marriage if he forges a Sampo for her. Vainamoinen vows to send the master smith Ilmarinen to craft the Sampo, and Louhi sends him home in her sleigh.

On his journey, Vainamoinen encounters Louhi's daughter and invites her into his sleigh. She sets several seemingly impossible tasks for him, which he accomplishes with ease. The maiden then challenges him to carve a boat from pieces of her spindle and launch it into the water without touching it. While carving, Vainamoinen's axe slips, inflicting a deep wound on his knee. Unable to recall the charm to heal iron-inflicted wounds, Vainamoinen limps away, bleeding profusely, until he finds an old man capable of healing him. Vainamoinen sings of the origin of iron, and the old man incorporates this knowledge into a charm that halts the bleeding.

Vainamoinen returns home and attempts to persuade Ilmarinen to travel to Pohjola to forge a Sampo. When Ilmarinen refuses, Vainamoinen conjures a wind to carry the reluctant smith to Pohjola. Ilmarinen successfully forges the Sampo, a magnificent metal mill that magically produces salt, money, and endless supplies of grain for the people of the North. However, when he asks to marry Louhi's daughter, she declines, claiming she has too many responsibilities at home. Disheartened, Ilmarinen sails back to Kalevala.
Lemminkainen's Adventures (poems 11-15)

The reckless young Lemminkainen sets out to woo the island maiden Kylliki, who has turned away all other suitors. He takes a job as a herdsman on the island and manages to seduce all the other women living there. Kylliki, however, remains unimpressed, and he eventually kidnaps her. Kylliki laments, saying she does not wish to marry a man who constantly goes off to war. Lemminkainen vows not to go to war as long as Kylliki refrains from visiting the village.

When Kylliki breaks her promise and ventures into the village, Lemminkainen, enraged, abandons her and heads north to woo the Maiden of Pohjola. Despite his mother's attempts to dissuade him, Lemminkainen tosses down his comb, declaring that it will bleed if he is slain. Upon reaching Pohjola, he sings to bypass the guard dog and casts a spell over all the men, except for one herdsman whom he dismisses with scorn. Offended, the herdsman hurries to the river Tuoni to set up an ambush for Lemminkainen.

Lemminkainen requests one of Louhi's daughters, and Louhi assigns him several challenges. He captures the Demon's Elk and tames the Demon's foam-mouthed horse. However, when he heads to the river Tuoni (Death) to shoot the swan, the herdsman kills him and casts his body into the water, where Tuoni's son dismembers him.

Lemminkainen's mother and wife realize he has died when the comb bleeds. His mother rushes to Pohjola, where Louhi explains what transpired. She searches the river Tuoni for her son's remains, reassembles them, and revives him with spells and ointments.
Vainamoinen's Adventures (poems 16-17)

Vainamoinen constructs a boat using chants but forgets the three words needed to launch it. His quest for these words takes him to Tuonela, the realm of the dead. The inhabitants of Tuonela attempt to ensnare him with nets, but he transforms into a snake and escapes.

Vainamoinen seeks the words from the slumbering giant Antero Vipunen. After being swallowed by Antero, Vainamoinen persistently hammers inside Antero's stomach until he relents and divulges all his magical songs.

Courting the Maiden of Pohjola (poems 18-19)
Vainamoinen completes his boat and sails north to court the maiden of Pohjola. Along the way, he encounters Ilmarinen's sister Annikki, who hurries to alert her brother about Vainamoinen's intentions. Ilmarinen bathes and rides on horseback to Pohjola. As the two suitors approach, Louhi advises her daughter to choose Vainamoinen for his wisdom and wealth, but the maiden favors Ilmarinen, the skilled forger of the Sampo.

Louhi tells Ilmarinen that he can marry her daughter only if he plows a field of vipers, captures Tuoni's bears and wolves, and catches the pike from Tuoni's river. Ilmarinen succeeds with the maiden's assistance, while Vainamoinen returns home, lamenting that he never married when he was young.

Ilmarinen's Wedding (poems 20-25)
Preparations commence for the grand wedding feast in Pohjola: a giant ox is slaughtered, beer is brewed, and guests are invited. However, Louhi cautions her servant not to invite Lemminkainen due to his notorious tendency to start fights. The wedding guests sing songs of joy and praise as well as laments for the bride who must leave her home.

The bride and groom travel to Ilmarinen's home, where another celebration takes place. At this feast, Vainamoinen sings in their honor. On his journey back, Vainamoinen's sleigh breaks, prompting him to retrieve a spike and a drill from Tuonela to fix it.

Lemminkainen's Second Journey to Pohjola (poems 26-30)
Upset about not receiving a wedding invitation, Lemminkainen heads toward Pohjola, ignoring his mother's warnings about the dangers ahead. He uses chants to overcome numerous threats, barges into the hall, and challenges the Master of Pohjola to a battle of spells and swords.

Lemminkainen defeats the Master and escapes from Louhi and her soldiers.
Lemminkainen's mother guides him to an island for safety. True to his nature, he charms all the women there but soon needs to escape as the island's men seek to kill him. After surviving a shipwreck and swimming back home, he discovers that Pohjola's armies have burned down his house. Believing his mother is dead, he leaves in sorrow but soon finds her hiding in the forest.

Lemminkainen enlists his old friend Tiera, and they set out to battle against Pohjola. Louhi sends Frost to freeze them, but Lemminkainen dispels it with spells. Tiera and Lemminkainen endure a difficult period before finally returning home.

Kullervo (poems 31-36)
Untamo wages war on his brother Kalervo, kills his people, and captures his infant son, Kullervo. As Kullervo grows into a troublesome youth, Untamo sells him into slavery to Ilmarinen. Ilmarinen's wife hides a stone in Kullervo's bread, which breaks his knife. In revenge, Kullervo sends bears and wolves disguised as cattle to kill Ilmarinen's wife.

Kullervo escapes and discovers his family is still alive. He reunites with his parents, who inform him that his sister was lost long ago. Lacking skills for most tasks, his father sends him to pay taxes. On his return, he meets and seduces a young woman, only to find she is his lost sister. Overcome with shame, she drowns herself. Filled with anger over his life's mistreatment, Kullervo destroys Untamo's farm before taking his own life.

Ilmarinen's Second Journey to Pohjola (poems 37-38)
Ilmarinen grieves for his deceased wife. After a failed attempt to create a new wife from gold and silver, he returns to Pohjola to seek Louhi's other daughter. When rejected, he abducts the maiden, but her complaints and insults anger him, leading him to transform her into a seagull.

The Theft of the Sampo (poems 39-42)
Ilmarinen shares with Vainamoinen the immense wealth Pohjola enjoys because of the Sampo. Together, they decide to reclaim the Sampo for Kalevala, with Lemminkainen joining their quest. During their journey, their boat encounters an obstacle—a giant pike. They manage to kill the pike, and Vainamoinen crafts a kantele (a type of harp) from its bones. Many attempt to play it, but only Vainamoinen succeeds. His music is so enchanting that all creatures gather to listen, and tears fall from his eyes, turning into pearls in the water.

Upon arriving in Pohjola, Louhi refuses to share the Sampo. Vainamoinen uses his kantele to lull her soldiers to sleep, allowing the three heroes to steal the Sampo. Louhi awakens and conjures a storm to pursue their ship, causing the kantele to fall into the sea.

War Between Pohjola and Kalevala (poems 43-49)
Louhi chases the heroes, leading to a fierce sea battle where the Sampo is shattered. Louhi, defeated, returns to Pohjola with only the Sampo’s lid, while Vainamoinen collects the remaining fragments and plants them with joy.

Unable to recover his pikebone kantele, Vainamoinen crafts a new one from birch. In retaliation, Louhi curses Kalevala with a plague, but Vainamoinen heals the people using charms and ointments. She then sends a bear to devastate Kalevala's herds, but Vainamoinen slays the bear. A grand feast follows, where Vainamoinen sings songs so powerful that they bring down the sun and moon.

Louhi captures the sun and moon, hiding them within a mountain and extinguishing the fires of Kalevala. Ukko (the God) creates fire for a new sun and moon. The fire falls to the earth, prompting Ilmarinen and Vainamoinen to search for it. They free the fire from a fish that swallowed it, but it burns uncontrollably, injuring Ilmarinen and destroying many lands before the heroes can tame it. Ilmarinen uses it to forge a new sun and moon, but they cannot shine. He travels to Pohjola and forces Louhi to release the sun and moon.

Marjatta (poem 50)
The maiden Marjatta consumes a lingonberry, which causes her to conceive and give birth to a son. After some debate, the boy is baptized and declared King of Karelia. Vainamoinen leaves Kalevala, leaving behind his birch kantele and songs, prophesying that he will return when the people need him.