bier, and the holy field — its true home, where copper bells ring and it may cuckoo in golden branches alongside the dead.
Fair Death, beautiful Death,
bright-blooded Death!
Well I know Death's origin:
Death began from those long ago,
from the beginning of Eve and Adam.
Or perhaps you are another's work —
another's raising, another's arrow.
Then go to your maker's home,
to your maker's road-sides,
to your planter's rafters,
in red garments,
swirling in gore.
Cuckoo among golden cuckoos,
dove among silver doves.
Flash like a fire-spark,
move like a slippery dog.
When you have gotten home,
enter the threshold on your claws,
come to the porch doors on your knees.
If you cannot get in from there,
tear holes for windows,
tear nine holes —
take hold at the ankle,
by the hindmost legs;
make the head rattle,
make the bones creak,
the back of the skull to the ground,
the breath unable to breathe.
Kill the child from the floor,
the best cow from the byre,
fit the horns into the dung,
the tail laid along the floor.
But fair Death, beautiful Death,
bright-blooded Death!
If you have come from the painted church,
from beside the hundred-planked bier,
from the end of the thousand plank,
from the bosom of the tar-porch —
then there I will place you back:
beside the painted church,
to the hundred-planked bier's side,
to the thousand plank's end,
to the tar-porch's bosom —
where copper bells are ringing,
where bronze voices resound.
But if you come from the water-ruins,
from the holy field's embankment —
then go, Kalma, to the churchyard,
to the holy field's embankment:
there is your high home,
there is your beautiful estate,
there it is good for you to be,
beloved to wander in.
Cuckoo among golden cuckoos,
dove among silver doves.
III. Myrskyn Sanat — Storm Words
Two variants of the storm charm. In the first, a red boat appears inside a cloud, inside a raindrop, inside a wide lake — Ilmarinen at the oars, Väinämöinen at the stern, Jesus at the center — heading straight into the hard churning sea. In the second, the same three men are dispatched instead to groom Hiisi's elk and wash his reindeer, so that the storm-creatures stop drinking the poor mistress's beer.
An arc glows from far away,
a long cloud from the northwest.
In the cloud is a water-drop,
in the drop is a wide lake,
in the lake is a red boat,
in the boat are three men.
Who is at the oars?
Ilmarinen is at the oars.
Who holds the stern?
Old Väinämöinen holds the stern.
Who is in the middle of the boat?
Jesus is in the middle of the boat.
Where do the men go,
where are the heroes heading?
Toward the hard North,
into the sea's hard churning,
into the wave's crested height,
where the trees fall headlong,
where the pines topple crown-first.
Second variant:
A small cloud appears,
an arc glows from far away.
In the cloud is a water-drop,
in the drop is a small lake,
in the lake is a small boat,
in the boat are three men —
Brother Andrew at the oar-end,
little Peter at the stern,
Jesus in the middle of the boat.
What are they doing there?
They are combing Hiisi's elk,
washing the furry reindeer.
The elk is combed,
the reindeer is washed.
Run there, Hiisi's elk,
furry reindeer, scatter —
where the snakes are drinking beer,
where the worms are drawing the current.
That is why the poor mistress
gets less beer than she should:
the snakes are drinking her beer,
the worms drawing off the current.
IV. Karhun Synty — The Birth of the Bear
The bear origin-charm from Kesälahti, invoking Juumi's Old Man and Old Woman — the divine pair from whom the bear descends in this regional tradition. The bear is addressed by its circumlocution names (murri, "the grumbler"; karren, "the bear"), reminded that its birthplace is Lapland's open land, and warned that neither its father nor its great lord-elder commanded it to eat the hair of harness-animals or drink innocent blood.
Juumi's old man, Juumi's old woman,
those who lived in Juumi long ago!
Russet one, risen from the earth,
dappled-fur one from the heath.
I know the grumbler to have been born,
the bad bear to have grown up,
in the long far reaches of the North,
in Finland's great forest,
in Lapland's open land.
Wool in your mouth, wool on your head [...]
If you have done harm,
come to recognize your deeds [...]
Your father does not command you,
nor your great lord-elder,
to eat the hair of the harness-animal,
to drink innocent blood.
Take your anger away from here,
into your yellow lungs [...]
Colophon
Texts: from Kantele Taikka IV, taikka Suomen Kansan sekä Wanhoja että Nykysempiä Runoja ja Lauluja (Songs and Poems of the Finnish People, Old and More Recent, Volume IV), compiled by Elias Lönnrot, Helsinki: Wasenius, 1831. Project Gutenberg #48202. Public domain. Incantation texts from Kesälahti, Kittilä, Ilomantsi, Eno, and Pielisjärvi parishes.
Translation: Talvi (Liberation Translator Lineage ×124), March 2026. Translated independently from the 1831 Finnish source. The j.n.e. markers ("ja niin edelleen," and so forth) appear in the translation as [...] to indicate oral continuation passages that Lönnrot abbreviated in transcription. Crawford and Kirby's Kalevala translations were not consulted. No prior English translation of these texts exists.
Scribal note: Karhun Synty in this volume (Kesälahti variant) is an earlier, pre-editorial field-collection of what Lönnrot later elaborated into Kalevala Canto 46. Kalman Synty represents the most nuanced register of the tietäjä tradition — addressing the death-spirit by name, with courtesy, in order to redirect it. The second Myrskyn Sanat variant is a rare example of storm-taming through displacement: the storm-spirits are not rebuked but put to work elsewhere. Puhuri (the blizzard) is identified here as Frost's father — connecting Pakkasen Synty to the broader network of northern weather-spirit genealogies.
🌲
Source Text
Pakkasen Synty
From Kantele Taikka IV (1831), lines 1025–1077. Ilomantsi and Kittilä parishes. Pre-Kalevalaic orthography: w = v, j.n.e. = ja niin edelleen.
Pakkanen pajuilla synty,
Risuilla wähä ripanen,
Ikiturmasta isästä,
Emästä epattomasta.
Poika ristiin wietänehe,
Alle kastin kannettanee,
Lähtehelle hopeiselle,
Kultakallion nawalle.
Nimi tuollen pantanehe,
Pojalle ylettänehe.
Pantiin paha Pakkaseksi,
Kynsien kiwistäjäksi,
Waatiaksi warwaspäiten.
Pakkanen Puhurin poika,
Kowan ilman höyhelöinen!
Sinun on maiosta malosi,
Kesi uuhen untelosta,
Limmasta hywän Limingan.
Talwet aioilla ajelet,
Kesät läikyt lähteissä.
Älä kylmää kynsiäni,
Älä waai warpaitani,
Älä päätäni palele,
Älä korwia kohota.
Mene merta kylmäämähän;
Rauna Pohjolan emäntä
Läksi merta kylmäämähän,
Lahet kylmi, lammet kylmi,
Eipä merta kylmännynnä,
Sinne sä mene minusta,
Siellä sinua huuetahan,
Apuasi tarwitahan.
Siell' on peipponen selällä,
Wästäräkki lainehilla,
Senni on kynnet kylmäämätä,
Pää pieni palelemata.
Ja mene soita kylmäämähän;
Kylmää soita, kylmää maita.
Sokka ennen soita kylmi,
Sokka soita, Pakko maita.
Minne mä sinun manoan?
Lapin maahan lankiahan,
Pohjan pitkään perähän;
Siell' on hywä ollaksesi,
Siellä tantereen tasotat,
Wilun ilman wiiwyttelet,
Asut ajan seipään alla,
Tapat petran taljohissa,
Syöt sä lihoa likeltä,
Lunta waiwata lokerrat.
Kalman Synty
From Kantele Taikka IV (1831), lines 514–572. Kittilä parish.
Hywä Kalma, kaunis Kalma,
Walkianwerewä Kalma!
Kyll' on tieän Kalman synnyn:
Kalm' on tuolta alettuna,
Ewan Atamin alusta.
Wai sä lienet teko toisen,
Toisen nosto, toisen nuoli,
Tottas koitellos kotiisi,
Tekiäsi tienohille,
Paniasi parmohille,
Punasissa waattehissa,
Hurmehessa huituwissa.
Kukku kullaissa käkenä,
Hopiaissa kyyhkyläissä.
Tuika kuin tulikipuna,
Liiku kuin lipiä koira.
Kohta kotiin päästyäsi,
Mene kynsin kynnyksessä,
Polwin porstuan owissa.
Kuin et siitä sisään päässe,
Rewi reiät ikkunaksi,
Rewi reikeä yheksän,
Ota kiinni kintereestä,
Takimmaisista jaloista;
Pane pää pärisemähän,
Pane luut lutisemahan,
Takaraiwa tantereeseen,
Henki huokumattomaksi.
Tapa lapsi lattialta,
Paras lehmä lääwästä,
Sarwet sontahan sowita,
Häntä pitkin lattiata.
Waan hywä Kalma, kaunis Kalma,
Walkianwerewä Kalma!
Jos sä lienet tuolta tullut
Kirkon kirjawan tyköä,
Satalauan lappehesta,
Tuhatlauan tutkamesta,
Terwaporstuan powesta;
Niin tuonne mä sinua laitan
Kirkon kirjawan tyköhön,
Satalauan lappeesehen,
Tuhatlauan tutkamehen,
Terwaporstuan powehen;
Siellä kuuluwat kuparit,
Waskin äänet wankahuwat.
Waan liet watturaunioista,
Pyhän pellon penkereeltä;
Niin määh Kalma kalmistohon,
Pyhän pellon penkerehen;
Siell' on korkia kotisi,
Siell' on kaunis kartanosi,
Siell' on hywä ollaksesi,
Armas aikoellaksesi;
Kukut kullaissa käkenä,
Hopiaissa kyyhkyläissä.
Myrskyn Sanat
From Kantele Taikka IV (1831), lines 974–1020. Two variants. Eno parish.
Kaari kaukaa kuumottaapi,
Pitkä pilwi luotehelta.
Pilwess' on wesipisara,
Pisarass' on lampi laaja,
Lammess' on wene punanen,
Wenosess' on kolme miestä.
Kuka noist' on airollissa?
Ilmarinen airollissa.
Kukas pereä pitääpi?
Ite wanha Wäinämöinen.
Kuk' on keskellä wenettä?
Jesus keskellä wenettä.
Minnekkä miehet meneepi,
Kunne kuletta urohot?
Kohti pohjoista kowoa,
Meren kuohuhun kowahan,
Lakkipäähän laineesehen,
Kuhun puut päin putowat,
Hongat latwoin lankiaapi.
Toisin:
Pilwi pikkunen näkyypi,
Kaari kaukaa kuumottaapi;
Pilwess' on wesipisara,
Pisarass' on pikku lampi,
Lammess' on wene wähänen,
Wenosess' on kolme miestä;
Antti Santti airon päässä,
Pieni Pietari perässä,
Jesus keskellä wenettä.
Mitä nuot tekeepi tuolla?
Hiien hirwiä sukiwat,
Poropetroja pesewät.
Sai hirwet sukineeksi,
Poropetrat pesseheksi.
Juokse tuonne, Hiien hirwi,
Poropetra poimettele,
Kussa kyyt olutta juopi,
Maot wierettä wetääpi.
Sen tähen emäntä rukka,
Wähemmin olutta saapi,
Kuin kyyt oluen juopi,
Maot wiertehen wetääpi.
Karhun Synty
From Kantele Taikka IV (1831), lines 1152–1172. Kesälahti parish. The j.n.e. markers indicate oral continuation not transcribed.
Juumin ukko, Juumin akka,
Juumin entiset eläjät!
Rusko mullasta ruwennut,
Karwahalli kankahalta.
Muistan murrin syntyneeksi,
Pahan karren kaswaneeksi,
Pohjan pitkässä perässä,
Suomen suuressa salossa,
Lapin maassa laukiassa.
Willa suusi, willa pääsi j.n.e.
Jos olet pahoa tehnyt,
Tule työsi tuntemahan j.n.e.
Ei sinun isosi käske,
Eikä waltawanhempasi,
Syöä karwoja kapehen,
Wiatonta werta juoa.
Wie pois wihasi tästä,
Keltasihin keuhkohisi j.n.e.
Source Colophon
Source: Kantele Taikka IV, taikka Suomen Kansan sekä Wanhoja että Nykysempiä Runoja ja Lauluja. Compiled by Elias Lönnrot. Helsinki: Wasenius, 1831. Project Gutenberg #48202. Public domain.
🌲