Canto 7, the Kalevide and the maiden are actually

spoken of as brother and sister. There are many versions of this story; in one of them (Neus, _Ehstnische Volkslieder_, pp. 5-8; Latham's _Nationalities of Europe_, i. p. 138), the maiden is represented as slaying her brother, who is called indifferently the son of Kalev or of Sulev, to the great satisfaction of her father and mother.

[38] In the _Kalevala_, Runo 15, Lemminkainen's mother collects together the fragments of his body from the River of Death with a long rake.

[39] This song and story (except for the incident of the man of copper) resembles that of the drowning of Aino in the _Kalevala_, Runo 4.

[40] It was a copper man who rose from the water to fell the great oak-tree ( _Kalevala_, Runo 2). Compare also the variant in Canto 6 of the _Kalevipoeg_. We may also remember the copper men connected with the mountain of loadstone ( _Thousand and One Nights_, Third Calendar's Story).

[41] Literally a "house-hen;" one of those idiomatic terms of endearment which cannot be reproduced in another language.

[42] We find this great oak-tree over and over again in Finnish and Esthonian tales. Compare _Kalevala_, Runo 2, and Cantos 4, 5, 6, and 16 of the _Kalevipoeg_. Neus, _Ehstnische Volkslieder_, p. 47; Kreutzwald and Neus, _Mythische und Magische Lieder_, p. 8, &c. Could this oak have any connection, direct or indirect, with the ash Yggthrasil? or could the story have originated in some report or tradition of the banyan?

[43] The tremendous exploits of the Kalevide and his weariness afterwards give him much of the character of a Berserk.

[44] In the 26th Runo of the _Kalevala_ Lemminkainen creates a flock of birds from a handful of feathers, to appease the fiery eagle who obstructed his way to Pohjola. We may also remember Jason and the dragon's teeth.

[45] In the _Kalevala_ (Runo 34) an old woman directs Kullervo to the house of his parents.

[46] The smith is sometimes called the uncle of Kalev; but the term may only mean that he was an old friend.

[47] The cuckoo is a sacred bird, but more often alluded to in Finnish than in Esthonian literature.

[48] This lake (Saad järv) lies a little north of Dorpat.

[49] Nothing is said as to how the government was carried on during the Kalevide's minority.

[50] White horses constantly occur in Esthonian tales; and the devil's mother or grandmother usually appears as a white mare. One of the commentators remarks that as the white horse was sacred in pre-Christian times, the missionaries represented it as peculiarly diabolical. It will be remembered with what severity the early missionaries suppressed the horse feasts among the Teutonic tribes.

[51] This is a little like the formation of the world from the body of the giant Ymir, as described in the Edda. As W. Herbert paraphrases it,

"Of his bones the rocks high swelling,

Of his flesh the globe is made,

From his veins the tide is welling,

And his locks are verdant shade."

"Helga" is a somewhat poor production, containing but few striking passages except the description of the appearance of the Valkyrior before the fight between Hialmar and Angantyr. But the shorter poems at the end, "The Song of Vala" and "Brynhilda," ought to be alone sufficient to remove the name of this forgotten poet from oblivion.

[52] The Esthonian demons are often represented as contemptible creatures, very easily outwitted. Later in the present canto the personage in question is distinctly called a water-demon.

[53] A common proverb in Esthonian tales. We also find it in Italian, in almost the same words.

[54] The money is sometimes called roubles, and sometimes thalers.

[55] Visits to Hades or Hell (Põrgu) are common in the _Kalevipoeg_ and in the popular tales, some of which we shall afterwards notice.

[56] The term "Lett," which the Kalevide himself afterwards applies to the demon, seems to be used in contempt; otherwise the passage in the text might have been taken as equivalent to our old-fashioned expression, "It's all Greek to me."

[57] Usually the devil's mother (or grandmother) is represented as a white mare. Compare Canto 14 of the _Kalevipoeg_, and also the story of the Grateful Prince.

[58] This Air-Maiden, who seems to be only a mischievous sprite, must not be confounded with Ilmatar, the creatrix of the world in the first Runo of the _Kalevala_.

[59] Finn, the Irish hero, was once entrapped by a sorceress on a similar pretext into plunging into an enchanted lake, which changed him into an old man. (See Joyce's _Old Celtic Romances_, "The Chase of Slieve Cullin.") The story is also related in one of Kenealy's ballads.

[60] This is a well-known Mongol characteristic; and it is rather oddly attributed by Arabic writers to the Jinn. "Two of them appeared in the form and aspect of the Jarm, each with one eye slit endlong, and jutting horns and projecting tusks."—Story of Tohfat-el-Kulub ( _Thousand and One Nights_, Breslau edition).

[61] This reminds us of the help given to Hiawatha by the woodpecker during his fight with Megissogwun; but the one incident can hardly be copied from the other. _Hiawatha_ was published some years before the _Kalevipoeg_.

[62] This is the only passage in the _Kalevipoeg_ in which one of the heroes of the _Kalevala_ is personally introduced.

[63] Emptiness; probably the Contemptible One; a name often used for one of the principal demons.

[64] The rock is still shown, bearing the imprints of the hero's fingers, each cleft large enough to hold a man.

[65] This was the fate of Kullervo himself in the _Kalevala_. Orphans, for whom much sympathy is expressed, constantly appear in Esthonian tales. Compare p. 236 of the present volume.

[66] We have a similar series of transformations (mouse, cat, dog, ass, buffalo) in the story of Noor Ed-Deen and Shes Ed-Deen in the _Thousand and One Nights_.

[67] We meet with this big ox elsewhere in the _Kalevipoeg_ ( Canto 19 ), as well as in the _Kalevala_, Runo 20.

[68] Old Hornie, the name of the ruler of Põrgu (Hell).

[69] The word used for lion is " _lõwi_, " undoubtedly derived from the German. The Finns generally call the lion " _jalopeura_, " which also denotes the lynx.

[70] Compare the story of the Gold Spinners.

[71] We meet with a similar hat in other stories. Many Esthonians and Lithuanians still hide their nail-parings as carefully as possible, or else make a cross over them lest the devil should find them and use them to make a wishing-hat. Can this hat have any connection with the white straw hat of the devil in a Deptford rhyme?—Gomme's _Traditional Games_, I. p. 4. In the Edda, we are told that Naglfar, the largest ship in the world, which is to bring the giants to the fight at Ragnarök, is similarly constructed, and as both gods and men wish that it should be completed as late as possible, every one should be very careful not to die with unpared nails, lest he should supply materials for its construction.

[72] Golden is often used in Finnish and Esthonian, as in many other languages, as a term of endearment.

[73] The maidens were afterwards married to the relatives of the Kalevide, giants like himself, and are described as walking arm-in-arm with them, nothing being then said of any difference in their stature.

[74] This reminds us of a well-known feudal custom, more honoured in the breach than in the observance, which also prevailed among the old kings of Scotland for several reigns. The second sister was ultimately married, not to the cup-bearer, but to the son of Olev.

[75] A mythical blue bird, the daughter of Taara. Two songs respecting her will be found in another part of the book. Reinthal improperly translates the word "griffin." "Phœnix" or "Seemurgh" would have been a more appropriate rendering.

[76] These bath-whisks, which are dried birch-twigs with the leaves left on, are often alluded to in the _Kalevala_.

[77] Or Tühja. See _ante_, p. 84.

[78] Compare Canto 10 of the _Kalevipoeg_, and the story of the Grateful Prince, as well as _ante_, p. 58 note. Sarvik seems to have belonged to the same family as the water-demon who was tricked by the Alevide in Canto 10.

[79] Compare the similar scene in the story of "Slyboots," later in this volume.

[80] This incident resembles an adventure attributed to Thor. In the legends of all countries, sorcerers or fugitives are represented as raising magic floods, either to sweep away their enemies or to baffle pursuit. There are three instances in this very canto.

[81] This is the usual Esthonian euphemism for setting a house on fire. I understand that there is also some connection between red cocks and fire in Scottish folk-lore; and in Scandinavian mythology two of the three cocks which are to crow before Ragnarök are red. May they not have some connection with the fire of Surtur?

[82] Here we have the great oak-tree mentioned in Cantos 5 and 6 reappearing in another connection.

[83] The Flyer.

[84] In the present canto the Kalevide is never spoken of as of gigantic size, unless we may consider feats like this as implying it.

[85] Baring Gould considers this country to be the North Cape, but the geography of the voyage is confused.

[86] The Maelström?

[87] The commentators identify this island with Iceland, but the voyagers were apparently on the wrong side of Scandinavia to reach either the Maelström or Iceland. Still we have both geysers and volcanoes in the text.

[88] Here the Kalevide's sun begins to decline, for the first of his faithful companions leaves his side, as Hylas left Heracles.

[89] This is Chamisso's Alsatian legend, "Das Riesenspielzeug," "The Giant's Toy," usually called in English translations "The Giant's Daughter and the Peasant." The girl in the poem seems to have far exceeded even the Kalevide in stature; and we may remember Gulliver's remark respecting the Brobdingnagians—"Who knows but that even this prodigious race of mortals might be equally overmatched in some distant part of the world whereof we have yet no discovery?"

[90] Throughout this passage the giant is usually called simply the magician, and the other "the wise man."

[91] Asking riddles of this kind was a common amusement in Northern Europe. Compare Prior's _Danish Ballads_, i. 185, 334.

[92] Baring-Gould ingeniously suggests that this country is Greenland, and that the Dog-men are Esquimaux, clad in furs, and riding in dog-sledges. The end of this canto is inconsequential, for the hero should have reached his goal during this voyage, not by a land-journey afterwards.

[93] Linda's bosom, now Revel.

[94] The bells of the dwarfs are often of great importance in Northern fairy mythology.

[95] This incident is common in Esthonian tales.

[96] This song will be included in a later section of the book.

[97] Some of the commentators regard this book as a palladium on which the independence of Esthonia depended; and the thoughtlessness of the Kalevide in parting with the book which contained the wisdom of his father as a sacrilegious action which precipitated his ruin.

[98] These are identified by the commentators with the Teutonic Knights of the Sword, who conquered Esthonia in the eleventh century.

[99] Here we have a reminiscence of the Giallar horn of Heimdall, and of the horn of Roland (or Orlando).

[100] Compare the much longer story in the 9th Runo of the _Kalevala_.

[101] A similar adventure happened to the naturalist Macgillivray in the Solomon Islands during the voyage of the _Herald_. He turned round and shot the savage dead.

[102] There is a curious variant relating how the Kalevide waded across Lake Peipus with a bridle in his hand to look for a horse, and the water threatened to rise above his boots, when he said, "Don't think to drown this man." Then the devil brought him first his daughter and then his son in the shape of horses; but they both broke down under him. Then the devil brought him his mother, in her usual shape of a white mare, and she galloped away with the hero, and he could not rein her in. Then a voice from heaven cried, "Godson, godson, strike your hand into the oak!" The hero seized a great oak-tree as they were passing, when it came away in his hand, roots and all. Then the mare rushed to Põrgu, and the voice again bade the hero strike his hand into the doorpost. He did so, and his hand was caught fast, and the mare galloped away to hell from between his legs, and left him hanging there.

[103] The God of Death.

[104] The guardian hero of every nation is looked for to return in a similar manner; even William Tell.

[105] Löwe suggests that Kungla is meant, which appears not improbable.

[106] This has been a common _motif_ in folk-tales from the time of Jephthah downwards; but the manner in which the different stories are worked out is very various.

[107] The usual Esthonian euphemism for the Devil.

[108] The moral tone of some of these Esthonian tales is much higher than usual in folk-tales. In the story of the "Northern Frog," we shall see that it is considered a wrong action, involving Karmic punishment, even to steal a talisman from a demon who is trying to entrap your soul. In most folk-tales, the basest cruelty and treachery is looked upon as quite laudable when your own interests require it, even against your best friend or most generous benefactor, and much more so against a Jew or a demon. But there are other Esthonian tales ( "Slyboots," for instance), in which the morality is not much superior to that of average folk-tales.

[109] Here we find the Devil compared to a Tartar, just as in the 10th canto of the _Kalevipoeg_ a water-demon is compared to a Lett.

[110] Boiled peas and salt are provided on such occasions, as mentioned in other stories.

[111] The Kalevide was directed to stamp with his right foot to open the gates of Põrgu.

[112] In Esthonian legends, the wolf is the great enemy of the devil. See vol. ii. Beast-stories.

[113] We meet with similar miraculously swift animals in other Esthonian tales.

[114] The outhouses in Sarvik's palace ( _Kalevipoeg_,