[41] These long-lived, but mortal Elemental Powers seem to correspond to some classes of the Arabian Jinn, as for instance, the Diving Jinn in such tales as "Jullanar of the Sea" (Thousand and One Nights). They may also be compared with the Elemental Spirits of the Rosicrucians, who are long-lived, but likewise mortal.
[42] These beings who dwell beneath the sea or lakes are often called "underground people" in Esthonian and Lappish stories.
[43] In Canto xvi. of the Kalevipoeg, the spirits of the Northern Lights are described as carrying on mimic combats in the air.
[44] Latham (Nationalities of Europe, i. p. 34) relates a very similar Lithuanian story of a Lauma or Nightmare.
[45] Jannsen regards this master-smith as Ilmarine.
[46] The hat reminds us of the doll in the story of the Tontla Wood. In the original the stranger is simply called "Köwer." Jannsen interprets the name to mean "Köwer-silm" (Crooked-eye), and thinks the stranger might have been Tapio himself. But it appears to me from the whole context that he was simply the indwelling spirit of one particular crooked birch-tree, whom we find at the beginning of the story wandering at a distance from home.
[47] Finland itself means Fenland, and is only a translation of the native name Suomi.
[48] God is frequently called Vanaisa, the Old Father, just as the Devil is frequently called Vanapois, the Old Boy.
[49] In the neighbourhood of Dorpat.
[50] Dreadful stories are told in many countries of the fiends inhabiting the undrained swamps. Monsters as terrible as those described in "Beowulf" are popularly believed to have haunted the English fens almost to the present day. Aino, in the Kalevala (Runo 4), was lured into a lake by the sight of some maidens bathing; and it is said that it is unsafe for sensitive people to venture near the banks of some of the Irish lakes in the evening, lest they should be lured into the water by the singing of the water-nymphs. In this connection, we may refer to the oft-quoted passage from the notes to Heywood's Hierarchies of the Blessed Angels (1635): "In Finland there is a castle, which is called the New Rock, moated about with a river of unsounded depth, the water black, and the fish therein very distasteful to the palate. In this are spectres often seen, which foreshow either the death of the Governor, or of some prime officer belonging to the place; and most often it appeareth in the shape of a harper, sweetly singing and dallying and playing under the water."—See Southey's Donica.