{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/hoe/hoe1-20.htm","path":"neu/hoe/hoe1-20.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/hoe/hoe1-20.htm","text":"THE Kalevide had not gone far on his homeward journey when he found that T\u00fchi himself was pursuing him with a band of his followers. Then the youngest sister took the wishing-rod, and called upon it to flood the whole country, a bridge rising before them for the hero, while water flowed behind between him and his enemies. The demons stopped in confusion, and T\u00fchi shouted to the Kalevide to ask if he was carrying off his adopted daughters? \u201cIt looks like it,\u201d answered the hero.1 Then T\u00fchi asked again, \u201cDear brother, did you wrestle with my good brother-in-law in his own enclosure, and then drive him into the ground like a post?\u201d \u201cLikely enough,\u201d retorted the hero; \u201cbut it\u2019s not my fault if his bones are p. 106 still sound.\u201d Then the demon asked again, \u201cMy 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?\u201d \u201cO yes,\u201d said the hero; \u201cand 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.\u201d \u201cHave you stolen Sarvik\u2019s good sword?\u201d asked T\u00fchi again. \u201cPerhaps I may have taken the weapon too, dear brother,\u201d answered the hero. \u201cWho can separate a man and his sword? One is worth nothing without the other.\u201d Then T\u00fchi asked if he had taken the hat. \u201cI think so,\u201d said the hero; \u201cbut 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.\u201d T\u00fchi then asked if he had plundered his brother\u2019s treasures. \u201cYes, my dear sir,\u201d answered the hero; \u201cI 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\u2019t carry away any copper.\u201d T\u00fchi\u2019s next question was whether he had stolen the bridge-builder, the wishing-rod. The hero replied, \u201cI p. 107 suppose some brown-eyed maiden stole it, for no stronger person would have troubled about such a thing.\u201d T\u00fchi next inquired how he had treated the maidens; and to this the hero replied that he\u2019d tell him another time. \u201cWon\u2019t you come back again, dear brother, and pay your debts?\u201d asked T\u00fchi at last. \u201cWho knows, dear brother?\u201d said the hero; \u201cif 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.\u201d And upon this T\u00fchi and his seventy people decamped in the greatest haste, as if they had been on fire, or as if they were pursued by gadflies.\nStrong 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.1 After stemming it with some trouble, on resuming his journey, he met a stranger who p. 108 asked him what he was going to do with the planks. The stranger proved to be the son of Olev, the great master-builder, and to him was intrusted the task of building the cities and fortifications.\nWhen the Kalevide learned that he had lost seven weeks in a magic sleep, he gave the three sisters to the charge of the son of Alev, who married the youngest. The son of Sulev married the eldest, but the second sister found no lover, and while the others were talking together of their wedded happiness she stole apart weeping; and at length she was carried away by a famous sorcerer, and her strong brothers-in-law went in search of her. On the third evening they came upon her track, when the sorcerer spread out a great lake to impede their passage. But the Alevide had brought with him the wishing-rod, which quickly provided them with a bridge. They rushed across, broke the locks, and burst open the doors, slew the sorcerer, released the captive, and then sent the red cock on the roof.1\nThen the son of Olev took the second sister to wife; and thus all the three sisters whom the Kalevide had released from the regions of Sarvik were happily married, and many great tribes derived their origin from them.\n1 Compare the similar scene in the story of \u201cSlyboots,\u201d later in this volume.\n1 This incident resembles an adventure attributed to Thor. In the legends of all countries, sorcerers or fugitives are represented as raising magic floods, either to sweep away their enemies or to baffle pursuit. There are three instances in this very canto.\n1 This is the usual Esthonian euphemism for setting a house on fire. I understand that there is also some connection between red cocks and fire in Scottish folk-lore; and in Scandinavian mythology two of the three cocks which are to crow befare Ragnarok are red. May they not have same connection with the fire of Surtur?","title":"CANTO XV THE MARRIAGE OF THE SISTERS","type":"page"}