there is strong evidence that the finns, or some closely allied race, once spread over the greater part of central europe. the two or more million finns who now occupy finland, and are subject—much against their will—to the czar, are the proud possessors of an epic poem—the kalevala—which until last century existed only in the memory of a few peasants. scattered parts of this poem were published in 1822 by zacharias topelius, and elias l?nnrot, who patiently travelled about to collect the remainder, was the first to arrange the 22,793 verses into 50 runes or cantos. the kalevala attracted immediate attention and has already been translated into most modern languages. like most epics, its source is in the mythology and folk-lore of the people, and its style has been closely imitated by longfellow in his hiawatha. the latest english adaptation of this great epic is baldwin's "sampo."

although russian literature is rich in folk poetry and epic songs, none of the latter have been written down until lately, with the exception of the twelfth-century song of igor's band. the outline of this epic is that igor, prince of southern russia, after being defeated and made prisoner, effected his escape with the help of a slave. among the fine passages in this work we note nature's grief over the prince's capture and the lament of his faithful consort.

it was only in the nineteenth century, after zhukovski and batyushkoff had translated into russian some of the world's great masterpieces, such as tasso's jerusalem delivered and homer's odyssey, that pushkin wrote (1820) the epic ruslan and lyudmila, drawing the materials therefore from russian antiquity and from popular legends.

there are in russia and siberia any number of epic songs or "bylinas," dating from legendary times to the present day, which have recently been collected by kireyevski and others, and which already fill some ten volumes. the heroes of these songs are either personifications of the forces of nature or favorite historical personages. they form great cycles, one clustering for instance around vladimir and the ancient capital of russia, kiev, another around the free city of novgorod, and a third belonging to the later moscow period. the principal hero of many of the russian folk tales, and of the epic songs most frequently sung by wandering bards, is ilya muromets, who nobly protects widows and orphans and often displays his fabulous strength by reducing mighty oaks to kindling wood with a few blows!