Antero Vipunen- Finnish GiantGiant"Keeper of Ancient Spells"

The Sleeping Giant

Antero Vipunen had been sleeping so long that trees grew from his shoulders. An alder sprouted from his chin. A birch stood on his brow. The earth had settled over him like soil on a grave.

He was not dead. Inside the giant's body lay the words of power from the time before the world took shape. Väinämöinen needed three of those words to finish building a magical boat. He had already searched for them in Tuonela, the land of the dead. He sailed the black river and spoke with Tuoni's daughter. The words were not there. The dead had no use for them. They belonged to someone older than death. So Väinämöinen walked to the place where the giant lay and found the earth above him thick with roots.

The Forge in the Giant's Belly

Väinämöinen thrust a staff of iron into the giant's jaw. Antero Vipunen opened his mouth and swallowed Väinämöinen whole.

Inside was dark. Väinämöinen set his knee as the anvil and his elbow as the bellows and began to forge. Iron rang against iron in the giant's belly. The pain was unbearable. Antero Vipunen writhed and cursed and begged him to stop, but Väinämöinen kept hammering. He would not leave without his three words.

The Songs of Power

Antero Vipunen relented. He began to sing, and what he sang went far beyond three words. For three days the giant sang without pause. He sang the origin of iron: how it was born from three maidens' milk and grew in the marshes until a smith found it. He sang healing charms and the words that close a wound. Väinämöinen listened inside the giant's body. He had come for three words and received the knowledge of an age.

When the singing was done, Antero Vipunen opened his mouth. Väinämöinen stepped into daylight with everything he needed to complete his boat.