Lemminkäinen

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Lemminkäinen is a character from Finnish mythology and one of the heroes in the Finnish national epic Kalevala .

Akseli Gallen-Kallela : Lemminkäinen is brought back to life by his mother

Lemminkäinen asked Louhi , the mistress of the north country, for her daughter. He was supposed to prove himself worthy and was given the task of killing the moose from Hiisi , bridling the fire-mouthed stallion from Hiisi and shooting the swan on the river of the Tuonela underworld . Lemminkäinen mastered the first two tasks, but failed in the last because a shepherd he had met before and whom he had insulted waited by the river to seek revenge. He had been waiting by the river since they first met and now he killed Lemminkäinen, dismembered him and threw him into the river. Lemminkäinen's mother had Ilmarinen forge a rake and sifted the river to find her son's limbs. She put them together and brought him back to life ( cf. Isis ).

Together with Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen he stole the Sampo (the "magic mill") from Louhi. But Louhi pursued their ship, and the Sampo was destroyed in the battle.

The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius processed parts of the Lemminkäinen myth in his Lemminkäinen suite , as did the Finnish metal band Amorphis on the 2007 album Silent Waters .