We will now proceed to stories relative to the nature-spirits, commencing with those of the water, who are both numerous and powerful among the Finns and Esthonians. Other stories concerning them will be found in different parts of the book.
THE TWELVE DAUGHTERS.
(KREUTZWALD.)
ONCE upon a time there lived a poor labourer who had twelve daughters, among whom were two pairs of twins. They were all charming girls, healthy, ruddy, and well made. The parents were very poor, and the neighbours could not understand how
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Footnotes
1 Compare the story of the “Treasure-Bringer,” in a later section of the volume.
1 Brandy is offered by a lover in Esthonia, and accepted by the girl if she favours him.
2 Small stones are used for cleaning milk-cans.
1 Jannsen remarks that her authority seems to have been limited to these, and also that she cannot have been the supreme Water-Goddess, whose husband is Ahti, the God of the Sea.
1 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 “Jullanur 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.