The Kalevala (Caution: Swearing)

[Shiendar]

The Kalevala (Modified English version)

Note: I have no idea where this version came from, but this is the Finnish national epic. It is seen in S. M. Stirling's Dies the Fire and this is exactly as he transcribes it. A puuko is a kind of knife.

I am driven by my knowlege,
And my understanding urges,
That I should commence my fighting
And begin my strong ass-whupping,
With a nice sharp slashing puuko

Fists are just for wussie girl-men,
Swedes and Danes and pansy girl-men...
come and let us fight together,
and drink potato gin forever,
Or maybe made-from-pine-trees vodka,
In the dreary land of Pohja.
Let us clash our knives together,
Let us slice and cut our fingers,
Let us stab a cheeful measure,
Let us use our best endeavors,
While the young are standing round us,
Of the rising generation

Let them learn the way of mayhem,
And of all our fights and drinking,
of all the booze of Väinämönen,
Of the knives of Ilmarinen,
and of Kaukomieli's pointy puuko,
and of Joukahainen's broken bottle:
Of the utmost bars of Pohja,
And of Kalevala's boozing c*ck hounds...


EDIT: To Testbug, as I said above: I wrote it as another transcribed it. Any mistakes are not mine.

[DragonHeart]

So...you're posting a work published by someone else? If it's not public domain then I'm pretty sure it's not legal to do so. The fact that you mention it being in a book is definitely a red flag. Considered plaigerizing and such. Beyond that, I'm not sure if the content is really appropriate for a family-friendly forum...not up to me though. Just a heads up, really.

~DragonHeart~

[Testbug]

More info about Kalevala. I tell this all because I'm Finnish and I don't want misunderstand(ings).

Originally Posted by Wikipedia (I didn't have interest to write whole thing...)

The Kalevala is an epic poem which Elias Lönnrot compiled from Finnish folk lore in the 19th century. It is commonly called the Finnish national epic and is traditionally thought of as one of the most significant works of Finnish-language literature. The Kalevala is credited with some of the inspiration for the national awakening that ultimately led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917.

The name can be interpreted as the "lands of Kaleva" (by the Finnish suffix -la/lä for place). The epic consists of 22,795 verses, divided into fifty cantos or "chapters".

So far the Kalevala has been translated into forty-nine languages.

More in here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala

And puuko is actually puukko and yes, it is knife.

For myself I haven't that whole book because it is kind of boring. There is much of things that isn't important but it has great plot. Also characters in it are good.

In here Finland, in school we study things about Kalevala. Like plot and characters.

[Shiendar]

I told the source of the version I got. I am doing it mainly for the BOD, who I figured would enjoy it. I am NOT passing it off as my own work.

[Kratos]

Interesting story. And, also, if your not passing it off as your own work, I'm sure it's fine that you use it.