d the dances of the West Land;
And they danced upon the gravel,
And they trampled all the greensward.
Starry youth and maiden Salme,
Thus their nuptials held in rapture.

In the midst of these joyous festivities, the Moon and then the Sun
returned in greater state than before to seek the hand of Linda, who was
resting on a couch in the bathroom; but she also refused them both,
almost in the same terms as her sister had done; and they retired
sorrowfully.

A third suitor, the Lord of the Waters, now appeared; but Linda replied
that the roaring of the waves was terrible, and the depth of the sea was
awful; that the brooks only gave a scanty supply of water, and the
river-floods were devastating. He was followed by the Wind, who rode the
Horse of the Tempest, and, like all the other suitors, was attended by a
cavalcade of fifty horses and sixty grooms; and he too asked the hand of
Linda. But she replied that a delicate girl could never take pleasure in
the howling of the wind and the raging of the tempest. The Wind whistled
out of the house, but his trouble did not weigh on his heart very long.

Another suitor for the hand of Linda now appeared in the person of the
Prince of Kungla.[22] All the guests, and Linda's own sisters, approved
of this suitor. But Linda declared that she could not think of
accepting him; for the king, his father, had wicked daughters, who would
treat a stranger unkindly.

A sixth suitor now appeared in the person of the young and handsome
giant Kalev. All the wedding-guests grumbled, and even the widow was
opposed to the match; but he pleased Linda, and she accepted him at
once. The widow then invited him to enter and partake of the good cheer;
but he trembled with eagerness, so that his sword in its sheath, and his
chains and spurs, and even the money in his purse, jingled as he
answered that he would neither eat nor drink till Linda appeared before
him. Linda begged for a little delay to adorn herself, but Kalev still
refused to eat or drink, and then she called her slave-sister to help
her, while the widow continued her ineffectual invitations to Kalev to
feast and enjoy himself.

At last Linda appeared in the hall, where she excited as much admiration
as her sister, and her wedding was celebrated with still greater
festivities than Salme's, the guests dancing the local dances of every
province of Esthonia.

But now the Youth of the Stars could delay no longer, and Salme