the text and the story

HERE's a translation of the Kalevala online, though I think the translation is not very good, but at least you can get a quick idea of what the text is like.

I have finally come to a decision on what story/character I wish my work to focus on! I truly love so many of the characters and stories in the book that choosing what to work with has probably been the hardest thing to do with this FMP. In the end, I chose the story of Väinämöinen and the Kantele. (a copy of this story is available in my learners file.)

The story is about the epics hero, Väinämöinen, right after his creation of the first musical instrument, the Kalevala. He sits down on a rock to play to play the instrument, and as he does so, all the creatures in the forest and people of Kalevala stop what they are doing and listen. Väinö plays for three days, and by time he finishes playing, everyone has started to cry. However, these are not tears of sorrow, but of a kind of wonder. At the end, Väinö himself starts to cry, the tears rolling down to the bottom of the ocean. At this, he bSecomes embarrassed, and asks a child to collect his tears, who has to decline as he cannot dive as deep. He then asks a raven, who bluntly ignores him. However, a blue scoup happens to overhear, and dives deep into the ocean to search for the tears. The Scoup finds the tears, and they have turned into pearls.

This story solves many of the problems I have had with this project. The central character is Väinö, the 'hero' of the epic, and if what i want is to evoke interest in someone who dosn't know about the Kalevala, it makes only sense to choose a character to spotlight who is central to the text. Also, the story deals with music, which is something that i think is important when dealing with the Kalevala, as the whole text used to be dealt with only in song. As I have chosen not to go with making a piece that dosn't involve music, at least not as a central element, I am happy that I have a chance to reference it. The story itself is one of my faveroits, I love the idea of everyone coming together to experience something beautiful.