The Kalevala | Page 5

offer goats and calves to these sacred waters; and
many of the Ugrian clans still sacrifice the reindeer to the river Ob. In Esthonia is a
rivulet, Vohanda, held in such reverence that until very recently, none dared to fell a tree
or cut a shrub in its immediate vicinity, lest death should overtake the offender within a
year, in punishment for his sacrilege. The lake, Eim, is still held sacred by the Esthonians,
and the Eim-legend is thus told by F. Thiersch, quoted also by Grimm and by Mace da
Charda:
"Savage, evil men dwelt by its borders. They neither mowed the meadows which it
watered, nor sowed the fields which it made fruitful, but robbed and murdered, insomuch
that its clear waves grew dark with the blood of the slaughtered men. Then did the lake
Him mourn, and one evening it called together all its fishes, and rose aloft with them into
the air. When the robbers heard the sound, they exclaimed: 'Eim hath arisen; let us gather
its fishes and treasures.' But the fishes had departed with the lake, and nothing was found
on the bottom but snakes, and lizards, and toads. And Eim rose higher, and higher, and
hastened through the air like a white cloud. And the hunters in the forest said: 'What bad
weather is coming on!' The herdsmen said: 'What a white swan is flying above there!' For
the whole night the lake hovered among the stars, and in the morning the reapers beheld
it sinking. And from the swan grew a white ship, and from the ship a dark train of clouds;
and a voice came from the waters: 'Get thee hence with thy harvest, for I will dwell
beside thee.' Then they bade the lake welcome, if it would only bedew their fields and

meadows; and it sank down and spread itself out in its home to the full limits. Then the
lake made all the neighborhood fruitful, and the fields became green, and the people
danced around it, so that the old men grew joyous as the youth."
The chief water-god is Ahto, on the etymology of which the Finnish language throws
little light. It is curiously like Ahti, another name for the reckless Lemminkainen. This
water-god, or "Wave-host," as he is called, lives with his "cold and cruel-hearted spouse,"
Wellamo, at the bottom of the sea, in the chasms of the Salmon-rocks, where his palace,
Ahtola, is constructed. Besides the fish that swim in his dominions, particularly the
salmon, the trout, the whiting, the perch, the herring, and the white-fish, he possesses a
priceless treasure in the Sampo, the talisman of success, which Louhi, the hostess of
Pohyola, dragged into the sea in her efforts to regain it from the heroes of Kalevala. Ever
eager for the treasures of others, and generally unwilling to return any that come into his
possession, Ahto is not incapable of generosity. For example, once when a shepherd lad
was whittling a stick on the bank of a river, he dropped his knife into the stream. Ahto, as
in the fable, "Mercury and the Woodman," moved by the tears of the unfortunate lad,
swam to the scene, dived to the bottom, brought up a knife of gold, and gave it to the
young shepherd. Innocent and honest, the herd-boy said the knife was not his. Then Ahto
dived again, and brought up a knife of silver, which he gave to the lad, but this in turn
was not accepted. Thereupon the Wave-host dived again, and the third time brought the
right knife to the boy who gladly recognized his own, and received it with gratitude. To
the shepherd-lad Ahto gave the three knives as a reward for his honesty.
A general term for the other water-hosts living not only in the sea, but also in the rivers,
lakes, cataracts, and fountains, is Ahtolaiset (inhabitants of Ahtola), "Water-people,"
"People of the Foam and Billow," "Wellamo's Eternal People." Of these, some have
specific names; as Allotar (wave-goddess), Koskenneiti (cataract-maiden), Melatar
(goddess of the helm), and in The Kalevala these are sometimes personally invoked. Of
these minor deities, Pikku Mies (the Pigmy) is the most noteworthy. Once when the
far-outspreading branches of the primitive oak-tree shut out the light of the sun from
Northland, Pikku Mies, moved by the entreaties of Wainamoinen, emerged from the sea
in a suit of copper, with a copper hatchet in his belt, quickly grew from a pigmy to a
gigantic hero, and felled the mighty oak with the third stroke of his axe. In general the
water-deities are helpful and full of kindness; some, however, as Wetehilien and
Iku-Turso, find their greatest pleasure in annoying and destroying their fellow-beings.
Originally the Finlanders regarded the earth as a godlike existence with personal powers,