The Lay Of Ilmatar and Wainamoinen
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Legend & Mythology
Legend & Mythology
Based upon the Finnish myth from the Kalevala, this is the story of the Daughter of the Ether who created the world, and gave birth to the first human.
Written by Mélodie Rivers; first draft published November 9 2014
Written by Mélodie Rivers; first draft published November 9 2014
A long time ago, the Earth was not yet formed; no foundations, no heavens, only water. It was surrounded by nothing else but the Ether, which was ruled by Ukko, the ruler of the Heavens. Of the beginning of Time and Space, not much is known; but much is known about the beginning of Earth.
It all began with the birth of the fairest maiden of all: Ilmatar, the Daughter of the Ether. Little is said of her childhood, only that she lived in the Heavens for ages, when the Earth was still only water, and no prairies had yet unfolded.
As the years passed, Ilmatar grew tiresome of the heavenly halls, where nothing was new or challenging. Her existence consisted of living alone in the infinite space above the eternal sea, sad and hopeless.
One day, tired of waiting, she forsook the Ether, descended on Earth amidst the sea-foam, and decided to make her home there.
But the sea was not kind to her, and the strong and fiery waves tossed heavily the maiden back and forth, encircling her more and more.
Helpless against the strength of the storm, Ilmatar summoned her powers, and she started to control the winds, the back of the water, the waves coated of white, and the sea-salt. For seven hundred years, she united the sea's strength and her grace, and she tamed the winds; the waves grew in slumber, until the surface of the water became peaceful.
Overburdened with all that tamed storm, the strength drowned Ilmatar under the sea. But even though she couldn't break the surface of the water, she continued unceasingly her labor; she swam eastward and westward, southward and northward, as the first and only mother of the sea, taming the storms on her passage.
When another 200 years passed, Ilmatar slowly missed her halls in the Ether, and started to regret becoming the mother of water, for her life was cold, dreary, and painful. She began to weep, and pausing, she pleaded Ukko, the ruler of the Heavens, to help her and deliver her of her incessant labours.
As soon as she finished praying, a far-away call was heard in the heavens, and a beautiful duck descended towards the sea, towards Ilmatar, in search of a place to build a nest. The duck flew eastward, westward, southward, and northward, but found no land where to land and build her nest; only water welcomed her. Wondering aloud how she could build a nest upon the sea, as the winds would destroy it and the waves would wash it, the duck began to despair. Hearing her helpless calls, Ilmatar took pity, and finally found the strength to break surface; she raised her shoulders and her knees out of the water, so that the duck could build safely her nest.
While despairingly circling the sea, the duck spotted Ilmatar; thinking that the mother's shoulders and knees were hills, she flew downward, and build happily her nest upon Ilmatar's knees.
Seven eggs the duck laid, six of gold and one of iron. For three days, the duck sat upon her eggs, quickly warming them. On the third day, the warmth became fiery, and Ilmatar's shoulders and knees were burning hot; quickly, Ilmatar moved her shoulders and her knees, shook them in succession to cool them. Shaken from its foundation, the nest broke, and the eggs fell in the ocean, breaking in pieces when they hit the bottom. To Ilmatar's surprise, the eggs did not perish, but rather transformed in wondrous beauty. All the pieces came together in a form of a giant egg, but in two equal parts. From one half of the egg, the lower one, grew the vault of the Earth; from the upper half egg remaining, grew the vault of Heaven. From the white part of the egg, came the moonbeams; sunshine came from the yellow part. From the motley part came forth the starlight while the clouds grew from the dark part of the egg.
Ilmatar swam through the sea once more, controlling it even more, taming the floods and the storms, as nine years pass since the creation of the Earth. In the summer of the tenth year, Ilmatar finally rose her head from the sea, and began at last her final creations. Where her hands touched the earth, a fertile hill grew; where her feet rested, lakes formed. Where she dived beneath the water, abyss appeared; where she turned on her side, the banks of the lands rose from the sea. And where she poked her head landward from the water, bays and inlets followed. When she rested in the water, rocks, hidden reefs and islands were created; finally, she finished her labours with the creations of the trees, pillars of the sky, as well as the fields and the forests. Her work was now done, and Ilmatar, the Daughter of the Ether and mother of water, moved back to her new home. And hence her story ends here, for the moment.
**
Now for the second part of our story: the beginning of an hero and enchanter, the first human, Wainamoinen.
For thirty years, he laid within a dungeon, amidst the bosom of the sea. He reflected how lonesome and dreary it was to never be born, how dark it felt, within the uncomfortable limits of his prison's walls; he wanted to see the moonlight and the sunshine, to leave the ocean and walk upon the islands and further, breathe open air and look at the stars.
One day, he prayed to the Sun, the Moon, and the Great Bear of the Heaven to free him; but as they refused, he grew annoyed and weary. Taking matter in his own hands, he burst open the outer portals of his fortress, opened the resisting lock with his strong fingers, and crept through the threshold of his prison; with his knees, he threw himself headfirst in the ocean. Determined, he swam eastward, westward, southward, northward, studying his new surroundings. For seven years, he rested in the ocean, until the eight year, when he at last found a coast gleaming with verdure. With great strength, he raised himself out of the ocean, and planted both his feet upon the solid ground. Overcome with joy, Wainamoinen stood upright for the first time, as the sunshine hit his face, and he smiled, as he could see also the stars in the horizon, as well as the shapes of the Moon and the Great Bear.
Thus was Wainamoinen the first human to touch the ground, the hero and enchanter of yore, finally delivered from his mother, Ilmatar, the Daughter of the Ether.
And so is solved the mystery of where the humans come from. For they neither came from Heaven, or came from the Water of Life; but came from both Heaven and Water.
It all began with the birth of the fairest maiden of all: Ilmatar, the Daughter of the Ether. Little is said of her childhood, only that she lived in the Heavens for ages, when the Earth was still only water, and no prairies had yet unfolded.
As the years passed, Ilmatar grew tiresome of the heavenly halls, where nothing was new or challenging. Her existence consisted of living alone in the infinite space above the eternal sea, sad and hopeless.
One day, tired of waiting, she forsook the Ether, descended on Earth amidst the sea-foam, and decided to make her home there.
But the sea was not kind to her, and the strong and fiery waves tossed heavily the maiden back and forth, encircling her more and more.
Helpless against the strength of the storm, Ilmatar summoned her powers, and she started to control the winds, the back of the water, the waves coated of white, and the sea-salt. For seven hundred years, she united the sea's strength and her grace, and she tamed the winds; the waves grew in slumber, until the surface of the water became peaceful.
Overburdened with all that tamed storm, the strength drowned Ilmatar under the sea. But even though she couldn't break the surface of the water, she continued unceasingly her labor; she swam eastward and westward, southward and northward, as the first and only mother of the sea, taming the storms on her passage.
When another 200 years passed, Ilmatar slowly missed her halls in the Ether, and started to regret becoming the mother of water, for her life was cold, dreary, and painful. She began to weep, and pausing, she pleaded Ukko, the ruler of the Heavens, to help her and deliver her of her incessant labours.
As soon as she finished praying, a far-away call was heard in the heavens, and a beautiful duck descended towards the sea, towards Ilmatar, in search of a place to build a nest. The duck flew eastward, westward, southward, and northward, but found no land where to land and build her nest; only water welcomed her. Wondering aloud how she could build a nest upon the sea, as the winds would destroy it and the waves would wash it, the duck began to despair. Hearing her helpless calls, Ilmatar took pity, and finally found the strength to break surface; she raised her shoulders and her knees out of the water, so that the duck could build safely her nest.
While despairingly circling the sea, the duck spotted Ilmatar; thinking that the mother's shoulders and knees were hills, she flew downward, and build happily her nest upon Ilmatar's knees.
Seven eggs the duck laid, six of gold and one of iron. For three days, the duck sat upon her eggs, quickly warming them. On the third day, the warmth became fiery, and Ilmatar's shoulders and knees were burning hot; quickly, Ilmatar moved her shoulders and her knees, shook them in succession to cool them. Shaken from its foundation, the nest broke, and the eggs fell in the ocean, breaking in pieces when they hit the bottom. To Ilmatar's surprise, the eggs did not perish, but rather transformed in wondrous beauty. All the pieces came together in a form of a giant egg, but in two equal parts. From one half of the egg, the lower one, grew the vault of the Earth; from the upper half egg remaining, grew the vault of Heaven. From the white part of the egg, came the moonbeams; sunshine came from the yellow part. From the motley part came forth the starlight while the clouds grew from the dark part of the egg.
Ilmatar swam through the sea once more, controlling it even more, taming the floods and the storms, as nine years pass since the creation of the Earth. In the summer of the tenth year, Ilmatar finally rose her head from the sea, and began at last her final creations. Where her hands touched the earth, a fertile hill grew; where her feet rested, lakes formed. Where she dived beneath the water, abyss appeared; where she turned on her side, the banks of the lands rose from the sea. And where she poked her head landward from the water, bays and inlets followed. When she rested in the water, rocks, hidden reefs and islands were created; finally, she finished her labours with the creations of the trees, pillars of the sky, as well as the fields and the forests. Her work was now done, and Ilmatar, the Daughter of the Ether and mother of water, moved back to her new home. And hence her story ends here, for the moment.
**
Now for the second part of our story: the beginning of an hero and enchanter, the first human, Wainamoinen.
For thirty years, he laid within a dungeon, amidst the bosom of the sea. He reflected how lonesome and dreary it was to never be born, how dark it felt, within the uncomfortable limits of his prison's walls; he wanted to see the moonlight and the sunshine, to leave the ocean and walk upon the islands and further, breathe open air and look at the stars.
One day, he prayed to the Sun, the Moon, and the Great Bear of the Heaven to free him; but as they refused, he grew annoyed and weary. Taking matter in his own hands, he burst open the outer portals of his fortress, opened the resisting lock with his strong fingers, and crept through the threshold of his prison; with his knees, he threw himself headfirst in the ocean. Determined, he swam eastward, westward, southward, northward, studying his new surroundings. For seven years, he rested in the ocean, until the eight year, when he at last found a coast gleaming with verdure. With great strength, he raised himself out of the ocean, and planted both his feet upon the solid ground. Overcome with joy, Wainamoinen stood upright for the first time, as the sunshine hit his face, and he smiled, as he could see also the stars in the horizon, as well as the shapes of the Moon and the Great Bear.
Thus was Wainamoinen the first human to touch the ground, the hero and enchanter of yore, finally delivered from his mother, Ilmatar, the Daughter of the Ether.
And so is solved the mystery of where the humans come from. For they neither came from Heaven, or came from the Water of Life; but came from both Heaven and Water.