"Mun kanteleeni kauniimmin
taivaassa kerran soi . . . "


Picture source: Värisuomi OY, Pohjois-Karjalan Kirjapaino,
Joensuu, Finland, 1976

KANTELE'S KALEVALA CONNECTION . . .

The following is a summary of Poems No. 39-44 from the Finnish national epic Kalevala, which explain the mythological birth of kantele. The summary is by Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura (Finnish Literature Society), translated by Anneli Asplund and Sirkka-Liisa Mettomäki, and is used here by permission. Art work is Akseli Gallén-Kallela's Sammon puolustus.

Poems 39-41

Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen and Lemminkäinen
set out to steal the Sampo from Pohjola.
In the course of the journey, their boat runs
aground on the shoulders of a giant pike.
Väinämöinen kills the pike and fashions a
kantele from its jawbone. No one else is
able to play the instrument, but Väinämöinen
holds all living things spellbound with his
playing.

Poems 42-43

Väinämöinen puts the people of Pohjola
to sleep with his kantele playing and the
Sampo is taken to the travellers' boat
and rowed away. The people of Pohjola
awaken and Louhi, the mistress of Pohjola,
sends obstacles in the path of the raiders
to hinder their escape. The seafarers
survive, but the kantele falls into the sea.
Louhi sets off in pursuit and transforms
herself into a giant bird of prey. In the
ensuing battle the Sampo is smashed and
falls into the sea. Some of the fragments
remain in the sea, but others wash ashore
and bring Finland good fortune and prosperity.
Louhi is left with only the worthless lid of
the Sampo and an impoverished land.

Poem 44

In vain, Väinämöinen seeks the kantele which fell into
the sea. He makes a new kantele from birchwood and
his playing once again delights the whole of creation.

Click here for more information about kantele.

BACK to KUTRI'S HERITAGE

Copyright © 1998-2007

E-mail can be sent to mailtokk at yahoo dot com

This page was created on June 17, 1998
Most recent revision: April 26, 2007