wall
to be broken down to release the book, which was then laid on a waggon,
and dragged by a yoke of oxen to the boat, which Varrak had already
loaded with bags of gold.[97]

Meantime a troop of fugitives came flying to the city, bringing word
that the war was close at hand, and that the axes of the youths were
useless against the swords of the mail-clad warriors.[98] The Kalevide
ordered the weary men to be fed and comfortably housed, and while they
slept he repaired to his father's grave. But there was no voice nor
counsel; there was no sound but the sighing of the wind and the moaning
of the distant sea, and the clouds shed sad tears. The hero returned
home sorrowful and uneasy.

[Footnote 96: This song will be included in a later section of the
book.]

[Footnote 97: Some of the commentators regard this book as a palladium
on which the independence of Esthonia depended; and the thoughtlessness
of the Kalevide in parting with the book which contained the wisdom of
his father as a sacrilegious action which precipitated his ruin.]

[Footnote 98: These are identified by the commentators with the Teutonic
Knights of the Sword, who conquered Esthonia in the eleventh century.]

CANTO XX

ARMAGEDDON

The news of the invasion had brought the feast to a sudden end, and the
Kalevide consulted with his friends, and proposed to bury his treasure,
thinking it might otherwise be insecure. So at dead of night the
Kalevide, Alevide, and Sulevide dug a deep pit in a secret place. Then
the Kalevide solemnly delivered over the treasure to Taara's protection,
and declared that no one should obtain it but the son of a pure mother,
who should come to the spot on St. John's Eve, and should sacrifice
three black animals without a white hair upon them--a black cock with a
curled comb, a black dog or cat, and a mole. Then he murmured secret
spells over the treasure; but the man is not yet born who shall raise
it.

When the morning dawned, the son of Kalev took his spear and sword,
mounted his war-horse, and ordered the Alevide to follow him as his
shield-bearer. Then he blew his horn, and set his forces in battle
array. The sound of the horn echoed through city and forest, and was
heard in every province of Esthonia,[99] and the people flocked to the
king at the summons. The women wept and lamented, but their husbands,
sons, brothers, and lovers went forth to the war. The Kalevide assembled
his army in the sacred oak-forest