Iku-Turso, 'the eternal Turso', is a monstrous being of the sea attested in the old runic poetry and already listed among the Tavastian 'gods' in Mikael Agricola's 1551 catalogue as Turisas. In the great-oak rune Tursas rises from the sea to burn the hay mown by the island maidens, and from the ashes the cosmic oak grows; in Karelian variants of the Sampo expedition the monster lifts its head beside Väinämöinen's boat and is grasped by the ears and sworn back into the depths. His name has long been compared with the Germanic word for giant, thurs.