of Taara, and a bird advised him to
sharpen his sword and spear before the fight. By the fifth evening the
last stragglers had come in, and the Kalevide allowed his men two days'
longer rest. On the third day thereafter the battle began in earnest,
and the Kalevide fought against the mailed warriors for half a day, when
his horse was killed under him.

Hundreds were slain on both sides, and at last the Sulevide fell
severely wounded. The soothsayer was summoned hastily, and adjured the
blood to cease flowing:[100]

Quickly came the man of wisdom,
Who should charm the blood from flowing
And should still the pain by magic.
"Flow thou not, O blood, like water;
Still thee, blood, of life the honey;
Wherefore thus thy source o'erflowing,
Breaking thus the bonds that hold thee?
Let the blood as stone be hardened,
Firm as oak-tree let it stiffen;
In the stone-like veins around it,
Let the blood be stanched, O Taara!"

But the blood continued to flow, and then the magician used stronger
spells, pressed his fingers on the wound to stop the bleeding, and tied
up the limb with red thread, afterwards applying healing herbs.

Meantime the Kalevide had routed the enemy and dispersed them over the
plain in flight, the dead being piled up in heaps behind them. But the
hero was weary and overcome with heat and thirst, and went to a lake,
which he drained to the last drop, leaving only the mud at the bottom.

Three days were given to the burial of the dead and the care of the
wounded, and then the Kalevide set out in pursuit of the enemy. Olev
built a bridge over the Vohanda according to the Kalevide's directions,
and presently the army fell in with a murderous host of Tartars, Poles,
and Letts, who were ravaging the neighbourhood of Pleskau.

Another great battle was fought, and the Kalevide slaughtered his
enemies till their bodies lay in heaps a fathom high about the field,
and the blood was five spans deep. The battle lasted for seven days, and
many notable chiefs were slain, among whom was the son of Sulev, who had
been so severely wounded in a previous battle. The Tartars and Poles had
now been slain or put to flight, and the Kalevide gathered together the
remnants of his army to attack the Vends, and ordered the Alevide to
break their centre.

The fight with the Vends lasted two days longer, and again vast numbers
were slain on both sides. A great mound was raised on the batt