several, it is added at the end. A capital F before an English word, both in round brackets, means that the latter is the literal meaning in Finnish of the word it follows. To save an inordinate number of footnotes, a word is put in single inverted commas to show that it must not or need not be taken quite literally. For instance, in nine cases out of ten the epithet ‘golden’ means ‘dear, precious’; ‘fiery’, ‘holy’ are occasionally synonymous with ‘terrible’, ‘awful’, ‘dangerous’. ‘Iron’ as an attribute may also denote ‘iron-coloured’. ‘Toad’ as a term of abuse might equally be translated ‘fiend, wretch, loathsome creature’. Double inverted commas are used to call attention to certain epithets applied to animals or personified objects. In Finnish words the dotted vowels are the narrowed open sounds of the corresponding undotted vowels: ä = a in hand, ö = French eu, ü French u, j = y in you. The double consonants must be sounded twice. The main stress is always on the first syllable.
The first ‘birth’ is evidently a late composition, and throws no light upon early Finnish speculation regarding the origin of man.
I.—The Origin of Man.
The strange phenomenon [called] man, great creature of the tribe,
Was made from a clod of earth—fashioned from a cake [of mould].
To him the Lord give breath, the Maker breathed it from his mouth.
II.—The Origin of the Wizard (noita).
Of course I know the wizard’s birth—the fortune-teller’s (arpoja) origin.
There the sorcerer (noita) was born—fortune-tellers took their rise
