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Terve! My name is Väinämöinen, and I am a shaman of my people. You can call me Väinö (Vi-no) for short. You are free to immigrate into my lands, but try not to upset me; I've been known to sing people into bogs. I have a huge knowledge of all kinds of spells, and crafmanship, including how to make a Kantele, a Finnish 'violin' out of a huge pike's jaw, after it has climbed into tree to sing... of my birth I am unaware, but people say that I was born out of a ducks egg, after floating for thirty months... or was that about the world of Kalevala; it is so how hard to remember when you're getting as old as I am...









I also have a taste for females, the younger the better, and one such was Aino (right), the girl I pursued long and hard, but rather than marry me, she decided to drown herself. To be honest, her brother Joukahainen (left) was not happy about it, and so he smote me half dead and left me drowning in the river; from where I floated onto the shores of the far North, Pohjola, and was rescued by the Mistress of North, Louhi, and her daughter. As a reward I had to promise her to build the Sampo, with the help of the great Black Smith Ilmari.








Here is my faithful friend, the Black Smith Ilmari (right), who's so skilled in forging things, that he can make whatever you desire. His greatest works are the Sampo, the horn of plenty that produces money, salt and flour in everlasting flow, and a woman of his own design. That didn't turn up so well (see left)... but with building the Sampo, he would get Louhi's daughter as his bride.

[no image id specified] Another kind of hero was Lemminkäinen, also named Kauko (more of his premature death and his recovery at Tuonela). After Kauko returned from the dead, The North, Pohjola, was having a wedding, and Kauko was not invited, but he still crashed the party and in a rage killed the Master of Pohjola. He escaped and retreated to an island on which he seduced many maids and mistresses. The menfolk of the island forced him to escape, again, and upon returning home, he found his home burned by the army of Pohjola. Still he found his family safe in a secret cabin in the forest. After this he returned to Pohjola with a mighty spearsman Tiera, to try and revenge, but the Witch of Pohjola, Louhi, made the sea into ice, and the men had to abandon the boat to return home by foot. Kauko would still return to help steal back the Sampo.

Oh, yes, the Sampo... that was before Ilmari forged his woman, and after Aino drowned herself... and the only women around were up in the North, Pohjola, who's ruler, the Witch Louhi (seen right), promised us her daughter if only Ilmari would make her the horn of plenty, Sampo.











She even showed us a picture of the girl (left), but after Ilmari made the machine, the women we saw all looked like this (see right)
So we called the deal off, and stole the Sampo back. We hauled the machine into our ship and started the journey back to Väinölä and Kaleva...





The Witch Louhi wasn't happy about it, and sent her minions after us,

and a huge sea battle ensued (see main image). The result was that the Sampo sank into the sea and was never seen again...



Builder: Ahti Karjalainen