Lemminkainen, reckless hero,
Also known as Kaukomieli,
Stood beside his mother, combing
Out his sable locks and musing,
Brushing down his beard, debating,
Steadfast still in his decision,
Quickly hurls his brush in anger,
Hurls it to the wall opposing,
Gives his mother final answer,
These the words that Ahti uses:
"Dire misfortune will befall me,
Some sad fate will overtake me,
Evil come to Lemminkainen,
When the blood flows from that hair-brush,
When blood oozes from those bristles."
(http://altreligion.about.com/library/texts/kalevala/bl_12.htm)
Silent Waters is a reference to the legend of Lemminkainen in the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. My limited understanding, based on reading from the above link to a translation of the Kalevala, is as follows:
Lemminkainen's wife Kyllikki breaks a vow she makes to her husband, and angrily he goes off to war ("Weaving the Incantation") (during which he shows that his singing is also quite bewitching - "Towards and Against"). Then he desires to marry a daughter of Louhi; Louhi assigns him various impossible tasks to accomplish first, including the killing of the swan that lives in the river of the underworld ("Enigma", cover art); he is killed by the river's shepherd, who slays him with a serpent, in the attempt ("The White Swan"). His mother, learning of his fate, goes to the river, and with a divinely-forged rake, dredges Lemminkainen's body from the river ("Silent Waters").
Lemminkainen, reckless hero, Also known as Kaukomieli, Stood beside his mother, combing Out his sable locks and musing, Brushing down his beard, debating, Steadfast still in his decision, Quickly hurls his brush in anger, Hurls it to the wall opposing, Gives his mother final answer, These the words that Ahti uses: "Dire misfortune will befall me, Some sad fate will overtake me, Evil come to Lemminkainen, When the blood flows from that hair-brush, When blood oozes from those bristles." (http://altreligion.about.com/library/texts/kalevala/bl_12.htm)
Silent Waters is a reference to the legend of Lemminkainen in the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. My limited understanding, based on reading from the above link to a translation of the Kalevala, is as follows:
Lemminkainen's wife Kyllikki breaks a vow she makes to her husband, and angrily he goes off to war ("Weaving the Incantation") (during which he shows that his singing is also quite bewitching - "Towards and Against"). Then he desires to marry a daughter of Louhi; Louhi assigns him various impossible tasks to accomplish first, including the killing of the swan that lives in the river of the underworld ("Enigma", cover art); he is killed by the river's shepherd, who slays him with a serpent, in the attempt ("The White Swan"). His mother, learning of his fate, goes to the river, and with a divinely-forged rake, dredges Lemminkainen's body from the river ("Silent Waters").