109. Animals, etc., are often thus constructed in Finnish, Esthonian, and Siberian mythology by gods, demons, and magicians. They do not seem able to create from nothing, but to manufacture what they please or what they can from pre-existing materials, however incongruous.
111. I suppose rushes are here intended.
RUNO XIV
33. The word here translated “islands” properly means a wooded hill surrounded by marshland.
47, 48. Mielikki’s gold and silver are the spoils of the chase.
69. Honey is sometimes used in the Kalevala for anything sweet and agreeable, just as golden is used for anything beautiful.
103, 104. It appears that the hunter’s fortune in the chase was foretold by the rich or shabby garments worn by the forest-deities.
142. Finnish women often wear a blouse over their other garments.
216. Kuningas (king) is a Teutonic word, which rarely occurs in the Kalevala. The heroes are patriarchs, or chiefs of clans: not kings, as in Homer.
248. There is often much confusion of terms in the Kalevala. The creature here mentioned is generally called an elk, but often a reindeer, and in this line a camel-foal.
304. When the inferior deities are dear or too weak, the heroes appeal to the higher Gods.
308. The reference here seems to be to Gen. vii. 11. “The whole passage is of Christian origin.” (K. K.)
RUNO XV
7. Compare Homer, Iliad, III., 311-314.
240. This episode slightly resembles the story of Isis and Osiris.
498. The constellation of Orion is variously called by the Finns, the Moonshine, the Sword of Kaleva, and the Scythe of Väinämöinen.
559-562. This conceit is common in fairy tales (especially in Russian ones) in the case of heroes wakened from the dead. Sometimes it takes a comic form; and sometimes, as in the present case, a pathetic one.
617 “Dirty-nosed” is a common opprobrious expression in Esthonia.
RUNO XVI
27. The account of the boatbuilding in “Hiawatha’s Sailing” is evidently imitated from this passage.
128. In Roman times divination from birds was chiefly taken from their flight or feeding.
