Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



of Lemminkalnen, demanding peremptorily the 

 daughter of Louhi the Hag of the North for 

 his wife : 



Louhi, hostess of Pohjola, 

 Made this answer to the suitor : 

 ** I will only give my daughter. 

 Give to thee my fairest virgin. 

 Bride of thine to be forever. 

 When for me the swan thou killest 

 In the river of Tuoni, 

 Swimming in the black death-river. 

 In the sacred stream and whirlpool ; 

 Thou canst try one cross-bow only. 

 But one arrow from thy quiver." 



It is Lemminkainen's third trial. He has 

 caught the magic machine that looks like 

 a moose, the moose of Hiisi ; he has bridled 

 Hiisi's flaming horse as Jason bridled and 

 drove the fire-breathing oxen of ^^etes of 

 Colchis ; but this third venture fails because 

 he is shot from behind, like Balder and 

 Achilleus, falls into the coal-black current of 

 the stream of death and is chopped to pieces, 

 like Osiris. Singular that the swan, so closely 

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