Kullervo and Ilmarinen

Kullervo’s connection to Ilmarinen is a coerced master-servant relationship that places him in the smith’s household and leads to a violent reckoning with the household’s hostess. Ilmarinen is identified as Kullervo’s purchaser and master; his wife assigns Kullervo pastoral labor, and she later becomes the target of his retaliation for her evil treatment.

Sale and Servitude

Untamoinen sells Kullervo and trades him away in distant Karyala to Ilmarinen, the blacksmith. The account identifies Kullervo not simply as a worker but as a purchased slave and a wizard-servant of Ilmarinen. His arrival in the household is therefore marked by a transfer of ownership, not by a freely chosen apprenticeship or employment.

That status frames the relation throughout the episode: Ilmarinen is the master to whom Kullervo has been sold, while Kullervo is assigned labor in the household. The evidence establishes Ilmarinen’s position in this arrangement, but does not describe him personally directing Kullervo’s daily work or taking part in the later violence.

Work in Ilmarinen’s Household

Ilmarinen’s wife, formerly the Maiden of the Rainbow, considers how the purchased slave might be employed and finally makes him a shepherd and keeper of her pastures. She is thus the person shown assigning Kullervo’s work and supervising the herd. The household relation between Kullervo and Ilmarinen is mediated, in the surviving details, by his wife’s authority over his labor.

The pastoral assignment also brings Kullervo and the hostess together through the herd: she waits for its return with Kullervo. The account presents this work not as a separate, peaceful interlude but as the circumstance in which her treatment of him becomes consequential. It does not specify each act of mistreatment, so the grounds for the later revenge remain described generally as her evil treatment.

Retaliation and the Limits of the Relation

Kullervo is called a cruel wizard as he repays the hostess for that treatment. The violence is directed at Ilmarinen’s wife: she is torn and mutilated with teeth and sharpened fingers. The episode therefore turns the household’s hierarchy sharply against its mistress, making the enslaved servant’s retaliation the decisive action documented in his relation to Ilmarinen’s family.

The outcome shown is an attack on the hostess, not a direct confrontation between Kullervo and Ilmarinen. Ilmarinen’s role in the evidence is that of purchaser and master; the wife’s role is to assign Kullervo the shepherd’s work, await the herd, and suffer his revenge. This distinction matters: the passage grounds the relation in Kullervo’s enslavement to Ilmarinen’s household while locating the immediate conflict and its violence between Kullervo and the hostess.