After a savage seafaring skirmish and eight long days of being  battered by waves, Väinämöinen— a powerful bard and  sage as old as the world itself— washed up on the shores  of distant Pohjola. Unlike his home Kalevala, Pohjola was  a dark and frozen land, ruled by Louhi, “the gap-tooth  hag of the North." The cunning witch nursed Väinämöinen  back to health but demanded a reward for  returning him home. Not content with mere gold or silver, Louhi wanted what did not yet exist—  the Sampo. To be forged from “the tips of white-swan feathers," “the milk of greatest virtue," “a single grain of barley," and  “the finest wool of lambskins," this artifact was said to be  an endless font of wealth. But Väinämöinen knew that  only Seppo Ilmarinen, the Eternal Hammerer who forged  the sky-dome itself, could craft such an object. So he convinced Louhi to send him  home and fetch the smith. Though the journey was far from easy,  the bard finally made it back to Kalevala. But Ilmarinen refused to go to the gloomy  North— a land of witches and man-eaters. But keeping true to his word, Väinämöinen tricked Ilmarinen  into climbing a giant tree, before summoning a mighty storm  to carry the smith all the way to Pohjola. Ilmarinen was well received in the North. Louhi lavished her guest with  extravagant hospitality and promised him the hand  of her beautiful daughter— if he could craft what she wished. When she finally asked if Ilmarinen  was capable of forging the Sampo, the powerful smith declared he could  indeed accomplish the task. But try as he might to bend  the forge to his will, its fires only produced other artifacts— beautiful in appearance but  ill-mannered in nature. An elegant crossbow that  thirsted for blood and a gleaming plow that ruined cultivated fields among others. Finally, Ilmarinen summoned the winds  themselves to work the bellows, and in three days time he  pulled the Sampo, with its lid of many colors from  the forge’s flames. On its sides the smith carefully crafted  a grain mill, a salt mill, and a money mill. Louhi was so delighted with the object’s  limitless productive power that she ran off to lock her treasure  inside a mountain. But when Ilmarinen tried to  claim his prize, the promised maiden refused to marry him, and the smith had to return home alone. Years passed, and while  Pohjola prospered, Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen were without  wives or great wealth. Bitter about this injustice, the bard  proposed a quest to retrieve the Sampo, and the two sailed north with the  help of Lemminkäinen— a beautiful young man with a history  of starting trouble. Upon arrival, Väinämöinen requested half  the Sampo’s profits as compensation— or they’d take the artifact by force. Outraged at this request, Louhi summoned  her forces to fight the heroes. But as her army readied for war,  the bard played his magic harp, Kantele, entrancing all who heard it and sending  Pohjola into a deep slumber. Unimpeded, the three men took the Sampo  and quietly made their escape. Lemminkäinen was ecstatic  at their success, and demanded that Väinämöinen sing  of their triumph. The bard refused, knowing the dangers  of celebrating too early. But after three days of traveling,  Lemminkäinen’s excitement overwhelmed him, and he recklessly broke out in song. His awful singing voice woke  a nearby crane, whose screeching cries roused  the Pohjolan horde. The army made chase. As their warship closed in, Väinämöinen  raised a rock to breach their hull. Undeterred, Louhi transformed  into a giant eagle, carrying her army on her back as they  attacked the heroes’ vessel. She managed to grab the Sampo  in her claw, but just as quickly, it dropped into  the sea, shattering into pieces and sinking deep beyond her talon’s reach. Buried on the ocean floor, the remnants of this powerful device  remain in the realm of Ahti, god of water— where they grind salt for the seas  to this very day.