


This is a rare one, it describes Poika Pohjolainen lifing fire to the sky, which rips holes into the sky. In another version, the lifter is Louhi, called "little blue bird" (sinisirkku).
![]() Tule poika Pohjolasta Poika Pohjolan takaa Uros kylmästä kylästä Mies pitkä Pimentolasta Lapsi täyestä Lapista Joll' on suussa suuri tieto Mahti ponneton povessa Se tunsi tulen lumoa Valkiaisen varvennella Kekäläisen kielotella Tulen nosti taivahille Auer ilmahan yleni Pakko pilville pakeni Pilvet liikku, taivas nauku Taivon kannet kallisteli Ilmat reikihin repeili Ilmat kaikki ikkunoiksi |
Come son from Pohjola Boy from beyond Pohjola Male from a cold village Tall man from Pimentola Child from full Lapland Who has great knowledge in his mouth Non-physical might in his breast He felt the charm of fire To calm the blaze To persuade the ember He lifted fire up to the skies Sunlit haze rose into the air Ache escaped into the clouds Clouds moved, the sky whined The lids of the sky tipped The sky ripped full of holes The whole sky into windows |
The reason why I wanted to include this is because this is not the only time that the sons of Louhi are connected to the sky almost breaking. Usually this happens when they are making arrows of pain out of the branches of the Great Oak (or here, just a fiery birch), and this set of events is even given specifically to Poika Pohjolainen when he shoots at Väinämöinen. The reason why I think this is notable is because there is another extremely rare runosong from either North Ostrobothnia or Kainuu which includes the following part:
and/or ![]() Pirulainen pitkä poika Hakkasi tulisen koivun Saaressa nimettömässä Vasammoita valmistaapi Pajassa ovettomassa Ilman ikkunattomassa Sulitteli nuoliahan Pääsken pienillä sulilla Varpuisen vipuisimilla Nokasti hevon kusessa Ampu perisokia Ampu yhen nuoliahan Ylääksen taivoseen: Tahto taivaskin haleta Ilman kaaret katkehilla Mennessä pahan okahan Risti rautanen putoisi Tuon keito käsin tapaisi Ilman maata maistamatak Tannerta tavoittamatak |
Devilish tall son Cut down a fiery birch On a nameless island Creates bolts In a doorless forge Which has no windows Feathered his arrows With the small plumes of a swallow With the levers of a sparrow Tipped it in horse's piss Blind-from-birth shot Shot one of his arrows Upwards to the sky: The sky nearly split The arch of the sky snap As the evil thorn went through An iron cross fell The miserable one caught it with his hands Before it could taste the ground Reach the field |
And the reason why this is so fascinating is because it looks like as if regardless of having made these painful arrows, he also prevented the sky from collapsing by catching the "iron cross". I have no idea what the iron cross is, it doesn't appear much elsewhere, but I read a theory that it would actually mean the world pillar. If it's truly out of iron, Ilmarinen could truly have forged it, the same as he did with the sky itself. When this arrow is shot, the description of the damage is the same as when Väinämöinen starts singing after he and Joukahainen have stolen the Sammas, also meaning the world pillar.
The matter of the theft of Sammas continues to be one of the most mysterious parts of the mythos. I am also fascinated by how it ties to the Shooting of Väinämöinen. Maybe Pohjolainen's motivation for shooting at Väinämöinen in a boat could, in some version, be to stop the theft?
Only in Finnish, sorry. This is the source material.