[12] The eagle of the North plays a conspicuous part in Finnish and Esthonian literature. It is this bird for whose resting-place Väinämöinen spares the birch-tree, and which afterwards rescues him from the waves and carries him to Pohjola. In several cosmogonic ballads, too, it is the eggs of this bird and not of the blue duck which contribute to the formation of the world: for the Mundane Egg plays a part here as well as in other cosmogonies. The passage in the _Kalevipoeg_, to which this note refers, corresponds almost exactly to one in the _Kalevala_ (xxx. 1-10), which ushers in the adventures of Kullervo. [13] A province in Western Esthonia, called Wiek by the Germans. [14] Esthonia proper; specially applied to the north-eastern province. [15] God: this word is applied to the Christian God in Esthonia, Finland, and Lapland, as well as to the local divinities. [16] There are many tales and ballads about the miraculous birth and wooing of Salme and Linda. (Compare Neus, _Ehstnische Volkslieder_, p. 9; Latham's _Nationalities of Europe_, i. p. 142.) In the story of the "Milky Way," which commences Part II. of this volume, Linda is represented as the daughter of Uko, and the queen of the birds. We also read of a blue bird, Siuru, the daughter of Taara, in the ballads. The name Linda or Lindu is evidently derived from the word _Lind_, a bird. [17] The Sun and Moon are both male deities in Finnish and Esthonian. In the _Kalevala_ (Runo 11) the sun, moon, and a star seek the hand of Kyllikki, the fair maid of Saari, for their sons, but she rejects them all as unceremoniously as Salme. In the _Kanteletar_ (iii. 6), a maiden called Suometar (= Finland's daughter) plays a similar part. Suometar is born from a duck's egg, found by a young girl named Katrina. [18] _Muru eit_, the meadow-queen (literally grass-mother), is regarded as one of the tutelary divinities of the house. Esthonian houses generally stand in a _grass field_, entered by a gate. Within the enclosure are the storehouses, cattle-pens, and other outbuildings.