@Bob and Leeneia, and anyone with : Interestingly, in researching folktales and their forms in different cultures (in order to how other people have solved the same question of how to transfer stories to a different cultural context). I came across various forms of the Cinderella story and other folktales like say Jack and The Beanstalk in different parts of the world, even in parts of America. But unfortunately not in my part of the world, for some reason.

Seems to me that the Kullervo story, both in folktale form and Kalevala form, is a Finnish/Karelian variant of "Cinderlad" or "Ash Boy" tales with a wicked mistress/employer taking the stepparent role.

Also, it seems weird to me that the original folktale, found in variants of folk poems in Finland and Karelia,(the version of the story used in the poems of the Kalevala comes from the shores of Lake Ladoga in southern Karelia) has no distinctive local American variants despite the number of Finnish immigrants to America, particularly in Appalachia, where the really distinctive variants of European tales seem to be from. You could easily take out the Finnish elements, transplant the story to somewhere in the States, and it would still be the story of Kullervo.