Oman pellon pientarelle,
Oman pihan rikkasille?"
Sano wanha Wainamoinen:
"Mitapa kysyt minulta,
Kun saatat omille maille,
Oman kaen kukkumille,
Oman kukon kukkluwille,
Oman saunan lampimille?"
Sano Pohjolan emanta:
"Ohoh wiisas Wainamoinen!
Taiatko takoa sammon,
Kirjokannen kirjaella,
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 Mueller's Oxford Essays; to
Prof. John A. Porter's Selections from the Kalevala; to the writings of
the two Grimms; to Latham's Native Races of the Russian Empire; to the
translations of the Kalevala by Alex. Castren, Anton Schieffier, L.
LeDuc and Ferdinand Barna; and especially to the excellent treatises on
the Kalevala, and on the Mythology of the Finns, by Mace Da Charda and
Alex. Castren; to Prof. Helena Klingner, of Cincinnati, a linguist of
high rank, and who has compared very conscientiously the manuscript of
the following pages with the German translation of the Kalevala by
Anton Schiefner; to Dr. Emil Reich, a native Hungarian, a close student
of the Ugrian tongues, who, in a most thorough manner, has compared
this translation with the Hungarian by Ferdinand Barna, and who,
familiar with the habits, customs, and religious notions of the Finns,
has furnished much valuable material used in the preparation of this
preface; and, finally, to Prof. Thomas C. Porter, D.D., LL.D., of
Lafayette College, who has become an authority on the Kalevala through
his own researches for many years, aided by a long and intimate
acquaintance with Prof. A. F