from Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja, compiled by Elias Lönnrot (1880)
These six charms (e–k) complete the Protection Words (Varomussanoja), the second section of Lönnrot's great collection of Finnish charm songs. Variants a–d — the iron armour, the bridled bears, the ancestral underworld shirts, the wool sheared from stone — are published separately. These six complete the set.
Where variants a–d build protection from metal and muscle, variants e–k reach further: into cosmic vision (e), ancestral solidarity (f), terrifying warning (g), escalating force from dog to sea-warrior to heavenly champion (h), divine canopy (i), and finally the most intimate of all — a memory of being carried by a funny little god with a merciful paw (k). The arc of the complete set moves from iron to intimacy, from armour to love.
Variant k is perhaps the most extraordinary passage in the entire Varomussanoja. The tietäjä sets aside all his weapons and defenses and remembers: "My funny little God, my bumbling little haltia, always helped me... carried the man all day, laid him down at evening to rest." The diminutives (jukkeroinen, kekkeroinen) are terms of deep affection — like calling the divine by a pet name. The strongest protection is not iron but memory: someone carried you.
The charms were collected from living folk practice across Finland in the early and mid-nineteenth century. They have never appeared in English.
e. The Fire-Eagle
A maiden sprang from the cloud,
A holy girl from the sky,
Sat herself down to weep
Upon a worm-eaten tussock.
There she sat and wept;
Three rivers run
From one maiden's tears —
One is water, the second honey,
The third is a rapids of fire.
In the rapids a fire-island,
On the island a fire-birch,
In the birch a fire-eagle —
Its beak like a sorcerer's nose,
Its talons five scythes —
To fetch the witch's arrows,
To conquer the mighty,
To pluck away the seers,
To herd away the envious,
That the witch's arrows shall not pierce,
The witch's arrows, the knife-sheaths,
The seer's sharp irons.
Whatever witches lurk in the ditches,
Let them turn upon their own arrows,
The knife-casters upon their knives,
The seers upon their steels,
The mighty upon their own might!
f. The Rising Kindred
If I set out alone,
Let nine set out;
If I flinch as two,
Let eight flinch for me —
For me, a lad's sake,
Around a solitary one;
Let my great kindred rise
Like the massive face of a fell,
My bright clan
Like the long edge of a cloud,
To stand at my side,
To walk beside me,
Against the force of adversity,
Toward the hard places!
g. The Warning
Whoever tries me hard,
Already tries a villain,
Wrestles with a fiend,
Or else with the mother-devil,
Invokes the mother of Hiisi.
Whoever tries me hard
From the manly folk,
From the company of men —
Let him try his dogs,
Let him ruin his whelps;
Whoever tries me hard
From the womanish folk too,
From among the women —
Let her try her womb,
Let her look to her belly!
h. The Three Escalations
If sorcerers rise against me,
If seers set themselves above me,
I have a dog at home,
A black dog, an iron hound,
Bound with its back to the wall,
Its breast toward the baptised folk;
Let it be driven here now
To devour the village's curses,
To peck at the village's witches,
To snap up the malicious!
If that be not enough,
Let men come from the sea,
Heroes from the land-locked lakes,
To my help, to my sole aid,
To conquer my enemies,
To fell the envious;
Let a hundred heroes come,
A thousand men with their swords,
From the great battle-heaps,
From the slaughter-grounds of men!
But if that is not obeyed,
I have a thousand acquaintances,
A hundred of the Lord's champions,
Up there in the heavens —
They bring me a fiery sword
From the Best of Shepherds
Into my right hand,
With which I hack down the harms,
I fell the earthly envious,
I conquer the water-wizards.
i. The Creator's Tent
The Creator's magical tent,
Mary's steady cloak —
Let them be brought as my shelter,
Let them be put upon me,
That the witch's arrows shall not pierce,
Nor the seer's steels!
When witches rise against me,
I sigh higher still,
Above my head into the sky,
To that old man of heaven
Who holds the clouds,
Who governs the wisps of mist,
Who speaks through the clouds,
Who calls across the air;
When witches press me down,
I sigh lower still,
Into the earth beneath my feet,
To my mother, the earth-mother.
k. The Funny Little God
How I heard it, how they said it
While I was in this land,
While I was living in the air,
In the old days of my father:
Thus I heard, thus they said —
My funny little God,
My bumbling little haltia
Always helped me
Among the witches' company,
On the seers' roadsides —
Helped with his merciful paw,
With his mighty strength,
Carried the man all day,
Laid him down at evening to rest.
Colophon
Source: Elias Lönnrot (compiler), Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja (Ancient Charm Songs of the Finnish People), Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura (Finnish Literature Society), 1880. Series: SKS Toimituksia, volume 62. Section I.2: Varomussanoja (Protection Words), charms e–k (pp. 15–19 of the charm text; Project Gutenberg eText #48751, lines 1793–1951).
Digitised source: Project Gutenberg eText #48751 (gutenberg.org/ebooks/48751). Finnish diacritics (ä, ö) preserved; 1880 orthography retained.
Translation: Good Works Translation (AI-assisted). Translated from Finnish by the New Tianmu Anglican Church (Nahiḍ, Liberation Translator), March 2026. The English is independently derived from Lönnrot's Finnish. No existing English translation was consulted, as none is known to exist. These six variants (e–k) supplement the published variants a–d.
Note on variant k: The diminutives jukkeroinen ("funny little," "bumbling") and kekkeroinen ("clumsy little," "bumbling") are terms of deep affection — pet names for the divine. The word armokoprallansa ("with his merciful paw") uses the animal term kopra (paw), implying the guardian spirit is understood as a creature, something warm and physical. This variant stands apart from all others in the Varomussanoja: the protection is not iron, not eagles, not ancestors, not armies — it is the memory of being carried.
On the verse form: These charms share the trochaic tetrameter of the Kalevala tradition. The English preserves the parallelism and the building pressure without attempting metrical imitation. Variant f's brevity is characteristic — a call to the kindred in fourteen lines, with no escalation and no "if that be not enough." The kindred is enough.
Key terms: Hiisi — the wild spirit or its domain; in charm context, a dangerous otherworld. Haltia — guardian spirit, genius loci. Tietäjä — seer, shaman. Noita — witch. Ukko — the pre-Christian sky-father, thunder god. Maaemä — earth-mother. Löyly — sauna steam (see Foundational Words). Jukkeroinen — diminutive: funny, bumbling, dear. Kekkeroinen — diminutive: clumsy, bumbling, beloved. Kopra — paw, the hand of an animal.
Variant readings: Lönnrot records variant readings (marked Toisin: in the source) from different regional collectors. These are preserved in the source text below.
Register: Gospel register (plain, direct, warm).
Scribe: Nahiḍ, Liberation Translator, New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Varomussanoja (e–k)
Finnish source text from Elias Lönnrot (compiler), Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja, Helsinki: SKS, 1880. Section I.2: Varomussanoja (Protection Words), charms e–k. Digitised text from Project Gutenberg eText #48751. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
e.
Impi pilvestä pirahti,
Pyhä piika taivahasta,
Istahtihe itkemähän
Matoiselle mättähälle.
Siinä istui sekä itki;
Juoksevi jokea kolme
Yhen immen kyynelistä,
Yks' on vettä, toinen mettä,
Kolmas on tulinen koski,
10 Koskessa tulinen luoto,
Luo'ossa tulinen koivu,
Koivussa tulinen kotka,
Nenä on kuin noian nokka,
Kynnet viisi viikatetta
Noian nuolta noutamahan,
Väkeviä voittamahan,
Tietäjiä tempomahan,
Katehia kaitsemahan,
Ett' ei pysty noian nuolet,
20 Noian nuolet, veitsiverhot,
Tietäjän terävät rauat.
Mi on noitia noroilla,
Nuolihinsa noivukohot,
Verhottajat veitsihinsä,
Tietäjät teräksihinsä,
Väkihinsä muut väkevät!
Toisin:
15. N. n. nostamahan
f.
Jos minä yritän yksin,
Yheksän yrittäköhön,
Jos minä kavahan kaksin,
Kaheksan kavahtakohon,
Minun pojan puolestani,
Yksinäisen ympärille;
Nouskohon sukuni suuri
Kuin on vankka vaaran paltta,
Heimokuntani heleä
10 Kuin on pitkä pilven ranta,
Siireheni seisomahan,
Vieressä vaeltamahan,
Vasten vastuksen väkeä,
Kohin paikkoja kovia!
Toisin:
7. Nostan ma s. suuren
9. H. herätän
Heti heimoni herätän
g.
Ken mua kovin kokevi,
Se jo konnoa kokevi,
Riiviöä reistoavi,
Elikkä emäpirua,
Emähiittä hiioavi.
Ken mua kovin kokevi
Urohoisesta väestä,
Miehisestä joukkiosta,
Kokekohon koiriansa,
10 Pilatkohon pentujansa;
Ken mua kovin kokevi
Vaimoisestaki väestä,
Naisten naarojen seasta,
Kokekohon kohtuansa,
Varokohon vatsoansa!
Toisin:
10. P. pyssyjänsä
h.
Josp' on noiat nosteleikse,
Tietäjät ylenteleikse,
On mulla kotona koira,
Musta koira, rautarakki,
Selin seinähän siottu,
Rinnoin ristirahvasehen;
Se nyt tänne täytyköhön
Syömähän kylän kiroja,
Kylän noiat nokkimahan,
10 Äkähiset appamahan!
Kun ei siitä kyllin liene,
Tulkohon merestä miehet,
Umpilammista urohot,
Avukseni, ainokseni,
Vihollisten voittajaksi,
Katehien kaatajaksi;
Saakohon sata urosta,
Tuhat miestä miekkoinensa,
Suurilta sotakeoilta,
20 Miesten tappotanterilta!
Vaan jos ei sitä totelle,
Tuhat mull' on tuttuani,
Sata Herran sankaria,
Ylähällä taivosessa,
Ne tuopi tulisen miekan
Parahalta paimenelta
Käteheni oikeahan,
Jolla haitat hakkaelen,
Kaa'an maalliset katehet,
30 Ve'elliset velhot voitan.
i.
Luojan telta tenhollinen,
Maarian vakainen vaippa,
Turvakseni tuotakohon,
Päälleni puettakohon,
Ett' ei pysty noian nuolet,
Eikä tietäjän teräkset!
Kun noiat ylenteleikse,
Ylemmäksi huokoaime,
Pääni päälle taivosehen,
10 Tuolle taivahan ukolle,
Joka pilviä pitävi,
Hattaroita hallitsevi,
Puhki pilvien puhuvi,
Halki ilman haastelevi;
Kun noiat alenteleikse,
Alemmaksi huokaelen,
Maahan alle jalkojeni,
Maammolleni maaemähän.
k.
Kuinka kuulin, kuin sanoivat
Tässä maassa ollessani,
Ilmassa eläessäni
Ison entisen ajalla?
Noin ma kuulin, noin sanoivat:
Jumalani jukkeroinen,
Haltiani kekkeroinen
Aina autteli minua
Noien noitien seassa,
10 Tietäjien tienohilla,
Auttoi armokoprallansa,
Väkevällä voimallansa,
Kantoi miestä kaiken päivän,
Laski illalla lepohon.
Toisin:
1. K. k., k. sanoimma
12. V. vallallansa
14. Heitti i. l.
Source Colophon
Finnish source text from Elias Lönnrot (compiler), Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja, Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1880. Project Gutenberg eText #48751. Public domain.
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