[61] This term, kuri vaim, is explicitly used here, not Vana pois, as we find in the earlier part of the story; and seems to indicate a different and much more malevolent being than the simpleton who visited the barn-keeper, though the term Vana pois sometimes occurs in stories like "The Wooden Man and Birch-bark Maid," in which souls are actually sold to the Devil.
[62] Hans is a generic term in Esthonia for the cunning fellow who always contrives to outwit the Devil, &c.
[63] This seems to be an error in the story; for the context shows that the prohibition was not to speak a word during the ceremony.
[64] Kergi (rise up), spelt backwards.
[65] As in the story of Joodar (Thousand and One Nights).
[66] There has been some discussion as to the right meaning to be put upon the words, Mana tark (Death-magician), but it appears to me that necromancer is simply a literal rendering.
[67] This serpent-gathering so much resembles those described in the first book of the Maha-Bharata, and in the story of Hasib (or Jamasp) in the Thousand and One Nights, that I have referred the present story to the class of tales of Oriental origin.
[68] In Finland and Esthonia they use dried birch-twigs with the leaves attached to whisk themselves with when bathing.
[70] Löwe translates the word kon, "dragon," but it primarily means a frog or toad; and "dragon" is not among the other meanings which I find in the dictionaries. Besides, the creature is described as resembling a frog in many respects.