83. The Great Oak-tree is a favourite subject in Finnish and Esthonian ballads.
117. Finnish and Esthonian water-heroes are sometimes described as entirely composed of copper.
211. Compare the account of the breaking up of the Sampo, and the dispersal of its fragments, in Runo XLIII.
245. The summer ermine is the stoat, which turns white in winter in the North, when it becomes the ermine. The squirrel also turns grey in the North in winter.
376. The cuckoo is regarded as a bird of good omen.
RUNO III
15. We here find Väinämöinen, the primeval minstrel and culture-hero, the first-born of mortals, living in an already populated world. There seems to be a similar discrepancy in Gen. iv. 14-17.
35. Women were held in great respect in heroic times in most Northern countries.
58. “I will bewitch him who tries to bewitch me.” (K. K.)
72. A gold-adorned, or perhaps merely handsome, sledge.
154. Probably another epithet for the seal.
156. The powan, or fresh-water herring (Coregonus), of which there are several marine and fresh-water species. They are chiefly lake-fish of the Northern Hemisphere, and in the British Islands are better known in Scotland and Ireland, and in the North of England, than in the South.
168. The word used here may also mean the elk or ox.
230. The Arch of Heaven in the Kalevala means the rainbow.
231, 232. The Sun and Moon are male deities in Finnish, with sons and daughters.
233. The constellation of the Great Bear.
273. Most of the heroes of the Kalevala, except Kullervo, have black hair, and the heroines, except the wife of Ilmarinen, golden hair.
411, 412. A common ransom in Finnish and Esthonian stories.
459. The episode of Aino is a great favourite in Finland, and the name is in common use. The story often furnishes material to poets, sculptors, etc.
533. Different stories are told of the origin of both Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen, and they are often called brothers.
RUNO IV
4. Bath-whisks are used to heighten the circulation after bathing. “The leaves are left on the stems. The bath-whisks for the winter are all made early in the summer, when the leaves are softest. Of course they become quite dry, but before using, they are steeped in hot water till they become soft and fragrant.” (A. M.)
75. “The store-houses where the peasant girls keep their clothes and
