The bard Youkahainen, foreseeing his coming, lies in wait for him and prepares arrows to shoot him, although his mother warns him not to attempt anything of the kind.

It is the third poisoned arrow from Youkahainen's bow which strikes Wainamoinen's horse, which immediately sinks to the bottom of the sea, leaving its rider to struggle in the water some eight years.

Meantime Youkahainen exults because his foe is dead, although his mother insists her son has merely brought woe upon the earth.
_Rune VII._ Instead of treading the waves, Wainamoinen swims about until an eagle--grateful because he left birch-trees for birds to perch upon--swoops down, invites him to climb upon its back, and swiftly bears him to the dismal northland Sariola.

There Wainamoinen is discovered by the Maid of Beauty, who sends her mother, toothless Louhi, to invite him into the house, where she bountifully feeds him.
Next Louhi promises to supply Wainamoinen with a steed to return home and to give him her daughter in marriage, provided he will forge for her the Sampo, or magic grist-mill.

Although Wainamoinen cannot do this, he promises that his brother, the blacksmith Ilmarinen, shall forge it for her, and thus secures the promise of the hand of the Maid of Beauty.