tales in Finnish relating to animals,
especially the bear, wolf, and fox, but this is the only illustration of
the true "beast-epos" in the _Kalevala_.

413. "The sauna, or bath-house, is always a separate building; and
there Finnish people take extremely hot baths almost every evening."
(A. M.) It is also used for confinements.

RUNO V

220. Here a human mother, rather than Ilmatar, seems to be
ascribed to Vainamoinen. Visits to parents' graves for advice and
assistance are common in Scandinavian and Esthonian literature.
Commentators have also quoted the story of Achilles and Thetis, but
this is hardly a parallel case.

RUNO VI

120. This passage is again inconsistent with the legend of Vainamoinen
being the son of Ilmatar.

RUNO VII

19. The word used here is "poika," which literally means a boy, or
a son.

51, 52. The original admirably expresses the hovering motion of the
bird:

Lenteleikse, liiteleikse,
Katseleikse, kaanteleikse.

142. In the original "the song of a cock's child."

177, 178. Weeping appears no more disgraceful to the heroes of the
_Kalevala_ than to those of the _Iliad_. Still, Vainamoinen
not unfrequently plays a very undignified part when in difficulties.

241. Louhi recognized him, though he would not mention his name.

286. "Virsu is a shoe made of birch bark." (A. M.)

311. It appears that the magic mill called a Sampo could only be
forged by a competent smith, from materials which Louhi alone possessed,
and which, perhaps, she could not again procure. Otherwise
Ilmarinen could have forged another for himself, and it would have
been unnecessary for the heroes to steal it. The chain forged by the
dwarfs, according to the Prose Edda, for binding the wolf Fenrir, was
also composed of materials which could not again be procured. "It
was fashioned out of six things; to wit, the noise made by the footfall
of a cat, the beards of women, the roots of stones, the sinews of
bears, the breath of fish, and the spittle of birds."

RUNO VIII

3, 4. The daughter of Louhi is never mentioned again in connection
with the rainbow; and it is quite incorrect to call her the Maiden of
the Rainbow, as some writers have done, for no such title is ever
applied to her in the poem.

35. There are so many instances of maidens being carried off, or
enticed into sledges, in the _Kalevala_, that it seems almost to have
been a recognized legal form of marriage by capture.

57. Finnish