Viktor Isayevich Tauber was a graphic artist and book illustrator. He was a member of the Artists’ Union of the USSR. Tauber was born in 1901 and studied at VKhUTEIN (Higher Art and Technical Studios) between 1922 and 1923. The artist worked on illustrations for the magazine “Murzilka” and illustrated children’s books. In the 1950s, an edition of Charles Perrault’s “Puss in Boots” was illustrated by Tauber and became very popular, resulting in numerous reprints.

The Sampo is a mill that is created by the blacksmith Ilmarinen as a ransom for the bride, when he tries to win the hand of the daughter of Louhi, the mistress of Pohyola. Here is a relevant excerpt from the poem “Kalevala” compiled by Elias Lönnrot and translated into English by John Martin Crawford,

In folk tradition, the image of the magical mill, which brings wealth and ensures material prosperity, is a result of the long-standing development of the folk idea of prosperous living and abundance. In Lönnrot’s poem, the Sampo is a mill, but when it comes to folk songs, it is not entirely clear what the Sampo actually is. Perhaps at its core, it is the vault of heaven, or some sort of “smaller version” thereof: both the Sampo and heaven have a “lid in many colors”, and both are forged by Ilmarinen. The story of its capture resembles the narrative about the restoration of the Sun and Moon, stolen by Louhi.

In both rune poems and the epic poem “Kalevala” by Elias Lönnrot, there is no description of the physical appearance of the Sampo Mill. Instead, the text only mentions a “lid in many colors”. On the one hand, this has led to numerous interpretations of what the Sampo actually is; on the other hand, this lack of information has become the greatest mystery of the “Kalevala”, attracting the attention of artists and illustrators who have created a variety of images of the mill. From real mills with millstones and blades, to symbolic and metaphoric representations, the imagination of these artists is boundless.