mpt anything of the kind. It
is the third poisoned arrow from Youkahainen's bow which strikes
Wainamoinen's horse, which immediately sinks to the bottom of the sea,
leaving its rider to struggle in the water some eight years. Meantime
Youkahainen exults because his foe is dead, although his mother
insists her son has merely brought woe upon the earth.

_Rune VII._ Instead of treading the waves, Wainamoinen swims about
until an eagle--grateful because he left birch-trees for birds to
perch upon--swoops down, invites him to climb upon its back, and
swiftly bears him to the dismal northland Sariola. There Wainamoinen
is discovered by the Maid of Beauty, who sends her mother, toothless
Louhi, to invite him into the house, where she bountifully feeds him.
Next Louhi promises to supply Wainamoinen with a steed to return home
and to give him her daughter in marriage, provided he will forge for
her the Sampo, or magic grist-mill. Although Wainamoinen cannot do
this, he promises that his brother, the blacksmith Ilmarinen, shall
forge it for her, and thus secures the promise of the hand of the Maid
of Beauty. This bargain made, Wainamoinen drives away in a sledge
provided by his hostess, who cautions him not to look up as he travels
along, lest misfortune befall him.

_Rune VIII._ Instead of obeying these injunctions, Wainamoinen gazes
upward on his way home, and thus discovers the Maid of Beauty, or
Maiden of the Rainbow, weaving "a gold and silver air-gown." When he
invites her to come with him, she pertly rejoins the birds have
informed her a married woman's life is unenviable, for wives "are like
dogs enchained in kennel." When Wainamoinen insists wives are queens,
and begs her to listen to his wooing, she retorts when he has split a
golden hair with an edgeless knife, has snared a bird's egg with an
invisible snare, has peeled a sandstone, and made a whipstock from ice
without leaving any shavings, she may consider his proposal.

These impossible tasks are quickly accomplished by the wizard, but,
while filling the Rainbow Maiden's last order to fashion a ship out
of her broken spindle--Wainamoinen accidentally cuts his knee so badly
that the blood flows so fast no charm can stop it. In vain different
remedies are tried, in vain Wainamoinen seeks help at sundry houses
the blood continues to pour out of his wound until it looks as if he
would die.

_Rune IX._ Wainamoinen finally enters a cottage where two girls dip up
som