Editing Lalli (section)

== Legend ==
The story begins with an expedition of one of the first Christian missionaries in Finland, Bishop Henry, during the [[First Swedish Crusade|alleged first crusade of Sweden]]. In the midst of travelling, he and his entourage stop at a dwelling. Only the matron of the house, Kerttu, is home. Bishop Henry asks for food for his party and hay for the horses, but the matron refuses him. In their hunger, Bishop Henry and his men then forcibly take the food and hay but leave payment before continuing on with their journey. After they are gone, Lalli, the husband of Kerttu, returns and hears of what has happened. In most versions of the story, Kerttu leaves out the part of the payment entirely. When Lalli hears of the bishop ransacking his home, he becomes enraged and pursues the bishop. Lalli catches up to the bishop on a frozen lake, said to be [[Köyliönjärvi]]. At Bishop Henry's bidding his entourage flees to a nearby forest. The bishop tries to calm the angered man, but Lalli strikes and kills Henry with an axe.<ref name="helminen">{{cite web |last1=Helminen |first1=MInna |title=Legenda piispa Henrikistä ja Lallista |url=http://opinnot.internetix.fi/fi/muikku2materiaalit/lukio/hi/hi5/2._kristinuskon_myota_osaksi_eurooppaa/07_legenda_piispa |website=opinnot.internetix.fi |publisher=Otavan Opisto |access-date=9 February 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190209180229/http://opinnot.internetix.fi/fi/muikku2materiaalit/lukio/hi/hi5/2._kristinuskon_myota_osaksi_eurooppaa/07_legenda_piispa|archive-date=9 February 2019}}</ref><ref name="Yle Areena">{{cite web |title=Puoli seitsemän: 2 Legendat - Piispa Henrik ja Lalli |url=https://areena.yle.fi/1-2434210 |website=Yle Areena |publisher=Yle |access-date=11 September 2019}}</ref>

[[File:Albert Edelfelt - Bishop Henry killed by Lalli.png|thumb|''Bishop Henry killed by Lalli'', painting by [[Albert Edelfelt]] (1877)]]

There are numerous versions as to how Lalli then met his own gruesome fate, but typically Lalli takes the bishop's [[mitre]] to wear it pompously and cuts off the bishop's finger to snatch his valuable ring. The mitre becomes fused to Lalli's head and when he tries to remove it, it tears his scalp off with it. When he tries to remove the bishop's ring from his finger, it likewise tears his finger off. Lalli runs to the woods, where mice or rats corner him up a tree. Lalli then falls from the tree into the lake [[Hiirijärvi]] and drowns. The bishop's body parts are collected by his servants and transported with oxen towards the south. The place where the oxen stopped became the site of the first church in Finland.<ref name="Yle Areena"/>

The legend is enshrined in a famous Finnish folk poem called ''Henrikin surma'' ("The Slaying of Henry"). The poem includes such characters as a talking statue of [[Christ]]. One of the versions of the poem is found in the ''[[Kanteletar]]'', a collection of old Finnish folk poetry.