Kun saatat omille maille,
Oman kaën kukkumille,
Oman kukon kukkluwille,
Oman saunan lampimille?"
Sano Pohjolan emanta:
"Ohoh wiisas Wainamoinen!
Taiatko takoa sammon,
Kirjokannen kirjaëlla,
Yhen joukkosen sulasta,
Yhen willan kylkyesta,
Yhen otrasen jywasta,
Yhen warttinan muruista."


As to the architecture of the Kalevala, it stands midway between the
epical ballads of the Servians and the purely epical structure of the
Iliad. Though a continuous whole, it contains several almost
independent parts, as the contest of Youkahainen, the Kullervo episode,
and the legend of Mariatta.

By language-masters this epic of Suomi, descending unwritten from the
mythical age to the present day, kept alive from generation to
generation by minstrels, or song-men, is regarded as one of the most
precious contributions to the literature of the world, made since the
time of Milton and the German classics.

Acknowledgment is hereby made to the following sources of information
used in the preparation of this work: to E. Lenquist's De Superstitione
veterum Fennorum theoretica et practica; to Chr. Ganander's Mythologia
Fennica; to Becker's De Vainamoine; to Max Müller's Oxford Essays; to