Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



that lire. In the Kalevala of the Finns the 

 demi-gods Vaino, Ilmarinen and Lemmin- 

 kainen go northward, as if to Lapland, to beat 

 the toothless hag of Pohjola at magic, win her 

 daughters for wives, or rob them, if necessary, 

 and especially to carry off the sampo — that fruit, 

 flock and riches-giving talisman, now conceived 

 of realistically as a mill, again thought of as a 

 constellation, or the rainbow, or the sun's face 

 itself In the Kalevipoeg, an epic of Esthland 

 drawn together like the Kalevala from ballads 

 scattered and conflicting at times, the sorcerer 

 of most note is a Finn, and the demi-god of 

 the Esths swims northward from Esthonia to 

 avenge on him the loss of a mother. As Vaino 

 and Lemminkainen defeat by magic the Hag 

 of the North, so Kalevipoeg the giant rudely 

 pulverizes the magician of Finland, who, as we 

 shall see, stands to him in a relation peculiar to 

 cuckoo gods. 



Bird lore is even more frequently mentioned 

 in the Esthonian than the Finnish epic. The 



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