Magic Songs of the West Finns, Vol. 2, by John Abercromby, [1898], at sacred-texts.com
PRE- AND PROTO-HISTORIC FINNS
CHAPTER VII
CHARMS OF THE EAST FINNS, RUSSIANS, LETTS, ETC.
We have now to deal more especially with the text of the Magic Songs, to explain their purport, to examine their form, and compare them with the charms of the Eastern Finns, the Russians, and other neighbouring nations. The text here translated is a large part of the collection of Magic Songs edited and published by Dr. Lönnrot in 1880, under the title of Suomen Kansan muinaisia Loitsurunoja, 'Bygone Magic Songs of the Finns.' He did not collect them all himself; some were taken down in the last century, and a very few perhaps even earlier. They were found chiefly in the east and north of Finland, especially in those localities where the peasants belong to the Orthodox Church. Unfortunately the exact place where each was collected is not specified, as the editor utilised sometimes as many as twenty variants to form what he considered a complete whole. His main reason for doing so was that no singer ever gives another man a magic song complete; partly from forgetfulness; partly for fear lest it should lose its efficacy if he gave it entire. Another reason was, that where one singer uses a particular charm or song for one disease, such as rickets, another recites it for itch or for
rash. This doubtless diminishes the value of Lönnrot's edition. It is impossible to note the changes that have taken place in a given area during the last hundred years or more, or to trace the diffusion of a well-marked type from a definite centre. The form too suffers; none or only a very few of the songs are exactly in the shape in which they were sung—though I am not sure that this last defect is of very vital importance. The singers, through failure of memory, did not recite them precisely the same on each occasion, but unconsciously made small changes. Having a considerable stock of songs, all of the same general character, in their memories, the phrases of one song would often get transported to another. There may have been a belief that each song was a genuine formula to which nothing could be added and from which nothing, not even three words, could be deducted without losing its efficacy. But in practice it was otherwise. No half-civilised people has any idea of absolute exactitude, and any fair approximation to a given type of incantation or exorcism would undoubtedly pass muster. In a low stage of culture, too, mere semblance and make-believe often stands on the same level as reality; the shadow passes current for the substance. If every one believed that each magic formula was invariable, such a pretence would amply cover or counterbalance any irregularity the exorcist might commit in his recitations.
According to their contents, Lönnrot classified and arranged the Magic Songs most minutely under 233 headings. The general formulæ, common to many charms, are given separately under eighteen heads, from § 1 to § 18; words of releasing or healing power under forty heads, § 19 to § 58; fifty-one formulæ of a very varied kind from § 59
to § 109; seventy-three prayers, § 110 to § 182; fifty-one origins, § 183 to § 233. Under each of these 233 heads Lönnrot has often given a number of variants, distinguished by the letters of the alphabet. Mainly for reasons of space, though I have given specimens under each head, I have curtailed the number of variants, yet those I have translated amount to 639 magic songs, which is amply sufficient to allow one to form an idea of the whole collection. To facilitate reference I have numbered the different headings consecutively; in the original each of the five great subdivisions is numbered separately, so that after § 18 my numbering no longer coincides with the Finnish text; so too in the variants, I have lettered them, even after omitting some, in their proper alphabetical order, regardless of whether they agree with the original or not.
1. Of the 'preliminary' formulæ the exorcist repeated one or more when about to begin operations, especially when healing the sick. 2. The 'defensive' formulæ were directed against sorcerers, witches, and other malevolent persons, and were specially necessary before setting out on a journey. 3. Those 'against envy' prevented the envious from spoiling the good work of the exorcist by their evil glances and other intrigues. 4. The vengeance formulæ were to frighten away every kind of antagonist. 5. The formulæ 'to discover the cause' were used in charming the sick, when the origin of the malady was uncertain. 6. With the 'reparation for harm' formulæ the exorcist or wizard, when dealing with a contusion, ailment, or snake-bite, orders the person who caused all the pain and suffering to come and cure the sufferer. 7. The formulæ 'against inflammation' were useful in cases of snake-bite, contusions, and inflammatory wounds. 8. 'Expulsion' charms were available
for many complaints and diseases, especially in those attributed to bewitchment. 9. A 'posting' formula was recited after an expulsion or an exorcism formula, and under the same conditions. 10. 'A pain or sickness' formula was serviceable in allaying pains, smarts, and aches. 11. The 'reproaching' formula could be used in case of snake-bite, toothache, and injuries caused by stone, fire, iron, frost, etc. 12. 'Falling into an ecstasy' was a formula for steeling the nerves while conjuring the sick and removing obstacles. 13. A 'distress' formula was of service in acute pain and in sudden attacks. 14. 'Boasting' was efficacious in frightening away sorcerers, witches, the envious, and other opponents; in steeling one's faculties, proclaiming one's power, and gaining complete confidence. 15. Formulæ 'to still violence' were good for assuaging severe pain in sickness. 16. 'Menacing' was used after an expulsion formula, if the later had proved of no avail. 17. By an 'exorcism,' disease, pain, curses, spell-sent injuries of every description, were removed elsewhere. 18. After the recitation of a formula 'to make fast,' the evil, which has been exorcised away, was obliged to settle down in a given locality and there to remain motionless. 1
According to Dr. Lönnrot it is hard to say in what order the charms or magic songs were recited, for if there was any order at all it was not everywhere uniform. But if the patient was suffering from a wound or open sore, a 'vapour' formula (§ 87) was repeated to prevent the hot steam from hurting it; then, had it not been done previously, the 'preliminary and defensive' formulas as well as those 'against envy.' These were followed, if the ailment or
injury was of a known kind, such as burns, frost-bites, stitch, pleurisy, colic, rickets, rash, cancer, toothache, bites from snakes or animals, cuts from iron, contusions from stones or timber, by the recitations of their respective 'origins.' When the origin was not known the formula 'to discover the cause' was said in order to discover it. Then they continued the repetition in no particular order, just as the exorcist remembered or regarded as most useful, the 'words of releasing and healing power,' the 'reparation of harm,' 'against inflammation,' and expulsion' formulæ, or any other from § 9 to § 18.
The 'origins,' it should be observed, have nothing to do with the origin or cause of the disease or injury from which a patient was suffering. To ascertain the latter, the wizard usually had recourse to divination (§ 59 a). But when once he had learnt this he was able to recite the 'origin' or genealogy of the disease, or of the cause of harm, as glibly and circumstantially as any Garter-King-at-Arms. This 'origin' or pedigree was of an opprobrious, derisive, or contemptuous nature. The object of the wizard was twofold. After describing the ancestry of the cause of harm, and showing how ignominious, contemptible, and disgusting it was, while the cause of harm was made out to be a good-for-nothing, cowardly, and feeble wretch, the wizard tried either to shame it into repairing the evil it had committed, or to make it clear that such a helpless villain could have no chance of success against himself, who feigned at times to be the son of Ukko, and was amply protected by defensive clothing. The recital of the origin was of itself sufficient to banish a spirit of evil; 'by pronouncing a deep origin, words that are handed down, a needless evil is expelled' (210 a).
The work of healing was usually performed in the vapour-bath house, which was heated as secretly as possible, so that no envious or malevolent person should get wind of it and injure the operation. The most suitable wood for heating the vapour was obtained from trees struck by lightning, or that had been washed ashore by the wind (169 b); but in cases of childbirth it was preferable to use splinters cut from the hindmost beam of the barn; and if love was to be excited, then wood was taken from two trees that had grown together, or had twisted round each other like the tendril of hops round a pole. The water was drawn from a stream flowing northwards, especially from the bubbly part of it if rapids happened to be near at hand. Water from a natural spring was also of service if scrapings of gold or silver had been dropped into it thrice, a little each time. This was called 'buying the water.' For a bath-switch they took triple-twigged sprigs of birch from the land of three or nine rent-paying farms. These were termed 'exorcism-twigs.' When it was a matter of throwing a 'love spell,' the bath-switch was made of twigs growing at a place where three paths crossed, and in the centre of the switch were inserted three root-shoots that had grown on the north side of a tree. 1 In the text we also find that a bath-switch should be taken 'from a copse, near three rapids, from the highest birch, and that wood of the rowan-tree should be used for heating the bath' (133 c). Or the bath-switch may be broken off at the brink of three angry rapids, while the bath is to be heated with juniper from a sandy heath. The water is to be carried from the Vento stream in a cup taken from near the moon, in a ladle belonging to the sun (169 b).
To allow folklorists to compare in some small degree the charms and exorcisms of surrounding peoples with those of the Finns I bring forward a small selection. As those of the Esthonians, collected and translated into German by Kreutzwald and Neus, are fairly accessible, and at any rate are of the same character and in the same metre as the Finnish Magic Songs, it is not necessary to reproduce them here. So too the few prose charms of the Vepsas, given by Ujfalvy, are so entirely Russian that they need not be transcribed. Though hardly worth giving, since they all belong to a very late period, a few Swedish formulæ are appended. Unfortunately I have never met with any large collection of Swedish charms, and so cannot give better specimens than those below. Russian charms and exorcisms are extremely numerous, some of them very lengthy, and too long to quote. To omit them here is of less importance, however, as they all seem to bear traces of literary origin, though the ideas they embody may be much older. I have therefore given a few of the shorter ones from a single collection. In 1894 Dr. Kobert of Dorpat published 347 Lettish charms, of which I have taken about a fifth. The post-classical examples, mostly from Marcellus, are interesting, as they help to explain certain common features in Lettish, Russian, and—probably by derivation—Finnish exorcisms. The eleven Mordvin charms are interesting, but some of them have been unmistakably influenced by Russian formulæ. All the Čeremisian and Votiak examples seem also to be built up on an idea borrowed from the Russians, though, as I have never seen any Cuvaš or Tatar formulæ, the idea may have been taken from a Turkish-speaking people.
MORDVIN CHARMS.
Against illness caused by a fall.
1. Sovereign lady of the earth, Ultáva! Perhaps Little John has fallen on thy hand or foot, perhaps thou art angry with him, enraged at him. Or maybe (he has fallen) on thy son, the great lord; perhaps he has been knocked, perhaps thy son is enraged at Little John. Look! we are giving him a present, 40 lbs. of copper, 40 lbs. of silver, and 100 rubles in money. We will take a 3-kopek piece and scratch it with a knife as a present to thy son. Perhaps Little John has fallen on thy daughter, the lady, on thy daughter's hand or foot. It may be she has been knocked, and perhaps she is enraged at Little John. We will give her a present, we will buy (her) a copper ring.
Sovereign lady of the dwelling-place, Yurtava! Look! perhaps Little John has fallen on thy hand or foot, perhaps thou art angry with him, perhaps enraged at him.
I know not where Little John fell. An otter's claw will seek for the place where he fell. Get to the place, look for it! I am sending the otter's claw to look for the place where Little John fell. Don't trouble thyself about the water, don't trouble about the bridge, thou swimmer over broad waters, thou wader through deep mud, only mind that thou lookest for the place. Look! on the place where Little John fell is a white egg, a white hen laid it. We must take water, break the egg in it, mix it with the water and wash the child in the water.
Against burns.
2. It is not I that blow, God is blowing. A handless fellow lifted the firewood, a footless fellow carried it here,
a blind fellow went into the water, a breathless fellow blew up the fire.
3. On the hearth is a black girl, she wears a black cloth on her head, black clothes, a black girdle, black gloves on her hands, black bast-shoes on her feet, black bast-laces on her feet, black leggings on her legs.
4. Tokhantoyitsa, the black girl, carries her wood here, carries running water, mitigates the burns, blows the burns away. When cold water begins to boil (of itself), then will he (the patient) be burnt.
Against frost-bite.
5. On a dust-heap is a white old man, he wears a white cap on his head, white clothes, a white belt, white gloves on his hands, white trousers, white bast-shoes on his feet, white bast-laces on his feet, white leggings on his legs.
Against worms.
6. Tatar plant, the thunder-nettle! I have come to you as a guest. Sergei's cow has got the worms. In case you don't get rid of them I shall visit you again. Now I shall only tear off your top, but I shall come again, should you not get rid of them, and tear you up by the root, I shall even dry up your roots.
Against snake-bite.
7. Great snake, noxious snake! why have you bitten this animal? why was it necessary for you to do so?—'The old snake sent me to devour the animal.'—'Its flesh is not dainty, its blood is not pleasant.'
Against violent pain in the joints, rheumatism.
8. Separate the painful illness, the rheumatism from the marrow in their bones, from their bodies and muscles,
their flesh and blood, their dark-red liver, and from the brain in their heads! Separate the rheumatism from their cheeks, faces, eyes, eyebrows, and cheek-bones! I separate the rheumatism from their breasts, breast-bones, hands, wrists, and from the inside of their wrists. I separate the rheumatism from the inside of their pubis and from its marrow, from the roots of the hair and the tips of the hair. Assist us and help us, Niške-pas! I drive away the rheumatism. Niške-pas drives away, but Vere-pas separates.
Against imprecation.
9. I heal from curses by blowing. There is a large, large, large hill; on the top of the hill is an apple-tree; its roots stretch round the earth; at the top are its branches, at the end of the branches its leaves, and between the leaves are apples. When the cores of the apples get counted, when its roots in the earth get counted, then let the curse hold good, then let it return with a noise! There is a large, large, large field; in the great field is a well, its water gushes forth like silver, the uppermost part of its water flows like gold, over the earth it casts its sand and dregs. When these are gathered together in one place and counted and brought (back) to their place, then let the imprecation hold good, then let it return with a noise.
Against gripes, colic.
10. Behold! I dash to pieces the man's gripes, I cut his colic to pieces. Grandfather Sorokin, grandfather Vid´aša, Mikhaila's wife, grandmother, aunt Sekla, Gava's wife and daughter-in-law, the seven wizards, see, these are blowing and they tell me (to blow). With your favour I blow and I spit. From the other side of the great water a great old woman has come, she has blown (the illness) away.
To staunch blood.
11. On the shore of the great water is a white stone; in the stone are three girls on a white piece of felt. One sews with thread, the second with silk, the third with silver tinsel. She will strengthen Vasya's heart, will staunch his blood. When blood comes from the end of a dog's member, then let it come from this place. 1
ČEREMISIAN CHARMS.
Against bewitchment and fascination.
1. If, after stringing forty-one millstones on each eyelash, he is able to see with his eyes, only then may he be able to bewitch!—If, after stringing an 80 lb. weight on each eyelash, he is able to throw a glance, only then may he be able to fascinate.—If he with his uvula can lick, set up and animate a clod lying on the ground, only then may he be able to glance with eyes of bewitchment.
To bewitch a dog.
2. When this spotted dog shall have counted his own hairs, only then may he fly at me barking.—If this spotted dog can thread and hang on each hair an 80 lb. weight, and fly at me with barks, only then may he fly at me with barks.
To bewitch a person.
3. As the cold earth lies heavy, so may also Vasili's body become heavy!—As a great stone lies heavy on the ground, may Vasili's body, becoming heavy, also lie!
To give relief in sickness.
4. As a feather lies, so may Vasili's body become light!—As a hops flower lies, so may Vasili's body become lighter and set itself in motion!—As an owl with puffed-up feathers lies, so also may Vasili's body stand forth swelling (with health).
To gain abundance of corn.
5. As (the wind) brings snow in heaps and deposits it at the barn, so may (it) deposit corn in heaps. As ants bring their ant-heaps near here, so also may corn be brought near here!—As the sun, after making the circuit of the sky and reaching its place, stays there, so also let the corn come and stay.—When a stone melts, only then may (the corn) come to an end! 1
Against hoarseness.
6. The morning sun rises and approaches; if he (the sorcerer), stroking the sunrise with both hands, can lick it with his tongue and push it back in the winking of an eye, only then may he bewitch and throw spells upon me.
Against a snake's glance, i.e. swelling of the fingers.
7. Whenever the 'snake's glance,' chancing to be on the point of a sharp steel sword, can jump about; only then at that very instant may it seize me by the finger.
To staunch a flow of blood.
8. When he (the bewitcher), by cutting with a sickle the red blood of the red earth, can cause it to flow in an instant; only then may my blood flow!
As the red of dawn melts away, so may it (the evil) melt away.
Against colic in horses.
9. From the gold blast-furnace issues the mass of gold throwing off sparks with a crackling noise. If the Colic with a golden ladle can lay it on (his own) bare heart and bare liver, and with patient endurance can quietly take a seat, only then, at that very moment, may it attack the horse.
Against burns.
10. Fire, like a dry tree-stump in flames, comes rolling this way; whenever it can rush into the river Ut, can char the river Ut, reduce it to ashes, swallow and drink it up; only then, at that very moment, may burns overwhelm me.
11. As butter melts, as honey melts, as the morning mist melts away, as the morning hoar-frost melts away, so may they (the burns) melt away in an instant.
Against an illness inflicted by the Russians.
12. When it is possible for a man to bring forty-one paths on forty-one hills to one place and tie them in one knot; only then may he bewitch and throw spells upon me.
Against snake-bite.
13. On the top of a high hill is a golden trough, in the golden trough is a golden cup, in the golden cup is a silk skein; when a snake can in a moment rush in there, bite, seize, devour, and swallow it up, only then may he be able to bite me!
When a long deceased person causes a child to pine away.
14. Whenever it is possible to twist a cord out of one's own gut, to make a ladder of one's own ribs, to ascend to the great God, to enter through the golden portal, and dashing (him) to pieces to eat up and drink up the son of the mother of the great God, the child rocking in its cradle, without saying, 'Dear me!' only then may he devour my wee bairnie. 1
VOTIAK CHARMS.
Against bewitchment.
1. When you can support with your forehead the ball of the prophet Elias, then may you be able to damage me!
When you have laid your children in the treasure-vault of the emperor, and so filled it, then may, etc.
When you have made bread of the claws of the black cat and eaten it, then, etc.
When you have given a name to the nameless finger (i.e. the ring finger), then, etc.
2. When he (the sorcerer) can damage the fish at the bottom of seventy seas, then may he, etc.
When he can give a contrary direction for a minute to all the rotating mill-wheels of this world, then, etc.
When he can damage a ship's anchor, then, etc.
When he can damage the eyes of seventy different kinds of fish, then, etc.
Against evil eye.
3. When the bow made from an eyelash is shot with and hits the mark, then let him bewitch this man with his eyes!
4. Is it a green eye that has thrown the glance? Is it a black eye that has thrown the glance?
If they can dry up with an evil glance that lasts a minute the needles of a fir that grows in the forest, then may they also dry up this man with a glance!
5. When the evil glance hits the moon, then let the evil glance strike this man also.
To turn a person's senses.
6. As the moon rolling along leaves its mother, and as he returns to her, so also may this man turn to me!
7. As the needles of a fir growing in the forest touch each other, so also let this man meet me!
As a man's head turns towards the Emperor, so let the head of this person turn towards me!
Spell to damage the farmyard.
8. When you have spat on a kopek piece, you throw it into the farmyard of the enemy, saying:
'For this man, let there remain a place no bigger than this kopek!'
Then you spit on a piece of silver money, and throw it in with the same words.
Counter spell to the above.
9. When he can make into a plough the kopek thrown in with an incantation, and when he, after ploughing, (can get enough grain) to fill the stomach, then may he be able to damage this house!
Against incendiary fires.
10. When he can set on fire an anchor lying at the bottom of the sea, then may he be able to set on fire (my house, for example)!
When he can ignite the sand lying at the bottom of a river, then, etc.
When he in one minute burns the world into a mountain (of ashes), and makes it again as it was, then, etc.
When he sets on fire the water of the mill-sluice in spring, then, etc.
Against bleeding.
11. When blood flows from the broken-off edge of a golden knife, then may the blood (of this man) flow! When the blood, etc., of a silver knife, etc.
When the blood, etc., of a copper knife, etc.
When the blood, etc., of a steel knife, etc.
Against swellings.
12. When a swelling forms on the tip of a snake's sting, then let a swelling form on this (man).
When a swelling forms on the tip of the horn of a one-year-old sheep, then, etc.
When a swelling forms on a lizard, etc.
When a swelling forms on a wasp, etc.
Along the three roads by which it came, may it also retire!
13. If he, after making a golden ladder, can climb in a minute to heaven, then let the swelling form!
If he, after making a silver ladder, etc.
If he, after making a copper ladder, etc.
Against stomach-ache.
14. When the heart of a pine-tree is attacked by stomachache, then may the stomach-ache attack this man!
When the heart of a birch, etc.
When the heart of a fir, etc,
When the heart of a Siberian pine, etc.
When the heart of a maple, etc.
When the heart of an elm, etc.
When the anchor lying at the bottom of a ship, etc.
Against the skin disease called 'mushroom.'
15. When on the bottom of the ladle 'mushroom' forms, then let the 'mushroom' attack this man!
When at the bottom of a pot the 'mushroom,' etc.
When on an anvil, etc.
When fishing.
16. When the fish hears the sound of carding the wool of the dead, then let the fish notice the fish-traps which I have set.
When the fish sees the shadow of a dead man, then, etc.
When the fish sees the cross on the church, then, etc.
When the fish sees the ashes thrown out of the bathhouse, etc.
As water turns according to the direction of the current of the sluice, so let (the fish also) return and enter the fish-traps!
As the sun returns, so, etc.
As the moon returning from its mother comes, so, etc.
Against bewitchment.
17. When you kill your own dear children, then damage this man!
I tread on seventy-seven devils and put them under my feet; seventy-seven stars are above my head: when you damage (by spells) all these, then, etc.
When you reverse the twelve thunderbolts, then, etc.
Otherwise I give this man nothing.
Against the evil eye.
18. After you have fetched sand from the bottom of seventy-seven seas and twisted it into a cord, when you succeed in climbing up to the sky, then may the evil eye fall on this man!
Against calumny.
19. When you can keep this world in darkness, then may your tongue calumniate this man!
When you can make the navel of the earth bloody, then, etc.
Against stomach-ache.
20. When you can keep seventy-seven vapour-bathrooms hot, then, Stomach-ache, attack this man!
Against dropsy.
21. When you engender a seed of sickness on the point of a needle made of the best steel, on the blade of a steel axe, then let it also be formed in this man!
Against rupture.
22. If you succeed in living after you have ruptured seventy-seven anvils, then attack this man also!
If you succeed in letting yourself down into the opening of the stove, then, etc.
Against a disease in horses.
23. If you succeed in seizing the wooden club, the stick with which the fir is knocked, seize this horse!
If you succeed in seizing the staff of 'the producer of cold,' then, etc.
Against any sort of illness.
24. I do not give (the sick man) 'to the evil one,' though he is bewitched.
When you succeed in eating a white-hot stone, then eat up this sick person!
If you succeed in eating red-hot steel, thunderbolts, then, etc.
If you succeed in travelling with jokes and laughter after you have mended the badly-broken pole and the badly-smashed worm for distilling brandy, and united the ends; after you have made a black bear into a horse for yourself and harnessed it in front; after you have made a black snake into a whip and taken it in your hand, then, etc.
25. In the sky is the 'pillar of the sky.' If you know the measure and length of this sky pillar, then rove about eating and drinking with twelve evil spirits (ịbir), twelve devils, twelve stomach-aches, twelve agues! Otherwise I will not give up this sick man!
If you divert from their course the full sun and the full moon, if you know the number and measure of the stars of heaven, if you can squeeze them in your fist, then rove about eating this man! 1
LETTISH CHARMS.
Against cough.
1. Cough! get out I (N.'s) cough, don't scratch (N.'s) body! Cough! get out I (N.'s) cough, don't scratch the bones! (N.'s) cough, don't scratch the heart! Go along the sea, scratch the stones of the sea, scratch the sea-sand; they are more savoury than (N.'s) body! Don't come into
the house, for dogs and cats will tear thee to pieces, dogs and cats will rend thee in pieces.
Against stitch in the side.
2. Cease, 'Fire,' from tearing, from pricking, 'wild fire'! go through the earth! Cease from tearing, from pricking, wild fire! go pricking through the earth! Remain still, like a quiet fellow, in the name of the Father, etc.
3. In the sea there is a four-cornered white post—it is hacked into fine, very fine, pieces. God the Father . . . Amen. (Repeat thrice.)
4. The stitch pricks—I am in agony! Let three Pērkoni (lightnings) strike it! ✠ The stitch pricks—I am in agony! Let nine Pērkoni strike him! ✠ The stitch pricks—I am in agony! Let three times nine Pērkoni strike him! ✠
As many crosses are to be made as the number of Pērkoni mentioned.
Against stomach-ache.
5. Three balls of thread roll over a high hill—one is red, the second black, the third white. Roll, roll, I shall surely wind you up—first the red, then the black, then the white one. (Repeat thrice.) Our Father which art, etc.
Against pains in the bones and muscles.
6. I took a pine-splinter—I stabbed the devil. A black dog ran past—it bit off the pain; a black cat ran past—it bit through the pain; a hare ran past—it bit through the pain.
Against flux.
7. Flee, flee, Flux! I shall try to catch you, I shall overtake you, I shall catch you, I shall strike you, I shall whip you, I shall tear you to pieces with an iron harrow!
8. Stand up, Flux! stand up, Flux! I shall cure you. Icy flux! I shall cure you; cold Flux! I shall cure you; hot Flux! I shall cure you; pricking Flux, running Flux, pricking Flux! I shall cure you. I shall draw you through nine beds, through nine doors, through nine fallow fields; I shall draw thee through nine unused fields, I shall bind you to a creaking aspen. There you shall lie, there you shall creak, there you will no more disturb people's health.
Against fever.
9. Ice in the well, ice in the ditch, hot water behind the threshold; mutton is boiling in the kettle, icy wood is below it. A blue goat is lying on a stubble-field with its feet stretched out. Go away to hell, go away to hell with all the pains! A red maiden is wading through the sea with a white staff in her hand.
10. Go out, you flabby Fever, to the bridge of the great river; look down at the river. On the river five red maidens are dancing on pieces of ice—you are looking in that direction, remain there! The maidens disappear, the pieces of ice melt, the flabby fever vanishes. God the Father . . .
Against skin disease called 'holy virgins.'
11. Look, where blue smoke is rising from the foundation of the vapour-bath house, there is a tiny man with a black cap on his head; look, where blue smoke is ascending from the foundation of the bath-house, there is a little black man with a black cap on his head; look, where blue smoke is ascending from the foundation of the bath-house, there is a little black man with a black cap on his head.
12. A little, little virgin who scourges the children; five
maidens in the sea are spinning a silk thread; a green, a blue fire (appears) through the foundations of the bathhouse. Quit, holy Virgin, the body (of N.)! Go into the deep sea, upon the sail of a large boat, on the broken boat of a Lauma (= witch).
13. Flee, flee, holy virgins! I shall chase you, I shall overtake you, I shall catch you, I shall whip you, I shall beat you; to me belongs the dwelling-room, the table, the bed, and the cradle.
14. Three virgins in white stockings and black shoes wade through the sea; they find an (ignited) lime-tree stump; they spit on it, extinguish it, and it becomes as black as it was; with God's help it heals.
15. Three virgins come to my hands: one has red shoes, red socks, a red mantle, a red brooch, red gloves, and red kerchief; the second had a yellow mantle, yellow brooch, yellow kerchief, yellow gloves, yellow shoes, and a yellow apron; the third had a white mantle, white brooch, white kerchief, white shoes, and white socks. Away, away, away from my hands! (Repeat thrice.) Our Father, etc.
Against a stye in the eye.
16. A red cart, red horse, red driver, red whip, a red dog runs from behind. Disappear like the waning moon, like an old fuzz-ball! (Repeat thrice.)
Against toothache.
17. (N.), it is not thy teeth, but the maiden's, that give pain. Let her take the painful tooth, creep into 3× 9 mole-holes and bury the 3 × 9 pains in God's deep earth! It will restore to health, it will do you no harm. God of the earth, close up thine earth; let that which is hidden,
sleep; that which is hidden, rot; that which rots, disappear; what disappears cannot return! Amen, besides let God the Father . . . help. Our Father, which . . .
Against bleeding.
18. Three red virgins are making a blood-dam. Pērkons rumbles, launches lightning, and closes up the blood-dam.
19. Three red virgins run upon the sea, naked with their clothes off; three bricks: one is red, one black, one white. No swelling, no pain, no bleeding! In the name, etc.
20. Five virgins wade through a sea of blood,—wade and bind, wade and bind, wade and bind. A copper dam, a steel sluice, veins like strings, a stone lies before them!
21. Three times nine virgins wade through a sea of blood; the further they wade, the drier (it gets); the further they wade, the drier (it gets).
22. I travel by day, I travel by night—over high hills, through deep valleys; the hills collide, the valleys fill up. Let it (the blood) become as hard as iron, as steel!
23. A black raven flies through the air, blood trickles; then the great Mār´a (= Maria, a goddess of luck) ran up and arrested the raging stream.
24. A black raven flies through the air, blood trickles. Take, Mār´ina, a golden besom and sweep up the blood of the black raven.
25. The black snake flew through the air, spilling black blood—spilling black blood, biting the slender nettles. The swamps are full of black birches, the fields are full of the bones of fallen cattle; the sea is full of ice-heaps, the fields are full of ploughmen! Collect, O sea, your ice—dear mother, your ploughmen!
26. The alder grows in the forest, the alder grows in the
forest; from the alder flows blood, from the alder flows blood. Let the blood of the alder be as hard as stone—through Jesus Christ.
27. Associate with the brown stone, with the black alder; by doing so no blood will flow!
Against burns.
28. Three holy virgins sit behind the fire, a sheep's head is cooking above them; alder-wood, lime-wood. Let the wounds become as soft as lime-wood.
29. A red cock is running round the fire. Take, dear Mār´a, a besom, set to work and sprinkle, set to work and sprinkle, thereby let the evil disappear like a spark.
30. An old woman ascended the hill, smoking an oaken pipe; old crows extinguished the coals, the raven plied the bellows.
Against snakes.
31. A little old man goes through the swamp; he has a copper belt round his waist and a steel tube in his hand. Flee, adders! flee, adders! They will cut you in two crossways with the steel, they will hew you into nine pieces.
32. Don't sleep in the feather-grass, in the feather-grass, in the feather-grass! Swamps and forests belong to you, the broad fatherland to me. You ought to avoid the shadow of man, the ox-yoke, the handles of the plough, the shadow of cattle! You have as many sins as the stars of heaven; as many sins as the pebbles in the sea.
33. The snake goes through the feather-grass with a white bar on its back; it has the bar, I have a feather-grass. Let the (bitten) place become as soft as feather-grass.
34. Big snake, little snake! sleep in the vine-bush, don't
bite the cattle or the little children; bite the brown stone—it does not grow, it will not swell up, it will not rot.
35. Vipu, vapu (these words are supposed to characterise a serpentine movement), 'creeper through moss,' 'fat sausage,' 'smooth slimy skin,' 'variegated garter,' 'ant's shadow,' 'leash' in the heat of the sun.
36. Three adders have crept into a fine dense thicket: one is white, another variegated, the third brown. Open, copper gate.! that all may crawl through.
37. The 'toothless' lies in the willow thicket. 'Toothless!' come out of the willow thicket. Let the pain rot like a willow leaf! Let the swelling subside like a heap of wool!
Against sprains.
38. A billy-goat jumps over the fence, encounters an old harrow,—upsets it,—let flesh turn towards flesh, let bone press against bone, let health turn towards health; the ailment falls on the field as an old harrow falls to pieces.
39. Bone to bone, soft part to soft part, sinew to sinew, and red blood through the middle.
40. An old man walks along the street, leads by the hand a white mare, crosses hills, crosses valleys—the hills break, the valleys break, oaks break, steel breaks. The hills collide, the valleys collide; iron melts, the steel melts; become as level as the floor. No groan, no moan, no swelling;—become as well as it was.
Against tumours, buboes.
41. I hew a willow, I hew a willow, I hew a willow—the lime-tree shot forth between the roots of the oak. Let this man's body revive like the lime leaves, let the swelling of dropsy vanish; stone (is its) name.
Against swellings.
42. Thrice nine red waggons are passing along the street, thrice nine horses run before them, thrice nine drivers are in front; red caps, red clothes, red whips, red gloves, red cord. They let their whips crack, they let the swelling, the bulging, altogether disappear, that suppresses (N.'s) malady, that suppresses (N.'s) malady.
43. Thrice nine Pērkoni emerge from the sea with thrice nine iron arrows—they dash the swelling under a stone,—the man remains in his former state of health.
44. A black man sits on the stump of a lime-tree, (he has) an ash besom: dip in and sprinkle, dip in and sprinkle, dip in and sprinkle that the swelling may be suffocated. Amen.
Against boils, abscesses.
45. An old man is walking along the sea with a steel sword in his hand; he cuts the boils in two. The boil runs into the deep sea, into the deep sea-sand, into the deep sea-gravel;—there you must spin, there you must twist.
46. The boil is spinning between the door: there it spins, there it twists. Hurry into the forest to the thickly-ramified willow-bush—there you must spin, there must you twist; your grandfathers are there, your grandmothers are there,—there you must spin, there must twist. God the Father . . .
47. The little old mother sits on the hill with a little basket in her hand; in it is a ball of yarn; the ball unwinds, the boil discharges itself, vanishes, passes into dust like a fuzz-ball.
48. The little old mother sits on the hill with a ball of thread in her bosom, a little dog is at her side; the ball
rolls to the bottom, the little dog retrieves it. These are the words against boils that are appropriate for (N.). A little white stone in the sea, a little white stone in the sea, a diamond knitting-needle in the middle. Make haste (N.), exert yourself quickly to receive your health.
49. I am a woman of iron, I have a tongue of steel: I split the boil into nine pieces like an old mill-stone. Let it vanish, let it turn to dust like an old fuzz-ball! In the name of Jesus—all is well (again).
50. Boil, boil, howling boil! howl like a dog, coo like an egg (sic), burst like an egg, like a barley-corn.
51. 'Rotten birch-bark,' 'rotten birch-rind,' 'rotten birch-leaf'!—without end, without end.
Against erysipelas.
52. A woman sits at the foot of the hill with thrice nine balls of string in her little basket. The ball rolls, the hills break and roll down. A woman sits at the foot of the hill with thrice nine balls of thread in her little basket: a black ball, blue ball, speckled ball, red ball, white ball. Let the balls roll, the hills break and roll down. Become as soft as a fuzz-ball (repeat twenty-seven times). God the Father . . .
53. The blue erysipelas, the white erysipelas, the red erysipelas, vanish and disappear like the morning frost, like the waning moon, like the shadow of the sun.
Against caries of the bone.
54. Kindle, sun and moon! and let the evil die of hunger. And you, bright stars! come to help. (This must be repeated twenty-seven times over fine tobacco mixed with honey.)
Against cramp.
55. A black billy-goat cooks beef, lights a fire of ice; a black man stays in the house, he wishes to contend with me. Go to the sea, in the sea are two posts of ice; you can contend with these! God the Father . . .
At childbirth.
56. 'Wanderer,' 'wanderer,' stand up, seat yourself in the cart, take the reins in your hands and drive home! Hasten, hasten to open the 'gate'; now nobles are driving along, like fish in the Dvina.
57. Shoot forth, 'green pike'! from the 'lake'—gentry are travelling, gentry are travelling—the 'golden sails' belly out. Our Father, which art . . .
Against convulsions in children.
58. The devil's mother and the devil's father drove to church in a large waggon with black horses; three servants with thrice nine arrows issue from the sea, and meet them at the cross roads. There they will shoot thee, there thou wilt vanish, and turn to dust like an old fuzz-ball, like the old moon! God the Father . . .
59. An old master and an old woman in climbing hills get tired. So let (N.) tire the evil that plagues him (the child), that tortures him, that gives him convulsions, that tears him.
60. The evil one breaks a rod. I weep at side of the road; hew the pine, strike the fir; don't strike (N.); (N.) is given by God, begotten of God. God the Father . . .
61. Black men with iron teeth wished to bite (N.); all the small stones of the sea came to help (N.).
62. A black man walks along the street, he carries in his hand a black cat. It was no black man, it was the merciful God himself. Lord Jesus Christ help me. In the name . . .
63. A black man and a black horse are standing in the willow thicket; he has an iron cap, an iron shirt, and iron boots. The black man vanishes, the black horse vanishes, the willow thicket vanishes. In the name . . .
64. A tiny little dog runs about day and night, barking and protecting my cradle and my bairnie. God the Father . . .
65. Four table-legs, four table-corners, four corners of the room; three magpies; one black magpie, one parti-coloured magpie, one green magpie; three black whelps, three black kittens, watch my little child. God the Father . . .
Against all sorts of evil.
66. An iron pig creeps through a hay-cock. You have crept in there, remain there! Iron men! take iron forks and cast it (the pig) out. Lord Jesus Christ, thou and thy Mother protect me! Our Father . . . (thrice).
67. Go away to the sea, gnaw the white flint stones in the sea, don't gnaw my body! Let all evils disappear like mist, like smoke, like the morning frost in the sun, like the waning moon! Let my good health beam like the sun in the sky!
68. The black cock is sitting on the willow bush, the mother of the devil (Jods) is coming with swords and pistols; there they will shoot thee down, there thou wilt disappear. Hew into the pine, hew into the fir, don't hew into the oak. God the Father . . .
Charms relating to cow's milk.
69. (If the milk has been bewitched, one says:) Black men were mowing hay on an island in the sea, with pitchy caps on their heads, and dressed in coats of plaited withes.
70. A hen is running to the stall with nine chicks; kind Maria went behind with nine milk-pails. Three springs flow into the sea; may they all flow into the udder of my cows. One-armed fellow, one-armed fellow! stand at the cross-way and look out for who comes by, who comes by, who runs by. One-armed fellow, one-armed fellow! look out for who comes, who runs by, the witches and the sorceresses.
71. Fly, witch, obliquely through the air, don't enter my farmyard. My farmyard is tipped with iron, the rafters are made of scythes, the rafters are made of scythes, the roofs are studded with needles, trimmed with scythes, stuck with needles. 1
GREAT RUSSIAN EXORCISMS.
A love-spell.
1. I the servant of God (N.) begin, I shall go from door to door, from the door to the gate, to the eastern side of the sea-ocean. In this sea lies an island; on this island stands a post; on this post sit seventy-seven brothers. They forge steel arrows day and night. I shall address them in a whisper: 'Give me, ye seventy-seven brothers, the arrow that is hottest and lightest.'
I shall shoot that arrow at the servant of God, the girl (N.) in the left teat, lungs, and liver, that she shall lament
and weary (for me) by day, at night and at midnight, and shall not dispel the feeling by eating and drinking.
I lock with a strong lock and (throw) the key into the water.—From the Government of Perm.
Against toothache.
2. Near a path, near a wood, stands a tree, under the tree lies a dead body; St. Antipi goes past the corpse and says: 'Why, corpse, dost thou lie down? do not thy teeth ache, do not thy ribs pain thee, do not worms gnaw thee, art thou not bleeding?'
'They do not pain me.'
'Become, ye teeth, insensible to pain in the servant of God (N.), like those in the dead body; O God, ratify it (with a ratification) stronger than a stone.'—From the Government of Vorónež.
3. The moon is in the sky, a bear in a forest, a corpse in a coffin; when these three brothers come together, then let the servant's (N.) teeth ache.'—From Vorónež.
4. The new moon is in the sky, a grey horse is in a field, a pike is in the sea; when these three meet, then let my teeth part company.—From Vorónež.
5. Go to a rowan-tree and gnaw it a little several times, repeating: 'Rowan-tree, Rowan-tree! cure my teeth! If thou wilt not cure them I will gnaw thee all over.'—From the Government of Kaluga.
Against gripes.
6. The wizard circles round the place where the gripes are felt with a whetstone and makes a cross over the place with a table-knife while praying, and crosses himself thrice: I cut, I cut off, I hew, I hew in half, I cut, I split the
gripes with a sharp knife. As a whetstone is worn down by steeled iron, by steel, by iron, so let the inborn gripes in the white bone, in the dark flesh, in the white body, wear down and wither for ever and ever.
Afterwards they wash the knife with water and give it to the patient to drink, or with it they wash the sore place.—From Pri-Argunsk in the Transbaikal Province.
Against scrofula.
7. To be spoken over water and salt.
Thou must not remain here, thou must not live here; thou must remain in swamps, on rotten trunks, behind dark forests, steep mountains, and yellow sands. There thou must remain, there must live.—From Vorónež.
8. To be said thrice over the oil with which the sore place is rubbed.
I begin by blessing myself, crossing myself, I shall go from door to door into an open field. In the open field flow three rivers: the first Varvareya, the second Nastaseya, the third Paraskoveya. These rivers wash stumps, roots, white stones, and steep mountains, and yellow sand. So let them wash the horrid red redness, the scrofulous scrofula, in the servant of God (N.). O horrid red redness, roll, tumble out of his bones and marrow, from the white body, from the hot blood, so that it shall not pain nor pinch by day or night, for an hour, half an hour, a minute, half a minute, for ever. Amen.—Parish of Turensk, Valdai district, Government of Novgorod.
Against fever and ague.
9. I the servant of God (N.) begin by blessing myself and crossing myself. I shall go to the blue sea. On the blue sea
lies a white inflammable stone; on this stone stands God's throne; on this throne sits the very holy Mother, holding in her small white hands a white swan. She plucks, she pulls out of the swan a white feather. Just as the white feather jumped and leaped back, so jump and leap back, sever from the servant of God (N.), ye inborn fevers and inborn heat from the poor raging head, the bright eyes, the dark brows, the white body, the warm heart, the black liver, the white lungs, and from the poor hands and feet.
If it came from the wind, let it go back to the wind; if it came from the water, let it go back to the water; if it came from the forest, to the forest let it return henceforth and for ever.—From Pri-Argunsk, Transbaikal Province.
Against hernia.
10. In an open field stands a moist oak; in the moist oak is an iron man. And this iron man cannot be given to drink or be fed with bread or salt or any fruit, but they have to feed this iron man with the hernia from the heart of a living man, with hernia from under the breast, with hernia from the navel. Also, in the blue sea ocean is a white stone, and from this white stone issues a pretty girl, who advances to the servant of God (N.) and takes from the servant of God the hernia in his navel, the hernia in his heart, the hernia in his breast, and lays it on a silk ribbon, and takes it down to the moist oak, to the iron man. This iron man eats up and devours the hernia from the heart of this servant of God, the hernia from under his breast, the hernia from his navel, and then the iron man becomes satiated—From eighteenth-century documents of the Secret Chancery.
11. To be repeated thrice, and each time the sore place is to be bitten:
O hernia, hernia, thou hernia that growest in a pine forest, gnaw, hernia! stumps, roots, and rough stones. Go for a walk, hernia, in an open field; there thou canst walk at pleasure, there amuse thyself away from the servant (N.) of God for ever and ever.—From Turensk, Valdai district, Government of Novgorod.
Against an abscess or boil.
12. Draw the middle finger of the right hand round a knot in the woodwork of the door or window-post and repeat:
As a knot dries and withers up, so let the abscess dry and wither up. As no fire comes from the finger, so let no nodule (come) from the boil.—Čerlinsk, Government of Perm.
Against bleeding.
13. On the sea Kiyan, on the island of Buyana, on a high stone stands a tomb; in the tomb lies a pretty girl. Rise and get up, pretty girl! take a sewing-needle, thread it with a silk thread, and sew up the bleeding wound. Amen (thrice).—From Alatịrsk, Government of Simbirsk.
14. On the sea Okiyan, on the island of Buyana, stands a small room; in the small room are three girls. The first keeps needles, the second girl makes thread, and the third sews up a bloody wound. Horse! thou art chestnut; Blood! do not gush. Horse I thou art brown; Blood! do not drip.—From Government of Tula.
15. On the sea-ocean is the oceanic Tsar; under him is a brown horse. Blood! don't drip up to this day and hour, till it is with my agreement and decree, for ever and
ever. Amen. From district of Valdai, Government of Novgorod.
Against snake-bite.
16. To be said thrice over damp aspen bark, which is then rubbed on the wound.
From the sea, from behind a hill, from a white stone issued a broad feathered snake, and brought three iron pincers and took out the sting of a black snake, of a little striped snake, of a copper snake, of a blind-worm.—Government of Tula.
17. Make a circle round the wound with the finger moistened with spittle and say:
Fierce snake! thy house is in a cave, the servant (N.) of God is in a village. Fierce snake! for thee it is a long way to the sea, and for the servant of God (N.) it is high to the sky. Fierce snake! thou hast a glowing coal in thy teeth and the servant of God has a white body. Do not pain, do not swell, henceforth and for ever.—From the Government of Tula.
Against worms, grubs.
18. Saddles rattle, bits jingle, let the grub ride into empty sacks for hops, for light goods, and fly across the sea. There grubs are holding a wedding; a lamb, a barren cow, are being roasted; there is a fire for grubs there, burning brimstone and boiling tar; run away, grubs, from here across the sea!—From a seventeenth-century MS., Government of Perm.
Against a tired back.
19. A woman going out for the first time in harvest cuts the first handful of rye and girds herself with it, saying:
As Mother Rye stood for a year and did not get tired, so let my back not get tired from reaping.—Government of Vologda.
Hunting spells.
20. A white hare runs, (it is) like white ice. On one side stands the prophet Ilya with twelve servants: 'Servants, faithful servants, I lay upon you no heavy task! take each of you an iron switch and drive together from the Kama and the Volga, from the open field, from a wide comfortable place, from hillocks and hills into the trap set by (N.).'—From the district of Tigrits in the Altai, in the Province of Transbaikal.
Fishing.
21. When baiting a hook, say:
The fish is fresh, the bait is fat; nibble and bite and pull it to the bottom.—Government of Archangel.
22. Repeat thrice:
Fish, little fish! enter the mother net, the wide 'pair of drawers.'—From South Siberia.
On presenting a petition.
23. Before actually entering the house you must catch hold of the handle of the door three times and say:
'As the handle of this door speaks, so let (N.) speak against me.'
After entering suddenly look up and think or say:
'I am a wolf, thou art a lamb; I shall eat thee up, I shall swallow thee up, be afraid of me.'—From district of Yenisei. 1
POST-CLASSICAL CHARMS.
Against gout.
1. Fuge, fuge, podagra et omnis nervorum dolor de pedibus meis et omnibus membris meis. Or, if the charm is recited over another person, you say: 'illius quem peperit illa.'
2. φύγε ποδάγρα, Περσεύς δε διώκει.
Against a stye in the eye.
3. φεῦγε φεῦγε, κρείων (l. κριθή) σε διώκει.
Transference of a disease.
4. Let loose a green lizard, saying: ecce dimitto to vivam; vide, ut ego quemcunque hinc tetigero, epar non doleat.
5. Pluck some of the fur from the belly of a live hare, and release it, saying: fuge, fuge, lepuscule, et tecum aufer coli dolorem.
To improve the digestion.
6. Lie down and rub your stomach, while thrice repeating: Lupus ibat per viam, per semitam, cruda vorabat, liquida bibebat.
At the period of menstruation.
7. Herbula Proserpinacia, Horci regis filia, quomodo clausisti muli partum, sic claudas et undam sanguinis hujus.
Against toothache.
8. When you see the first swallow, without speaking you approach clear water and put some in your mouth; then with the middle finger of either hand you rub your teeth and say: Hirundo tibi dico, quomodo hoc (sc. aqua) in rostra iterum non erit, sic mihi dentes non doleant toto anno.
Against stomach-ache.
9. Tres scrofœ de cœlo ceciderunt, invenit eas pastor, occidit eas sine ferro, coxit eas . . . sine dentibus. Bene coxisti, bene coxisti, bene coxisti.
10. Corce corcedo stagne, pastores te invenerunt, sine manibus collegerunt, sine foco coxerunt, sine dentibus comederunt. Tres virgines in media mari mensam marmoream positam habebant; duæ torquebant, una retorquebat. Quomodo hoc numquam factum est, sic numquam sciat illa Gaia Seia corci dolorem.
11. Rub the stomach with the left thumb and both little fingers, spit, and say thrice: Stabat arbor in media mare et ibi pendebat situla plena intestinorum, tres virgines circumibant, duæ alligabant, una resolvebat. 1
Against bleeding.
12. Stulta femina super fontem [montem?] sedebat
Et stultum infantem in sinu tenebat,
Siccant montes, siccant valles,
Siccant venæ, vel quæ de sanguine sunt plenæ. 1
SWEDISH CHARMS.
Against a swelling.
1. Stroke the sore place from right to left with a whetstone, a brush, and wool-scissors. At every stroking spit on the ground and say:
Good-morning (good-evening), swelling! If you were as big as a clock-tower you shall become as small as a grain of mustard. You shall wither away and become nothing. In the name, etc.
To stupefy the judge.
2. Look at him between your fingers and repeat:
I look through my fingers, and I turn your fancy from all other men to me. And my utterance shall be your utterance, and my teeth shall bind your teeth. In the name, etc.
To stop bleeding.
3. I shall bind this blood with my ten fingers. In the name, etc.
4. You shall stand as the man that stood in the gateway of hell. By the three holy names, etc.
5. Get on a stone lying fast in the earth, and repeat thrice against the sun:
Stand still, you blood! as Jordan's flood, when our Saviour let himself be baptized. In the name, etc.
Against stitch and pleurisy.
6. Hold hard! by force, as Christ let himself be born. Let no stitch hold you, no pleurisy sting you, in the name of the Holy Trinity. Amen.
Against snake-bite.
7. Gub, Gub, Gub under the fir-tree's root stung our Lord Jesus in his foot. He that had stung burst, but not He that was injured. By the three holy names, etc.
When an animal has received an 'elfshot.'
8. A sorcerer (trollkarl) went to the forest to shoot. Our Lord Christ met him, and said: 'Whither goest thou?' He answered: 'I shall go to the forest to shoot; I shall shoot people, and I shall shoot beasts, whatsoever
is in front (of me).' Said He: I forbid thee that; thou shalt shoot stocks and earth-fast stones.' In nomine, etc.
Against pain in the head.
9. The Virgin Mary and her maidens went down to the shore; there they saw brains floating. They waded out and took them, and put them in the brain and brain-pan, with God's grace.
Against whitlow.
10. Our Lord went forth on his way; the whitlow met him. 'Where are you going?' said our Lord. 'I mean to go to a man to break bone and to cause pain.' 'No,' said our Lord, you shall not work harm even on an earth-fast stone.' 1
THE STRUCTURE OF THE MAGIC SONGS.
The Magic Songs and Charms are built up or composed of various simple cells, or elements, each containing an idea which can be compressed into a single sentence. The number of these simple elements, when stated in the most general and comprehensive terms, amounts to about seventy-five, though it will be sufficient to enumerate the limited number of ten.
1. The exorcist or reciter of the song invokes or desires the help of a stronger power, or invokes the aid of a helper; this last may be an animal or an inanimate object.
2. The spirit of disease, or whatever harm the exorcist or the reciter has to counteract, is told what to do, or the helper is told what to do.
Each of these themes occurs over 260 times; with hardly
an exception, all the prayers or invocations for aid from a kindly helper, from § 114 to § 182, contain these two ideas alone, though worked out in a great variety of phraseology. In fact, they are the simplest and most natural forms of incantation, merely amounting to the invocation of a friendly helper and telling him what to do. In the Mordvin, Lettish, and Russian examples we also find the invocation of helpers, and with the two latter peoples the spirit of disease or other harm-doer is instructed how to act.
3. The origin or genealogy of the disease or cause of harm is described, or its early state mentioned, e.g. § 183 to § 233. This occurs 150 times, and is also found in Esthonian charms, which greatly resemble those of the Finlanders, but not elsewhere, so far as I know. Yet the string of abusive and contemptuous epithets, followed by no further remarks, such as the Lettish charms 35, 51, might be taken to represent the sort of germ from which the 'origins,' from one point of view at least, came gradually into use.
4. The exorcist, or speaker, relates a short story or fact, the incidents of which are appropriate, and have reference to what he wishes to do or to obtain. There are fifty-five examples of this in the Magic Songs, e.g. 2 d, f, 8 c, d, 10 a—d, 12 c, 21 a, etc.; five in the Mordvin charms; four in the Swedish; six in the Post-Classical; ten in the Russian; and no less than 35 or 50 per cent. in the Lettish charms. The recitation of the story was itself sufficient for the purpose of banishing the evil, e.g. 2 f, 10 b—d, etc.; Mordvin 3–5; Swedish 7–10; Post-Classical 6, 9–11; Russian 1, 2, 8, 9, etc.; Lettish 5, 6, 11, etc.;—though sometimes it was followed by a wish, a curse, or some other formula. In seven instances mentioned above,
vol. i. 358, stories are cited as a precedent why a similar result to that in the stories should again occur. As the recitation of an anecdote, which is sometimes reduced to a couple of sentences, is a very indirect way of exorcising, especially when it is purposely composed of impossible incidents, with the intention that they should react on the disease or injury, and render it impossible, we have good reason to suppose that it is not an original Finnish element. The frequency of this method of procedure among the Letts is remarkable, and it is from them the Finns have probably borrowed the usage; the Mordvins may have taken the idea from the Russians.
5. The exorcist, or other speaker, orders, advises, or hints to the spirit of disease, or cause of pain, to remove to a definite place. There are thirty-seven examples of this very simple formula, e.g. 10 a, 17 a, d—f, m—p, r—u, w.
6. An inducement to depart is offered to the cause of the ailment or injury. Of this there are twenty-four examples, many of which have been mentioned in vol. i. 349. In the Russian list, No. 18, grubs are tempted to retire by the inducement of a wedding, held at a great distance, where a lamb and a cow are being roasted; and in the Lettish No. 46 a boil or abscess is to hurry off to the forest, where it will find its grandfather and grandmother, quite as in some of the Finnish examples. The notion of offering a bribe or bait of some kind to an enemy is so natural that, as regards the Finns, it may have arisen spontaneously.
7. The exorcist or the reciter describes or invokes the assistance that can be rendered by animals, birds, trees, or stones. There are twenty examples, e.g. 2 c, 14 g, h, 16 a, 17 d, x, etc.
8. If the disease or injury came from a certain place or
person, it is to return there. This occurs nineteen times, e.g. 17 6, c, g, j—l, q, v, x—z, 24, etc. It is also found in the Russian list, No. 9.
9. The speaker boasts his powers, or relates what he has done or will do. This theme occurs seventeen times, e.g. 14 a—i, 16 b, 17 u, etc., and is also found in the Votiak, No. 17, 24; Lettish, No. 49.
10. Something impossible is to happen before the particular evil dreaded is to be effected, or to take place. With the Votiaks twenty-two out of twenty-five charms are based upon this conception; with the Čeremis ten out of fourteen; with the Mordvins three out of eleven; with the Russians two out of twenty-three; with the Letts and Finns it does not occur at all. The nearest approach to it with the latter people is to be found in the formula 'to make fast,' 18 a, b, where the evils exorcised to a certain place are to remain till something impossible happens. It is possible that the East Finns have borrowed this mode of exorcising from the Russians, though the former have elaborated the idea, and venture on far bolder and quainter impossibilities than the Russians. The Čeremisian idea of making a ladder of one's ribs to climb up to heaven (No. 14), as a hyperbole, is decidedly original.
In smaller details there are also correspondences between the Finnish and some of the other groups. In the Mordvin No. 8 the exorcist seems to identify himself with the god Niške-pas, just as the Finnish wizard calls himself 'the son of Ukko, the father above, the observant man of. the sky' (176 l). Again, an ailment of some kind or other is told to injure something inanimate instead of a human being. This injunction is very baldly stated in the Lettish No. 1, 34, 68; but it is worked out in considerable detail in the
[paragraph continues] Finnish examples. 'Let tumours grow on trees, on the earth excrescences, watery blisters upon shoots, boils charged with blood on sapling firs, not on a human being's skin, on the body of a mother's son (146 a). Rather than freezing me . . . nip willow-roots, pain roots of birch, shake alder roots, smash aspen roots, freeze swamps, freeze fields, freeze Kalma's rocks (93 c).'
THE AGE OF THE MAGIC SONGS.
It is far from certain that in the first three or four periods the Finns had any magic formulæ at all. In those early times, judging from what we know of the Ugrian groups and the Samoyedes, in a case of grave sickness, an appeal was made to a wizard, first, to ascertain the cause of the illness, and, secondly, to find out what offering would most likely propitiate the offended household or other god. If they had any formulae at all, they would be of a very simple character: an appeal to some kindly helper, such as the household or the private god, to free them from their trouble, and this would be far more of the nature of a prayer than of a magic incantation. Indeed, the notion of magic in the modern sense of the word did not exist. There was no thought of attaining an object by other than what seemed thoroughly natural means, and there was no supreme god whose prerogatives would be infringed either by the words used, or by any sympathetic magical procedure that accompanied the words and incantations. The great mass of the Magic Songs belongs to comparatively recent times, and many have been composed since the introduction of Christianity in the twelfth century. Nevertheless they contain much older elements, and the mental
attitude of the composer is often decidedly archaic. The word runo, 'a song or ballad,' originally a 'mysterious song,' came into use, as we have seen, in the fifth period, and the earliest germs of magic songs perhaps may be referred to that epoch, though the present regular metre is doubtless later. It seems to me that the Magic Songs would receive their greatest development in the interval between pure heathenism and pure Christianity. By this time the mental progress and the material civilisation of the Finns was very considerable, and nearly if not quite on a par with their Swedish, Slav, and Lettish neighbours. This was accompanied, as is generally the case, with a certain amount of scepticism and recklessness. A power that was formerly supposed to exist solely among professional wizards and wise men was now claimed by laymen. People now began to be their own wizards, to recite their own songs; divining was performed with a common sieve, not with a magic drum; charming by means of versified incantations became vulgarised, so to speak. Instead of holding one or two great public festivals at the opening of the hunting and fishing season, when public religious ceremonies were held and sacrifices offered for the success of the expeditions, every fisherman and hunter recited his own private magic song for himself as occasion required. Every house-father and house-mother knew a few metrical charms that protected their few cows and horses as they grazed in the forest against bears and wolves, or their rye crops from the ravages of insects and frost. The housewife or her near neighbour had always a song ready for every sick child, whatever the complaint might be, for with the increase of civilisation far greater care was taken of the children than in the old days. No doubt there were
still professional wizards and wise men about the country, but their office was not hereditary—it was thrown open, as it were, to public competition; the successful became renowned, the unsuccessful fell back into the ranks of the laymen. At least, an explanation of this sort seems best to account for the frequent interrogations and hesitation on the part of the exorcist, which in the case of a professional would hardly occur. Perhaps the origins' are of lay origin, and developed out of a practice of vilifying a man and his ancestors in everyday life. The more or less poetic, sometimes almost lyrical, form of expression, especially in the formulæ 'to benefit cattle'; the similes, the metaphors, and figurative expressions, collected at the end of the chapter, seem to show that the Magic Songs are in a great measure the outcome of a great many minds of people of various vocations, not of a professional class of wizards, sorcerers, and dealers in the black art.
POETIC ELEMENT—SIMILES.
In spite of their purely practical purpose, the Magic Songs, besides possessing regular metre, are sometimes embellished by similes. Doubtless they belong to the latest period, but are not the less interesting as they seem to be of purely native growth, and not to be due to external influence. They are drawn for the most part from natural phenomena, from the animal and vegetable kingdom, or from artificial products and objects made by man's hand.
Firmness, rigidity, steadiness.
Like a wall, stand still, O Blood, remain like a fence, O Foaming Gore, like a yellow iris in the sea, like a sedge
amid the moss; stand like a stake in a morass, a bar of iron in a rock, a stone in a raging cataract, a flag (stone) on a ploughed field's edge (55 d).
Then steady as a wall stand still, as firm as a fence, Divining Gear! (59 a.)
Stand still like a castle-wall, like a stone church's tower, like the wall of Jerusalem (61).
Let my great kinsfolk rise (in a serried line) like a solid mountain slope, like a long bank of cloud (2 e).
Rapidity, ease of movement.
Crawl on the ground like a snake of the earth, like an adder through withered grass; run through deep forests like a bear, like an otter hurry through a lake, like a squirrel through boughs of fir, like an ermine through holes in stones (17 l).
Creep on the ground like a little snake, like an otter rush along the shore (17 o).
Like a gwiniad thou camest in, like a sea muik 1 darted in (45 a).
Like a gwiniad rush away, dart like a muik of the sea (45 a).
Like a gwiniad dash, like a fish of the water dart, like a sea muik dive (4S b).
Like a ball of red worsted tumble in (to the water) (46 a).
Reach the clouds like smoke (46 a).
Blow like the wind, like water roll, like air's warm vapour float away from a naked human skin (52 a).
(To a hare.) Come like the ruddy fire, like summer water roll from ’neath a tree, from ’neath a fir (67 b).
(To a hare.) Like a golden cuckoo run, like a silver knob, into this gin of mine, straight into my golden snares (67 a).
(To Ukko.) O come from the sky like fire, quiver like a burning brand (117 b).
(Convey the scent) to the nostrils of the dog like fire, like smoke to the puppy's nose (125).
(O Ismo,) come like the wind, make speed like a thought (171 c).
Into the room like a whirlwind fly (17 g).
Bowling along like a golden ball or like a silver chip (176 s).
Slower, unsteady movement.
(A stone.) It fell like a scarlet ball of thread, came wobbling like an oaten ball, came rolling like a wheaten lump, through cloudy columns, through rainbows red (196 a).
Thou wast not great when thou didst roll like a wheaten cake, or like a piece of barley dough (26 a).
Like a sweet dumpling go away, roll off like wheaten groats? (26 a.)
Soft movement.
(To a bear.) Like a flax-bundle move along, roll like the flax on a distaff bound (69 b).
Helpless movement combined with expansion.
(Thou wast not great) when in the furnace thou didst toss, like summer butter didst flop about, like wheaten dough expand in the raging place of fire (40 b).
The iron stretched out like pap, bubbled up like slag,
expanded like wheaten dough, like rye-meal dough, in the smith's huge fire (214 a).
(A fir-tree.) It expanded like wheaten dough, like a pat of butter bobbed about (212 g).
Eager movement.
Flee to the clouds, O Fire, as any one to his mother goes, to his great parent flies (52 a).
Fly down like a cock to the cattle-shed, like a chick to the dwelling-house, right down on the refuse-heap (17 g).
Driving furiously.
Like a spark flash past, like a fleet hound rush (9 b).
Restless movement.
Keep wriggling there, O 'Honey-paws,' like a wood-grouse on its nest, like a goose on its hatching-place (69 e).
Facile and complete disappearance.
May thy injuries dry up, the traces left by copper fade, as wine dries upon a stone, as water on rock evaporates (54).
May sores sink into the earth as a stone sinks in the waves or iron in the sea (7 a).
May the angriness of wounds dissolve like salt in the sea, the malignity of wounds sink like sand into water, may vexations melt like wax in the fire, may bitterness evaporate like dew on a sandy heath (7 b).
Like brandy drink thine angriness, like ale the anguish thou hast caused, like 'sour water' thy bitterness, like milk drink thy spell-sent malady, like honey thine acerbity, like buttered eggs thy fever fits (7 c).
Like brandy drink thine angriness, like all the evil thou hast caused (47).
Nature in a state of flux.
When help from the Lord arrived—Hills flowed like butter then, rocks like the flesh of swine, blue forest-wilds like mead, the landlocked lakes like ale, low land uprose, high land sank down (12 c).
Movement associated with joy.
(Thou, Sun) hast mounted above the clumps of firs, like a golden cuckoo, like a silver dove hast risen up to the level sky, to thy former state (110).
(To the Creator's golden wattled cock.) Like a golden cuckoo fly, like a dear silver dove, to speak on my behalf (124).
(To the compassionate mother, the Virgin Mary.) Like a golden cuckoo come, like a silver turtledove, to (heal) the burns of one in agony (171 e).
A happy state of existence.
Like a golden cuckoo thou wilt sing, like a silver turtledove, in thy lofty home, in thy lovely house (17 b).
Easy fracture.
Thou'lt snap in half like an alder staff (75).
Brightness, brilliancy.
Bright let these eyes become, as the stars of the sky, as the moon in the south, as a ray of the sun (46 b).
A tall man in Pimentola, whose bristly beard did gleam like a leafy grove upon a slope, whose hair did sway like a clump of pines upon a hill (176 j, and 211 b).
Smoothness, slipperiness.
Thou art smoother than a gwiniad, than a muik fish more slippery (45 a).
Thou wast smoother than a gwiniad, more beautiful than water's fish (45 b).
Comb them (the cattle) as smooth as a lynx's coat, as the downy coat of a 'forest ewe' (123 a).
Noise and glare.
Cause a crash like a thunder-clap, cause a glare like a lightning-flash (17 g).
Whiteness, brightness.
Pure is the snow-finch on the snow, but purer still art thou: bright is the star in the sky, but brighter thy betrothal gifts; white is the foam on the sea, thy body is whiter still (80 a).
Cause her (a marriageable girl) to glisten like the moon, to sparkle like a star, to turn the minds of men, to set their hearts on fire (133 d).
Ukko has rained fresh snow, as white as an autumn ewe, as white as a winter hare (89 b).
Height, size.
A stone as high as a church, a flagstone thick as a tower (28 a).
A stone as high as a church, a flagstone thick as a hill (99 b).
My dogs have eyes as large as a bridle-ring, my dogs have ears as large as a water-lily on a lake, my dogs have teeth as sharp as an Esthonian scythe, my dogs have tails as thick as the most lovely forest fir (89 b).
Lowliness, insignificant condition.
Who knew a stone to be a stone, when it was like a barley-corn, rose from the earth like a strawberry, from the side of a tree like a bilberry? (196 b.)
(Speaking of a tree.) Thou wast not great when thou rose from a knoll, from the earth emerged like a strawberry, like an arctic bramble in the woods (38 a).
He (a water-Hiisi) reached the land like a strawberry, fell down like a lump of wheaten dough (206 b).
(The fir) sprang from the earth like a strawberry, like a rooted plant with unbending head; it grew like a two-branched plant, like a three-branched plant shot up (212 g).
(The fir,) like a strawberry, sprouted from the earth, like an arctic bramble—in the woods (212 g).
(Bent grass.) It rose from the earth like a strawberry, grew up like a three-branched plant (220).
Unceremonious treatment.
Hops . . . was poked into the ground, ploughed into the ground like a little snake, was like an ant thrown down at the side of the well of Kaleva (209 a).
Tightness and softness.
(To a dog.) May thy jawbones be as tightly closed as a flax-break lid is tightly closed; may thy teeth be as soft as (the husks) in my fist are soft (72 a).
A minimum of benefit.
Just this much they got out of me, what an axe gets from a stone, a borer from a rock, a stump from slippery ice, or death from an empty room (14 b).
Plenty, abundance.
There heads are (plentiful) as hills, hair (plentiful) as withered grass (17 o).
Speedy death.
Like a cockroach thou shalt die forthwith (62).
Dishonour, inglorious death.
Well, wretch, thou brok’st thine oath, didst eat thine honour like a dog (40 b).
He died with the glory of a dog, he fell with the honour of a whelp (228 b).
Besides similes such as the above, we also find more or less quaint remarks, not devoid of humour; sometimes a pun or an example of drawing the long bow.
The forest deities are addressed as follows:—Bind up their wings with twine, confine their instruments of flight, entwine their legs with string, roll up their toes in wax, that with their wings they cannot fly, that with their feet they cannot run, till I am ready with my bow (136 a).
Hey! Love, wake up! O Love, arise! without being lifted by a cord, without being hauled by a tarry rope (133 f).
The same words are addressed by a housewife to yeast to make it rise: 'Rise, Yeast, when being raised . . . without being raised by ropes, without being hauled by tarry cords. The sun and moon have risen both, yet thou hast not begun to rise' (74).
’Tis better a stone should scream, ’tis better a flagstone yell, than one of a woman born, or by a creature brought
to birth (128 d). A stone weeps not at pain, nor a flag bewail its sufferings, though many should be laid on it, be flung on it unstintingly (17 t). The pun is rare, but it was not tabooed: Mourning (suru) I have for a morning meal (suurus), 89 e.
Exaggeration is more common: The brutal fellow broke it (an aspen tree) through, completely shattered it in two; with the salve he anointed it . . . the aspen was made whole again, became e’en better than before
(232 a). A swallow for a whole day flew from the withers to the end of the tail, a squirrel for a whole month ran between the horns of the ox, yet still it never reached the end, it never came indeed so far (232 g).
FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS, METAPHORS, EPITHETS.
The familiar language of the illiterate classes of society, the slang of the man in the street all over Europe, is largely composed of figurative expressions and metaphors. Having no literature, for the most part, almost their only intellectual excitement, and the sole exercise of their wit and fancy, consist in the invention of new ways of saying old things. When worn-out and stale, these expressions are replaced by newer ones. Sometimes, too, allusive words are used to avoid pronouncing the proper word, either because it is unlucky to do so, or from notions of delicacy and modesty. It is not surprising then that the inventors or reciters of the Magic Songs, being themselves quite illiterate, found pleasure and satisfaction in intercalating expressions which hinted at what they meant to say in an indirect or roundabout fashion.
The body.
Eye—'a gloomy wood' (?), 45 b.
Tears—'the waters of grief.'
Veins—'the blood-pipes.'
Blood—'milk,' 'the berry-coloured,' 'the carmine,' 'man's beauty.'
Milk—'the gift of cows.'
Tongue—'the central flesh.'
Nose—'the scenting horn,' 'the scenting channel.'
Throat—'the breathing-hole,' 'the talking-place.'
Jaws—'pincers,' 'scraping-knife,' 'scissors.'
Venom of a snake—'milk.'
Lap—'the tent.'
Embryo—'the pod.'
Womb and pudendum—'fleshly chest,' 'stove,' 'oven,' 'small nest,' 'cramped abode,' 'fleshly door,' 'fleshly threshold,' 'door-posts,' 'sinewy gate,' 'water gate,' 'Creator's slit,' 'land,' 'fields,' 'fence,' 'wall.'
Persons.
Old man—'a bearded mouth.'
Woman, hag—'long-hairs,' 'bristly snout.'
Son—'calf.'
Marriageable girl—'swamp-grown flower,' 'chick,' 'flower of the earth,' 'village flower,' 'earth's chosen one,' 'sun,' 'moon,' little bullfinch,' 'wee snow-sparrow.'
Maiden—'a tinny breast.' (From the tin ornaments on her breast.)
New-born child—'the traveller,' 'wee fingers,' 'a stone,' 'a pebble,' 'the backmost flat stone' (in the stove or oven).
Sorcerer—'archer,' 'shooter,' 'Lapp,' 'the jealous one,' 'Piru,' 'cur,' giant' (koljumi),176 c, 'elf' (keijolainen), 176 n, 'Keito,' 'wolfskin coat,' 'fiery throat,' squinting eye,' 'viper,' 'frog.'
Sharp frost—'sweller of ears,' 'hurter of nails,' 'demander of toes.'
Maiden of a spring or swamp—'blue socks,' 'red socks,' 'red laces,' 'soft petticoat,' 'slender fingers,' 'golden locks.'
Mist maiden—'leaf-bud,' 'ship-borne yarn.'
Mielikki—'golden buckle of the woods.'
Syäjätär—'fiery throat.'
Para—'stick-shanks,' 'luck-bringer.'
Christ—'the Holy Birth.'
Animals, birds, etc.
Bear—'broad forehead' (otso), 'flat nose,' 'honey paws,' 'lover of honey,' 'broad paws,' 'big foot,' 'claw-footed,' 'blue socks,' 'blue stumpy tail,' 'homespun breeks,' 'tiny eyes,' 'forest king,' 'forest beauty,' 'lovely shaggy coat of hair,' 'forest gold,' 'grey one of the forest,' 'backwood's wonder,' 'hulking fellow,' 'black bullock of the forest,' 'reindeer cow,' 'cow,' 'badger,' 'Juumi's dog,' 'hound of Mielikki,' 'hay-cock,' 'little hay-stack,' 'little apple,' 'little bundle,' 'horror of the land.'
Wolf—'forest cur,' 'Esthonian cur,' 'woolly tail,' 'bushy tail,' 'windy tail,' 'windy throat,' 'hairy snout,' 'hairy foot,' 'projecting eyes,' 'everlasting gadabout,' 'fat dog.'
Dog—'the barker,' 'son of Penitar,' 'woolly tail,' 'money-seeker.'
Lynx—'forest ewe.'
Fox—'bushy tail.'
Marten—'money pelt,' 'wee bird.'
Ermine—'furred beauty of winter,' 'dear little hen of abandoned fields,' 'flower at the root of a fir,' 'whitish tube.'
Squirrel—'the fir-branch bird,' 'biter of cones,' 'golden apple of the fir,' 'blossom of the knoll, furious forest-cat,' blue-wool.'
Hare—'ragged jaws,' 'crooked neck,' 'cross-shaped mouth,' 'squinting eyes,' 'ball-eyes,' 'swivel eyes,' 'bandy legs,' 'Hiisi's bandy legs,' 'slender paws,' 'mad-cap,' 'sheep,' 'distaff bound with wool.'
Game in general—'gold,' 'silver,' 'money,' 'money hair,' 'precious pelts,' 'cloaks,' 'black fur coats,' 'golden fur coat,' 'homespun cloth,' 'flax-stalks,' 'handful of flax,' 'packages of wool,' 'golden distaff bound with wool,' 'fir-tree flowers,' 'mountain cattle,' 'ewes,' 'rams,' 'drooping ears,' 'hoofs,' 'feet,' 'sweet rye-cakes,' 'Kuippana's groats.'
Horse—'bone-hoof,' 'money-skin,' 'camel.'
Cow—'crumpled horn,' 'cloven foot,' 'milk-giver,' 'mushroom-eater,' 'old woman,' 'bell.'
Calf—'small hoofs.'
Pig—'down-turned snout.'
Cat—'greybeard.'
Eagle—'steely jaws,' 'scaly back,' 'stone-talons,' 'iron claws.'
Raven—'Lempo's bird,' 'the eater,' 'ill-omened bird,' 'black bird.'
Swallow—'blue wing.'
Game birds—'feathers,' down,' downy feather.'
Pike—'few of teeth,' 'water monster.'
Perch—'spiky backs,' 'crooked necks.'
Snake—'tangled ball or cunning one,' 'striped back,' 'evil pod,' red ant,' snail,' 'dew-worm of the copse,' worm of the earth,' 'the distaff,' worm of Manala,' 'Tuoni's grub,' 'grub the colour of Tuoni,' 'black worm,' 'grey worm,' 'the ball under withered grass,' 'a rope under a heap of stones,' 'a ghost like a haltia,' 'living portent or oracle,' 'braid of hair of Hiisi's girl,' 'Hiisi's scourge,' 'Piru's whip,' 'beard-hair of the evil one,' 'fence-stake of Aholainen,' 'sledge cross-tree of Rumalainen.'
Cow-house snake—'the wall streak,' 'rubbish on the floor,' 'first cuckoo of the mistress,' 'women's golden purse.'
Lizard—'writhing snake,' land fish (Corregonus albula),' 'water bleak,' 'bow-shaped worm,' 'Lempo's eye,' 'Hiisi's eye,' 'courtyard sweepings,' 'ground sweepings,' 'trash of the fields,' 'trash of Manala,' 'hairpin of the maid of Panula.'
Frog—'dirty face,' 'slaver-mouth,' 'wide jaws.'
Spider—'Jesus’ red worsted ball,' 'Creator's golden flower.'
Grub, caterpillar—'Tuoni's rag,' 'snail of the earth.'
Cabbage grub—'the dog,' 'cur,' 'witch-ball.'
Bee—'honey-wing,' 'blue-wing,' 'king of meadow flowers,' 'the lively bird,' 'nimble bird,' 'active fellow.'
Wasp—'the stinging bird,' 'winged bird,' 'evil bird,' 'feathered chick.'
Hornet—'Hiisi's bird,' 'Lempo's cat.'
Bug—'red breeches,' 'wheel-shaped whelp,' 'roundish flower of the fir.'
Cockroach—'black bloated boy,' 'six-footed ball-shaped thing.'
Diseases, maladies.
Disease in general—'sorcerer's arrows,' 'bloody needles,' 'Keito's spears,' 'bristles of a pig,' 'fearful (lit. holy) sparks,' 'spice.'
The spirit of disease—'Hiisi,' 'hound of Hiisi,' 'Perkele,' 'cur of Manala,' 'Satan,' 'murderer,' 'filthy Lempo,' 'the wraith (peiko),' 'kobold (kehno),' 'evil cur,' 'shameless cur,' 'unbaptized cur,' 'shameless dog,' 'fiery dog,' 'motherless dog,' 'toad,' 'monster,' 'devourer of flesh,' 'bone-biter,' 'plague of the land.'
Toothache—'Lempo's dog,' 'Tuoni's dog,' 'stinking dog,' 'Tuoni's grub,' 'worm of Manala,' 'Hiisi's son,' 'Hiisi,' 'Juutas,' 'Hiisi's cat,' 'full-grown devil,' 'man-eater,' 'peas and beans.'
Dropsy—'Hiisi,' 'toad.'
Tumour or swelling of any kind—'Lempo's whorl,' 'Lempo's boss,' 'Lempo's lumps,' 'Lempo's ball,' 'Hiisi's toad-stool,' 'Hiisi's filth,' 'needless packages,' 'frog,' 'horror of the land.'
Stitch and pleurisy—'Lempo's leaf-headed spears,' 'Keito's spear,' 'Lempo's arrow,' 'the evil lance,' 'sorcerer's arrows,' 'arrows,' 'jagged spikes of Piru,' 'bloody needles,' 'bloody knife,' 'pointed needle.'
Acute pain—'holy sparks.'
Spell-sent injury—'Hiisi's cankerous sores,' 'Hiisi,' 'Juutas,' 'Perkele,' 'Piru,' 'toad,' 'the bit of death,' 'the chains of Manala,' 'Tuoni's reins.' Wart—'toad,' 'evil one,' annoyance.'
Cancer—'reptile,' 'maggot,' 'toad,' 'biter of bone,' 'eater of flesh,' 'dog,' 'worm.'
Plague—'the red-cock.'
Disease of the eye—'Hiisi's blemish,' 'evil pagan.'
Colic—'gasping, groaning boy,' 'the griping blockhead,' 'water's scum,' 'toad,' 'Lempo,' 'evil insect,' 'the midge.'
Burns—'Fire's broth,' burnt-out spark,' burnt soot.'
Ringworm—'the Forest's nose.'
Wound—'iron's bite,' 'the evil gate.'
Pains of childbirth—'oppressive bands,' 'belts of pain.'
Trees, minerals, artificial objects, etc.,
Oak—'tree of God.'
Fir—'the moist with honey,' 'honey top,' 'bushy top.'
Rowan—'the murder-tree.'
Steel—'blue-mouth.'
Iron—'worthless dross,' 'slag of iron,' 'rust.'
Rock salt—'hail,' 'hailstones.'
A cannon—'copper bow,' 'iron churn.'
Gun—'copper cross-bow.' 'iron churn.'
Bullet—'stone fruit,' 'the egg.'
Spear—'the borer.'
Trap—'the farrier's silver tongs,' 'golden cup,' 'copper box,' 'silver door,' 'window of gold,' 'honeyed knoll.'
Net—'the hundred-eyed.'
Hearth—'the golden ring' (?), 52 a, 172 b.
Church—'a hundred planks.'
Coffin—'the house of fir,' 'pinewood nest.'
Millstone—'stony hill.'
Stone—'egg of the earth,' 'clod of a ploughed field.'
Sky—'specky lid.'
Sun—'the grindstone of the sky' (?), 2 a, the golden ring' (?), 51, 'the Lord's whorl,' 'the god of dawn.'
Moon—'the variegated stone' (?), 2 a.
Rainbow—'blue cloud' (?), 232 d.
The open air—'God's courtyard,' 'the cattle-sheds without a hole and wholly windowless.'
Cemetery—'Kalma's heath,' 'Kalma's sleeping chambers,' 'huts of the Manalaiset,' holy fields.'
Metsola—'the Forest-home,' 'forest fort or castle,' 'golden wilderness,' i.e. full of game, 'Fir-branch fort.'
Pohjola—'the Northern Home,' 'speckled lid,' 'snow castle.'
Footnotes
4:1 Loitsurunoja, pp. iii, iv.
6:1 Loitsurunoja, pp. x, ix.
11:1 Paasonen, (3) No. 1 b, 2 b c d, 3, 5 a, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14.
12:1 Porkka, pp. 96–99, No. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7.
14:1 Genetz, (2) pp. 142-147, No. 1-3, 5-8, 11.
19:1 Wichman, (3) pp 170-192.
30:1 Kobert, pp. 242-277.
36:1 Maikov, No. 21, 65, 75, 77, 80, 88, 94, 95, 97, 124, 125, 134, 143, 151, 160, 186, 187, 202, 280, 322, 323, 353.
38:1 Heim, No. 42, 58, 59, 71, 72, 84, 91, 99, 100, 107, 111.
40:1 Hyltén-Cavallius, vol. i. pp. 412-416, Suppl. ix., x.
47:1 Corregonus albula, or fresh-water herring.