@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.
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.