Hey guys, there was a thread on the official Amorphis forum which linked chapters from Kalevala to Amorphis songs and I can't seem to find it anywhere. Can anybody repost it or something?
Let's see... for the passages quoted in Tales, see here. Eclipse quotes from Kullervo's Story, which retells chapters 31-36, Silent Waters is mainly based on chapters 11-15 (T&A: chapter 26). Skyforger refers to chapters 9 (FEIR), 10 (Sampo, FTHOMH), 19 (Majestic Beast, Godlike Machine) & 36 (Silver Bride); Course of Fate draws on 33 and 36 but is mostly based on Kainulainen's own imagination, as are the remaining songs. The Beginning Of Times is also rather loosely adapted, but contains at least the following references: Battle For Light ch. 47 & 49, Mermaid & On a Stranded Shore 5, My Enemy 3, Song of the Sage 44, Three Words, Escape & Crack in a Stone 16, Beginning of Time 1. Blizk and Tuuletar, please add anything I have possibly forgotten...
I did some research and came to this conclusion: Tales From The Thousand Lakes and Black Winter Day , Elegy , Eclipse , Silent Waters , Skyforger , The Beginning Of Times Runes: 01. In The Beginning ; Forgotten Sunrise ; Beginning Of Time 02. 03. My Enemy 04. Better Unborn ; Drowned Maid 05. Forgotten Sunrise ; Mermaid ; On A Stranded Shore 06. 07. The Castaway 08. 09. From Earth I Rose ; Separated 10. Skyforger ; Highest Star ; Sampo ; From The Heaven Of My Heart ; My Sun 11. I Of Crimson Blood ; A Servant 12. Her Alone ; Towards And Against ; Weaving The Incantation ; Enigma 13. 14. The White Swan 15. Sign ; Shaman ; Silent Waters ; Black River 16. Three Words ; Escape ; Crack In A Stone 17. 18. 19. Godlike Machine ; Majestic Beast 20. 21. 22. Black Winter Day ; Cares 23. 24. Course Of Fate 25. 26. Forgotten Sunrise 27. First Doom ; Magic And Mayhem 28. Into Hiding ; To Fathers Cabin 29. 30. 31. Born From Fire 32. Perkele (The God Of Fire) 33. Stone Woman 34. The Smoke 35. Leaves Scar ; House Of Sleep ; Same Flesh ; Better Unborn ; Two Moons 36. Empty Opening 37. Silver Bride 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. Song Of The Sage 45. 46. 47. Battle For Light 48. 49. Sky Is Mine ; Moon And Sun ; Moon And Sun (Part II: North's Son) ; Battle For Light 50. Also the Kanteletar poems for Elegy songs: Foreword, poem 4 (The Brother Slayer) Foreword, poem 19 (Weeper On The Shore) Book 1, poem 1 (My Kantele) Book 1, poem 26 (The Orphan) Book 1, poem 46 (Better Unborn) Book 1, poem 54 (Cares) Book 1, poem 219 (Song Of The Troubled One) Book 2, poem 53 (Elegy) Book 2, poem 248 (Against Widows) Book 1, poem 123 + Book 1, poem 86 + Book 1, poem 14 + Book 3, poem 6 (Of Rich And Poor)
I wanted to give this thread a bump. 1) Because I think it's awesome! And 2) I am currently reading the Kalevala (just finished the 4th rune), and I am using this thread as a reference as I read the book.
Yes, this is a very helpful thread! I can't wait to read it too, I've been eyeballing this Dutch copy since the start of my Amorphis kick: It even has a "tr00 metul" cover.
Nice cover indeed. Fitting for such a book. It reminds me of the cover and illustrations for one of my favorite childhood books.
Amazing posts and I can't believe that I haven't bothered to track the book down yet. I have read all of the Icelandic sagas and tonnes of other medieval literature. This will be my next reading project! I just ordered the Oxford World's Classic version from 2009.
Unfortunately my links above do no longer work because whoever is in charge of what is left of the Amorphis website decided in their infinite wisdom to do away with all the lyric & background info I had collected there over the years, but for those of you interested in the links between the Kalevala and the actual Amorphis lyrics, I'll post them here. Starting with Paavo Haavikko's Kullervo's Story, which provided the basis for Eclipse: The Story of Kullervo I have a good memory. I remember how I was born, not from a woman but from the fire. That was my birth. I wasn’t killed. I wasn’t given my right, not even the right to die the day I was born. I do remember how the Father woke up, Mother woke up, how they disappeared into the smoke [...] and this master came and took me away. Do I remember this, I don’t remember, and I’ll never forget. But I don’t dwell on it. I don’t want it to fade and grow distant in my mind. Thus muses Kullervo, a youth on the threshold of manhood, kept as a slave in the house of his uncle. The uncle, Untamo, had spared the boy during the family feud years ago, carried the infant to safety from the fire he himself had set to the cabin of his brother, Kullervo’s father. Out of flames and smoke he had brought the boy home to his barren wife, who could summon no love for the child, always fearing the man he would grow into, fearing his memory, his revenge. They took me here to raise me. To work. To be an extension of this axe handle. [...] Grew up under the table. Grew up to table-top level. Grew taller than the table. I was always underfoot, under their eyes, in their teeth. [...] I was called Kullervo. That was mine, my name. It was like a curse. Untamo, unwilling to forego a pair of good strong hands, pays no heed to the forebodings of his wife. Kullervo is sent to the blacksmith’s to buy a tool of his own, a sturdy axe to put to good use in the master’s forest, far away from the house. The blacksmith asks Kullervo to lend a hand in the forging and compliments him on his good work – the first and only praise the young man is ever awarded. Eager to prove himself, Kullervo heads out into the woods. In no time, he cuts a vast clearing as ordered, chopping the felled trees into firewood. But after the axe has done its work, Untamo arrives, devastated. The birch thicket over yonder should have been cleared, not these tall trees. Not his priceless spruce forest, prepared over decades to deliver the logs for a new house someday. Unable to bear the sight of the ruin, Untamo turns away, leaving Kullervo with the instruction to burn the trunks and to fence off the clearing. And so Kullervo does, burning piles of wood during the days and resting beside the glowing embers at night, hardly daring to sleep, always ready to wake up should fire break out unexpectedly - Perkele. The god of fire. I woke up. It woke me. It woke me because I sleep with my hand held over a burned spot, at the edge of the burned ground. [...] Good hand, it knows to wake me up when the fiery ground burns it. I know how to take the broom out of the water I’ve dammed, to put out the fire. It won’t surprise me in my dream. My dream wakes me up, instantly, and without a word. My hand is a trap for that fire. If it wakes up or ignites, I drown it with water, kill it on the spot. It won’t have time to run far, it won’t get away from me… Kullervo does not return to the farmhouse. He stays in his forest dwelling all summer, tends the fenced clearing and turns it into a field, sows the seeds Untamo has given to him, and watches the grain grow and ripen until the time comes to reap the harvest. A good harvest it is, plenty of work for Kullervo, who is determined not to leave a single grain unthreshed, not to give his master any more reason for reproach. And he threshes all of it, pounding everything to chaff and powder, rendering it unusable. A great calamity, says Untamo, disbelieving and afraid, eager now to sell his unlucky slave and nephew before winter comes. The new master, an old man, entrusts Kullervo to the care of his young wife. The mistress sends him to take the cattle to the pastures. Kullervo doesn’t understand why she would give him this task, fit for a child, not for a man. Neither does he understand when she later visits him, bringing him a freshly baked loaf of bread. A token of affection, or just a new mockery? – This loaf is the way you think it is. It’s like you, or like me, the mistress says, encouragingly. But Kullervo does not dare to break the bread. – If it’s like me, there’s a stone inside. – Tomorrow, I’ll bring you another loaf, the mistress says. This one I made in my likeness. And she returns the following day, carrying with her another loaf. Kullervo refuses to try either one, and she knows her good intentions were to no avail. A loaf with a stone inside is what you’re looking for in this world. One like yourself, she comments, sadly. You already have a woman here, one made of stone. You made her yourself, for yourself. You piled her up, made a stone face, stone eyes, stone fingers, arms of birchwood. [...] It makes me sad to see that you’ve made yourself a woman out of rocks and wood, grasses and tree bark, to lie beside you. Poor you. There’s no room beside her for another woman, a live and breathing one. You’re hard. You’re afraid of softness, afraid of love. Hate is what you love, the mistress says. Kullervo gives no answer, thinking to himself, I made that stone woman for you to see and to say: “Don’t make a stone woman. I am here.” But the moment is gone, the chance has passed. The mistress leaves, taking the wrong way through the treacherous bog, takes a wrong step, and drowns in the bog. Too long Kullervo waits before following her, too late he comes to save her. He wanders across the bog until he reaches dry land, walks on without looking back. Passing Untamo’s house along the way, he decides to set fire to it. The smoke followed me, but I walked on and it didn’t reach me. [...] I was headed home. A grove, yellow with flowers. I had a dream that when I get home, father and mother will say, “we’ve been expecting you.” The path I walked was monogrammed with kullero flowers, and it took me there. I walked into the yard, up the front step, opened the door. The son, thought dead for many years, returns home to find his mother and father alive but burdened with age. The young man’s strength is welcome, and again he finds himself being ordered around. At his father’s bidding, Kullervo loads sacks of grain onto the sleigh and takes them to the mill, more than a day’s ride away. But he finds the driver’s seat to be a good place, and holding the reins an enjoyable task: Now I know how to do things. No longer will I listen to any advice. Now I know, and it’s working. I won’t listen to others, I won’t ponder things. What if the others don’t feel anything? What if the others weren’t made the way I was made, so that everything hurts me?[...] I used to think that people were made the way I was made, but I was made by fire, born from fire. I don’t want to know anything about anybody: no family, no name, let it all go! And it is going. Fate changed, life healed, like a wound. How does the kind of life heal that leaves a deep scar? I don’t know. Returning from his errand, directing his horse through ice and snow on the long journey home, he spots a small figure ahead of him. From a small dot she grew to the size of a finger, out on the frozen lake she slowly grew, from a tiny thing, on this lake as I drove to meet her. He stops beside the girl and folds back his blanket, inviting her to join him in his sleigh. I wish you hadn’t said that. When I saw you, I decided that if he doesn’t ask or invite or ask questions or ask for my name, then I’ll get into his sleigh, the girl says. – And you shouldn’t have folded that blanket back. I can do that myself. I dress and undress myself. I cover myself, I uncover myself. She continues on her way, and Kullervo on his. But before nightfall he meets another girl, with a broken ski and worn shoes. Without hesitation, she gets into his sleigh. There is no need for many words, or questions. I’ll be good to her, Kullervo thinks, I won’t spoil this thing by talking, asking, I won’t ask her a thing. While he is building a camp for the night, she wonders why they both seem to know each other’s thoughts. Kullervo hushes her: Don’t talk, sleep. It’s a greater skill in this world to sleep alive than to sleep with the dead, to sleep well and to wake up. I’ll never sleep alone again, never without you. Because whatever you say to me will be lies, but what you don’t say I already know, all of it, without having to hear it. Don’t talk. I won’t talk. What would I talk about, and even if I said something to you, you would take those words… or maybe you wouldn’t, but I would hang myself! There’s so much power or magic in words, don’t use them, when you can get by without. Sleep! I’m not ordering you to sleep, I’m making you sleep. You don’t know anything yet, about sleep, because sleep is a house built for lovers. You’ll be the mistress of that house of sleep, quite soon. You’ll be given the wide belt of a mistress, and the big key to the granary. When you come with me, you’ll inherit it from my mother. As lovers they wake the following morning, a man and a woman. They continue their journey, first to the girl’s home, where Kullervo will ask for her hand. She takes the reins, and how familiar the horse seems to her, how strangely familiar the road to her parents’ house looks to Kullervo… You are my sister, Kullervo says, gloomy now. - Well, now that you know that, don’t say it, the girl says. – It didn’t hurt me any. - That’s what my sister says, and during that day came Spring and Summer, the clouds tore through two full cycles of the moon in one night, and I didn’t say it. I wanted to say: “Whence did you fly here? Any other girl but you who were born by the same woman as I. But it was you I found, the same flesh and blood but a girl, a woman, yes, it was you I found, you I met and slept with, my sister, one just like myself. Myself, no one else in this whole world.” But I won’t say it. [...] A hard place, this world. Nowhere else does one make as many mistakes as here, Kullervo says. – What’s done is done, done and gone, don’t worry and fret about it, says the girl, a wise woman. Together they arrive home, indifferent the sister, the brother deeply troubled. She sees no reason to let their mother know, but he feels the urge to tell the truth, or anything, tries to speak, struggling for words: - Mother, on the road I met your daughter, who is my sister, and I took her into my sleigh. She had broken one of her skis. Spring came in one day, the clouds in front of the moon tore themselves to shreds so that two moons passed in one night. Winter went, Spring came, I brought the sleigh back, and I slept on top of the sacks so that not a single grain or seed would be lost. It’s all in the sacks now, saved. The clouds tore off their clothes and washed them in the rivers of rain, and naked, in the dark, they waited for their clothes to dry, those clouds. They even darkened the moon, they would have tried to kill it if they could have reached that far, as it spied on the cloud women who were washing the clothes they had taken off in the waters of heaven, and two moons passed in one night, Kullervo says to his mother, piling up lies like a little boy. Many words. - That’s a long story you told me. I would have understood a shorter one right away, but this one I had to listen to, from beginning to end, Kullervo’s mother says to him. Under the same roof they live now, brother and sister, man and woman. Kullervo washes his hands with grass and sand, scrubbing himself clean. But at night his sister calls to him, come to bed now, and he follows. You did a wicked thing, the mother tells her son, reproachful but too weary to care, knowing her daughter’s days are numbered. The plague has befallen the girl and will soon claim her life - people begin to die before their time, Kullervo realizes, turning his mind to his unfinished revenge, setting his thoughts once again on Untamo. He leaves to complete his self-appointed task, to burn down and destroy the hated farmstead for good. Unharmed by the smoke, he watches the buildings burn, sword in hand, waits for Untamo’s kinsfolk to run from the flames. Kills them one by one, sparing none but the old dog. But he returns to find an empty house. The disease that took his sister did not spare Kullervo’s mother and father, leaving him finally alone in the world, alone with his sword. Who could have buried them? No one will bury me. A beautiful day, when it’s over. Beautiful yard, trees, up against the sky, there it is, an empty opening. Grasses. They live one summer. This world is so good and dear to me that I’ll kill myself. I don’t want to live here. If there were a wicked world, and war, I’d live, I’d go on, I’d kill. A good life, the best I’ve ever had. [...] If one would improve it beyond this, it wouldn’t be a world. Myself, that’s who I found or met here, behind every door, at every gate. How did I get here? – Grew up under the table, grew to table-top level, grew taller than the table; was always underfoot, in their teeth, in their eyes. I was a boy out of which they made a Kullervo. And he became a good Kullervo, as Kullervos go, you have to admit that – hey, Kullervo’s sword, don’t deny it. Help yourself. All passages in italics are excerpts from Kullervon tarina/Kullervo’s Story by Paavo Haavikko, transl. Anselm Hollo. Art House, Helsinki 1989 (ISBN 951-884-002-4). For a slightly different rendition of the tale by the same author see Paavo Haavikko, Rauta-aika. Otava, Helsinki 1982. The traditional version of the Kullervo saga is found in the Kalevala, runes 31-36.
Pekka Kainulainen's poems for Silent Waters (never got the originals, unfortunately) Lemminkäinen – Original Poems Original poetry by Pekka Kainulainen. Translated from Finnish by Erkki Virta. Song 1: Lemminkäinen I am of crimson blood nought shall hold me the dark of night my mirror My shape reflected in water Ablaze are my eyes my soul consumed by woe my braids weaved by the wind An image in the black of my mind Leave I must with haste me who tires of quiet life me who’s path leads to war me who fears no death I yearn for more I yearn to rise I yearn for everything I yearn for you I yearn to rise! Song 2: I Want What was denied from poor I took to riches be I ran on its’ behest it made me take my due To death I’d plunge with joy For happiness to fetch Prepared to face I am The war under black soil Wont to crawl I was Wont to cringe and fawn A lowly servant on hours of day But a holder of nocturnal sway I ‘m righteous if I so desire until I shall reveal my worth and take unto myself What was denied from me I stalked them in their celebrations I delved into their worlds I aimed at the highest of high and decided it’s mine to take What is denied from poor is taken to love be I run on its behest it makes me take my due Song 3: Mother Mine Only one can make me do my good deeds only one and the shadow of that one Only one can make me do my evil deeds only one and the shadow of that one Only one can make me wage all my wars only one and the shadow of that one My wit, my knowledge borne of her advice My desires I fulfill by revolt her alone will I lend my ear to only her I want to obey her alone will I want to serve only her I want to defy Only one can make me do my good deeds only one and the shadow of that one Only one can make me do my evil deeds only one and the shadow of that one Only one can make me do all my deeds only one and the shadow of that one Song 4: The Departure I have known the arcane lore on strange roads such visions met that I have no fear nor concern for hatred and obstacles of this world By stoneshoed wanderer I’m taught My visions from fiery eyed ironarmed chanter I know how to fight, I know how to sing I know how to bend, I know how to break I’ve not grown weary on lenghty roads on strange lands not gone astray such is the knowledge cast in me such is the knowledge and such are the skills I know how to fight, I know how to sing I know the way If ruin is said on me to befall it has not come to pass I’ve conquered all who stood on my way and drowned the snakes of death And because of treason I now shall leave because of my blood burning my soul now I raise the flaming sword towards darkness and against everyone I know how to fight, I know how to sing I know the way I know the way Song 5: The Incantation So high soared my love, now cruelly rejected If there be peace above, I’ll find it when I rise A mind dejected, blood boiling with anger the storm of the warpath now sings in my heart To battle I equip myself, to warfare I prepare My sable locks I comb down, and bridle them with resin I don my enchanted black cloak of adders my flaming sword high, summon strenght from the night Your prayer shall not reach my heart your despair shall not stop me now Your pleads I now shall disregard to weep I leave you, and to fear for me And only this I give you, as a token for you to have and mourn over: This precious hairbrush that belonged to my father I now hurl at the opposing wall and when my blood flows from its bristles when my sap drips from its’ shaft then you will know of my anguish, then will my destruction be revealed My sable locks I comb down, and bridle them with resin my flaming sword high, summon strenght from the night now ready for my pain I am, now ready for my end now ready for my road I am, now ready for my victory Song 6: The Enigma (narrator’s voice) On warriors trail rose obstacles of stone he was deluded and led astray forces strange he had to face and magic unseen before He asked and was not answered he asked for and was not given but he was not discouraged he had no mind to quit Into a whirling mass of waters up on the highest mountains of his desire and will he spoke from ruin rose to claim his due And then he faced the one, the highest and shadow moved in Louhi’s mirror his restless mind found it to his liking the fairest maid of them all Thus Louhi spoke in riddled tones of three things to accomplish to find and catch the wild moose to pursue the elk enchanted To seek the fire-expiring stallion to bridle the flaming horse he took the mad reindeer captive he bridled the golden horse And still remained the final test: from sacred stream of death to hunt the long necked graceful bird the wild white swan of coal-black river Song 7: The Enemy (The voice of Lemminkäinen’s killer) Vile I am and loathsome, a wretched man of straw the lowliest of the low, unnoticed by them all a traitor I am, a coward I am and I will show you my revenge! A mad dog of the night I am I grovel and I creep I kill and none shall ever know of snakes I shoot from my black heart Ordained to be no one I am trodden below everyone crushed on the ground I am unnoticed by everyone Evil I am and rotten, a wretched man of straw the lowliest of the low, unnoticed by them all a traitor I am, a coward I am and I will show you my revenge! The man who comes to this river I now strike down his victorious road I now destroy to gloomy waters I cast him now by treason into endless enigma I wait in stony soil, in the shadows, in hiding his hope I want to destroy His happiness I must restrain Now he draws near, I see his fire A mind like that I once possessed my soul desired to shine such courage and hope I too possessed but they put out my fire A snake I’m now, a rat I’m now I thrive on endless hate I revel on this pain a traitor I am, an avenger I am I take my vengeance upon this man who deemed me feeble-minded who spared me in his ignorance Who thought I pose no threat into his heart my serpent-arrow and stakes of bone through his lungs his flesh I’ll rip with sharpest iron and shoot down his burning spirit into the coal-black rapids with him into the death-jaws of Tuoni with him where none shall ever come back from where none shall return! Song 8: The Death (Lemminkäinen’s voice) I set out on a longest road to seek answers from death itself I set out to the black sacred stream to seek out and shoot a white swan Embraced by gloomy mists I was on those desolate and stony paths I descended from a mountain to a vale from day to night I went I reached the shore and I bent down to hide among the shadows and there I saw it come toward to float into my view, the swan I took the arrow and raised my bow I aimed below the graceful neck under the white of its’ breast inside the red of its’ heart The calm surface of black river reflected the sky and a pale moon and there I caught a glimpse of myself before the vision shattered An arrow hit me from the water a serpent ripped apart my mind the pain my sense destroyed the slash went through my heart Now I fall into the black river into the jaws of death I dissolve into this stream and vanish in gory mire My last sight a white swan behind the swan a starless sky under the sky a coal black river in river reflected a bone white moon Someone slipped from a shadow to another someone crawled from a hideout to another someone disappeared on the road invisible someone ended into the endless Song 9: The Sign (narrator’s voice) Far from here, a house forsaken on lands of yesterday the silence of the night has crept in as weeping of the women, as thoughts of solitude, as sadness and as grief In a dimly-lit deserted room left on a table, a token, a talisman inherited from his father, a gilded hairbrush Oozing from the shaft a stream of bitter sap dripping from the bristles a slow scarlet flow forming into a pool of blood, under the table They know it to be an emblem of death, a sign of destruction they recognise the end of a friend, the woe of a man and son they look at the brush, remember the black hair, They weep the bitter sap. Song 10: The Shaman Mother wept for her son, wept and sang wife longed for her husband anxiously pondered fate, his and her own mother began a wail of anguish A suns’ ray, in through the eye glimmered in silent room of the mind changed the shape of old woman, sorrow gone from her face sought help from the shaman, turned herself into a shaman Out of the chimney a witch flew out across the sky a shaman dived beyond her raced the woods and lakes, the roads of man till she came to rest on Northlands gates ”I have come for my son, where have you sent my son? I shall accept no lies, no falsehoods or deception or else I’ll send you plagues unnumbered, destruction upon you and your house your treasures I’ll annihilate, and slay your fairest daughter” So startled by the shamans’ strenght the hostess of Northland told of the way, described the road, the path that leads to river black told of the task she set, impossible to complete and from the jaws of death there will be no return Song 11: The Power Of Shaman Now mother filled with the spirit of shaman as wolf through marshes bounded as bear through wilderness she roamed as otter through waters glided Along the sea-coast she sprang, a hare as ant she sought the lands a small perch in shallow waters and a great pike in the depths She sought her lost one far and wide she asked the stones she asked the trees the forest trails and pathways she asked the creeks but no one knew Song 12: The Union (Mother-shaman’s voice) A day’s light told me of my son’s fate The sun showed the way, grim and severe pulled under the raging waters, my child sank in the drowning currents, my son My strenght is not enough, my powers fail me I need the help of heavens, I ask for thunder’s force I plead for you oh lightning, provide a tool of iron forge me a rake with magic, to drag the river for my son Help me God of fire, bringer of light, forger of sun cast your wamth on cold river, put to sleep its’ guardian lull the folk of silent waters, drive away the serpents to the river now let me go, to go and fetch my son away Forged for me the gods of skies a rake made of iron to my aid the sun was sent by the spirit of clear day now in my way no man can stand, nor cold troops of Tuoni and I shall walk untouched by the river of the night Song 13: Restoration I knew my son was torn to shreds, dissolved into black waters to pieces hacked by blood-soaked men of silent river under ground I knew my son was mad to seek to shoot the swan of death but he is of my flesh and blood and he shares of my magic So long I scoured the river black, so long I raked the waters at last to find the hero’s shoes, his stockings and his cloak I brought up his bloodied hat and jacket stained by death and finally the teeth of my rake caught hold of something more Thus surfaced the fragments of my son, with only half a head an armless body torn and cut, with fingers missing and broken bones his flesh a feast for eels of death, his muscles lost in black pools the spark of his spirit suppressed by cold and gloomy depths On leafless tree a raven sat and cast a doubtful eye upon my bitter weeping, spoke these words unto me ”there is no hero to restore, no son left to revive so cease your bitter efforts here and let your child be gone” But I refused to give up hope, his measures I disregarded I raked the river deeper still and pulled up every fragment the remnants of his head and arms, the portions of his flesh the knots of veins and shreds of bones, his eyes and his black hair And so I shaped my son anew, his flesh to bones I joined and knitted every vein together, and bound back every muscle his lifeless members and death-like tissue I carefully assembled until there on the river bank my son lay complete again But still no breath escaped his lips, his mouth uttered no words although the blood pumped in his veins his eyes remained shut a birdling flew down from the sky, a buzzing tiny bee I asked of him for mead and honey, the balm of magic virtues The bee flew out, far and wide, across the golden fields it crossed the seas and searched the lands, the rich gardens abloom and fetched me wondrous balsams from flowery meadows but no earthly nectar could restore my son to life And so I sent the little bee to fly the way of shaman to pass the borders of the moon, through distant light of stars to soar swiftly on tiny wings to the seventh of the heavens to the castle of Creator, the dwellings of the blessed There to find the balm of life prepared in kettles of gold there to cull the ointment from silver-tinted cauldrons and bring back the holy mead, the sweet and golden honey for me to anoint his eyelids with, and restore his injured senses Wake my child, arise my son from depths of your slumber heed my words and incantation, feel my love and know my wisdom rise now from your dire misfortune, the lowest of conditions and thus his eyes blinked open and words poured out of his mouth: ”Long, indeed, I’ve lain here, forever slept and dreamed here of what I can remember of the moments before my death a serpent struck from water, an adder pierced my heart and on the shore, amongst shadows lurked an evil man my enemy, my traitor, my shadow, my destroyer Song 14: Return From The River Of Tuonela (Lemminkäinen’s voice) Still searching for my way, the right way to be Still pondering what I’ve done Still thinking what I’ve said, still finding from within All that I know is still not enough I’m being held by the one shadow tormenting my soul the gently curving neck of a swan the slowly turning head of a bird So white it’s plumes and feathers its’ breast the moon reflected in water so silent and tranquil it moves across the calm surface of the river I wander back on familiar roads I sense the marks I left on hills I see the cuts and wounds of my deeds I makes me muse on life Up the hill, up the mountain looking back and looking down There flows the River of Death and here the wind in my hair.
Kainulainen' Ilmarinen poems: FORGER OF SKIES IRONHEART I am brother to the Fire, to Fire a brother I am from full breasts of maidens three I’ve drunk the black milk, black! the white milk devoured, white! the red milk I’ve swallowed, red! I’ve lain in the bowels of marshland dead beneath the soil, dead under the waters, below, under the waters oblivious to all, oblivious to everything devoid of all knowing, devoid of feeling! Darkness was my light muteness my tongue Death was my life matter my spirit Brother to Fire I am! Brother to the Fire! MY BIRTH From trails of wolves, from paths of bruin from fen-depths and mountain winds raised into the light I was separated apart I was I am of air and water, of fire and earth I am a compound of everything, separated apart the lore of air, the wisdom of water the awareness of fire, the memory of earth yet separated apart Upon my birth I understood the alliance of spirit matter in spatters of liquid iron separated apart I was In a dazzle like lightning I was invited there Where light curves in an arc of gods I was constructed To north, south,east and west The air spirit of every quarter was my distant mother swelled from wind and sea From chaos of matter discovered I was Born unto the essence of creation to red, black and white to milk, iron and steel FORGER OF SKIES (The lights of chaos have transformed into a clear precise spark of my mind, the sounds disruptive into distant singing heard through waters) I forge my wisdom into the arc, all encompassing I forge my heartbeat to dome, all heavens wide I forge and craft the horizons for flowing blood I forge the places precise for silver and for gold Inside this nonexistence I clearly know the directions and points of every quarter I know the names of stars, the sun and the moon their movement and their purpose I forge my wisdom into the arc, all encompassing I forge my heartbeat to dome, all heavens wide I forge and craft the horizons for flowing blood I forge the places precise for silver and for gold In solitude I measure out the range of barren lands I mark the place of Polaris on the vast heights I draw unto the nothingness the intersecting curves I look at all directions, I look at one clear point, into the heart I forge my wisdom into the arc, all encompassing I forge my heartbeat to dome, all heavens wide I forge and craft the horizons for flowing blood I forge the places precise for silver and for gold Into the flames I thrust my heart and strike my heart awakes to its’ own pounding this here is my place, my work I was made the Forger of Skies! I forge my wisdom into the arc, all encompassing I forge my heartbeat to dome, all heavens wide I forge and craft the horizons for flowing blood I forge the places precise for silver and for gold I am the Forger of Skies! BLACKSMITH Under the vault of heavens I stood alone in the darkness, waiting the blaze of silver in my eyes the gleam of gold in my hands The red ore of iron in my veins the blue light of steel in my bones the coal black in my hair the waves golden in my chest I harkened the place for the moon assured the sonorous tones made out the locus of stars I painted the route for the sun I pierced the distant dome for the lights to seep through I checked the curves and borders and attached the highest star I knew it was my masterwork I felt the strenght of gods revised the soaring heights and set the heavens aligned It worked and sung and danced it shone and glowed and gleamed it circled, curved and blazed it kindled, waned and glimmered It is my heaven it has my eyes it is my space It has my shape It flowed from my bones it bolted from my fingertips it settled all over and unto me and forced me to face my longing. MIRACLE Sparks sent flying, the space of my mind thundering the small room of my heart flashing under the sky The flaring of miasmic fumes fill my senses pervade this room and this space I listen and aim to observe I use all the forces and let it transpire I confront the darkness absolute and blinding, dazzling brilliance From roaring flames the shapes emerge come forth they do with vile charms Their poisoned core ensconced in beauty but I see and perceive their deceit Into the blaze I shove them back to lose their forms to fire again and yet again I start my work anew I let the days blend into nights I let the moon and sun unite the order of the stars expire I let it be born, the miracle I let the night blend into sun I let the day and moon unite the order of the stars expire I let it be born, the miracle. HEAVEN OF MY HEART I who have forged the heavens I too have my king on his request, by his orders enforced by his spells to Northland I was cast to distant land of Pohjola Where my skills were known where they knew my name and might I forged a godly device I opened the gates of plenty from small crumbs of earth from fleece of summer ewe from memory of a single seed from flair of a swans feather I let the milk come seeping from the heaven of my heart the heaven of my heart REVERIES AND FORCES The constant needs of Man eternal desires of you all Your thirst and your hunger Your fears You crave for your miracle You who subjected me look now into distant heights into the heavens, of my making I made it out of what wasn’t there of nothing to perfection I granted it my substance I granted it my essence On the lid of my heart the designs I carved Of galaxies and crimson clouds The lore of gods and hopes of men In me combined both dreams and might Wisdom cleaved a stone Knowledge kindled the flame Sense made iron melt Love made hope glow I gave you your miracle The heart that pounds gold And the key that leads to riches of divine order What is now my fate? What are you giving me? Redeem your promise, Pay off your debt! Before you answer, raise your eyes There, the heavens, of my making Before you answer Raise your eyes! PROMISE (Ilmarinen longs for the Daughter of Northland) As slowly turns the key of time In padlock of promises broken to wait I will retreat myself in black chambers of oblivion In mute silence of my space I crouch under my yearning The works of gods receding now evade my grasping hands Perfection of the skies I knew and memories of my deeds Now fade away beyond my reach And change to lonely nights Her hair I’d long to adorn With golden glowing stars Her brow I’d long to crown With tiny shining sun in silver I would trace the moonshine of her beauty but ever so slowly Turns the key of time In a rusty lock Of broken promises BETRAYAL I was not betrayed by Water, my gentle brother and not betrayed by brother Fire I was not betrayed by my essence nor my spirit I was betrayed by my own king I took the heaven to be enough I trusted him like a brother I was not betrayed by my essence nor my spirit I was betrayed by my own king I was not betrayed by earth, my cradle And not betrayed by air my mother distant I was not betrayed by my essence nor my spirit I was betrayed by my own king I took my skill to be enough I trusted my knowledge and my will I was not betrayed by my essence nor my spirit I was betrayed by my own king! THE PIKE OF TUONELA GIFT To a strange land, to distant Pohjola I took the gift I received from gods melted the heavenly knowledge, skills of a master from pieces of my heart built a golden mill A godlike machine I forged! I, maker of heavens, created a horn of plenty released them, delivered them from evil gave them more than they knew to ask for it wasn’t enough for the gloomy Northland court It wasn’t enough for the queen! The field of Death I had to furrow To plow the soil black with viper blood the shadow of a beast in a forest below from Death to hunt a wolf and a bear I fetched the gift of life from the river of death! The Northland Queen, pledge unredeemed, The wage she offered was death A life for himself pursued my King Promised me as a ransom for his happiness A heart turned unto me! A heart turned unto me She whispered the knowledge of gods And gave the missing words of wisdom To me, a creator of heavens and miracles Her heart turned unto me. FISH OF DEATH In the bowels of rocky mountain a fiery bird I forged forged from iron, from steel a flaming eagle On my eagle’s wings to Black River I flew, to the dale of the Dead Land From reeking mud, from stream grinding flesh and bone I found the black pike, a giant, a monster From jaws of the pike, from gory rapids of the dead My furious griffin rescued its’ master Brought to bright light the guts, skin, flesh and bones Carried under the sun, to the top of an stout oak split with its beak the monsters’ belly, ripped the head clean off The eagle rushed sky high, gliding the steepest heights the sky sparkled and writhed, the vault of heaven creaked and mewed higher and higher still soared my flaming griffin with a thunder crash and rumble, I rolled the pike’s head in As a throne for the queen a bony skull of the dead fish I had made the heavens, forged out a miracle the snake infested field of Death’s Domain turned over slayed the wolf of shadowlands, shackled the bear of Death Impossibly captured the impossible prey, the pike from Tuonela river I’ve done my share, redeem your promise! WIFE FROM NORTHLAND I got a maid from Northland A wife from lands strange The works of gods at last replaced By days and nights of men She wakes beside me in the mornings She walks by me in times of spring She stares at our sky in the evenings She lives our lives come autumn time She sleeps the nights beside me She works the days by my side She is with me when snowflakes fall She stays near as summer blooms Her hair I adorn with stars and forge a small sun on her brow I put a pendant on her neck and forge a small moon on her breast She wakes beside me every spring She wakes beside me every summer She wakes beside me every winter She wakes beside me every morning THE SUN LEFT HER BROW MY WIFE Sun left her brow Moon escaped her breast Stars fell from her hair Song departed her lips spark died in her eyes Her warmth waned away Her blood grew thicker Her skin turned colder Unto the ground fell the heart My wife beloved! My wife beloved! My wife beloved! Unto the ground the heart Her form fell into shadows her shape dissolved to dust Unto the ground the heart fell! VENOM In the beginning of times In the chaos of destiny In the arcane stream of meanings Roar of the battle to sounds of work I sanctified cries of terror to a song I harmonised spirits of wrath with charms I restrained And now dead is my wife Ripped apart by iron teeth Slashed by claws of steel Poisoned by the bane of riches Betrayed by lies manifold Slayed by a wretched avenger In the beginning of times, in the birth of all matter The venom spat on the boiling mass Now surfaced again and turned the course of fate UNDER THE STARRY SKY From nights’ misty dreams I sought the clarity of my days From empty shades of longing I looked for the familiar glow The death of my wife’s slayer Brought no comfort for me The sore ache of loneliness bestowed no shape for a dream within my heart I lit a flame of desires provoked the fiery powers of my will I forced the silvery shape to come forth A golden queen for myself I forged I made myself a spouse of gold I forged a silver bride From light of northern summer night From shining winter moon I made our bed under the stars With covers aplenty and bear skin hides I stroked the arc of golden curves I kissed the lips of silver Responded not my golden girl No beating heart I felt No sighs gave the silver soul No warmth her sides of metal SOLITUDE I wandered on shores of stormy seas On barren snowy lands I walked I brought the golden girl to my king And offered a bitter boon for my chief My lifeless oddity he refused Bowed not to my gift of gold I journeyed on to the Northern Lands Returned to the stony yard I asked from the queen for her younger daughter Covetted my dead wife’s sister No comfort gave my prize most grim The heartless redeemed not the heart With empty hands I thus returned To homelands, low in mind Recalling the Northlands splendour Recalling the miracle I forged Recalling golden lid of plenty Recalling the woman deceased SWORD AND SKY Sun ceased from my world Moon went from my sky Starlight dimmed away In a bleak shack of sorrow In forsaken shed of grief in solitudes’ bitter palace I listened to my hearts’ silent beating The faint rush of my blood The distant echo of space Something moved in the emptiness something in darkness drew near Something touched the heart The sky stirred above me Beneath my feet earth breathed The lights of space now flared Someone whispered the words in my ear Someone dictated my future deeds Someone advised me to take what’s mine From steel I made the master’s sword Cleaving stone, cliff, a mountain From darkness I stepped onto the path of stars This sky is mine! (This is my sky!) This sword is mine! (This is my sword!) This fate is mine! (This is my fate!) This miracle, mine! (This is my miracle!)
...and Väinämöinen: THE BEGINNING OF TIME I have a wish to sing now Of time before the beginning when nothing was all there was but how to sing of nothing? So I sing of the beginning the birth of all creation the borders of nothingness the substance of inception The solitude of space my mother my father salt of the sea infinity had no end time had no beginning Still unborn I remained still unopened the narrow gate still unborn in my hiding place still no release bestowed upon me Wrapped around my darkness I knew my time was waiting I felt the days pass by, and nights, and the way of the northern stars The songs were born into my mind the knowledge of the stars the stories before and after the spells of war, and peace The birth of the world was my birth too I found the land, began the time from shorelessness of sea from underneath the space SOOTHSAYER I rose, and in doing so raised others with me I shared my ancient wisdom and taught the ways to be I sang the charms of stars and sowed the land with strenght I set the abodes for men and steered the rightful roads Within my being sings the god on high the glimmer of stars in my bloodstream I am the abyss, I am the bridge I am the heaven, I am the land I feel the communion of the largest and the least the way from death to life the path of stone and gold I live on wings of eagle I know the secrets of seas my forms countless, a mole or a frog the fish in a tiny pond I’ve been here from the beginning the echoes and tones I recognise the eternal poems of nonexistence the birthwords of time’s beginning I’ve been here from the beginning! LEADER’S MIGHT He holds a sword in his hand it’s might the flare of sun to cleave a stone in two to take down a mountain He holds a feather in his hand it’s lightness a heavenly force he wields the power to transform the whole world with its’ brush brains aglow with scenes of death bones carved with words of life beneath the footsteps a circle of stars arms both heavy and light He holds a sword in his hand it’s might the flare of sun to cleave a stone in two to take down a mountain He holds a feather in his hand it’s lightness a heavenly force he wields the power to transform the whole world with its’ brush PIKE A red pike of blue waters I am a lifesong resonates in me, my bones ashiver with magic and lore a wolf of the waters I am, a shooting arrow of solitude my eye a golden ring to marry the dead with soon to born a lightning I am, a spear afloat in water setting sun in a beat of my heart, rising the moon of my eye come to me, take your star leave with me, born into your world capture me, take my flesh take my head, my lore and my skills a lifesong resonates in me my bones ashiver with magic and lore! EAGLE An eagle I am sweeping and soaring the sun above my wings the land of men beneath me My path is paved on wind a star sets my course my mind is my sky my body the soul of land An eagle I am sweeping and soaring the sun above my wings the land of men beneath me THREE WORDS But for want of three words three words for my magic song a boat for love I´d carve a craft of life I’d build from all the four corners from heights beyond the skies from in between the golden stars from dead lands down below I seek the magic for my spell the power for my charm for want of three words three words for my (magic) song Along the Tuoni pathway to gloomy silent shore across the lands of dead to find the missing charm Death’s maiden showed the way to Death’s grim abode where Death’s daughter offered me Death’s drink to have But for want of three words three words for my magic song a boat for love I´d carve a craft of life I’d build Ainotheme: YOU I NEED I was born as the world was born as tones and words of the primeval song I need no bow nor swords my kingship is known to gods Above the sea of my loneliness I need to have my sky to go with my story I need to have your words I need you to be the guide the mirror to sky and sea to portray all above and below the gate of life and death And a king has his moon like a queen has her sun to make the song go on the song of creator of gods I need you to be the guide the mirror to sky and sea to portray all above and below the gate of life and death Ainotheme: THE MERMAID From the blue waters of mermaids I caught a fish that was no fish no trout, no salmon, man nor woman I drew my knife to gut my catch but off it took, back to the lake vanished into the waves to rise again, a long way off, a trout turned into a maid she showed herself, all glittering, and spoke unto me then woe to you for never knowing me She was my maid, my wife-to-be returned to me one final time and I did not know her, but made her flee beneath the waves, and marbled rocks the crevices of blackest depths disappeared my dream, swam away my hope not wanting to become mine anymore, to give herself to me like she had wanted to, like she had promised but I did not know her, I knew her not Ainotheme: ON A STRANDED SHORE Silk of blue woven by the moon spun by the sun threads of gold silver in wrists, and rings hair braided in red fabrics iridescent shoes featherlight as reeds and straws on a shore as sallows, sprigs and twigs as bark and as foliage as clamshells and as sand My maidens’ flesh now fish in lake her blood now waters blue her ribs now willows on a shore her hair grass on waters’ edge o god of sleep tell in my dream where has my maiden gone where lies my mermaid now rise above the waves from waters’ dark grave under the liver coloured stones become a maid again These shores are not for fishing these waters not for drinking no sun beheld above these shores no moon reflected on waters here REFORMATION When I am broken, when I depart when my eyes stray from yours when I no longer know you, my love when I am broken, when I depart When from my head my mane is torn when my hair is blowing in solar wind when into my eyes glowing nails are driven when heavy boots march across my chest When I am broken, when I depart when my eyes stray from yours when I no longer know you, my love when I am broken, when I depart Fear you not, weep not for me for finally I am released to go to the heaven of all earths to the heaven of all earths ESCAPE (Väinämöinen seeks wisdom from Manala) Death bestows no wisdom no might from death endowed there is no return thence no way to go back home Therein lie nets of iron and seines of copper made with drinks that lull to sleep of everlasting shackles Death bestows no wisdom no might from death endowed there is no return thence no way to go back home But I transformed my shape and took the form of a snake I swam through the nets and wriggled back to life I did transform my shape I did return back to life transformed my shape back to life Swampsong, Väinämöinen encounters Joukahainen MY ENEMY He set out to take my life and the power of my soul his spells against my might my wrath he did ignite The lightning of my eyes crushes you to dust the snakes of my fingers drag you into mire vanishing under you the trembling earth your legs turning to sludge your brain replaced by mine your mind changed into mine you lose sight of yourself your world no longer yours I feel your feelings now I know now what you knew I see how you have lied plunge you into your grave Under the ground I force you to Underworld I curse you to arms of death deliver and damn inside a rock where remorse is useless and no mercy shown where bribery is futile and no promises hold no one there will listen no one feels your pain no one turns towards you no one takes your hand and now I will sink you and drown you in a swamp and sing the song of dying and vanguish my foe He set out to take my life and the power of my soul his spells against my might my wrath he did ignite but I will show him mercy let him return to life I’ll show him mercy I’ll let him return Pohjolatheme THE BATTLE FOR LIGHT She robbed the moon from the sky derailed the sun off its’ course enchained the light inside her mountain and stole the wisdom away The sun no longer shines on us no silver moon reflects the stars no longer twinkle light to help us find our path I’m thrown on barren wastelands In feverish swamps I’m lost I stagger through white-rimed lands I drown in diseased black mire I fight the forces of dark and cold upon the witches cast my spells I strike with a sword and touch with a feather and sing my song into the night Beyond the highest heaven the god supreme smites with his sword into the sea falls fiery star a fish of deep swallows the spark The Skyforger, come to my aid the Magicsmith, by my side the eldest daughter of creation the tiny man from the sea Still stays the moon in hiding the sun behind the dark the spark inside the fish the light inside the mountain Ilmatar the ancient, the mighty ocean-dwarf Ilmarinen the skyforger, thunder and lightning We find the hidden moon release the mountain-bound we light the wisdom of the heart, the sun dawns anew Pohjolatheme A CRACK IN THE STONE In Pohjola, a prisoner of darkness in black court, a victim of sleep slither like a snake I tried a mole under the soil a king in a strange land a slave of the black queen under the dark magic bound by an unknown spell an otter lost in muddy waters an elk upon strange trail a prisoner in black court a victim of sleep in lands of dark just the one crack in the stone just the one fracture in the wall just the one hole in the sky just the one key in the lock one path known one sign in a dream one direction in time one star in mind I needed the help of Skyforger to forge the machine divine to the black queen of Pohjola HEART’S SONG He’s not a god I’m not a god a man he’s not I’m not a man I am the cloud spirit a singing of the rapids a stillness within a great river a whirl in a golden stream He is a cloud of white a rainbow on the rapids the blackness of silent waters the spirit of the man I lead my people I am the song of my tribe I am the wisdom and the skills a sword turned into poem I am the oaken sage the bone-hurling one the straw-haired warrior the boulder on riverbank the running of blue elk I am the embrace of red bear the eye of golden eagle the song in the heart of the Man RETURN I SHALL I’ve been here before when the rapids roared louder and the brooks spoke aloud with words of lies and truth I’ve been here before when the sea waved wider the lakes echoed with voices and words of lies and truth I’ve been here before when the sky curved fairer the clouds were filled with talking of words of lies and truth I’ve been here before and surely I’ll return I’ve been here before and return I shall! THE SONG OF THE SAGE No man nor a god, with a sword he carved, with a feather he conjured of bone of fish and instrument of jaws of pike a kantele sat on a golden rock, on a bank of a golden river by the brink of golden rapids, under the golden sun fingers plucked a chord, tolled the teeth of a pike lit up the colours of rainbow, above the silent waters came forth the woodland creatures, the spirits great and small the Master and the Mistress of Tapiola, and all of forest folk the birds flew to the singer the wildfowl from the sea the swans from distant fens an eagle from heavens high behind a cloud of blue, the moon wove strands of silver on the edge of cloud of red, the day gilded the cloth the small fish in the shallows, the big ones under the surface the king of waters, on the waves, the queen on an open sea people, animals, spirits, sons and daughters of men all ceased their play, all stopped their work each one comprehended, each one understood each one shed a tear, each one cried and wept each and every tear, the tears of everyone all joined to flow together into the silent waters the golden stream of life carried the tears to sea to oceans’ deep keeps the pearls were concealed.
Yesterday I got the Oxford Worlds Classics Kalevala in the mail. Can't believe it took me this long to get it. I think it must be the translation that is used for Tales from the Thousand Lakes because its word for word in many parts. Also amazing to see sections on a range of events I only know though other Amorphis albums. Haunting! The chapter names are 30% Amorphis song titles!
It's interesting to note that the lyrics to 'Magic and Mayhem' are not found in the Magic and Mayhem chapter of the Kalevala, they're actually in the Into Hiding chapter. I wonder why Amorphis did that?
Also Ahti from the Ensiferum song is a major character in the Kalevala. I'm going to have to pay more attention to that song now!