Heavens." He is armed as an omnipotent warrior; his fiery arrows are
forged from copper, the lightning is his sword, and the rainbow his
bow, still called Ukkon Kaari. Like the German god, Thor, Ukko swings
a hammer; and, finally, we find, in a vein of familiar symbolism, that
his skirt sparkles with fire, that his stockings are blue, and his
shoes, crimson colored.

In the following runes, Ukko here and there interposes. Thus, when the
Sun and Moon were stolen from the heavens, and hidden away in a cave of
the copper-bearing mountain, by the wicked hostess of the dismal
Sariola, he, like Atlas in the mythology of Greece, relinquishes the
support of the heavens, thunders along the borders of the darkened
clouds, and strikes fire from his sword to kindle a new sun and a new
moon. Again, when Lemminkainen is hunting the fire-breathing horse of
Piru, Ukko, invoked by the reckless hero, checks the speed of the
mighty courser by opening the windows of heaven, and showering upon him
flakes of snow, balls of ice, and hailstones of iron. Usually,
however, Ukko prefers to encourage a spirit of independence among his
worshipers. Often we find him, in the runes, refusing to heed the call
of his people for help, as when Ilmatar, the daughter of the air,
vainly invoked him to her aid, that Wainamoinen, already seven hundred
years unborn, might be delivered. So also Wainamoinen beseeches Ukko
in vain to check the crimson streamlet flowing from his knee wounded by
an axe in the hands of Hisi. Ukko, however, with all his power, is by
no means superior to the Sun, Moon, and other bodies dwelling in the
heavens; they are uninfluenced by him, and are considered deities in
their own right. Thus, Paeivae means both sun and sun-god; Kun means
moon and moon-god; and Taehti and Ottava designate the Polar-star and
the Great Bear respectively, as well as the deities of these bodies.