The Great Bear

Old Poems of the Finnish People
SKVR (Suomen kansan vanhat runot)
Folklore Archives of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS).

The Origins of the Bear

Where was Bruin born?       honeypaw turned around

That's where Bruin was born       honeypaw turned around.
High up in the heavens
on the Great Bear's shoulders.

How was he let down?
By a silver chain
in a golden cradle.

Leaving for the Den

I shove my left ski in the snow
set my ski pole in the drift.
Come, Maiden, be the tip of the road
orphan be the journey's guide!
Orphan, you come lead the way
pitiful one be our companion.

Take us to that hillock
where the pines gleam red
silver the fir tree branches.
See us to that small island
take us to that hillock
where fortune plays
where silver frolics.

See us to that small island
take us to that hillock
where we could catch our prey.
Forest, favor your hunters
fetch our wild booty.
foster your backwoods men!

Awakening the Bear

Forest, favor your hunters!
Get up, get out sooty fellow
get up from the sooty fire
your fir branched bed
the tar pitch place
you rest your head.

Get up to go golden one
silver one to wander
money to circle the shore
along a golden lane
along a silver road
on liver-colored ground!

Hongatar, good pine mistress
juniper, beautiful wife
hew the trees with marks
strike signs on the hill
so a stranger could see his way
even a hero new here would know!

The Death of the Bear

Greetings, Bruin, welcome!
Reach out your hand, gnarled one's son
give your hand to the crooked bough
slap at the pine tree branch!
It wasn't I who met the bear
or any the rest of my mates.
You, yourself, fell off the spruce
slipped from the bent bough yourself
pierced your berry-filled belly
shattered your golden maw.

Eating the Bear's Head

I drew the knife from my waist
the sharp blade from my sheath
with which I'll take old Bruin.
I'll take old Bruin's snout
for my own snout
along with the snout before
but not to be the only one.

I'll take old Bruin's ear
for my own ear
along with the ear before
to sharpen my own hearing.

I'll take old Bruin's eyes
along with the eye before
but not to be the only one.

I'll take old Bruin's nose
and leave him with no scent.
I'll take old Bruin's ear
and leave him with no hearing.
I'll take old Bruin's eye
and leave him with no sight.

Carrying the Skull

Golden one, get on your way
money precious get moving
along the golden lane
along the silver road!
You'll not be taken far from here
just to a pine tree on a hill
a juniper at the field's far edge.
There the wind will meet your needs
the wave will drive you perch
on one side a whitefish strait
nearby the sweep of a salmon sein.

Skull Tree Verse

Where did you send your catch
take your fine booty?
Have you left it on the ice
or tossed it on the road
or drowned it in an ice pool?

I didn't leave it on the ice
or drown it in an ice pool
or toss it on the road.
I set it in a pure clean tree
right in the smallest pine
a fir tree with a hundred sprigs.
Set it there to watch the moon
to know Otava, the Great Bear
to fix its eyes on the sun.

The Bear in the Finnish Environment

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