The birth of an island in the context of the world creation (on the Karelian epic poems)

The paper is devoted to the examination of the island's image and namely to its appearance motives in Karelian Epic Poems. The image of the island in the context of the universe creation is regarded as a symbol of the firstborn land, which appeared on the surface of the World's water. In the paper we consider the motives of the island's birth from an egg, from the first man body's parts, from gold/silver, from a firestone (in combination with tinder) and by the magic of words. The paper is based on the abundant data, which is not easily available for the Russian speaking reader. The motive of the island's birth in the Karelian Epic Runes in Russian folklore study has not been investigated as an object of research before.