Release date is 2026-05-06

Tapio Riikonen

Puolan paanit by Eino Leino is a narrative poem cycle drawn from Karelian folk legend, written in the early 20th century. It tells of Polish lords riding into Karelia, a bitter feud between two noble houses, and a doomed love that helps bring them to ruin.

The poem opens with raids and a mystic battle in which the young Wielopolski falls, turning former friends Dobrowolski and Wielopolski into sworn enemies who withdraw to facing strongholds, Agafon and Sjinkow. Dobrowolski’s sons—Boleslaw, a man of the sword, and Ladislaw, a man of the lute—both love Eliza, Wielopolski’s daughter, though she is pledged to Jaroslaw Zapolski. The brothers swear loyalty: Boleslaw goes to war while Ladislaw remains, serenading Eliza as she wavers, longing for a single hero who would unite valor and song. Forced into marriage, Eliza collapses at the altar; that night Ladislaw sings his final lament and dies by his own blade beneath her window. Dobrowolski blames Zapolski and attacks; after fierce losses, Boleslaw arrives, strikes down Zapolski, and finds Eliza unhinged; amid flames and chaos she is fatally cut down. The victors’ revel ends at dawn when Karelian villagers slaughter the sleeping raiders, burn the bodies, and move on to raze the remaining castle. In the end, feud and love have destroyed the Polish lords, and only legend and song—like green ivy on ruined walls—remain. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Helsinki: Otava, 1922