THE FATE OF LINDA
One hot day, the youngest son of Kalev was sitting on the top
of a cliff watching the clouds and waves. Suddenly the sky
became overcast, and a terrific storm arose, which lashed the
breakers into foam. Äike,
[32] the Thunder-God, was driving his brazen-wheeled chariot
over the iron bridges of the sky, and as he thundered above,
the sparks flew from the wheels, and he hurled down flash after
flash of lightning from his strong right hand against a company
of wicked demons of the air, who plunged from the rocks into
the sea, dodged the thunderbolts among the waves,
[Pg 25]
and mocked and insulted the god. The hero was enraged at their
audacity, and plunging into the water, dragged them from their
hiding-places like crabs, and filled a whole sack with them.
He then swam to the shore, and cast them out on the rocks,
where the bolts of the angry god soon reduced them to a
disgusting mass that even the wolves would not touch.
Another day, the three sons of Kalev went hunting in the forest
with their three dogs.
[33] The dogs killed a bear among the bushes, an elk in the
open country, and a wild ox in the fir-wood. Next they
encountered a pack of wolves and another of foxes, numbering
five dozen of each, and killed them all. All this game the
youngest brother bound together and carried on his back; and on
the way home they found the rye-fields full of hares, of which
they likewise secured five dozen.
[34]
[Pg 26]
Meantime the Finnish sorcerer had been watching Kalev's house from his
boat, where he remained in hiding among the rocks a little way from the
shore, till he saw that the three young heroes had left the house and
wandered far into the forest, leaving their home unprotected. The
sorcerer then steered boldly to the shore, hid his boat, and made his
way by devious and unfrequented paths to the house of Kalev, where he
climbed over the low gate into the enclosure, and went to the door, but
he looked cautiously round when he reached the threshold. Linda was
just boiling soup over the fire when he rushed in, and, without saying
a word, seized her by the girdle and dragged her away to his boat. She
resisted him with tooth and nail, but he muttered spells which unnerved
her strength and overpowered her feeble efforts, and her prayers and
cries for help were unheard by men. But she cried to the gods for
protection, and the Thunder-God himself came to her aid.
Just as the sorcerer was about to push off from the shore,
Pikker darted a bolt from the clouds. His chariot thundered
over the iron bridges of the sky, scattering flames around it,
and the sorcerer was struck down senseless. Linda fled; but the
[Pg 27]
gods spared her further sorrow and outrage by transforming her
into a rock on Mount Iru.
It was a long time before the sorcerer woke from his swoon, when he sat
up, rubbing his eyes, and wondering what had become of his prey; but he
could discover no trace of her. The rock is now called "Iru's
Stepmother;" and old people relate that when it was once rolled down
into the valley, it was found next morning in its original place on the
mountain.
The sons of Kalev were now making the best of their way home, sometimes
along well-trodden paths or across the plains, sometimes wading through
deep sand or mossy bogs, and then through forests of pine, oak, birch,
and alder. The pine forest was called the King's Wood; the oak forest
was sacred to the God Taara; the forest where the slender birch-trees
grew was called the Maidens' Wood, and the alder-wood was sacred to
mourners, and was called the Wood of the Poor Orphans.
As they passed through the pine forest which was called the
King's Wood, the eldest brother sat down under a tree and began
to sing a song. He sang till the leaves on the trees shone
brighter than ever, and the needles on the fir-trees turned to
[Pg 28]
silken tassels, and the fir-cones gleamed purple in the
sunshine. Acorns sprouted on the oaks, tender catkins on the
birch-trees, and other trees were covered with sweet-scented
snow-white flowers, which shone in the sunshine and glimmered
in the moonlight, while the woods re-echoed with his singing,
and the tones were heard far over the heaths and meadows, and
the daughter of the king of Kungla wept tears of rapture.
[35]
The second brother sat down in the birch-wood under a weeping
birch-tree, and began to sing a song. As he sang, the buds
unfolded and the flowers bloomed, the golden ears of corn
swelled, and the apples reddened, the kernels formed in the
nuts, the cherries ripened, red berries grew on the hills and
blue berries in the marshes, while black berries grew at the
edges of the swamps, yellow ones on the mossy hillocks, and the
elder-trees were covered with rich purple grapes, while the
woods re-echoed with the song, and its notes spread far over
the heaths and meadows till the little water-nymphs shed tears
of rapture.
[Pg 29]
The third brother sat down under a magnificent oak in the sacred
oak-forest of Taara, and began to sing a song. As he sang, the wild
beasts of the neighbouring woods and heaths gathered round him, and the
cuckoos, doves, magpies, larks, nightingales, and swallows joined in
the concert. The swans, geese, and ducks swam towards the sound, the
waves of the sea beat on the rocks, and the crowns of the trees bowed
down. The green hills trembled, and the clouds parted to permit the sky
to listen to the singing, while the forest-king's daughter, the slender
wood-nymphs, and the yellow-haired water-nymphs wept tears of rapture
and glowed with longing for the handsome singer.
Evening now approached, and the heroes made the best of their way
homewards, the youngest, as before, loading himself with all the game.
They looked out anxiously for the smoke of their home and the glow of
the kitchen-fire, but they could discover nothing.
They quickened their pace as they crossed the deep sand of the
heath, but no smoke nor fire nor steam from the kettle could be
seen. They rushed into the house, but the fire was out and the
hearth was cold. Again and again they shouted to their
[Pg 30]
mother, but there was no answer save the echo. The evening
became darker and stiller, and the brothers went out to search
in different directions. The youngest went down to the beach,
where he found such traces of his mother's presence that he
concluded that she had been carried off by her disappointed
suitor, the Finnish sorcerer.
The eldest brother proposed that they should eat their supper
and go to sleep, hoping that a dream might show them where to
seek for their mother. The second assented, hoping that Ukko
would send them a vision; but the youngest was unwilling to put
off till to-morrow what might be done to-day, and finally
determined to repair to his father's grave.
[36]
From his grave there spoke the father—
"Who upon the sand is treading,
With his feet the grave disturbing?
In my eyes the sand is running,
On my eyelids grass is pressing."
The youth told his father who he was, and all his trouble, and
implored him to rise and help him. But his father answered that
he could not rise, for the rocks lay on his breast, lilies of
the
[Pg 31]
valley on his eyelids, harebells on his eyes, and red flowers
on his cheeks. But he prayed the wind to show his son the
right path, and a gentle zephyr to guide him on the way
pointed out by the stars of heaven. So the young hero returned
to the sea-shore and followed his mother's footprints till
they were lost in the sea. He gazed over the sea and shore,
but could detect no further traces of her, nor was any boat in
sight. There he sat till it grew quite dark, and the moon and
stars appeared in the sky; but winds and waves, sea and sky,
moon and stars, alike were silent, and brought him no tidings
of his mother.
[Pg 32]