Lemminkäinen

A composite hero

In Finnish folk poetry Lemminkäinen, Ahti Saarelainen ('Ahti the Islander'), and Kaukomieli were related but partly separate figures, heroes of songs about uninvited guests at feasts, sea raids, and duels of magic. Lönnrot combined them into one character, which is why the Kalevala calls him by all three names.

Death and return

In the Kalevala Lemminkäinen abducts and marries Kyllikki, then goes to Pohjola to woo Louhi's daughter, leaving his hairbrush with his mother: if it bleeds, he is dead. Louhi sets him three tasks: to ski down the elk of Hiisi, to bridle the fire-breathing gelding of Hiisi, and to shoot the swan on the black river of Tuonela with a single arrow. At the river a blind cowherd he had insulted kills him with a water-snake and throws him in, and the son of Tuoni hacks his body to pieces. The hairbrush bleeds. His mother searches the world, has Ilmarinen forge a long copper rake, and rakes his pieces from the river; she joins them with charms, and a bee brings honey from beyond the ninth heaven to anoint him until he rises again.

Later deeds

He returns uninvited to the wedding feast at Pohjola, kills its master in a sword duel, and must hide on an island. Later he joins Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen in the raid on the Sampo, where his singing wakes the crane that rouses Pohjola. Jean Sibelius's Lemminkäinen Suite (1895-1896), including The Swan of Tuonela, made him known internationally.