This is a summary of the cantos of the Kalevala.
The Kalevala is considered the national epic of Finland. It was compiled and edited from the songs of numerous folk singers by Elias Lönnrot while he was a district health officer in eastern Finland, at that time under the governance of Russia as Grand Duchy of Finland. The Kalevala has been translated into about 48 languages and has been an important cultural inspiration for the Finnish people for many years. The poem consists of 50 cantos (runos) and 22,795 lines of poetry. The poem tells the story of a people, from the very beginning of the world to the introduction of Christianity.
Cantos 1 – 10: First Väinämöinen Cycle After a brief introduction to the poem and story by the singers in poetic form, the poem proper begins.
Canto I. – Birth of Väinämöinen
Ilmatar, the daughter of the air, descends to the sea and is fertilised; she becomes the Water-mother. She gestates for centuries to no avail and laments her lot.
Time passes, and Sotka, a goldeneye floats over the water seeking a place to rest and make her nest. It sees the knee of the Water-mother rising above the waves and, confusing it for a grassy hill, decides to make its nest there. On the third day the Water-mother feels her knee is too hot and fears it is burning. She twitches her leg and the eggs fall into the water, crashing into fragments.
The fragments of the eggs grow into the earth and heavens and sun and moon and stars and the final pieces into the clouds.
Within the Water-mother's womb, Väinämöinen is growing and turning. He laments his situation and prays to the gods to release him from his dark prison. When the gods fail to give him freedom, he forces his own way into the world; he slips into the sea and floats for nine years until he hits ground. He turns himself over on this new land and beholds the moon and stars and sun for the first time.
Canto II. – Sowing of Life
Väinämöinen summons Sampsa Pellervoinen, the architect of the forests, to sow the land with trees. He sows many trees and in time they grow and flourish; however, the oak will not grow.
The sea monster Iku-Turso rises and burns a haystack. Into the ashes arrived an acorn that began to grow. It grows taller than any other tree in the land, growing up to heaven and blocking out the sun and moon. Väinämöinen calls the Water-mother to send him someone who can fell the great tree. A man appears from the water clad in copper from head to toe, a man no taller than a man's thumb.
Väinämöinen mocks the man, but the man grows so large his head in among the clouds. He swings his great copper axe, and the great oak is felled on the third stroke.
The remains of the great oak tree bring great things to those who lay claim to it and all is well. Forests grow well and the birds and woodland creatures thrive. However, Väinämöinen notices his grains do not grow. He fells the forests, but he leaves a birch tree for the birds to rest upon. An eagle is grateful for this, so it strikes up fire and burns the wood of the felled forest.
Väinämöinen takes his seeds once more and sows the land. In a matter of days the seeds are growing and the land is filled. Väinämöinen beholds the beauty of his fertile land. A cuckoo comes and sings in joy.
Canto III. – Väinämöinen and Joukahainen
The Lapland youth Joukahainen believes he can sing better songs than Väinämöinen. He informs his family he will defeat Väinämöinen in a battle of knowledge and song. His mother and father forbid him from such an unwise endeavour, but Joukahainen is young and arrogant and he does not listen. He sets out to do battle, and rides for three days solid. During the third day he and Väinämöinen collide, smashing both their sledges and causing a great mess.
A contest of knowledge ensues. Väinämöinen is not impressed with Joukahainen's primitive and childish knowledge and warns him to yield, but the youth does not, and he proceeds to lie about his achievements, annoying Väinämöinen. Young Joukahainen then challenges Väinämöinen to battle with blades; he informs him that he is not afraid of his childish threats and Joukahainen then begins to throw insults at Väinämöinen. This greatly angers the old wizard and he begins to sing; he sings Joukahainen's possessions into nature and the youth himself into the earth all the way to his shoulders.
Joukahainen panics. He offers all of his material possessions to Väinämöinen, but the old man is not interested. Then Joukahainen offers his sister Aino as his wife. Väinämöinen grows joyful and reverses his song-spell, releasing the young Joukahainen from the earth.
Joukahainen returns to his home and weeps to his mother as he tells her the tale and his offer to Väinämöinen. His mother tells him not to sob. Aino overhears and weeps uncontrollably. Her mother tries to comfort her but to no avail, and Aino weeps for a long time.
Canto IV. – Fate of Aino
Aino goes to the forest to gather twigs and birch branches and meets with Väinämöinen, he asks her to be his and his alone and she responds with contempt, tearing her jewels and bangles from her person stating that she would rather wear the garb of a simple farm girl than be married to him, she runs home weeping.
When she arrives home she receives little sympathy from her father, brother or sister and when she goes for consolation to her mother she tells her to stop weeping and to prepare for married life. Aino's mother tells her of her younger life when she was a virgin bride and tries to instruct her in married life, but Aino does not want to listen, instead she goes away weeping. Aino weeps for days, her mother once again tries to console her.
Aino wanders to the storehouse and dresses in the finest clothes and jewels, she wanders through the countryside bewailing her lot, singing as she walks. She comes to a bay and over the water sees three maidens washing, she feels she should join then and throws her fine garments on the harsh rocks of the bay and proceeds to swim towards the rocky outcrop where the maidens are located. She reaches the rocky island and it sinks beneath her taking her form and soul with it.
A hare sets out from the waters edge to take the message of her death to her family. When her mother hears the tragic news she bitterly laments:
She then weeps for days, her tears forming three large rivers.
Canto V. – Väinämöinen and the Fish
Väinämöinen hears of Aino's death and laments throughout the days and nights, he prepares his boat and fishing tackle and sets out to the water. He catches a fish and draws it into his boat, he is amazed at the fish as it is unlike any fish he's ever seen before, he prepares to cut the fish and it slips from his fingers.
The fish addresses him disdainfully, telling him that she is Aino in fish form come to be his companion and not to be cut to pieces, she leaves and tells him that he will never see her again. Väinämöinen tries to capture her again, he weaves a net and dredges the water but does not find the Aino-fish.
Väinämöinen laments heavily at his stupidity and rashness, he calls to his long-dead mother, who advises him that he should seek a bride in Pohjola, a worthy bride of fair complexion and bright eyes.
Canto VI. – Joukahainen's Revenge
Väinämöinen sets out upon his journey to Pohja. Joukahainen however had not forgotten his loss in the singing competition and the loss of his sister and his humiliation, he held a deep rage against Väinämöinen and plotted to kill him, he created a frightening crossbow, its string the hair from the Moose of Hiisi.
Joukahainen waits for Väinämöinen to pass by, he waits for a long time and one day he spies something on the horizon, confusing it for a cloud at first he soon realises it is the ancient wizard himself. He prepares his weapon, his mother asks him for whom he is preparing his mighty crossbow, when he tells her she pleads for him to reconsider, should Väinämöinen die the world will be plunged into sadness and stillness and the magical music will only be heard in the realms of Tuonela.
Joukahainen does not heed his mothers pleas, he prepares his first arrow and shoots high, his second arrow shoots low and the third while not hitting Väinämöinen himself, hits his horse in the chest, plunging Väinämöinen into the rushing waters.
Canto VII. – Väinämöinen Meets Louhi
Väinämöinen drifts on the roaring sea for eight days, his body beaten and battered. On the eighth day an eagle from Lapland flies overhead and—remembering the great favour Väinämöinen did by leaving the birch tree—lifts him high and carries him to the dry land in Pohjola.
Väinämöinen weeps for three days but a young girl hears his weeping and goes to fetch Louhi, the hostess of Pohjola. She meets with him and questions who he is and where he is from, although she seems to already know. She offers to return him to his homeland in return for him forging the magical mill, Sampo. He informs her that although he cannot do it, he will get the great smith Ilmarinen—the forger of the sky dome itself—to do it.
Louhi promises her eldest and most magnificent maiden daughter to Ilmarinen if he forges a Sampo and she gives Väinämöinen a horse and sledge to get home, but warns him not to look skyward until he is home. Väinämöinen departs Pohjola.
Canto VIII. – Väinämöinen's Wound
Väinämöinen is speeding along on his journey when he hears something curious above his head and against the advice of Louhi he looks up and sees an enormous rainbow with a beauteous maiden at the end of it. He invites her to come to his sledge and be his wife. She acts coy and tells him she will come with him if he succeeds in numerous challenges the final and greatest being the creation and launching of a boat without touching or interfering with it. He works hard on the creation of the boat, for three days, on the third day Hiisi makes Väinämöinen's axe head turn to his knee, cleaving a mighty wound into it.
Väinämöinen tries in vain to quell the bleeding, he rides hard along the road to find someone who can close his wound and stop his blood flowing, however nobody is capable, until he finds an old man in a small dwelling who says he is capable.
Canto IX. – Origin of Iron
The old man greets Väinämöinen and asks him, in amazement of the enormous loss of blood, who he is. He informs Väinämöinen that he can heal him, but he cannot quite remember the origin of iron, if he knew then the wound could be closed and the flow of blood stopped.
Väinämöinen proceeds to tell of the origin of Iron, of the great daughters of creation and the breast milk spilled over the land which created streams of iron throughout the world. He tells of fire and fire's desire to consume iron and of the birth of the ancient smith Ilmarinen. Ilmarinen comforts the iron telling it that it will become beautiful when combined with fire. Väinämöinen tells of Ilmarinen's struggle to find the tempering agent and of the evil Hiisi's poisoning of the iron with venoms and acids causing the iron to grow bitter and evil, and to shout to its relatives to cut and slice flesh and blood in revenge of this poisoning.
Now that the old man knew the origin of iron he could help Väinämöinen. He directs his young son to make an ointment to salve the wound. The boy gathers oak branches, grasses and herbs and boils the ointment for many days. After the ointment is prepared he tests it on an aspen tree and broken stones and then returns to the old man.
The old man applies the ointment to Väinämöinen who struggles and thrashes in suffering, but the old man banishes the pain to the pain hill, he applies silken bandages to the wound. The old man informs Väinämöinen that it is the creator not himself doing the healing.
Canto X. – Ilmarinen Forges the Sampo