Kalevala, The Land Of The Heroes Volume I Part 42

105. The part played by Hiisi in the _Kalevala_ usually resembles that played by Loki in the Scandinavian Mythology.

109. Animals, etc., are often thus constructed in Finnish, Esthonian, and Siberian mythology by G.o.ds, demons, and magicians. They do not seem able to create from nothing, but to manufacture what they please or what they can from pre-existing materials, however incongruous.

111. I suppose rushes are here intended.

RUNO XIV

33. The word here translated "islands" properly means a wooded hill surrounded by marshland.

47, 48. Mielikki's gold and silver are the spoils of the chase.

69. Honey is sometimes used in the _Kalevala_ for anything sweet and agreeable, just as golden is used for anything beautiful.

103, 104. It appears that the hunter's fortune in the chase was foretold by the rich or shabby garments worn by the forest-deities.

142. Finnish women often wear a blouse over their other garments.

216. Kuningas (king) is a Teutonic word, which rarely occurs in the _Kalevala_. The heroes are patriarchs, or chiefs of clans; not kings, as in Homer.

248. There is often much confusion of terms in the _Kalevala_. The creature here mentioned is generally called an elk, but often a reindeer, and in this line a camel-foal.

304. When the inferior deities are deaf or too weak, the heroes appeal to the higher G.o.ds.

305. The reference here seems to be to Gen. vii. 11. "The whole pa.s.sage is of Christian origin." (K. K.)

RUNO XV

7. Compare Homer, _Iliad_, III., 311-314.

240. This episode slightly resembles the story of Isis and Osiris.

498. The constellation of Orion is variously called by the Finns, the Moons.h.i.+ne, the Sword of Kaleva, and the Scythe of Vainamoinen.

559-562. This conceit is common in fairy tales (especially in Russian ones) in the case of heroes wakened from the dead. Sometimes it takes a comic form; and sometimes, as in the present case, a pathetic one.

617. "Dirty-nosed" is a common opprobrious expression in Esthonia.

RUNO XVI

27. The account of the boat-building in "Hiawatha's Sailing" is evidently imitated from this pa.s.sage.

128. In Roman times divination from birds was chiefly taken from their flight or feeding.

RUNO XVII

20. Roads of this description are thoroughly Oriental in character.

86. In Icelandic sagas we often find heroes roused from their graves, but this is usually attempted in order to obtain a sword which has been buried with them.

93-104. Hiawatha was also swallowed by the sturgeon Nahma, but the circ.u.mstances were quite different.

211. Note the resonance of the line:

Kuusista kuhisevista.

237. Ahava, a dry cold wind that blows in March and April, probably corresponding to our cold spring east wind.

285, 286. Vipunen here refers to himself as a little man, which I presume is to be understood figuratively, as I have rendered it.

RUNO XVIII

379. Compare Cuchullain's wooing of Eimer in Irish story.

RUNO XIX

33. This episode is very like the story of Jason and Medea.

210. "The wolf Fenrir opens his enormous mouth; the lower jaw reaches to the earth, and the upper one to heaven, and would in fact reach still further were there s.p.a.ce to admit of it." (Prose Edda.)

217. Vetehinen, a water-spirit.

311. "Ukko's bow" here means the rainbow, broken by the fiery eagle. It may be worth noting that in the Scandinavian Mythology, the sons of Fire (Muspell) are to ride over the rainbow, and break it to pieces, on their way to battle with the G.o.ds.

483. In the Danish Ballads there are several stories of children speaking in their cradles, but generally to vow vengeance against an enemy.

RUNO XX

17. The Great Ox is a stock subject in Finnish and Esthonian ballad literature.

RUNO XXI

161. The Glutton or wolverine, a well-known animal in sub-Arctic Europe, Asia, and America.

182-186. These civilities sound very Oriental.

393. This curious pa.s.sage may have been partly suggested by the "coats of skin," and "the land flowing with milk and honey" of the Old Testament.

RUNO XXII