Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



deserted by their wives. One day Fion meets 

 a beautiful woman who is weeping for her ring 

 which has fallen into a deep lake ; gallantly he 

 dives for it, but when he brings it up he is an 

 old man, withered and old like Vaino. Lem- 

 minkainen tries for the hand of one of Louhi's 

 daughters — Louhi of Pohjola, the Hag of the 

 North. But he comes off worse than Fion. 

 He goes to Hades at the request of Louhi, is 

 killed and his body cut to pieces, like that of 

 Osiris of Egypt. Fion is restored to his own 

 shape and Lemminkainen's mother gathers up 

 his scattered members and brings him back 

 to life. Both derive from the cuckoo, which 

 has lost its life or its youth in autumn, but 

 returns in spring. 



These parallels are such as to exclude the 

 idea that they are direct transplantations from 

 Finland to Ireland, or from Ireland to Fin- 

 land, since they vary from each other in too 

 many particulars. They testify to a common 

 origin which lies so very far back that we must 

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