In old poems, the shaman-god Väinämöinen makes a trip to Tuonela Deadland to get three missing words to his spell.
He travels through three forests and along three roads covered with knife blades, then arrives at the bank of the river Tuonela.
He calls the Daughter of Death to bring a boat, but the girl, gatekeeper of Tuonela, wants to know why he is coming to the deadland even if he is not dead.
Väinämöinen tries to fool the girl by explaining he is dead, but the girl does not believe him. Väinämöinen has to make a metamorphosis into a snake and swim to the island.
He is greeted by Tuonetar, Lady of Death, who offers him a pint of snakes and puts him to sleep on a bed of snakes.
During the night, the deadland inhabitants weave iron nets and put them in the Tuonela river. 
When Väinämöinen wakes up, he turns into a snake again and swims through the nets into the world of the living.
In the morning, the Son of Death checks the nets but finds no-one.
In other versions of the poem, Väinämöinen reaches an old shaman, Antero Vipunen, who lies dead in the Deadland river. He wakes him up with a spell and retrieves the missing words to his spell.
Different versions of poems found in digital archive skvr.fi (in Finnish).
Text Tiina Porthan
Pictures Tero Porthan
Finnish Shamans - Enemies, Allies, Spells 