AINO

Aino is a figure in the Finnish national epic Kalevala. It relates that she was the beautiful sister ofJoukahainen. 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 well born person, but Aino did not want to marry such an old man. Rather than submit to this fate, Aino drowned herself. However, she returned to taunt the grieving Väinämöinen as a salmon.