Väinämöinen's nephew

Väinämöisen veljenpoika ("Väinämöinen's nephew") is a folk poem created by the Savonian folk poet Paavo Korhonen in the early 19th century.

In the poem, the original character Väinämöinen's nephew takes a squirrel from a spruce and into his stable. After having fed it for three years, the squirrel turned into a stallion, albeit with small hooves. Väinämöinen's nephew rides the horse to Lapland and "topples down the chambers of Lapland". Then he switches his horse for a deer that he cannot steer, and dies by hitting his head to a rock. Liisa of Vipula, who had got his horse, gets to know about this, finds the nephew and brings him back to life. Later, the nephew throws a party and builds the first settlements in Lapland.

Regardless of its young age, the poem proved influential as it quickly spread to Savonia, Tavastia, and Karelia. In some places such as Savonia, it was mixed with a Kilpalaulanta poem. Parts of it even slipped into Karelian language poems telling of a different character, the boy who drove Väinämöinen away. Words from the poem also made it into spells around Finland and Karelia.