ero.[79]
Then Tuehi asked again, "Dear brother, did you wrestle with my good
brother-in-law in his own enclosure, and then drive him into the ground
like a post?" "Likely enough," retorted the hero; "but it's not my fault
if his bones are still sound." Then the demon asked again, "My dear
brother, son of Kalev, did you lock up our old mother in the kitchen
just like a mouse in a trap, while she was baking cakes?" "O yes," said
the hero; "and I suppose she roared, and made up a bed among the boxes
of peas, and for aught I know she may be sleeping there still, unless a
flea has woke her up." "Have you stolen Sarvik's good sword?" asked Tuehi
again. "Perhaps I may have taken the weapon too, dear brother," answered
the hero. "Who can separate a man and his sword? One is worth nothing
without the other." Then Tuehi asked if he had taken the hat. "I think
so," said the hero; "but Sarvik will never put it on his head again, for
I threw it into the fire and burned it to ashes, which have blown away
in the wind." Tuehi then asked if he had plundered his brother's
treasures. "Yes, my dear sir," answered the hero; "I took a little gold
and silver, but not much. Ten horses could drag such a load, and twenty
oxen easily; but you may depend upon it I didn't carry away any copper."
Tuehi's next question was whether he had stolen the bridge-builder, the
wishing-rod. The hero replied, "I suppose some brown-eyed maiden stole
it, for no stronger person would have troubled about such a thing." Tuehi
next inquired how he had treated the maidens; and to this the hero
replied that he'd tell him another time. "Won't you come back again,
dear brother, and pay your debts?" asked Tuehi at last. "Who knows, dear
brother?" said the hero; "if I ever find myself short of money, I may
perchance come back to fetch some more gold and silver, and repay my old
debts with new ones." And upon this Tuehi and his seventy people decamped
in the greatest haste, as if they had been on fire, or as if they were
pursued by gadflies.

Strong as was the Kalevide, his back was weary and chafed with his heavy
load, and he threw it off and lay down to rest; but while he slept he
was in danger of being carried away by a sudden flood from the
mountains, raised against him by a sorceress.[80] After stemming it with
some trouble, on resuming his journey, he met a stranger who asked him
what he was going to do with the planks. The stranger proved to be the
son of Olev, the g