e in
Aleppo in the eighteenth century.

181. Pestilence has often been attributed to the anger of gods or
demons; and Finland suffered severely from plague till well into the
eighteenth century. But I am inclined to regard the plague described
here as the Black Death, which must have ravaged Finland about 1350.

269, 282, 283. All these names have nearly the same significance, and
might be rendered by "Dolores, our Lady of Pain."

RUNO XLVI

13, 14. The pestilence having abated at the approach of winter, the wild
beasts naturally overran the devastated country. So I would interpret
this passage.

25. Literally, three feathers, but the commentary gives the meaning
adopted above.

81. For an account of bear-hunting in Finland, compare Acerbi's _Voyage
to the North Cape_, I., pp. 288, 289.

168. Tapio is the lord of the forest here alluded to, according to the
commentary.

246. The word here rendered "charge" literally means "bundle" or
"package."

313. Probably the Danish Sound.

377. A honeyed forest perhaps means a forest abounding in honey-dew.

565, 566. These lines are rather musical:

Kuuluvilla karjan kellon,
Luona tiukujen tirinaen.

RUNO XLVII

15, 16. There is a Finnish ballad relating how the sun and moon were
stolen by German and Esthonian sorcerers, and recovered by the son of
Jumala. (_Kanteletar_, III., 2; translated by Mr. C. J. Billson,
_Folklore_, VI., 343, 344.)

37. Compare the story of Maui stealing the fire in New Zealand legends.

128. Lake Ladoga seems to be intended.

233. Does this refer to tides? Tides can hardly be known in Finland,
except by hearsay; the Baltic itself is almost tideless.

RUNO XLVIII

137, 138. Neptune's trident?

169. Here a different epithet is applied to Vaeinaemoeinen.

283. Probably _Polyporus igniarius_ or _P. fomentarius_, both of which
are much used for tinder.

302. He appears to have thought that Panu was in league with the Fire.

RUNO XLIX

83. This is Rhabdomancy, or divination by rods.

417. Literally, at the end of our thumbs.

RUNO L

1. Marjatta korea kuopus.

Literally, Marjatta the elegant darling; an expression occurring nowhere
else in the _Kalevala_. The story in the present Runo seems to exhibit a
veneer of Christianity over Shaman legends. Even the name Marjatta,
notwithstanding its resemblance to Maria, seems to be really derived
from the word marja, a berry. An old writer says that the favourite