of good omen.

RUNO III

15. We here find Vainamoinen, 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 Vainamoinen 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 storehouses where the peasant girls keep their clothes and
ornaments are sometimes very pretty, and the girls always sleep there
in summer. There are other storehouses for food." (A. M.)

121. According to Speke, Central African women are compelled to
drink large quantities of milk, to make them inordinately fat, which is
considered a great beauty.

206. _Fuligala glacialis._

295. Prof. Krohn thinks the sea and not a lake is here intended.

308. This passage is hardly intelligible. "I have heard some people
suggest that Aino perhaps took a birch branch, to be used as a
bath-whisk." (A. M.)

377. There are many popular