KALEWALA, or KALEVALA, the name of the Finnish national epos. It takes its name from the three sons of Kalewa (or Finland), viz. the ancient Wainamoinen, the inventor of the sacred harp Kantele; the cunning art-smith, Ilmarinen; and the gallant Lemminkainen, who is a sort of Arctic Don Juan. The adventures of these three heroes are wound about a plot for securing in marriage the hand of the daughter of Louhi, a hero from Pohjola, a land of the cold north. Ilmarinen is set to construct a magic mill, the Sanpo, which grinds out meal, salt and gold, and as this has fallen into the hands of the folk of Pohjola, it is needful to recover it. The poem actually opens, however, with a very poetical theory of the origin of the world. The virgin daughter of the atmosphere, Luonnotar, wanders for seven hundred years in space, until she bethinks her to invoke Ukko, the northern Zeus, who sends his eagle to her; this bird makes its nest on the knees of Luonnotar and lays in it seven eggs. Oat of the substance of these eggs the visible world is made. But it is empty and sterile until Wainamoinen descends upon it and woos the exquisite Aino. She disappears into space, and it is to recover from his loss and to find another bride that Wainamoinen makes his series of epical adventures in the dismal country of Pohjola. Various episodes of great strangeness and beauty accompany the lengthy recital of the struggle to acquire the magical Sanpo, which gives prosperity to whoever possesses it. In the midst of a battle the Sanpo is broken and falls into the sea, but one fragment floats on the waves, and, being stranded on the shores of Finland, secures eternal felicity for that country. At the very close of the poem a virgin, Mariatta, brings forth a king who drives Wainamoinen out of the country, and this is understood to refer to the ultimate conquest of Paganism by Christianity. The _Kalewala_ was probably composed at various times and by various bards, but always in sympathy with the latent traditions of the Finnish race, and with a mixture of symbolism and realism exactly accordant with the instincts of that race. While in the other antique epics of the world bloodshed takes a predominant place, the _Kalewala_ is characteristically gentle, lyrical and even domestic, dwelling at great length on situations of moral beauty and romantic pathos. It is entirely concerned with the folk-lore and the traditions of the primeval Finnish race. The poem is written in eight-syllabled trochaic verse, and an idea of its style may be obtained from Longfellow's _Hiawatha_, which is a pretty true imitation of the Finnish epic.