Finnish folk poetry is fun in the way where making alliterations is more important than making things rhyme, or keeping details consistent. As a matter of fact, describing the same thing in two different or even contradicting details is occasionally just a way of stating that the exact detail of how and what it was doesn't matter, the mutual overlap between the two statements is the main point. Like if a poem describes the same event twice
A swan of golden feathers rose from a lake A silver-backed wigeon waded from the river Ate trees, ate stone, ate beasts of the woods Drank dry the wells and swamps, drank the sap from trees
It's not specifically about a swan or wigeon, nor one of each, and neither is the colour of the feathers specifically important. It doesn't matter whether it burst out of the water like a jumping fish, or waded out like a person - nor whether it was a lake or a river. And the list of things that it ate or would drink isn't specific or exclusive. All that this segment is saying is
"A waterfowl (of some kind) with splendid, supernaturally brilliant plumage, emerged from a natural body of water (of some kind), and devoured the entire goddamn physical world. The whole thing."















