KIPUTYTTÕ (Pain Girl) by artist Ulla Anobile

Paper mache, acrylics, driftwood, wood sticks, 11" x 6 1/2" (face 4 1/4" x 3")

Pain Girl, according to Finnish folklore, was the creator of physical aches and pains. But, people used to believe, one could chase illnesses away by singing to them a spell specifying their origins. Here is a spell to make Pain Girl go away, first in original Finnish, then as a rough translation into English.

Kiputyttö, tuonen neiti
joka istut kipukivellä
joen kolmen juoksevassa,
veen kolmen jakaimessa
jauhaen kipukiveä,
kipuvuorta väännätellen,
käy kivut kereämähän
kitahan kiven sinisen.

Kiputyttö, maiden of death,
You who sit on a pain stone,
Where three rivers meet,
Where three waters divide,
Grinding your pain stone,
Turning your pain mountain,
Come pick up your pains,
Stash them into the jaws of a blue stone.