Chapter XXXII: 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_,