Louhi

Mistress of the North

In Finnish folk poetry the Old Woman of the North, Pohjan akka, rules Pohjola, a cold, dark, hostile land somewhere to the north, and is a formidable sorceress; in charms the related Louhiatar or Loviatar is the mother of diseases. The Kalevala makes Louhi the chief antagonist of the Kalevala heroes, though an ambivalent one: she rescues the shipwrecked Väinämöinen and bargains fairly for her daughter's marriage.

The Sampo

Louhi promises her daughter to the man who can forge the Sampo, a wonder-mill that grinds grain, salt, and money. Ilmarinen succeeds, and she locks it in the rock-mountain of Pohjola behind nine locks, where it roots itself deep in the earth. When the heroes steal it, she sends fog, wind, and the sea-monster Iku-Turso after them, then transforms herself into a giant eagle carrying a hundred warriors under her wings. Väinämöinen smashes her talons with his rudder, and in the struggle the Sampo falls into the sea and breaks; Louhi carries home only its lid, which is why, the epic says, the North is poor.

Revenge

Louhi then sends plagues and a bear against Kalevala and steals the sun and moon, hiding them in a mountain until Ilmarinen's forging frightens her into releasing them. Her daughter becomes Ilmarinen's wife and is killed by Kullervo's wolves and bears.