Reading the Wikipedia article on the Sampo, a mythical object central to the Finnish Kalevala saga, I was struck by an apparent contradiction. The translation of the object's description seemed, to me, to be very clear:

> 
> On one side the flour is grinding,  
> 
>  On another salt is making,  
> 
>  On a third is money forging,  
> 
>  And the lid is many-colored.  
> 
>  Well the Sampo grinds when finished,  
> 
>  To and fro the lid in rocking,  
> 
>  Grinds one measure at the day-break,  
> 
>  Grinds a measure fit for eating,  
> 
>  Grinds a second for the market,  
> 
>  Grinds a third one for the store-house. 
> 
> 
> 

This, then, is presumably a variant of the common mythical theme of the horn of plenty, such as the Dagda's cauldron. An item that produces the essentials of Iron Age life (in this case food, salt, money) in inexhaustible quantities.

However, elsewhere in the Wikipedia article (and in other papers on the subject) scholars state that they are unable to agree on what the Sampo is. Some theories put forward include:

* A world pillar or world tree like Yggdrasil
* Some kind of navigational tool
* A treasure chest
* A coin die
* A shield
* A relic of the saints.
* A mill

Only the last one fits the given translation.

Where, then, does this confusion arise? Is this a matter of allegory, of what the Sampo represents in the saga? Or is this some problem with a difficult translation from the original language? What I've read suggests a mixture of both, but I don't have the expertise to untangle the riddle.