Epics

An epic may be seen by some as a long, boring story that’s pointless to read and has no bearing on our lives. It’s just a story. An epic is full of construed facts and/or is merely the result of giant exaggerations over time.

For others, an epic may just be one’s source of identity. One may have never read the epic, but instead only about it. A portion of one’s culture may be devoted to one’s epic, but the contents of the epic itself may be unknown to one.

While for you, on the other hand, an epic may be a fascinating story. To you, it may be a story that could be part of your heritage, or it may be a story for your entertainment and may be inspiration for a story of your own.

Among the British, Beowulf is considered an important part of their historical heritage. Hindus consider the two epics Mahabharata and Ramayana to be sacred scripture. The Iliad and The Odyssey, even though large parts of the Western world may not be Greek by descent, are still read today as important parts of history and literature. John. R. R. Tolkien, in fact, found inspiration in the Finnish epic Kalevala for his Lord of the Rings and its mythological histories (http://www.councilofelrond.com/litarticle/the-kalevala-its-influence-on-tolkien/, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/12/1219_tolkienroots.html). Then, the Germans have their Nibelungenlied, which may remind one of Beowulf.

If one can appreciate the giant amount of plot, well-developed characters, and other important story elements found in these epics, one may be overwhelmed, at first, but the vast story-world inside is priceless. Although many of the famous epics, such as Beowulf, Kalevala, Nibelungenlied, and others, were written as poetry instead of prose, an epic is a world of inspiration for one’s own story, and, for some, one’s national and/or cultural identity.

To read translations of these epics online, here are some resources:

Beowulf: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16328/16328-h/16328-h.htm

Iliad: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6130/6130-h/6130-h.html

Odyssey: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1727/1727-h/1727-h.htm

Kalevala: http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5186/pg5186.html

Ramayana: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24869/24869-h/24869-h.html

Mahabharata: https://archive.org/details/TheMahabharataOfKrishna-dwaipayanaVyasa

Nibelungenlied: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1151/1151-h/1151-h.htm

Excerpt from The KALEVALA

 Then the daughter of the Ether,
  Now the hapless water-mother,
  Raised her shoulders out of water,
  Raised her knees above the ocean,
  That the duck might build her dwelling,
  Build her nesting-place in safety.
  Thereupon the duck in beauty,
  Flying slowly, looking round her,
  Spies the shoulders of the maiden,
  Sees the knees of Ether's daughter,
  Now the hapless water-mother,
  Thinks them to be grassy hillocks,
  On the blue back of the ocean.
  Thence she flies and hovers slowly,
  Lightly on the knee she settles,
  Finds a nesting-place befitting,
  Where to lay her eggs in safety.
  Here she builds her humble dwelling,
  Lays her eggs within, at pleasure,
  Six, the golden eggs she lays there,
  Then a seventh, an egg of iron;
  Sits upon her eggs to hatch them,
  Quickly warms them on the knee-cap
  Of the hapless water-mother;
  Hatches one day, then a second,
  Then a third day sits and hatches.
  Warmer grows the water round her,
  Warmer is her bed in ocean,
  While her knee with fire is kindled,
  And her shoulders too are burning,
  Fire in every vein is coursing.
  Quick the maiden moves her shoulders,
  Shakes her members in succession,
  Shakes the nest from its foundation,
  And the eggs fall into ocean,
  Dash in pieces on the bottom
  Of the deep and boundless waters.
  In the sand they do not perish,
  Not the pieces in the ocean;
  But transformed, in wondrous beauty
  All the fragments come together
  Forming pieces two in number,
  One the upper, one the lower,
  Equal to the one, the other.
  From one half the egg, the lower,
  Grows the nether vault of Terra:
  From the upper half remaining,
  Grows the upper vault of Heaven;
  From the white part come the moonbeams,
  From the yellow part the sunshine,
  From the motley part the starlight...

Excerpt from "Kalevala. Rune 1: Birth of Wainamoinen." found at http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5186/pg5186.html

Image from  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/412642384578519863/ 



~ Fintan