In Estonian stories, sons of Kalev were originally considered royalty. The Estonian word means a 'giant'. In Finnish stories, the sons of Kaleva are referred to as giants who built several castles and lived in various regions of Finland. In both cases, they are often blamed for oddities in nature, such as strangely large or weird stones. They lived in Finland before the arrival of humans but left when human settlements spread. Christfried Ganander also wrote of the daughters of Kaleva, who had massive strength and carried large boulders in their aprons. According to a story told by a woman named Caisa from Kemi in the 1700s, Kaleva's daughter had picked up a horse, a plougher and his plough and brought them to her mother, asking what this beetle was that she found digging into the ground. The mother told her to take it away, saying they had to escape away from this land, for the humans had arrived to live there. Lönnrot considered Kave ukko to be another name for Kaleva in his 1827 thesis . The words
turilas/turisas/tursas have caused much debate among scholars. Mikael Agricola mentioned Turisas as a
Tavastian war god in 1551. Runic songs also mention Meri-Tursas 'sea giant' who impregnates
Louhi by waves when she is in water to escape the heat and proceeds to then give birth to the diseases of the world, as well as Tulinen Tursas 'fiery giant' from
Pohjola who steals the hays
luonnottaret reaped and burns them, resulting in the growth of the Great Oak which threatens to cover up the Sun and the Moon. There is no consensus if these giants are one and the same being, or if they are multiple different giants. According to
Anna-Leena Siikala, it is likely that Turisas and Tursas were originally two different beings who got mixed with each other in runic songs. She drew a connection between Kaleva, Tursas, and the Norse giants such as
Ymir. As Kaleva's influence extends to the stars on the sky, as well as lightning, Siikala saw Kaleva as a cosmic, primordial giant. In an
Ingrian runic song, Kalervikko or Kaleva ploughs the seas and forests with his nails and teeth. Only one tuft is left intact and on it is a stump and from the stump, two boys emerge. According to
Matti Kuusi, this is a version of a common
Asian myth of the origin of humans. Thus, Kaleva participates in events in the beginning of the world. In the Estonian runic song , an unnamed son of Kalev (called , and ) appears as a violent harasser of women. He demands a kiss from a maiden in a forest but she stabs him with a knife hidden under her skirt. When she tells her parents that she had killed a man, the parents state it was an acceptable act to defend her honour and could be compensated with the price of a horse. but the protagonist is typically Kullervo in other regions. Soini and Hiisi were brothers and lived in Liminka, North Ostrobothnia and Paltamo, Kainuu respectively. They visited each other and burned
swiddens together, being able to cut down more forest in a day than a group of ten men could. ==Derived==