Only one can make me do my good deeds
Only one and the shadow of that one
Only one can make me do my evil deeds
Only one and the shadow of that one
Her alone I will lend my ear to
Only her will I obey
Her alone I will always want to serve
Only her I will defy
Only one can make me wage all my wars
Only one and the shadow of that one
Only one can make me do all my deeds
Only one and the shadow of that one
My understanding under her advice
Birth of my knowing under her advice
My desires I fulfill by revolting
Only one and the shadow of that one
Only one can make me do my evil deeds
Only one and the shadow of that one
Only her will I obey
Her alone I will always want to serve
Only her I will defy
Only one and the shadow of that one
Only one can make me do all my deeds
Only one and the shadow of that one
Birth of my knowing under her advice
My desires I fulfill by revolting
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Maybe not his love for Louhi, but his obedience to her, as he wants to claim her daugther. Before and after Lemminkäien, Louhi has made several heroes do almost impossible tasks for the same prize, for example, she made Lemminkäien try to capture a black swan found in the Tuonela (the river of death). I defend my opinion with this following verse: "Only her I will defy."
Maybe it is more about Lemminkäinens relationship to his mother ... as far as I remember it is quite special.
@Nukenin I originally assumed it was about Louhi, but more recently I've felt it's probably about Lemminkäinen's mother, as you say. Obviously Louhi sent Lemminkäinen on all sorts of tasks and dictated a lot of his actions, but I think there's possibly a level of love implied in this song that is not present between that pair - he says he WANTS to serve her. Meanwhile, Lemminkäinen's relationship with his mother is very close, with her being much wiser than he is and often offering him that wisdom ("Birth of my knowing under her advice); in turn, he frequently disobeys...
@Nukenin I originally assumed it was about Louhi, but more recently I've felt it's probably about Lemminkäinen's mother, as you say. Obviously Louhi sent Lemminkäinen on all sorts of tasks and dictated a lot of his actions, but I think there's possibly a level of love implied in this song that is not present between that pair - he says he WANTS to serve her. Meanwhile, Lemminkäinen's relationship with his mother is very close, with her being much wiser than he is and often offering him that wisdom ("Birth of my knowing under her advice); in turn, he frequently disobeys her to go to war ("Only her I will defy", "My desires I fulfil by revolting") and the consequences are things like him getting shot with a snake, chopped up into little pieces and discarded in the river of death - and then it is, of course, his mother who resurrects him. I don't think there's enough in the song for anyone but the original writer to say for sure which it is but for me this song comes across more as referring to Lemminkäinen's mother than to Louhi.
Is this about Lemminkäinens love for Louhi?