A collection of illustrations inspired by snippets of poems found in the Finnish national epic Kalevala.
Illustrations by Jenni Saarenkyla jennisaarenkyla.carbonmade.com
... And the eggs fall into ocean, Dash in pieces on the bottom Of the deep and boundless waters. In the sand they do not perish, Not the pieces in the ocean; But transformed, in wondrous beauty All the fragments come together Forming pieces two in number, One the upper, one the lower, Equal to the one, the other. From one half the egg, the lower, Grows the nether vault of Terra: From the upper half remaining, Grows the upper vault of Heaven; From the white part come the moonbeams, From the yellow part the sunshine, From the motley part the starlight, From the dark part grows the cloudage...
.. When I sink beneath the sea-foam, Make my home in salmon-grottoes, Make my bed in crystal waters, Water-ferns my couch and pillow...
... With the stone of many colors Sank poor Aino to the bottom Of the deep and boundless blue-sea, Like a pretty son-bird. perished. Never come a-fishing, father, To the borders of these waters, Never during all thy life-time, As thou lovest daughter Aino...
... Then the goblin reindeer ran, Headlong ran the elk of Hiisi, Galloped past the barns of Northland, Through the yards of Lapland children. In the tents upset the buckets, Kicked the kettles off the fire; Dumped the meat stews in the ashes, Spilled the sauces in the cinders...
... Happened that the demons heard him, And they saw a chance for mischief. So an elk they fabricated, And the devils made a reindeer: For the head, a hollow stump, For the horns, a fork of sallow; Legs of shore-line switches woven, Fen-grown saplings for the shanks, And a fence rail for a backbone; Sinews made of withered grasses, Eyes of yellow water lilies And the ears of lily pads; Made the flesh of rotten wood Covered with a skin of spruce bark...
... Mighty Otso, much beloved, Honey-eater of the mountains, Settle on the rocks in slumber, On the turf and in thy caverns; Let the aspen wave above thee, Let the merry birch-tree rustle O’er thy head for thy protection. ... Thou hast from the tree descended, Glided from the aspen branches, Slippery the trunks in autumn, In the fog-days, smooth the branches. Golden friend of fen and forest, In thy fur-robes rich and beauteous, Pride of woodlands, famous Light-foot, Leave thy cold and cheerless dwelling, Leave thy home within the alders, Leave thy couch among the willows, Hasten in thy purple stockings, Hasten from thy walks restricted, Come among the haunts of heroes, Join thy friends in Kalevala...
... Louhi, hostess of Pohyola, Northland’s old and toothless wizard, Makes the Sun and Moon her captives; In her arms she takes fair Luna From her cradle in the birch-tree, Calls the Sun down from his station, From the fir-tree’s bending branches, Carries them to upper Northland, To the darksome Sariola...
... Hides the Moon, no more to glimmer, In a rock of many colors; Hides the Sun, to shine no longer, In the iron-banded mountain; Thereupon these words she utters: “Moon of gold and Sun of silver, Hide your faces in the caverns Of Pohyola’s dismal mountain; Shine no more to gladden Northland, Till I come to give ye freedom, Drawn by coursers nine in number, Sable coursers of one mother!”...