Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



of the Hag in a duel with swords, he flies 

 home in the shape of an eagle and is pursued 

 by a hawk, which is the spirit of the demon 

 he has just slain. 



The kindred epic of the Esths, the Kalevi- 

 poeg, has much to say concerning eagles. 

 When the island maid learns who Kalevipoeg 

 is, she drowns herself; her parents rake the 

 bed of the sea for her, but bring up an old iron 

 helmet and an eagle's egg. The island mother 

 places this egg in the sun by day and warms it 

 in her bed by night, until the young eagle is 

 hatched, grows strong and escapes. Later she 

 finds it again — but a little man is lurking 

 under the eagle's wing, a dwarf who carries a 

 little axe. But the little man with his little 

 axe is able to fell the enormous tree which 

 shuts out the sunlight from the island — that 

 is to say, the primeval forest of Finland. He 

 is in fact Sampsa Pellerwoinen, whom we find 

 in the Kalevala as a little copper man doing 

 the same miracle. It is evident that he is a 



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