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.[1]
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.[2] Parts of it even slipped into Karelian language poems telling of a different character, the boy who drove Väinämöinen away.[3] Words from the poem also made it into spells around Finland and Karelia.