ve her a brooch which would enable her to return to
the Misty Hill whenever she pleased. On reaching home, she found she had
been absent seven years. On the first opportunity she returned to the
hill by night, and her friend who had given her the brooch told her that
the old man was the King of the Misty Hill, and the consort of the
Meadow Queen, and she was their daughter. The girl continued her nightly
visits to the Misty Hill; but after her marriage, her husband
discovered her disappearance, and taking her for a were-wolf, tried to
burn her; but the King of the Misty Hill carried her away to his
dwelling uninjured.

* * * * *

In the story of "The Orphan's Handmill" (Kreutzwald), a compassionate
magician from Finland in the guise of a beggar enables an ill-used and
overworked orphan girl to obtain a wonderful handmill in a chest, which
he forbids her to open, but which grinds all the corn poured into it,
without any labour on her part. Her mistress sends her to church,
intending to discover the secret of the chest, and then to drive her
away and keep the chest; but when she raises the lid, a bright flame
bursts from the chest which burns her to ashes. Shortly afterwards, the
girl's master marries the orphan, when the chest, having done its work,
vanishes, leaving no trace, it having been carried away to the
underground kingdom from which the girl had brought it in a vision, with
the aid of the white horse (or mare), which always figures as an
inhabitant of Porgu.

[Footnote 136: Talking trees are common in Esthonian tales; I do not
remember another instance of bleeding trees.]

[Footnote 137: Else.]

[Footnote 138: Pussy.]

[Footnote 139: It must be remembered that the dominant race in Esthonia
is German, and that the gentry, even if not fairies, would be expected
to speak a language unintelligible to the people. It is significant that
the very word for lady in Esthonian is _proua_, a corruption of _Frau_.
Everything particularly fine is called "Saxon."]

[Footnote 140: In some countries the beard is regarded as a symbol of
power, as well as of age and wisdom. Compare the account of Schaibar in
the story of Prince Ahmed (_Thousand and One Nights_).]

[Footnote 141: The Germans are generally represented in Esthonian tales
as rich, and sometimes as very haughty people.]

[Footnote 142: Compare _Goody Two-Shoes_; but this is a modern tale,
believed to have been written by Goldsm