The Kalevala | Page 8

inability to brave her father's wrath.
Finally, after much entreaty, she ferried him over the Finnish Styx, like Charon, the son
of Erebus and Nox, in the mythology of Greece. The second daughter of Tuoni is
Lowyatar, black and blind, and is described as still more malignant and loathsome than
the first. Through the East-wind's impregnation she brought forth the spirits of the nine
diseases most dreaded by mankind, as described in the 45th Rune of the Kalevala:
"Colic, Pleurisy, and Fever.
Ulcer, Plague, and dread Consumption,
Gout, Sterility,
and Cancer."
The third daughter of Tuoni combines the malevolent and repugnant attributes of her two
sisters, and is represented as the mother and hostess of the impersonal diseases of
mankind. The Finns regarded all human ailments as evil spirits or indwelling devils,
some formless, others taking the shapes of the most odious forms of animal life, as
worms and mites; the nine, however, described above, were conceived to have human
forms.
Where the three arms of the Tuoni river meet a frightful rock arises, called Kipu-Kivi, or
Kipuvuori, in a dungeon beneath which the spirits of all diseases are imprisoned. On this
rock the third daughter of Tuoui sits, constantly whirling it round like a millstone,
grinding her subjects until they escape and go forth to torture and slay the children of
men; as in Hindu mythology, Kali (black) sits in judgment on the dead.
Various other spiritual powers than gods and goddesses are held in high reverence by the
Finns. Tontu is represented as a kind-hearted house-spirit, a sort of diminutive Cyclops,

and offerings of bread and broth are made to him every morning. Putting a mare's collar
on one's neck and walking nine times around a church is thought to be a certain means of
attracting one to the place desired. Para is a mystical, three-legged being, constructed in
many ways, and which, according to Castren, attains life and action when its possessor,
cutting the little finger of his left hand, lets three drops of blood fall upon it, and at the
same time pronouncing the proper magic word. The possessor, by whatever means, of
this mystic being, is always supplied with abundance of milk and cheese. The Maahiset
are the dwarfs of Finnish mythology. Their abode is under stumps, trees, blocks,
thresholds and
hearth-stones. Though exceedingly minute and invisible to man they
have human forms. They are irritable and resentful, and they punish with ulcers, tetter,
ringworms, pimples, and other cutaneous affections, all those who neglect them at
brewings, bakings, and feastings. They punish in a similar manner those who enter new
houses without making obeisance to the four corners, and paying them other kindly
attentions; those who live in untidy houses are also likewise punished. The Kirkonwaeki
(church-folk) are little deformed beings living under the altars of churches. These
misshapen things are supposed to be able to aid their sorrowing and suffering worshipers.
Certain beasts, and birds, and trees, are held sacred in Finland. In the Kalevala are
evident traces of arctolatry, bear-worship, once very common among the tribes of the
north, Otso, the bear, according to Finnish mythology, was born on the shoulders of
Otava, in the regions of the sun and moon, and "nursed by a goddess of the woodlands in
a cradle swung by bands of gold between the bending branches of budding fir-trees." His
nurse would not give him teeth and claws until he had promised never to engage in
bloody strife, or deeds of violence. Otso, however, does not always keep his pledge, and
accordingly the hunters of Finland find it comparatively easy to reconcile their
consciences to his destruction. Otso is called in the runes by many endearing titles as
"The Honey-Eater," "Golden Light-Foot," "The Forest-Apple," "Honey-Paw of the
Mountains," "ThePride of the Thicket," "The Fur-robed Forest-Friend." Ahava, the
West-wind, and Penitar, a blind old witch of Sariola, are the parents of the swift dogs of
Finland, just as the horses of Achilles, Xanthos and Belios, sprang from Zephyros and the
harpy Podarge.
As to birds, the duck, according to the Kalevala, the eagle, according to other traditions,
lays the mundane egg, thus taking part in the creation of the world. Puhuri, the
north-wind, the father of Pakkanen (frost) is sometimes personified as a gigantic eagle.
The didapper is reverenced because it foretells the approach of rain. Linnunrata
(bird-path) is the name given to the Milky-way, due probably to a myth like those of the
Swedes and Slavs, in which liberated songs take the form of snow-white dovelets. The
cuckoo to this day is sacred, and is believed to have fertilized the earth with his songs. As
to insects, honey-bees, called by the Finns, Mehilainen, are especially sacred, as in the
mythologies of many other nations. Ukkon-koiva (Ukko's dog) is the Finnish name for