FINLAND - FINNISH STORIES |
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FINLAND - FINNISH STORIES
KALEVALA NATIONAL EPIC POEMS - FOLKLORE
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• Online links to stories/info on Kalevala - Finland
• SOS: Searching Out Stories/Info-Kalevala-Finland
Advice/References - Storytellers, Teachers, Librarians
ONLINE LINKS TO STORIES AND INFORMATION ON FINLAND, FINNISH STORIES AND THE KALEVALA
Online links are underlined. Click on them to get more stories and information.
Story titles are in quotation marks.
To retell any stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
Short descriptions included for your convenience and to save you research time.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland
Finland from Wikipedia. Includes history, etymology, geography, demographics, politics, military, economy and culture.
• http://www.visitfinland.com/w5/index.nsf/(pages)/index
Information about Finland from the tourist bureau... facts, transportation, accommodations, things to do, destinations.
• http://finland.fi/Public/default.aspx
This is Finland: life, facts, news & events, practical info, gallery, business, blogs - a multimedia guide.
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/FI.html
The World Factbook: Finland from the Central Intelligence Agency. Very thorough.
• http://www.finland.com/
Great travel portal. How to get to Finland. Travelling in finland. Accomodation hotels, holiday villages, Spas, camping sites.
• http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107513.html
Information on Finland — geography, history, politics, government, economy, population statistics, culture, religion, languages, largest cities, ... from InfoPlease.
• http://www.aaronshep.com/stories/058.html
"The Princess Mouse" - a Tale of Finland. Told by the extraordinary author/storyteller Aaron Shepard.
• http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/27/1046064161066.html
Folktales from Finland by Jane Faulkner. Background info.
• http://www.spiritoftrees.org/folktales/pettersson/bembole_people_logs.html
"When the Bembole People Went to Get Logs" - a story from Finland retold by world-renowned storyteller Neppe Pettersson.
•
http://www.libraryvideo.com/guides/V6953.pdf
Animated Tales of the World. Finland: "The Raspberry Worm"
• http://www.childrenslibrary.org/servlet/WhiteRavens?title=Finland&where=country%3D%27Finland%27
From White Ravens, the International Children's Digital Library. Includes good synopses.
• http://www.socyberty.com/Folklore/An-Introduction-on-Finnish-Folktales.186303
An introduction to Finnish folktales by baalisunset from Socyberty.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gifts_of_the_Magician
"The Gifts of the Magician" - a Finnish fairy tale. A complete synopsis from Wikipedia.
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http://faerymists.tripod.com/fytales/scandinavian.htm#The%20Raspberry%20Worm
"The Raspberry Worm" - a Finnish tale, full text.
• http://www.archive.org/stream/mightymikkobooko00fill
"Mighty Mikko" - a book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales byy Parket Fillmore. Read entire book online (pages turn on screen). Beautiful.
KALEVALA RESOURCES
•
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala
From Wikipedia. Complete background information about the national epic of Finland.
• http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/kveng/
The Kalevala, translated by John Martin Crawford (1888). Complete translation. Invaluable. From Sacred Texts. Read online. Full text.
•
http://tinyurl.com/n8tatb
From Google books. "The Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland" - read online. Full text.
• http://www.finlit.fi/kalevala/index.php?m=163&l=2
The Kalevala - the national epic of the Finns, translated by Elias Lonnrot, from the Finnish Literature Society.
• http://www.finlit.fi/kalevala/indexeng.html
Background information about the Kalevala.
http://virtual.finland.fi/finfo/english/kaleva.html
Kalevala - The Finnish National Epic
Written for Virtual Finland by Anneli Asplund, senior researcher and Sirkka-Liisa Mettomäki, researcher.
The Kalevala Society, the Finnish Literature Society
SOS: SEARCHING OUT STORIES AND INFORMATION ABOUT FINLAND, FINNISH STORIES AND THE KALEVALA
Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians
(excerpts from Storytell posts plus original research)
Book titles, movie titles and online links are underlined. Click on them to get more information.
Story and song titles are in quotation marks.
To retell any stories, obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
Posts are added chronologically as they are received by Story Lovers World.
1) http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kalevala.htm
The Kalevala is the Finnish national epic, compiled by Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884) from ancient oral poetry. The material, old Finnish ballads and lyrical songs depicting "the sons of Kalevala", were published in two editions, first in 1835 with 35 cantos, and the enlarged edition with 50 cantos in 1849. Lönnrot's aim was to arrange the mythological and other poems into a single volume, comparable to the Icelandic Edda, and tell about the past heroes like Homer did in Iliad and Odyssey. The Kalevala itself is based principally on poems collected from the Finnish-Karelian border zone. Between 1831 and 1835 Lönnrot undertook three collection journeys to Archangel Karelia and arranged his materials into an epic whole. The revised Kalevala was elaborated with the new material that Lönnrot and other collectors had amassed since 1835.
Dear my kinsman, friend fraternal,
You my fairest foster-brother!
Come and sing with me in concord,
Let us sing and say together,
Since together we have got here
Coming from two different quarters!
Seldom do we see each other,
Rarely reap the fruits of friendship,
Here within these barren borders,
In these careful Northern confines.
(...) trans. by Cid Erik Tallqvist
The compilation of a "national epic" was part of a patriotic movement. The Swedish poet Esaias Tegnér (1782-1846) had showed a model with his Frithiofs saga and Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-77) had translated into Swedish selections from Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic's Serbian folk poems. In Poland Mickiewicz composed the epic Pan Tadeusz (1834). However, in Finland the impact of the Kalevala, as an example of the heroic past of the people, was far deeper that in any other country. It started a vogue called Karelianism and became part of the emerging Finnishness...
Much more may be found on this site.
2) Well a quick delve into my almost endless Storytelling Links page turns up several links to the Kalevala. Here's one just for you:
http://www.finlit.fi/kalevala/indexeng.html
Explores the history and cultural background to the great Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. The page on the Songs behind the Kalevala has some information on ancient storytelling custom in Finland (including a wonderful photo of an ancient cantele player), and the page on Collecting Trips has a little more, but the whole site is interesting.
3) To thank everyone for their greetings and lovely "pats on the back" I'll donate this traditional folktale from my Swedish-speaking regions in Finland, adapted by me. Please tell it as much as you can! And if you want to forward any reactions from your audience, you are always welcome to do that! (I have sent this on Storytell four years ago, so some of you might remember it from back then).
Neppe Pettersson
in Vasa, Finland
"The Rooster and the Magic Mill" - a Finnish/Swedish folktale, adapted by Neppe Pettersson
A long time ago there were no potatoes in Finland. They ate turnips instead, or peas. (This is one pea. This is how peas look like when they are dried. And they grow in pea pods. And the pods grow on long stalks. And the stalks grow from the earth, after you put a pea like this in the dirt).
At that time, this long time ago, there was a farmer. And the farmer was so poor, so very poor. And so hungry, so very hungry. He didn't have any food at all to eat. And no money to buy food with. He had nothing. Nothing but - one single dried pea. The other farmers came to him and said:
"Why do you sit there and keep sighing! Put that pea in the earth, and it will grow you new peas, and then you have got something to eat! Sow the pea!"
"Yes, but..." the farmer replied, "how do one sow?", oddly enough he didn't know that.
"Peas need warmth and dampness, then they'll grow well", the other farmers told him, and left.
"Warm and damp... Warm and damp... Like in the sauna?" the farmer pondered, "in the sauna it's always warm and damp." And - so he sowed the pea in the sauna. Because in those days there were earth floor in the sauna. (Not floors like this, of wood or concrete or carpeting, no, just the plain dirt ground.)
And in that dirt floor the pea soon started to grow. First it showed small green leaves, then a stalk started growing. And the stalk kept growing and growing and growing. And soon it had reached up to the sauna bench, and couldn't get higher. To help the pea stalk the farmer sawed a hole in the bench. And the stalk kept growing and growing and growing, and soon it had reached up to the ceiling. To help the pea stalk the farmer sawed a hole in the ceiling, and then he climbed up on the roof to wait for the pea pods to show.
But... nothing happened... Because the pea stalk had grown much too high, and those stalks don't give any pea pods. But the farmer didn't know that. He stayed there up on the roof and waited and waited. And he got hungrier and hungrier. But he had no food to eat.
But then! Then it so happened that a small crookbacked old man came along the road carrying a sack on his back. He walked up to the farmer, and said: "To the one who has nothing - I'll give him something!" And he pulled up a magic mill from his sack, and handed it to the farmer. "This mill is magical. It can give you anything you ask for", the old man said, and then he disappeared.
The farmer looked at the strange mill. It looked a bit like the coffee grinders they used in the village, not very big, like a square box with a handle on top. But he felt the hunger cramp in his stomach so badly, so he asked the mill to give him some rye bread for the hunger. And - swish - he had the most delightful freshly baked rye bread! And then he asked for some fish, and - swish - he had got it! Yes, he got everything he asked for from the magic mill. He got food to eat, he got clothes to put on. He wasn't going to starve or freeze any more in his whole life, because the mill could give him everything!
But!
The news of the magic mill traveled in the country, and the king got to hear that there was a farmer in his kingdom with a magic mill. The king thought it was his royal right to own that mill! And he sent his men to get the mill by force, and so they did, and soon returned with the mill to the king. When the king had got the mill he didn't want to lose it, and so he kept sitting with the mill in his lap all the time - because it was his, his, HIS!
But what about the farmer? Well, now he hadn't got the magic mill. And soon he was as poor as before. He had nothing, nothing to eat, not even that single dried pea any longer... But it so happened - that the small crookbacked old man once again came wandering with his sack on the back. And the man said: "To the one who has nothing - I'll give him something!" And he pulled out a rooster from his sack. "You shall send this rooster to the king. It will bring back your mill". And the man disappeared.
The farmer looked at the rooster. And the rooster looked at the farmer. And suddenly it crowed: "Kukku luu luu (cocka doodle doo), shall I go and get the mill back?" "Yes, please, do that, dear rooster" the farmer answered. And the rooster hopped down, and set off. Off to the king's castle. The rooster walked, and he walked and he walked and he walked, when he suddenly met a fox. The fox looked at the rooster and licked his foxy lips. But that didn't frighten the rooster! He only said: "Kukku luu luu, come along to get the mill back!" And the fox thought that was a good idea, and so he followed the rooster. They walked, and they walked and they walked and they walked, when they suddenly met a wolf. The wolf looked at the rooster and licked his wolfy lips. But that didn't frighten the rooster! He only said: "Kukku luu luu, come along to get the mill back!" And the wolf thought that was a good idea, and so he followed the rooster and the fox. And they walked, and they walked and they walked and they walked, when they suddenly met a huge bear. The bear looked at the rooster and licked his beary lips. But that didn't frighten the rooster! He only said: "Kukku luu luu, come along to get the mill back!" And the bear thought that was a good idea, and so he followed the rooster and the fox and the wolf. They walked, and they walked and they walked and they walked, and finally they reached the king's castle. The rooster told the fox, the wolf and the bear to hide until he called upon them to come. The rooster left the animals, flew to the castle, and flew up and sat down on the window sill to the king's chamber. The window was open, and the rooster could see how the king sat with the magic mill in his lap. The rooster looked at the king, stretched his neck and crowed: "Kukku luu luu, I want the farmer's mill back!"
The king jumped in the air, who could that be? A rooster! How did he dare to crow like that! No one was to get the mill from the king, the king thought. And to get rid of the rooster and punish him, the king let his men lock the rooster in the king's henhouse. But - the rooster called for the fox to come. And the fox came, and ate all the king's hen, and when the fox was full he let the rooster out the henhouse. The rooster immediately flew back to the king's window sill, stretched his neck and crowed: "Kukku luu luu, I want the farmer's mill back!" The king got more than angry with that stupid rooster, and got his men to lock the rooster in the king's sheephouse.
Well, the rooster only called for the wolf to come. The wolf came, and ate all the king's sheep, and when he was full he let out the rooster. Flip flap, the rooster flew back to the king's window sill, stretched his neck and crowed: "Kukku luu luu, I want the farmer's mill back!" The king didn't let go of his mill, but instead let his men throw the rooster in the cowhouse, and lock him up. The rooster called for the bear, the bear ate the king's cows, and the rooster got free, and flew back to the king. "Kukku luu luu, I want the farmer's mill back!"
But then the king had had enough! The king himself caught the rooster, and with the rooster firmly in his hands the king went to the royal kitchen. He took a royal saucepan, and he fried the rooster, he put it on a royal silver plate and ate it with his golden cutlery, and finished off with drying his mouth with his monogram napkin. And then the king lit a cigar to crown the meal. But when he opened his mouth to inhale the royal smoke - out from his mouth popped the rooster's head, which crowed: "Kukku luu luu, I want the farmer's mill back!" Shlooop, the rooster disappeared inside again, and - peep - came out in the other end and crowed: "Kukku luu luu, I want the farmer's mill back!" And it kept on going in and out, out and in, until the king shouted for his hunter to come and shoot it! But just at the same moment as the hunter aimed at the rooster's head, it pulled itself in from the royal behind, and - poooofff! - the hunter shot the king in the buttom, so the king wasn't able to sit down for three months. "Aooo, aooo, aooo, it's enough, it's enough - give the farmer his mill back!" the king shouted while hopping about in the royal kitchen. When the rooster heard that, he got out from the king, and ran to get the mill.
And he walked and he walked and he walked and he walked all the way back to the farmer.
And so they lived happily ever after!
Neppe P. 2004
http://professionalstoryteller.ning.com/profile/NeppePettersson
Created 2004; last update 7/1/09
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