From Lönnrot's Collection of Ancient Finnish Charm Songs
The Hätäsanoja — Emergency Words — are the tietäjä's crisis protocol. When suffering strikes without warning, when evil attacks suddenly, the charm-singer does not have time for elaborate ritual. He calls for God's hour to dawn, for the Lord's help to break forth, and then addresses the attacker directly: "Howl, Hiisi's hound! Raukea, Manala's cur! Stop striking down what was carried, stop slaying what was made!" The spirit is sent back to its own father, who weeps for it on bloody bedsheets.
The Kerskaussanoja — Boasting Words — are the most aggressive incantations in the Loitsurunoja. Where other sections address disease, these address rival sorcerers. The tietäjä declares that no Laplander can enchant him, no sorcerer can touch him. He will sing their caps off their heads, fill those caps with vipers, and feed the serpents to his enemies. His skin is sand, his hide is iron-scale, his trunk is made of pitch-pine. Three tried to enchant him naked on a stone for nine autumn nights — they got nothing from him, as an axe gets nothing from stone. The final charm is a declaration of cosmic authority: "I am a man made by God, made by the Good Maker, carried by two slender ones, created by three Daughters of Luonnotar."
These incantations were collected by Elias Lönnrot and published in Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja (Ancient Charm Songs of the Finnish People, Helsinki, 1880), sections 13–14. This is the tenth file in the charm-singer sequence. Translated from the Finnish by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
Hätäsanoja — Emergency Words
How shall one sing then,
And how shall one murmur,
When the true time comes,
When the day of need presses down?
Thus then shall it be spoken,
Thus truly shall it be considered:
Let God's hour come,
Let the Lord's help dawn,
While this affliction pushes,
While this evil one begins,
While the needy one cries out,
While the oppressed one screams!
Howl, howl, Hiisi's hound,
Wretched one, Manala's cur,
Stop striking down what was carried,
Stop slaying what was made!
Whether you are a Hiisi from Hell,
Or a devil from the Dark-land,
Whether the smallest of devils
Or the noblest of satans,
Go, Hiisi, to Hell,
Perkele, to the Dark-land,
There you are longed for,
There your coming is awaited;
There your father weeps,
There your elder grieves,
On bloody bedsheets,
On crimson pillows.
Kerskaussanoja — Boasting Words
a.
No sorcerers enchant me,
No Laplander sings me down;
I myself enchant my enchanters,
Lap-sing my lap-singers,
I dig out the eye of the envious,
I twist the nose of the sorcerer,
Whether it be a man alive,
A dark-skinned fellow,
Or a woman alive,
A red-blooded sorceress,
A white-blooded wife —
Blood makes all the same.
When I begin to sing,
When I set myself to utter,
I sing apart his shoulders,
I talk apart his jaw,
His collar in two,
His breastbone to pieces;
Then I sing a cap upon his head,
Then I sing beneath that cap
A packet of Viipuri worms,
A host of hairy serpents,
With which I feed my feeders,
With which I bite my biters,
I feed the villains with their legs,
The lizards with their wings,
The serpents with their paws,
The black worms with their segments,
To the finest sorcerers,
To the enchanters and the envious.
b.
No Lapp can sing me down,
No Turjalainen can thrust me;
I myself sing down the Laplander,
And thrust the Turjalainen,
I utter down my secret-eater,
I overthrow the grudge-giver,
Into the marshes where cattle walk,
As the threshold of the evil place,
Into the hooves of the war-horse,
Into the shoes of the battle-colt,
Face into the mud, head into the ashes,
Teeth into the water-log,
Claws into the cold stone,
Fingers into the mossy bog;
Fists into the hot embers,
Elbows into the cinders,
Chest into the evil slab,
Into the blue stone's belly.
c.
I did not come here
Without my knowledge, without my art,
Without my father's inspiration,
Without my ancestor's provisions,
To the seats of man-eaters,
To the places where heroes are drowned.
Let a ewe be eaten as bread,
Let a flatbread be torn apart,
But not a man of my likeness,
Nor a man even worse,
Nor a hero more feeble.
I have been belted with a man's belt,
Buckled with a man's buckle,
Clasped with a hero's clasp.
Already sorcerers have tried to enchant me,
Three Laplanders attempted it,
Three hard sorcerers,
Nine superlatively evil ones,
On three summer nights,
On nine autumn nights,
Entirely stark naked,
Without even a thread wrapped round;
This is what they profited from me,
This much they got from me —
What an axe gets from stone,
What a borer gets from cliff,
What a shaking gets from slippery ice,
What Death gets from an empty house.
d.
No arrows stand in me,
No bladed irons take effect;
The sorcerer's arrows do not stand,
Nor do the wizard's steels;
I pull the blade into a curve,
I turn the edge into a crook;
My hide is made of sand,
My skin is iron-scale,
My trunk is made of pitch-pine,
Fashioned from branches of pine.
If I care to make it equal,
To draw men to the comparison,
I will sing the sorcerers with their arrows,
The shooters with their weapons,
The witches with their blade-irons,
The wizards with their steels,
Into the harsh rapids of Rutja,
Into the terrible whirlpool,
Under the highest spray,
Under the worst eddy,
Into the middle of the rapids' stones,
Among the burning boulders,
To freeze as fire,
To spark as sparks.
There let the sorcerers sleep,
There let the envious lie,
Until the grass shall grow
Through the head, through the helmet,
Through the sorcerer's shoulders,
Through the flesh of the back,
On the sorcerer who lies sleeping,
On the envious one who slumbers.
e.
Then I shall not be
A man called a man,
Made by a proper mother,
Begotten by a steady wife,
If I am eaten for nothing,
Torn apart like flatbread.
I am a young son of sorcerers,
A calf of old diviners,
I have visited the smithy before,
I visited before, I visited yesterday,
Even today as well,
To have steels forged,
To have irons fashioned.
I had shoes made of steel,
I had a shirt cast of copper,
So that the sorcerer's arrows do not stand,
The sorcerer's arrows, the witch's knives,
The wizard's steel-weapons.
Whatever the sorcerers may enchant,
However the seers may see,
However the road-walkers may seize,
However the Laplanders may utter,
Let it return to their own homes,
Let it sink into their own dwellings;
Let them enchant themselves,
Let them sing their own children,
Let them kill their own kindred,
Let them abuse their own household!
Let the sorcerer himself be enchanted,
Let the road-walker be turned back,
Let the spur-hand fall,
Let the Laplander stumble,
Upon his own making's edges,
Upon his own creation's tangles,
The sorcerer upon his own arrows,
The wizard upon his own steels,
The witch upon her own blade-irons,
The Laplander upon his own songs!
f.
There may not be in me a man,
A knower of the deep birth,
But even so, all the same,
Still now at this age,
When I get to uttering,
When I begin speaking,
I shall not be eaten for nothing,
Nor slain without disease.
Whoever tries me hard,
I try him harder;
When I undertake whatever it be,
When I fashion whatever form,
When I turn my coat inside out,
When I put my clothes on wrong,
I take the knowledge from the knowers,
I take the power from the powerful,
I sing the sorcerers with their arrows
Into whatever, wherever,
Toes into the bog to sink,
Onto the heath to fall,
Into the meadow from the groin-flesh,
Into the heath from the armpits;
I sing the jaw into the clay,
The beard into the evil place;
I thrust fire into the sorcerer's mouth,
Tar into the wizard's throat,
Until the sorcerer's gullet dries,
Until the Laplander's tongue withers,
To be eaten by Tuoni's grubs,
To be tasted by Mana's worms.
g.
I, a man made by God,
Made by the Good Maker,
Carried by two slender ones,
Created by three Daughters of Luonnotar,
I enchant the sorcerers, I see the seers,
I sing all the Laplanders,
I sing the Hiisi-spirits skiing,
I make the evil ones flee,
To lands never heard of,
To places never named;
I put Death's reins in their mouths,
The shackles of the grave upon their shoulders,
A stone-pack on their backs,
An iron-bar on their shoulders,
I thrust them into the squelching bog,
I sink them in the stagnant pool.
Colophon
Translated from the Finnish by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Source text: Elias Lönnrot, Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran kirjapainossa, 1880), sections 13 ("Hätäsanoja") and 14 ("Kerskaussanoja"). One emergency charm and seven boasting charms (a–g) with variant readings noted in the source.
This is the tenth file in the charm-singer sequence, following:
- Foundational Words (Alkusanoja)
- Protection Words (Varomussanoja)
- Evil Eye Words (Kateen sanoja)
- Retribution Words and Origin-Investigations (Kostosanoja / Alkuperäisyyden tiedustussanoja)
- Work-Repair Words and Wrath-Removal Words (Työnsä korjaussanoja / Vihotussanoja)
- Yielding Words (Luovutussanoja)
- Conveyance Words (Kyydityssanoja)
- Pain Words (Kipusanoja)
- Scolding Words and Spirit-Summoning Words (Nuhdesanoja / Haltioihin-saattosanoja)
The Kerskaussanoja reveal the competitive nature of Finnish shamanism. The tietäjä is not a passive healer — he is a warrior who fights other sorcerers. The recurring motif of singing enemies' caps full of serpents is distinctively Finnish. The claim to invulnerability — "my hide is sand, my skin is iron-scale" — parallels Väinämöinen's boasts in the Kalevala. The final charm (g) achieves cosmic scale: the tietäjä is God-made, carried by two, created by three Daughters of Luonnotar, and his power extends to sinking enemies in stagnant pools with stone-packs on their backs.
Blood Rule attestation: translated independently from the Finnish. No prior English translation is known to exist. Lönnrot's Finnish text is the sole source. The 1880 edition is in the public domain.
Scribe: Uralic Verse Translator (Rímur Translator lineage), New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026.
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Source Text
13. Hätäsanoja.
Kuinka silloin lauletahan,
Ja kuten kujerretahan,
Kun aika tosin tulevi,
Hätäpäivä päälle saapi?
Noin silloin sanottanehen,
Tosin tutkaeltanehen:
Tulkohon Jumalan tunti,
Apu Herran auvetkohon,
Tämän puskun puskiessa,
Ilkeän alustaessa,
Hätäisen huutaessa,
Pakkoisen parkuessa!
Huuti, huuti, Hiitten hurtta,
Raukea, Manalan rakki,
Kannettua kaatamasta,
Tehtyä teloamasta!
Ollet Hiisi helvetistä,
Tai piru Pimentolasta,
Josko pienin perkeleitä,
Tai jaloin saatanoita,
Mene, Hiisi, helvettihin,
Perkele, Pimentolahan,
Siellä sua kaivatahan,
Tuloasi vuotetahan;
Siellä itkevi isosi,
Välittävi vanhempasi,
Verisillä vuotehilla,
Punaisilla polsterilla.
14. Kerskaussanoja.
a.
Ei minua noiat noiu,
Eikä laula Lappalainen;
Itse noiun noitujani,
Lapehin lapehtiani,
Katehelta silmän kaivan,
Noialta nenän nutistan,
Olkohonpa mies-eläjä,
Mustapintainen musikka,
Tahi vaimoinen eläjä,
Velho ruskeaverinen,
Valkeanverevä vaimo,
Veret kaikk' yhen tekevät.
Kun ma lähen laulamahan,
Saan itse sanelemahan,
Laulan halki hartionsa,
Puhki leukansa puhelen,
Paian kauluksen kaheksi,
Rikki rintalastasesta;
Siit' on laulan lakin päähän,
Siitä laulan alle lakin
Vihkon Viipurin matoja,
Joukon jouhikäärmehiä,
Joilla syötän syöjiäni,
Purioitani puretan,
Syötän konnat koipinensa,
Sisiliskot siipinensä,
Käärmehet käpälinensä,
Maot mustat muojuinensa,
Parahille tietäjille,
Noi'ille, kaehtijoille.
b.
Ei minua laula Lappi,
Eikä tunge Turjalainen;
Itse laulan Lappalaisen,
Sekä tungen Turjalaisen,
Salasyöjäni sanelen,
Vihan suovan sorruttelen,
Soille karjan käytäville,
Pahan paikan portahaksi,
Sorkkihin sotahevosen,
Kavioihin vainovarsan,
Suin sytehen, päin savehen,
Hampahin vesihakohon,
Kynsin kylmähän kivehen,
Sormin suohon sammalihin;
Koprin kuumihin poroihin,
Kypenihin kyynäsvarsin,
Sylin paatehen paha'an,
Sinisen kiven sisähän.
c.
En mä tänne tullutkana
Tieottani, taiottani,
Ilman innotta isäni,
Varuksitta vanhempani,
Miesten syöjien sijoille,
Urosten upottajille.
Uuhi uunna syötäköhön,
Rieskana revittäköhön,
Vaan ei mies minun näköinen,
Eikä mies pahempikana,
Uros untelompikana.
Minua on vyötty miesten vyöllä,
Pantu miesten palkimella,
Solmittu uron solilla.
Jo minua noiat noitui,
Koki kolme Lappalaista,
Kolme noitoa kovoa,
Yheksän yli pahoa,
Kolmena kesäisnä yönä,
Yheksänä syksy-yönä,
Aivan alkosen alasti,
Rikorihman kiertämättä;
Senpä hyötyivät minusta,
Sen verran minusta saivat,
Min kirves kivestä saapi,
Napakaira kalliosta,
Järky jäästä iljanesta,
Tuoni tyhjästä tuvasta.
d.
Ei minuhun piilit pysty,
Terärauat tee tehoa;
Ei ne pysty noian nuolet,
Eikä tietäjän teräkset;
Terän vennoksi vetäisen,
Kären käännän käppyrähän;
Mull' on hiekkainen hipiä,
Rauankarstainen kamara,
Runko tehty tervaksista,
Hongan oksista osattu.
Jos tahon tasoille panna,
Miesten verroille veteä,
Laulan noiat nuolinensa,
Ampujat asehinensa,
Velhot veitsirautoinensa,
Tietäjät teräksinensä,
Rutjan koskehen kovahan,
Kinahmehen kauheahan,
Alle koprun korkeimman,
Alle pyörtehen pahimman,
Keskelle kosken kiviä,
Palavia paateroita,
Tulena palelemahan,
Säkehinä säihkymähän.
Siellä noiat nukkukohot,
Siellä maatkohot katehet,
Kunnes heinä kasvanevi,
Läpi pään, läpi kypärin,
Läpi noian olkapäien,
Läpi hartiolihojen,
Noialta makoavalta,
Katehelta nukkuvalta.
e.
En ma sitten lienekkänä
Mies mieheksi mainittava,
Emän tehtoisen tekemä,
Vaimon varman sonattama,
Jos ma syyttä syötänehen,
Rieskana revittanehen.
Min' oon noian nnorin poika,
Vanhan arpojan vasikka,
Kävin ennen seppälässä,
Kävin ennen, kävin eilen,
Vieläpä tänäki päänä,
Teräksiä teettämässä,
Rautoja rakentamassa.
Teräksestä kengät teetin,
Paian vaskesta valatin,
Jott' ei pysty noian nuolet,
Noian nuolet, velhon veitset,
Tietäjän teräs-asehet.
Minkä noiat noitunevat,
Kunka nähnevät näkiät,
Tienkäviät temmannevat,
Lappalaiset lausunevat,
Kotihinsa koitukohon,
Majahansa maatukohon;
Noitukohot itsiänsä,
Laulakohot lapsiansa,
Sukuansa surmatkohot,
Heimoansa herjatkohot!
Itse noita noivukohon,
Tienkäviä kääntyköhön,
Käsikannus kaatukohon,
Langetkohon Lappalainen,
Tekemihinsä terihin,
Luomihinsa kykkäröihin,
Noita nuolihin omihin,
Tietäjä teräksihinsä,
Velho veitsirautoihinsa,
Lappalainen lauluihinsa!
f.
Ei minussa miestä liene
Syvän synnyn tietäjätä,
Vaan kuitenki kaikitenki
Vielä nyt iällä tällä,
Kun saanen sanelemahan,
Lähtenen puhelemahan,
Ei minua syyttä syöä,
Eikä tau'itta tapeta.
Ken mua kovin kokevi,
Sen koen minä kovemmin;
Mie kun miksiki rupean,
Kummaksi kuvaeleime,
Nurin nuttuni mutelen,
Väärin käännän vaatteheni,
Saan ma tieot tietäjiltä,
Otan mahin mahtajilta,
Laulan noiat nuolinensa
Min mikäli, kun kukali,
Sorkin suohon sortuvaksi,
Kankahalle kaatuvaksi,
Niittyhyn nivuslihoista,
Kankahasen kainaloista;
Laulan leuvan liettehesen,
Parran paikkahan paha'an;
Tulen tungen noian suuhun,
Tervan tietäjän kitahan,
Jokohan kuivi noian kulkku,
Lakahtui Lapilta kieli,
Syöä Tuonen toukkasien,
Maistella Manan matosten.
g.
Minä mies Jumalan luoma,
Tekemä hyvän tekiän,
Kahen kantama kapehen,
Luoma kolmen Luonnottaren,
Noiun noiat, näen näkiät,
Laulan kaikki Lappalaiset,
Laulan Hiiet hiihtämähän,
Saan pahat pakenemahan,
Maille kuulumattomille,
Nimen tietämättömille;
Panen surman suitset suuhun,
Kalman kahlehet olalle,
Kivikontin selkähänsä,
Rautaharkon hartioille,
Tungen suohon soiluvihin,
Umpilampihin upotan.
Source Colophon
Source text from Elias Lönnrot, Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran kirjapainossa, 1880), sections 13–14. Public domain. Digital text sourced from Project Gutenberg edition #48751.
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