The Aino Myth

 

Aino is a figure in the Finnish national epic Kalevala. It relates that she was the beautiful sister of Joukahainen. Her brother, having lost a singing contest to the storied Väinämöinen, promised Aino’s “hands and feet” in marriage if Väinämöinen would save him from drowning in the swamp into which Joukahainen had been thrown. Aino’s mother was pleased at the idea of marrying her daughter to such a famous and wellborn person, but Aino did not want to marry an old man. Rather than submit to this fate, Aino drowned herself. However, she returned to taunt the grieving Väinämöinen as a salmon.

The name Aino, meaning “only”, was invented by Elias Lönnrot who composed the Kalevala. In the original poems she was mentioned as the “only daughter” (aino tytti).

The Aino story was depicted in a triptych by Akseli Gallen-Kallela in 1891.


   Väinämöinen catching Aino

The three pictures tell the story: the left panel one is about the first encounter of Väinämöinen and Aino in the forest, the right panel depicts mournful Aino weeping on the shore and listening to the call of the maids of Vellamo who are playing in the water. Aino has made her decision to choose death rather than her wizened suitor. The middle panel depicts the end of the story. Väinämöinen uses his magic to fish for Aino in the lake that she entered. He catches a small fish but decides it is too plain and insignificant to be his fiancée, so he throws it back. In that instant the fish changes into Aino who proceeds to mock the old man, that he held her in his hand but chose to let her go. After that she vanishes forever.