Ahto

Ahto is the water god who controls the waves and brings fish from the sea together with his wife, Wellamo, the water goddess.
In fishing spells, he is asked to gather fish from the open sea and from the bottom of the ocean, and guide them to the fisher’s nets. In exchange, he is promised something in gold and silver, for example beautiful socks and silver shoelaces.

O Ahto, master of the waves,
the ruler of a hundred caves,
give me some perch,
impel thy ‘spiky-backs’,
to where this net is lifted out!

The water gods are often addressed together as a family: the host, the hostess, the maidens, and the sons of the water. Ahto controls the lesser water spirits. If a lake does not have a benevolent spirit, Ahto can be asked to give a lesser water spirit from his family to that lake.
The water gods are offered a gift from the first catch of fish in the spring. Boil a fish and leave it in the kettle on the shore, invite the gods to eat, and go away until they have eaten the fish. If no offering is made, the gods can get angry.
The gods can also be offended if you make noise, curse, or have a fight close to the waters. If that happens, carve some silver to the water, otherwise the wrath of the gods will spoil the water and produce no more fish. If the spirits get really angry, they can send out a disease.
In severe cases, a healer is required to negotiate with the gods. The healer asks Ahto, the master of the water, why he is angry, why he has put his children, a hundred men with swords, to bite, eat, tear, break bones, twist the heart, taste the liver, eat the lungs of the patient. The healer begs for forgiveness, and asks the gods to take back the disease.
Golden is the King of the water,
Graceful is the Ahto of the water,
Evoke your holy words,
Sweep your holy waves,
Wipe your holy wounds,
Grant me your forgiveness.

Mental characteristics

Morality & Philosophy

Ahto is the name of the king or god of the sea, and Ahtola is his sea-castle. His wife is Wellamo, and they live together at the bottom of the sea. The Sampo¹ comes into his possession and he is unwilling to return it.
In the Kalevala, Ahto appears in Rune XLI; in Rune XLII, where Väinämöinen charms him with his magic harp playing; in Rune XLIII, where the Sampo is lost in the sea; and in Rune XLVIII, where he is briefly mentioned.
In a fable similar to Mercury and the Woodman, Ahto dives to return the lost knife of a shepherd, out of pity. He first finds a gold knife, and then a silver knife, but the shepherd does not claim them as his. The third knife Ahto retrieves is the correct one; as a reward for his honesty, Ahto gives the shepherd all three.[5]
1

• Sampo: a magical device or object described in many different ways that was constructed by the blacksmith Ilmarinen and that brought riches and good fortune to its holder, akin to the horn of plenty (cornucopia)

Ahto, God of the Water