The Hero of Esthonia and Other Studies in the Romantic Literature of That Country
_COMPILED
FROM ESTHONIAN AND GERMAN SOURCES BY_
W.F. KIRBY, F.L.S., F.E.S., ETC.
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE FINNISH
LITERARY SOCIETY
WITH A MAP OF ESTHONIA
_IN TWO VOLUMES_
LONDON
JOHN C. NIMMO
14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND.
MDCCCXCV
CONTENTS OF VOL. I
PAGE
PREFACE ix
INTRODUCTION—
ESTHONIA xiii
THE KALEVIPOEG xviii
FOLK-TALES IN PROSE xxii
BALLADS AND OTHER SHORT POEMS xxiii
PASTOR HURT'S COLLECTIONS xxiv
MYTHOLOGY xxvi
_PART I_
THE HERO OF ESTHONIA
THE KALEVIPOEG 1
THE ARGUMENT 2
CANTO I.—THE MARRIAGES OF SALME AND LINDA 7
CANTO II.—THE DEATH OF KALEV 18
CANTO III.—THE FATE OF LINDA 24
CANTO IV.—THE ISLAND MAIDEN 32
CANTO V.—THE KALEVIDE AND THE FINNISH SORCERER 38
CANTO VI.—THE KALEVIDE AND THE SWORD SMITHS 42
CANTO VII.—THE RETURN OF THE KALEVIDE 49
CANTO VIII.—THE CONTEST AND PARTING OF THE BROTHERS 55
CANTO IX.—RUMOURS OF WAR 61
CANTO X.—THE HEROES AND THE WATER-DEMON 64
CANTO XI.—THE LOSS OF THE SWORD 72
CANTO XII.—THE FIGHT WITH THE SORCERER'S SONS 80
CANTO XIII.—THE KALEVIDE'S FIRST JOURNEY TO HADES 87
CANTO XIV.—THE PALACE OF SARVIK 94
CANTO XV.—THE MARRIAGE OF THE SISTERS 105
CANTO XVI.—THE VOYAGE OF THE KALEVIDE 110
CANTO XVII.—THE HEROES AND THE DWARF 119
CANTO XVIII.—THE KALEVIDE'S JOURNEY TO PÕRGU 124
CANTO XIX.—THE LAST FEAST OF THE HEROES 129
CANTO XX.—ARMAGEDDON 135
_PART II_
ESTHONIAN FOLK-TALES
SECTION I
TALES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE "KALEVIPOEG"
THE MILKY WAY 147
THE GRATEFUL PRINCE 152
THE CLEVER COUNTRYWOMAN 186
SLYBOOTS 187
THE HOUSE-SPIRIT 207
THE GOLD-SPINNERS 208
SECTION II
ORPHAN AND FOUNDLING STORIES
THE WOOD OF TONTLA 237
THE KING OF THE MISTY HILL 259
THE ORPHAN'S HANDMILL 260
THE ORPHAN BOY AND THE HELL-HOUNDS 261
THE EGG-BORN PRINCESS 273
THE ROYAL HERD-BOY 279
TIIDU, THE FLUTE-PLAYER 303
THE LUCKY EGG 308
THE MAGICIAN IN THE POCKET 321
THE GOD-DAUGHTER OF THE ROCK-MAIDENS 321
THE FOUNDLING 321
CONTENTS OF VOL. II
_PART II_
ESTHONIAN FOLK-TALES—(_continued_)
SECTION III
COSMOPOLITAN STORIES
PAGE
BLUEBEARD (THE WIFE-MURDERER) 1
CINDERELLA (TUHKA TRIINU) 4
THE DRAGON-SLAYER (THE LUCKY ROUBLE) 6
THE DWARF'S CHRISTENING 8
THE ENVIOUS SISTERS (THE PRINCE WHO RESCUED HIS BROTHERS) 9
THE GIFTED BROTHERS (SWIFTFOOT, QUICKHAND, AND SHARPEYE) 12
THE SWIFT-FOOTED PRINCESS 23
THE IDIOT'S LUCK (STRANGE TALE OF AN OX) 24
THE MAGICIAN'S HEIRS (THE DWARFS' QUARREL) 24
THE MAN IN THE MOON 29
VIDEVIK, KOIT, AND ÄMARIK 30
THE MAIDEN AT THE VASKJALA BRIDGE 34
THE WOMAN IN THE MOON 37
POLYPHEMUS 38
RED RIDING-HOOD (THE DEVIL'S VISIT) 38
SNOWWHITE, THE GLASS MOUNTAIN, AND THE DESPISED YOUNGEST SON (THE PRINCESS WHO SLEPT FOR SEVEN YEARS) 40
THE THREE SISTERS 43
THE THREE WISHES (LOPPI AND LAPPI) 45
THE WITCH-BRIDE (RÕUGUTAJA'S DAUGHTER) 45
THE STEPMOTHER 46
SECTION IV
FAMILIAR STORIES OF NORTHERN EUROPE
MELUSINA 48
THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE (THE POWERFUL CRAYFISH AND THE INSATIABLE WIFE) 48
THE MERMAID 49
HOW THE SEA BECAME SALT 70
THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE FROST 71
THE SOLDIER AND THE DEVIL 76
SECTION V
STORIES OF THE GODS AND SPIRITS OF THE ELEMENTS
THE SONG-GOD'S DEPARTURE 81
JUTTA 85
THE TWELVE DAUGHTERS 87
THE FOUR GIFTS OF THE WATER-SPRITE 98
THE LAKE-DWELLERS 98
THE FAITHLESS FISHERMAN 104
THE MERMAID AND THE LORD OF PAHLEN 106
THE SPIRITS OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS 107
THE SPIRIT OF THE WHIRLWIND 110
THE WILL O' THE WISPS 111
THE FOUNDLING 112
THE CAVE-DWELLERS 114
THE COMPASSIONATE WOODCUTTER 125
CHRISTIAN VARIANT OF SAME 127
THE GOOD DEED REWARDED 128
SECTION VI
HEATH LEGENDS
THE WONDERFUL HAYCOCK 133
THE MAGIC EGG 134
SECTION VII
LAKE LEGENDS
LAKE PEIPUS 136
THE LAKE AT EUSEKÜLL 142
EMMU LAKE AND VIRTS LAKE 144
THE BLUE SPRING 145
THE BLACK POOL 146
SECTION VIII
STORIES OF THE DEVIL AND OF BLACK MAGIC
THE SON OF THE THUNDER-GOD 149
THE MOON-PAINTER 159
THE TREASURE-BRINGER 168
THE WOODEN MAN AND THE BIRCH-BARK MAID 180
THE COMPASSIONATE SHOEMAKER 182
MISCELLANEOUS STORIES OF THE DEVIL 185
MARTIN AND HIS DEAD MASTER 188
THE HUNTER'S LOST LUCK 191
THE COINERS OF LEAL 192
THE BEWITCHED HORSE 193
SECTION IX
HIDDEN TREASURES
THE COURAGEOUS BARN-KEEPER 195
THE GALLOWS-DWARFS 210
THE TREASURE AT KERTELL 222
THE GOLDEN SNAKES 224
THE DEVIL'S TREASURE 225
THE NOCTURNAL CHURCH-GOERS 226
SECTION X
ORIENTAL TALES
THE MAIDENS WHO BATHED IN THE MOONLIGHT 233
THE NORTHERN FROG 237
SECTION XI
CHURCH STORIES
THE CHURCH AT REVEL 262
THE CHURCH AT PÜHALEPP 263
THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS 265
THE CHURCH AT FELLIN 265
SECTION XII
UNNATURAL BROTHERS
THE RICH BROTHER AND THE POOR ONE 267
SECTION XIII
PLAGUE-LEGENDS 271
SECTION XIV
BEAST-STORIES
WOLF-STORIES 274
THE MAN WITH THE BAST SHOES 278
WHY THE DOG AND CAT AND THE CAT AND MOUSE ARE ENEMIES 282
THE ORIGIN OF THE SWALLOW 283
THE SPIDER AND THE HORNET 284
THE OFFICIOUS FLIES 285
_PART III_
ESTHONIAN BALLADS, &c.
THE HERALD OF WAR 285
THE BLUE BIRD (I.) 292
THE BLUE BIRD (II.) 296
CHARM AGAINST SNAKE-BITE 298
BIBLIOGRAPHY 299
INDEX AND GLOSSARY 305
[Illustration] (Click image to enlarge)
[Pg ix]
PREFACE
When I took up the study of the _Kalevala_ and Finnish
literature, with the intention of publishing a critical English
edition of the poem, on which I am still engaged, the
accumulation of the necessary materials led me to examine the
literature of the neighbouring countries likewise. I had
expected to find the _Kalevipoeg_ an Esthonian variant of the
_Kalevala_ ; but I found it so dissimilar, and at the same time
so interesting, when divested of the tedious and irrelevant
matter that has been added to the main story, that I finally
decided to publish a full account of it in prose, especially as
nothing of the kind has yet been attempted in English, beyond a
few casual magazine articles.
The Esthonian folk-tales are likewise of much interest, and in
many cases of an extremely original character; and these also
have never appeared in an English dress. I have, therefore,
selected a
[Pg x]
sufficiently representative series, and have added a few
ballads and short poems. This last section of the work,
however, amounts to little more than an appendix to the
_Kalevipoeg_, though it is placed at the end of the book.
Esthonian ballad literature is of enormous extent, and only
partially investigated and published at present, even in the
original; and it would therefore be premature to try to treat
of it in detail here, nor had I time or space to attempt it. I
had, however, intended to have included a number of poems from
Neus' _Ehstnische Volkslieder_ in the present volumes, but
found that it was unnecessary, as Latham has already given an
English version of most of the best in his "Nationalities of
Europe."
The Introduction and Notes will, it is hoped, be sufficiently
full to afford all necessary information for the intelligent
comprehension of the book, without overloading it; and it has
been decided to add a sketch-map of this little known country,
including some of the places specially referred to. But
Esthonian folk-literature, even without the ballads, is a most
extensive study, and I do not pretend to do more than offer a
few specimens culled from some of the most easily accessible
sources. My professional work does not allow me time to attempt
[Pg xi]
more at present; and it is from the same cause that my work on
the _Kalevala_
has been delayed so long.
In outlying parts of Europe like Finland and Esthonia, which
were not Christianised till long after the southern and western
countries, primitive literature has survived to a much greater
extent than elsewhere; and the publication of the _Kalevala_
and the _Kalevipoeg_
during the present century furnishes a striking example before
our very eyes of the manner in which the Iliad and the Odyssey
grew up among the Greeks, before these poems were edited in the
form in which they have come down to us, by order of
Pisistratus.
The principal books used in the preparation of this work are mentioned
in the short Bibliography. The names of others quoted or referred to
will be found in the Index, which has also been drawn up in such a
manner as to form a general glossary.
W.F. KIRBY.
Chiswick, _September 1894_.
[Pg xiii]
INTRODUCTION
ESTHONIA
Esthonia, or Estonia, as some prefer to write it, is the most northerly
of the three so-called German or Baltic provinces of Russia—Esthonia,
Livonia, and Courland. It is bounded on the north by the Gulf of
Finland, which lies between that country and Esthonia; on the east by
the Government of St. Petersburg; on the south by Livonia, and on the
west by the Baltic. Opposite its western coast lie numerous large
islands, the most important of which are Dagö and Oesel; these islands
nearly close the north-west corner of the Gulf of Riga.
The northern part of Livonia (including the island of Oesel,
already mentioned) is partly inhabited by Esthonians, and is
dealt with in popular literature as forming part of the
country. The four provinces of Esthonia proper, which are
constantly referred to,
[Pg xiv]
are as follows, the German names being added in brackets. Two
western, Arju or Harju (Harrien) on the north, and Lääne
(Wiek) on the south; one central, Järva (Jerwen), and one
eastern, Viru (Wierland). East of Livonia lies the great Lake
Peipse or Peipus, eighty miles long and thirty-two miles broad
at the broadest part, across which the son of Kalev is said to
have waded to fetch timber from Pihgast or Pleskau, which name
is used to include the Russian province of Pskov, bordering
the lake on the south and south-east. At two-thirds of its
length the lake is divided nearly in two, and the southern
portion is sometimes called Lake Pskov. It may have been
across the narrow part between the two ends of the lake that
the hero is supposed to have waded, when, even during a great
storm, the water reached only to his girdle.
The coast of Esthonia is rocky, but the interior of the country is very
marshy, though there are no navigable rivers or lakes of much
importance except Lake Peipus, which we have already mentioned. Small
lakes, however, are very numerous, the largest being Lake Virts.
Esthonia was one of the countries conquered during the Middle
Ages by the crusading German
[Pg xv]
Knights of the Sword, and has been described as a country with
a Finnish population and a German aristocracy under Russian
rule. Occasionally we meet with reminiscences of oppression by
the German nobility in the songs and tales; as, for instance,
in the story of the Royal Herd-boy; while everything beautiful
or above the ordinary life of the peasants is characterised as
Saxon.
The bulk of the population speak a language very closely allied to
Finnish, and they possess a large store of oral literature, much of
which has been collected, and in part published, during the present
century. It has, however, attracted very little attention out of
Esthonia, except in Finland, and to some extent in Germany, and very
few articles on the subject have appeared in England or France. It is
believed that this is the first work published in England giving any
detailed account of the popular literature of Esthonia, and it does not
pretend to be exhaustive, nor to extend much beyond the publication of
Kreutzwald, Neus, and Jannsen.
The Finnish-Ugrian race, though not Aryan, is widely
distributed throughout Europe and Asiatic Russia, and the
principal peoples belonging to it
[Pg xvi]
in the North are the Finns, the Esthonians, and the Lapps, who
speak very similar languages, and whose tales and legends
possess much similarity, while in the south the Magyars are
more distantly related to them. The Lapp hero-tales, however,
have more of a historical basis, while the popular tales are
much shorter and less artistic. It is, however, curious that
Swan-maiden stories are peculiarly common among the Lapps.
Several other lesser known peoples belong to the same race,
whom we need not further notice.
Esthonian abounds in dialects, but is so close to Finnish that it bears
almost the same relation to it as Lowland Scotch to English, or perhaps
as Danish to Swedish. But there is a strong admixture of German words
in Esthonian, and their tales, when exhibiting traces of foreign
influence, have apparently derived it from Germany. In Finnish tales,
on the contrary, Russian influence is often very apparent.
The orthography is a little unsettled, words like Ukko or Kalev
being often written with a single or double consonant, as Uko
or Kallev; while words like Käpä are often written with double
vowels, as Kääpä.
[Pg xvii]
The pronunciation of most of the letters resembles that of English, or,
in the case of the vowels, German, and calls for no special remark.
_j_, as in nearly all languages except English and French,
corresponds to our _y_.
_v_ is printed either _v_ or _w_ in Finnish and Esthonian, but
corresponds to our _v_, and is thus used by the best Finnish
authorities. Of course the Germans properly write it _w_, their
_w_
corresponding to our _v_.
For the modified vowels we have no exact equivalent in English;
_ä_ and _ü_ are pronounced nearly as in German; but the _õ_ may
roughly be said to resemble our _ee_ in sound. _y_ has somewhat
of a _u_ sound, as in the Scandinavian languages; and, as in
these too, the modified vowels are placed at the end of the
alphabet, but in the following order: _ü_,
_ä_,
_õ_. Musical as is Finnish itself, Esthonian is still softer,
as may be seen in the dropping of final consonants, as
Vanemuine for Väinämöinen; and in such words as _kannel_ (harp)
for _kantele_. As in most parts of Northern Europe, the Gothic
character is still much used in Finland and Esthonia,
especially in literary works.
As a specimen of the language we may quote the original of the
lines on p. 14:
[Pg xviii]
—
Ristitantsi tantsitie,
Viru tantsi veeritie,
Arju tantsi hakkatie,
Lääne tantsi lõhutie,
Sõre liiva sõtkutie,
Murupinda piinatie.
Tähte peig ja Salme neidu,
Pidasivad pulma ilu!
We may add the text of the lines on p. 49:—
Kalevide poeg ei väsi;
Piht on meehel pihlakane,
Õlanukud õunapuusta,
Käevarred vahterased,
Küünarnukud künnapuusta,
Sõrmelülid sõsterased,
Sõrmeküüned kuuslapuused,
Raudarammu kõiges kehas.
THE KALEVIPOEG
In the year 1838 some Esthonian scholars founded a society
called " _Die gelehrte Ehstnische Gesellschaft_, " and set
themselves to collect the popular literature of their country.
Doubtless encouraged by the recent publication of the
_Kalevala_ in Finland, Dr. Fählmann undertook specially to
collect any fragments of verse or prose relative to the
mythical
[Pg xix]
hero of Esthonia, the son of Kalev, intending to weave them
into a connected whole. He did not live to complete the work;
but after his death Dr. Kreutzwald carried out his design, and
the book was published, accompanied by a German translation by
Reinthal and Bertram, from 1857 to 1861.
The materials were defective, and were augmented and pieced
together, not always very successfully or artistically,
[1] by Dr. Kreutzwald, and the story is interrupted by long
lyrical passages, especially at the beginning of some of the
cantos, which are tedious and out of place in a narrative poem.
Consequently, a complete translation would hardly be
sufficiently attractive; but there is so much that is curious
and beautiful in the poem, that I think that a tolerably full
prose abstract may perhaps be found both useful and
interesting, as opening up an almost new subject to English
readers.
Besides Reinthal's translation, there are two condensed
abstracts of the poem in German, one by C. C. Israel, in prose,
published in 1873, and the other by Julius Grosse, in
hexameters, published in 1875.
[Pg xx]
But while the _Kalevala_ has been translated into six or seven
languages, and into several of them two or three times,
extremely little has been published on the _Kalevipoeg_ outside
of Esthonia and Finland.
The metre is the eight-syllable trochaic, which is the
commonest metre used by the Esthonians and Finns. In the
_Kalevipoeg_ the verse usually flows continuously, while in the
_Kalevala_ it is arranged in distichs, almost every second line
being a repetition of the first in other words; nor is the
_Kalevipoeg_ quite so full of alliteration as the _Kalevala_.
Longfellow adapted this metre in his _Hiawatha_ from
Schiefner's German translation of the _Kalevala_, and as it was
then a novelty in English, it was set down at the time as
Longfellow's own invention, and was much ridiculed. A similar
metre, however, was used before the appearance of _Hiawatha_ in
some parts of Kenealy's _Goethe_, which was published in 1850,
and subsequently condensed and completed under the title of "A
New Pantomime." I quote a passage from this wonderful but
eccentric poem ( _Goethe_, p. 301) to show the manner in which
Kenealy has used it in the lighter parts of his work; but in
some of the darker passages it shows itself as a versatile
metre of great power in English:
[Pg xxi]
—
"We have come, enchanting ladyes,
To sojourn awhile, and revel
In these bowers, far outshining
The six heavens of Mohammed,
Or the sunbright spheres of Vishnu,
Or the Gardens of Adonis,
Or the viewless bowers of Irim,
Or the fine Mosaic mythus,
Or the fair Elysian flower-land,
Or the clashing halls of Odin,
Or the cyclop-orbs of Brahma,
Or the marble realms of Siva,
Or the grandly proud Walhalla."
I do not find this metre used in either of the two cognate
poems, _Faust_ and _Festus_.
To return to the _Kalevipoeg_, the poem consists of twenty
cantos and about 19,000 verses. Some of the legends are found
also in the _Kalevala_, and the giant-hero whose life and
adventures form its subject is evidently the same as the
Kullervo of the _Kalevala_, as will be seen in our notes on
various passages in the poem.
Of the other heroes of the _Kalevala_, besides an occasional
reference to Vanemuine and Ilmarine (Väinämöinen and
Ilmarinen), we find no trace; but three heroes, apparently
cousins of the Kalevipoeg, appear suddenly in the poem. These
are usually
[Pg xxii]
called by their patronymics, Alevide, Sulevide, and Olevide,
but sometimes simply Alev, Sulev, and Olev.
FOLK-TALES IN PROSE
The most important collection of Esthonian prose tales was
edited by Kreutzwald, and was published by the Finnish Literary
Society at Helsingfors in 1866, under the title of _Eestirahwa
Ennemuistesed jutud_, and has since been reprinted at Dorpat.
In 1869 the same Society published a useful little
Esthonian-Finnish glossary to the volume. A good German
translation of many of these tales, by F. Löwe, appeared at
Halle in 1869, under the title of _Ehstnische Märchen_, with
notes by various contributors; and M. Dido, who has lately
translated two or three of the tales into French, and given
more or less detailed notices of the others, mentions that they
have also been translated into Russian. Other collections of
Esthonian tales have since been published; and Harry Jannsen
has published a selection in German under the title of _Märchen
und Sagen des estnischen Volkes_ (Dorpat, 1881; Riga, 1888).
Some of his tales are taken from Kreutz
[Pg xxiii]
wald, but I have not seen the Esthonian originals of the
others. Many of the longer and more interesting tales in those
collections I have given in full; others are more or less
abridged, or simply noticed, and some few unimportant tales
towards the end of Kreutzwald's collection have been passed
over altogether.
One of Kreutzwald's longer tales, which I thought too unlike the others
to be noticed in the body of the work, is, "How Seven Tailors went to
war in Turkey." Their names were, "First-man, One-strong, Two-strong,
Three-strong, Four-strong, Five-strong, and Last-man;" and the story
gives a comic account of their poltrooneries.
Other tales relate to a plot against a chaste wife; a girl who clears
herself from scandal by lifting and hurling a huge stone; &c.
BALLADS AND OTHER SHORT POEMS
The plan of the present work did not allow of many short
poetical pieces being included; nevertheless, two of the best
of the numerous songs and ballads interspersed through the
_Kalevipoeg_ have been given, and two other specimens from
[Pg xxiv]
Neus' _Ehstnische Volkslieder_ (Revel, 1850-1852) and
Kreutzwald and Neus' _Mythische und Magische Lieder der
Ehsten_ (St. Petersburg, 1854). More poetical specimens were
thought unnecessary, because many of the principal ballads in
the former work will be found translated in Latham's
"Nationalities of Europe," 1863.
PASTOR HURT'S COLLECTIONS
In recent years enormous collections of Esthonian folk-lore have been
formed by Pastor Jacob Hurt and his coadjutors.
"Three volumes of these collections were edited by Hurt in
1875, 1876, and 1886, under the title of _Vana Kannel_, the
'Old Harp;' and other collections were published by several of
his colleagues. In 1888 Hurt made a renewed appeal to the
Esthonians to collect their old songs, and fresh contributions
came pouring in from all quarters.
"Special attention was called to Pastor Hurt's work at the Congress of
Folk-lorists in Paris by Henry Carnoy.
"According to the latest intelligence which I have received
from Dr. Krohn, Pastor Hurt has received
[Pg xxv]
contributions from 633 different folk-tale collectors in the
last three and a half years. Most of these contributors are
simple peasants; some are schoolmasters, but only a few are
students or highly educated persons.
"He now possesses, as the result of three and a half years' work of
this nature, epics, lyrics, wedding-songs, &c., upwards of 20,000
items; tales, about 3000; proverbs, about 18,000; riddles, about
20,000. Besides these he has a large collection of magical formulæ,
superstitions, &c.
"He has only been able to accomplish these extraordinary
results by his having been able to awaken popular interest in
the subject."
[2]
I am glad to hear from my friend Dr. Kaarle Krohn, to whom I
have been indebted for much useful information and assistance
in my own studies, that part of the results of these great
collections are likely to be published very shortly. Of course
a great number of tales and songs are merely variants. Many
relate to legends belonging rather to the _Kalevala_ than to
the _Kalevipoeg_.
In Dr. Krohn's important paper, _Die geogra_
[Pg xxvi]
_phische Verbreitung Estnischer Lieder_, published in 1892, he
divides Esthonia and Northern Livonia into several districts,
and marks the number of variants obtained in each. It may be
interesting to summarise the latter, to show the extent to
which the collection of variants has been carried on in
Esthonia.
1. Legend of the creation of the earth and of the origin of the
heavenly bodies, 62 variants.
2. Salme and her suitors, 160 variants; and 33 relative to the
celestial suitors.
3. The Great Ox, 24 variants.
4. The Great Oak, 130 variants, and 61 relative to its fragments.
5. The Weeping Oak, 61 variants.
6. The origin of the harp and of boating, three variations, with 19,
39, and 17 variants respectively.
7. The bride of gold and silver, 52 variants.
8. Songs of the Seluks or Orthodox Esths, 91 variants.
MYTHOLOGY
We can, I think, trace Finnish and Esthonian religion through
four well-marked stages.
[Pg xxvii]
1. Fetishism, as seen in the story of the Treasure-Bringer, and in the
account given of the origin of various animals, &c.
2. Nature-worship.
3. Transitional stage, well marked in the _Kalevala_, where the
heroes sometimes pray to the gods in conventional Christian
phraseology, and at other times try to compel their assistance
by invocations and spells. This stage is also seen in the
strange travesty of the Nativity in the last Runo of the
_Kalevala_ ; and indeed, one of the older writers says that the
favourite deities of the Finns in his time were Väinämöinen and
the Virgin Mary. But this stage is much less visible in the
_Kalevipoeg_, which is, on the whole, a more archaic and more
heathenish poem than the _Kalevala_.
4. Mediæval Christianity.
The gods belong to the stage of Nature-worship. The supreme god
is Taara, to whom the oak is sacred. The most celebrated of his
sacred oak-forests was in the neighbourhood of Dorpat. Thursday
is his day; whence it is more often mentioned in popular tales
than any other day in the week. He is also called Uko or Ukko
(the Old God), by which name he is usually known in the
[Pg xxviii]
_Kalevala_ ; and also Vana Isa, or Old Father. The Christian
God is called Jumal or Jumala, and is probably to be identified
with Taara. Ukko or Taara is the ancestor and protector of the
heroes; he attended with Rõugutaja at the birth of the
Kalevipoeg, watched over and protected him during his life,
sometimes appeared to counsel him in visions, received him in
his heavenly halls after death, and assigned to him his future
employment.
Ukko's daughters are Lindu and Jutta, the queens of the birds;
and Siuru, who is described as a blue bird herself. Possibly
these may be all the same; and the first at least may be
identical with Kalev's bride, Linda, who was born from an egg,
and whose name is evidently derived from _lind_ or _lindu_, a
bird.
Äike, Kõu, Paristaja, Pikne, Piker, or Pikker, is the god of
thunder, and some of his names connect him with the Lithuanian
Perkunas. He thunders across the iron bridges of the skies in
his chariot; and hurls his thunderbolts at the demons, like
Thor. He also possesses a musical instrument, of which the
demons stand in great terror. He has a ne'er-do-weel son, who
has dealings with the Devil, and a mischievous little daughter,
called the Air-Maiden.
[Pg xxix]
Ahti, the god of the waters, is mentioned occasionally, but
much less frequently than Ahto in the _Kalevala_. He must not
be confounded with Ahti, one of the names of the hero
Lemminkainen in the latter poem.
Rõugutaja is the god of the winds and waves, and attends specially on
births. In one story, however, he appears rather in the character of a
morose wood-demon with very undesirable family connections than as a
god. This is very probably due to missionary efforts to malign his
character and discredit his worship. However, there is a class of
magicians who are called Wind-sorcerers, and witches often invoke the
aid of the Mother of the Wind.
An old man, with one eye and a long grey beard, often appears to
travellers in the forests. He is probably the Finnish Tapio, but is not
named.
The sun, moon, and stars are represented as male deities.
Goddesses preside over the woods, fields, waters, &c. Thus we
have the Meadow-Queen (literally, Grass-mother), who presides
over the home-field, and is therefore one of the protecting
deities of the household. She is also the queen of the woods
and fields. The Wind-mother and Water-mother are
[Pg xxx]
similar deities, and the wood-nymphs and water-nymphs are
their daughters.
Vanemuine, the Väinämöinen of the Finns, is the god of song and
music, rather than the patriarch and culture-hero of the
_Kalevala_. All voices and sounds in nature are only echoes of
his music. He has a foster-daughter, Jutta, of whom we have
given an account elsewhere.
Ilmarine (Finnish, Ilmarinen) is a great smith, whose workshop is under
a mountain at the centre of the earth.
The Devil has many names, being called Kurat, the Evil One;
Tühi or Tühja, the Empty One, or rather, perhaps, the
Contemptible One; but most often Vana Pois, the Old Boy; God
being frequently called Vana Isa, the Old Father. He dwells in
the underground kingdom, and has three daughters, or
foster-daughters; a hat of invisibility, composed of
nail-parings; a bridge-building wand, and a sword. He has also
much gold and silver plate, and ducks and geese with gold and
silver plumage. These treasures are often carried off by
enterprising heroes. The maidens whom the Kalevipoeg found in
the palace of Sarvik do not appear to have been at all unkindly
treated, though they had to work
[Pg xxxi]
hard, and much regretted that they had no human company.
Another Devil, more prominent in the _Kalevipoeg_, is Vana
Sarvik, or Old Hornie, who is represented as Tühi's
brother-in-law.
The Devil's underground kingdom is called Põrgu, or Hell. His mother
usually appears in the form of a bitch, and his grandmother under that
of a white mare. The minor Esthonian devils are usually stupid rather
than malevolent. They are sometimes ogres or soul-merchants, but are at
times quite ready to do a kindness, or to return one to those who aid
them. Their great enemies are the Thunder-God and the wolf. The
principal outwitter of the devil is generally called Crafty Hans; and
several volumes of their adventures have been published in Esthonian.
The Devil is often represented as fond of beer.
Besides the above-named gods and demons, we have spirits of the
whirlwind and the Northern Lights; gnomes; and a host of
inferior demons, as well as various grades of sorcerers,
especially Wind-sorcerers, Word-sorcerers, or soothsayers, and
Death-sorcerers, or necromancers. The Tont, or House-Spirit,
goes by various names; among others Kratt or Puuk. Kratt is
perhaps a word
[Pg xxxii]
of Scandinavian or German origin; Puuk must be the same as our
Puck, or the Irish Pouka. He was probably originally a
beneficent house-spirit, and in later times assumed the
demoniacal character in which he appears in the story of the
Treasure-Bringer. In the story of "Martin and his Dead
Master," we have a spectre much resembling a vampyre in
character.
The gigantic race of the heroes is represented as descended
from Taara. As in the case of so many other hero-races—as, for
example, the knights of Arthur, Finn, Charlemagne, Vladimir,
Palmerin, &c.—they are at length practically destroyed in a
series of terrible battles, while the Kalevipoeg, like Arthur,
Olger, Barbarossa, and Tell, remains in enchanted bondage till
the day shall come for him to restore the ancient glories of
his country.
[3]
[Pg 1]
PART I
THE HERO OF ESTHONIA
The _Kalevipoeg_, which may be called the national epic of
Esthonia, contains the adventures of a mythical hero of
gigantic size, who ruled over the country in its days of
independence and prosperity. He is always called by his
patronymic, Kalevipoeg, or Kalevide, the son of Kalev; and,
notwithstanding the great differences between them, he is
evidently the Kullervo of the Finnish _Kalevala_.
The _Kalevipoeg_ consists of twenty cantos and about 19,000
lines; and a fairly complete prose outline of the story is here
given, all the tedious lyrical interludes which break its
continuity, especially at the beginning of several of the
cantos, being entirely omitted. For further
[Pg 2]
general information respecting the poem itself we will refer to
the Introduction, and will now proceed to give a short abstract
of the principal contents of the cantos, before proceeding to a
more detailed analysis.
ARGUMENT OF THE "KALEVIPOEG"
_Canto I._
—Three brothers travel in various directions, one of whom,
Kalev,
[4] is carried by an eagle to Esthonia, where he becomes king.
A widow finds a hen, a grouse's egg, and a young crow. From the
two first spring the fair maidens, Salme and Linda, and from
the last a slave-girl. Salme chooses the Youth of the Stars,
and Linda the young giant-king Kalev, as their respective
husbands, with whom they depart.
_Canto II._
—Death and burial of Kalev; birth of his posthumous son, the
Kalevipoeg.
_Canto III._
—The Kalevipoeg and his brothers go hunting in the forest.
During their absence Linda is carried off by a Finnish sorcerer
whose suit she has despised. She escapes from him through the
interference of the gods, who afterwards change her into a
rock. Return of the
[Pg 3]
brothers; the Kalevide seeks help and counsel at his father's
grave.
_Canto IV._
—The Kalevide throws himself into the sea to swim to Finland.
In the evening he lands on an island where he meets a maiden
whom he seduces. When she hears his name, she is horrified, and
falls into the sea. He plunges after her, but being unable to
save her, swims onwards on his journey. The parents rake the
sea, and find an oak and a fir and other things, but not their
daughter. Song of a maiden who was enticed into the sea by a
man of copper.
_Canto V._
—The planting of the great oak-tree on the island. The Kalevide
arrives in Finland and slays the sorcerer.
_Canto VI._
—The Kalevide visits a famous smith, from whom he buys a huge
sword, which was bespoken by his father Kalev. A great
drinking-bout is held in his honour, during which he slays the
smith's eldest son in a fit of drunken fury, and the smith
curses him. The felling of the great oak-tree on the island.
_Canto VII._
—The Kalevide finds the sorcerer's boat, and sails homeward.
The three brothers relate their adventures and the eldest
proposes that they should now decide which of them shall settle
in the country as his father's heir. The Kalevide again visits
his father's grave.
_Canto VIII._
—The three sons of Kalev journey to the shores of a lake, and
try their strength in hurling rocks across it. The youngest
makes the best cast, and the other two leave the country. The
Kalevide ploughs the land, and one day while he is sleeping his
horse is devoured by wolves.
[Pg 4]
_Canto IX._
—The Kalevide slaughters the wolves. News of war. The visit of
Taara. The Finnish Bridge.
_Canto X._
—In order to settle a dispute between two water-demons, the
Kalevide's cousin, the Alevide, begins to drain a swamp. The
water-demon begs the hero to desist, and the latter tricks the
demon out of his treasures. Visit of the Kalevide's cup-bearer
to the water-demon's palace, and his escape. The Kalevide
overcomes the demon in hurling and wrestling. He decides to
build fortified towns, and sets out to Lake Peipus to fetch
timber. Meeting with the Air-maiden at a well.
_Canto XI._
—The Kalevide wades through Lake Peipus. A sorcerer steals his
sword and sinks it in the brook Käpä, where the Kalevide leaves
it, after enjoining it to cut off the legs of him who had
brought it there; meaning the sorcerer. He encounters a man of
ordinary stature in a forest, whom he puts in his wallet. The
man relates his adventure with two giants and their mother.
_Canto XII._
—The Kalevide is attacked by three sons of the sorcerer, and
beats them off with the boards, which are destroyed. Adventure
with the hedgehog. The Kalevide finds to his grief that the man
in his wallet has been killed by a chance blow during the
fight. He falls asleep, and the sorcerer casts a spell upon him
which throws him into a deep sleep for seven weeks. Vision of
Ilmarine's workshop. The Kalevide wakes, and sets out on his
return. Adventures of two poor boys.
_Canto XIII._
—On his return journey the Kalevide finds some demons cooking
at the entrance to a cave. He enters the cavern, which leads
him to the door of the palace of
[Pg 5]
Sarvik,
[5] which he breaks open. In the antechamber, he finds three
maidens.
_Canto XIV._
—Next day the maidens show the Kalevide over Sarvik's palace.
Sarvik surprises them, and wrestles with the Kalevide in the
enclosure, but is overcome and vanishes. The Kalevide and the
sisters escape from the palace.
_Canto XV._
—The fugitives are pursued by the demons, but the youngest
sister raises a flood between them. The leader, Tühi, questions
the Kalevide, who answers him sarcastically, and the demons
take to flight. The three sisters are married to the Kalevide's
kinsmen.
_Canto XVI._
—The Kalevide projects a voyage to the end of the world.
Building of the ship Lennuk. Voyage to Finland and Lapland.
Meeting with Varrak, the Laplander. Voyage to the Island of
Fire. The Giant's Daughter. The Northern Lights. The Dog-men.
Homeward voyage.
_Canto XVII._
—The fortified cities. Great battle with invaders. Land journey
of the Kalevide and his friends. Encounter with Sarvik
disguised as a dwarf. The daughters of the Meadow-Queen.
_Canto XVIII._
—The gates of Põrgu.
[6] The Kalevide enters the cavern, notwithstanding every
obstacle fights his way across an iron bridge, and enters
Sarvik's palace.
_Canto XIX._
—The Kalevide overcomes Sarvik in a wrestling match, and loads
him with chains. He returns to the upper world, and finds the
Alevide waiting for him
[Pg 6]
at the entrance to the cavern. Return of the Kalevide to
Lindanisa.
[7] Great feast and songs. News of a formidable invasion.
Departure of Varrak for Lapland. Arrival of fugitives.
_Canto XX._
—The Kalevide buries his treasure. Terrible battles, in which
his cousin the Sulevide is slain. Drowning of the Alevide. The
Kalevide abdicates in favour of his surviving cousin, the
Olevide, and retires to live in seclusion on the bank of a
river. Being annoyed by occasional visitors, he wanders away
towards Lake Peipus, and steps into the brook Käpä, when his
sword cuts off his legs. His soul takes flight to the halls of
Taara,
[8] but is bidden by the gods to reanimate his body. He is
mounted on a horse, and stationed at the gates of Põrgu, to
keep watch and ward on Sarvik and his hosts.
[Pg 7]
THE KALEVIPOEG
OR,
_THE ADVENTURES OF THE SON OF KALEV, THE HERO OF ESTHONIA._
The poem commences with an invocation to Vanemuine.
[9] This is followed by a long lyrical exordium.
CANTO I
THE MARRIAGES OF SALME AND LINDA
In ancient days, the race of Taara dwelt here and there in the
land, and took to themselves wives of the daughters of men.
[10] In the far North,
[Pg 8]
near the sacred oak forest of Taara, such a household existed,
and from thence three sons went forth into the world to seek
their fortunes. One son travelled to Russia, where he became a
great merchant; another journeyed to Lapland, and became a
warrior; while the third, the famous Kalev,
[11] the father of heroes, was borne to Esthonia on the back of
an eagle.
[12] The eagle flew with him to the south across the Gulf of
Finland, and then eastward across Lääne
[13] and Viru,
[14] until, by the wise ordering of Jumala,
[15] the eagle finally descended
[Pg 9]
with him on the rocky shores of Viru, where he founded a
kingdom.
In the province of Lääne a young widow lived quietly by herself. One
Sunday she followed the footprints of her cattle, and what did she find
on her way? On the path she found a hen; she found a grouse's egg in
the footprints of the cattle, and she found a young crow near the
village. She carried them all home with her to comfort her loneliness,
and she made a nest for the hen and the egg in a basket lined with
wool, but she threw the young crow into a corner behind the boxes.
The hen soon began to grow, and her head reached the lid of the basket
while she sat on the egg. She grew taller for three months, and for
several days of the fourth month.
The widow went into the storehouse to look at her
foster-children, and what did she behold on raising the lid of
the basket? The hen had grown into the fair maiden Salme;
[16] the egg had given
[Pg 10]
birth to a second maiden, Linda, while the poor crow had
become an orphan girl, a maid-of-all-work, to carry wood to
the stove and to bend under the weight of water-pails from the
well.
Salme was besieged by suitors. Five and six brought her
offerings of corn-brandy, seven sent her offers of marriage,
and eight sent trustworthy messengers to bring them news of
her. The fame of her beauty spread far and wide, and at length
not merely mortal lovers, but even the Moon, the Sun,
[17] and the eldest son of the Pole Star sought her hand in
marriage.
The Moon drove up in a grand chariot drawn by fifty horses, and
attended by a train of sixty grooms. He was a pale slender
youth, and found no favour in the eyes of Salme, who cried out
from the storehouse:
[Pg 11]
"Him I will not have for husband,
And the night-illumer love not.
Far too varied are his duties,
And his work is much too heavy.
Sometimes he must shine in heaven
Ere the day, or late in evening;
Sometimes when the sun is rising;
Sometimes he must toil at morning,
Ere the day has fully broken;
Sometimes watches in the daytime,
Lingering in the sky till mid-day."
When the Moon heard her answer, he grew yet paler, and returned home
sorrowful.
And now the Sun himself appeared, a young man with fiery eyes;
and he drove up with similar state to the Moon. But Salme
declared that she liked him even less than the Moon, for he was
much too fickle. Sometimes, during the finest summer weather,
he would send rain in the midst of the hay-harvest; or if the
time had come for sowing oats, he would parch the land with
drought; or if the time for sowing is past, he dries up the
barley in the ground, beats down the flax, and presses down the
peas in the furrows; he won't let the buckwheat grow, or the
lentils in their pods; and when the rye is white for harvest,
he either glows fiercely and drives away the clouds, or sends a
pouring rain.
[Pg 12]
The Sun was deeply offended; his eyes glowed with anger, and he
departed in a rage.
At last the Youth of the Stars made his appearance, driving with a
similar cortège to those who had preceded him.
As soon as Salme heard of his arrival, she cried out that his horse was
to be led into the stable and tended with the utmost care. The horse
must have the best provender, and must be given fine linen to rest on
and be covered with silken cloths; his head was to rest on satin, and
his hoofs on soft hay. After this she declared to his master:
"Him I will accept as lover,
Give the Star my hand in marriage,
And will prove his faithful consort.
Gently shine his eyes of starlight,
And his temper alters nothing.
Never can he thwart the sowing,
Never will destroy the harvest."
Having thus accepted her suitor and provided for the comfort of
his horse, Salme ordered the bridegroom to be ushered into the
hall, where the broad table was washed clean and covered with a
new tablecloth. The Star was to be seated with his back to the
wall and his feet comfortably propped up on the bench, while he
was to
[Pg 13]
be feasted on the best meat and fish, and offered wedding-cake
and honey, besides beer and sweet mead. The widow invited the
Star to take his place at the table, and pressed him to eat
and drink, but he was greatly excited, and his weapons,
ornaments, and heavy spurs jingled and clanked as he stamped
on the floor, and declared that he would eat nothing till
Salme herself appeared before him. But Salme asked him to wait
awhile while she adorned herself, and asked her sister Linda
to fetch her woollen dress and her silken shift with
gold-embroidered sleeves, her stockings with the pretty
garters, and the brightly coloured and gold-worked kerchiefs
of silk and linen.
Meantime, the widow again invited the Star to eat and drink, or, if he
were tired, to sleep; but he declared, as before, that he would neither
eat nor drink till he had seen Salme, and that the stars never closed
their eyes in sleep.
At last Salme herself appeared in the hall, but the
Meadow-Queen
[18] and the wood nymphs had so adorned her that her
foster-mother did not know
[Pg 14]
her again, and asked in astonishment, "Is it the moon,
[19] or the sun, or one of the young daughters of the sunset?"
Guests gathered to the wedding from far and near, and even the oaks and
alders came, roots, branches, and all.
After this they danced the cross-dance,
[20]
Waltzed the waltzes of Esthonia,
And they danced the Arju
[21] dances,
And the dances of the West Land;
And they danced upon the gravel,
And they trampled all the greensward.
Starry youth and maiden Salme,
Thus their nuptials held in rapture.
In the midst of these joyous festivities, the Moon and then the
Sun returned in greater state than before to seek the hand of
Linda, who was resting on a couch in the bathroom; but she also
refused
[Pg 15]
them both, almost in the same terms as her sister had done;
and they retired sorrowfully.
A third suitor, the Lord of the Waters, now appeared; but Linda replied
that the roaring of the waves was terrible, and the depth of the sea
was awful; that the brooks only gave a scanty supply of water, and the
river-floods were devastating. He was followed by the Wind, who rode
the Horse of the Tempest, and, like all the other suitors, was attended
by a cavalcade of fifty horses and sixty grooms; and he too asked the
hand of Linda. But she replied that a delicate girl could never take
pleasure in the howling of the wind and the raging of the tempest. The
Wind whistled out of the house, but his trouble did not weigh on his
heart very long.
Another suitor for the hand of Linda now appeared in the person
of the Prince of Kungla.
[22] All the guests, and Linda's own sisters, approved of this
suitor. But Linda declared that she could not
[Pg 16]
think of accepting him; for the king, his father, had wicked
daughters, who would treat a stranger unkindly.
A sixth suitor now appeared in the person of the young and handsome
giant Kalev. All the wedding-guests grumbled, and even the widow was
opposed to the match; but he pleased Linda, and she accepted him at
once. The widow then invited him to enter and partake of the good
cheer; but he trembled with eagerness, so that his sword in its sheath,
and his chains and spurs, and even the money in his purse, jingled as
he answered that he would neither eat nor drink till Linda appeared
before him. Linda begged for a little delay to adorn herself, but Kalev
still refused to eat or drink, and then she called her slave-sister to
help her, while the widow continued her ineffectual invitations to
Kalev to feast and enjoy himself.
At last Linda appeared in the hall, where she excited as much
admiration as her sister, and her wedding was celebrated with still
greater festivities than Salme's, the guests dancing the local dances
of every province of Esthonia.
But now the Youth of the Stars could delay no longer, and Salme
took an affecting farewell
[Pg 17]
of her foster-mother and all her kith and kin, declaring that
she would now be hidden behind the clouds, or wandering
through the heavens transformed into a star. Then she mounted
her sledge, and again bade her foster-mother a last and
eternal farewell. Linda and her slave-sister called after her
to ask whither she was going; but there came no answer save
the sighing of the wind, and tears of joy and regret in the
rain and the dew; nor did they ever receive tidings of Salme
more.
After Salme's departure, the wedding-festival of Linda was kept up for
some time, and when Kalev finally drove off with her in her sledge, she
bade farewell to her foster-mother; but Kalev reminded her that she had
forgotten the moon before the house, who was her father; the sun before
the storehouse, who was her old uncle; and the birch-tree before the
window, who was her brother, besides her cousins in the wood. They
gazed after her sorrowfully; but she was happy with Kalev, and heeded
them not. Kalev and Linda drove on in their sledge day and night across
the snow-fields and through the pine-forests till they reached their
home.
[Pg 18]