Joukahainen

Mortal young singer of the Kalevala, the meagre son of Lapland; brother of Aino and rash rival of Vainamoinen. His losing of the singing-contest and his pledge of Aino (Runo 3) trigger the Aino tragedy (Runos 4-5), and his crossbow-ambush (Runo 6) launches the Pohjola journeys. Carried until now only implicitly behind the Aino record; authored here as the attested but unregistered brother of the corpus figure finnish_aino and rival of finnish_vainamoinen. Mortal tier, mirroring his sister Aino.

Powers

• Contend in the singing-and-knowledge contest
• Lie in wait and loose the crossbow at the sage

Epithets

• nuori Joukahainen finnish · nuori Joukahainen · folkyoung Joukahainen; the rash youth of the singing-contestKalevala (Lonnrot 1849), recurring epithet-formula nuori Joukahainen. (primary)

Relations

• sibling: AinoElder brother of Aino, whom he pledged to Vainamoinen to ransom his own life. Reciprocal needed on the existing figure finnish_aino.Kalevala (Lonnrot 1849), Runo 3, Joukahainen pledges his sister Aino. (primary)
• enemy: VäinämöinenDefeated rival and would-be killer of the old sage; he ambushes Vainamoinen and slays his horse. Reciprocal needed on the existing figure finnish_vainamoinen.Kalevala (Lonnrot 1849), Runos 3 and 6, the singing-contest and the crossbow-ambush. (primary)

Sources

• Joukahainen is the young Lappish singer of the Kalevala, the brother of Aino, who challenges Vainamoinen to a singing-contest, is sung into a swamp, and pledges his sister Aino to ransom his life; later, out of resentment, he ambushes Vainamoinen with a crossbow and kills the sage horse.: Kalevala (Lonnrot 1849), Runos 3-6. (primary); Kuusi, Matti et al. Finnish Folk Poetry: Epic (1977), on the Joukahainen and Aino narratives. (secondary)