r of variants
obtained in each. It may be interesting to summarise the latter, to show
the extent to which the collection of variants has been carried on in
Esthonia.

1. Legend of the creation of the earth and of the origin of the heavenly
bodies, 62 variants.

2. Salme and her suitors, 160 variants; and 33 relative to the celestial
suitors.

3. The Great Ox, 24 variants.

4. The Great Oak, 130 variants, and 61 relative to its fragments.

5. The Weeping Oak, 61 variants.

6. The origin of the harp and of boating, three variations, with 19, 39,
and 17 variants respectively.

7. The bride of gold and silver, 52 variants.

8. Songs of the Seluks or Orthodox Esths, 91 variants.

[Footnote 2: Kirby in "Papers and Transactions of International
Folk-lore Congress of 1891," p. 429.]

MYTHOLOGY

We can, I think, trace Finnish and Esthonian religion through four
well-marked stages.

1. Fetishism, as seen in the story of the Treasure-Bringer, and in the
account given of the origin of various animals, &c.

2. Nature-worship.

3. Transitional stage, well marked in the _Kalevala_, where the heroes
sometimes pray to the gods in conventional Christian phraseology, and at
other times try to compel their assistance by invocations and spells.
This stage is also seen in the strange travesty of the Nativity in the
last Runo of the _Kalevala_; and indeed, one of the older writers says
that the favourite deities of the Finns in his time were Vaeinaemoeinen and
the Virgin Mary. But this stage is much less visible in the
_Kalevipoeg_, which is, on the whole, a more archaic and more heathenish
poem than the _Kalevala_.

4. Mediaeval Christianity.

The gods belong to the stage of Nature-worship. The supreme god is
Taara, to whom the oak is sacred. The most celebrated of his sacred
oak-forests was in the neighbourhood of Dorpat. Thursday is his day;
whence it is more often mentioned in popular tales than any other day in
the week. He is also called Uko or Ukko (the Old God), by which name he
is usually known in the _Kalevala_; and also Vana Isa, or Old Father.
The Christian God is called Jumal or Jumala, and is probably to be
identified with Taara. Ukko or Taara is the ancestor and protector of
the heroes; he attended with Rougutaja at the birth of the Kalevipoeg,
watched over and protected him during his life, sometimes appeared to
counsel him in visions, received him in his heavenly halls after death,
and assigned