Elk of Hiisi

The first task

In Runes 13 and 14 of the Kalevala, Louhi tells Lemminkäinen that he must ski down Hiisi's elk (Crawford translates it as 'wild-moose') before she will give him her daughter. The creature has been made by Hiisi's people from the materials of the forest, with a head of rotten wood, horns of willow branches, legs of fence stakes, and veins of dry grass, and it runs wild through the villages of Lapland, overturning pots and startling the women.

The chase

Lemminkäinen has a master ski-maker craft him the best skis ever made and sets off. He overtakes the elk and catches it, but it breaks free and smashes his skis. Then he prays to Ukko and to the forest's rulers, Tapio and Mielikki, promising offerings of gold and silver; they drive the elk to him, and he brings it to Pohjola.

Hiisi

Hiisi originally meant a sacred grove or burial place in Finnish, attested in place names across Finland; after Christianization the word came to mean a demon or evil spirit, and the Kalevala's Hiisi is a devilish power of the forest. The elk hunt reflects the central place of elk hunting on skis in the Finnish past, depicted in prehistoric rock paintings.