The Hero of Esthonia | Page 8

river. Being annoyed by occasional visitors, he wanders away towards Lake Peipus, and steps into the brook K?p?, 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 P?rgu, to keep watch and ward on Sarvik and his hosts.
[Footnote 4: The names of the others are not mentioned, but later in the poem we meet with three heroes, the sons of Alev, Olev, and Sulev respectively, associated with the son of Kalev, and spoken of as his cousins. Alev and Sulev may have been the brothers of Kalev.]
[Footnote 5: The Prince of Hades, literally Hornie.]
[Footnote 6: Hades or Hell.]
[Footnote 7: Linda's Bosom, the Kalevide's capital, named in honour of his mother; now Revel.]
[Footnote 8: Ukko, the principal god of the Finns and Esthonians, is frequently called Taara in the Kalevipoeg. This name is not used in Finnish; but Tora is the name of God among the Chuvash of Kasan.]

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.
[Footnote 9: In the Finnish Kalevala, V?in?m?inen is represented as a culture-hero, and as the father of his people; in Esthonia Vanemuine is usually a demi-god. He is always the inventor and patron of music and the harp. He plays no part in the Kalevipoeg, where his name is only mentioned once or twice.]

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, 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 L??ne[13] and Viru,[14] until, by the wise ordering of Jumala,[15] the eagle finally descended with him on the rocky shores of Viru, where he founded a kingdom.
In the province of L??ne 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 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:
"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