rvik 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_, Vaeinaemoeinen 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 Laeaene[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 Laeaene 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 youn