The Hero of Esthonia | Page 7

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 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.
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 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