The metre is the eight-syllable trochaic, which is the commonest metre used by the Esthonians and Finns. In the _Kalevipoeg_ the verse usually flows continuously, while in the _Kalevala_ it is arranged in distichs, almost every second line being a repetition of the first in other words; nor is the _Kalevipoeg_ quite so full of alliteration as the _Kalevala_. Longfellow adapted this metre in his _Hiawatha_ from Schiefner's German translation of the _Kalevala_, and as it was then a novelty in English, it was set down at the time as Longfellow's own invention, and was much ridiculed. A similar metre, however, was used before the appearance of _Hiawatha_ in some parts of Kenealy's _Goethe_, which was published in 1850, and subsequently condensed and completed under the title of "A New Pantomime." I quote a passage from this wonderful but eccentric poem ( _Goethe_, p. 301) to show the manner in which Kenealy has used it in the lighter parts of his work; but in some of the darker passages it shows itself as a versatile metre of great power in English: [Pg xxi] — "We have come, enchanting ladyes, To sojourn awhile, and revel In these bowers, far outshining The six heavens of Mohammed, Or the sunbright spheres of Vishnu, Or the Gardens of Adonis, Or the viewless bowers of Irim, Or the fine Mosaic mythus, Or the fair Elysian flower-land, Or the clashing halls of Odin, Or the cyclop-orbs of Brahma, Or the marble realms of Siva, Or the grandly proud Walhalla." I do not find this metre used in either of the two cognate poems, _Faust_ and _Festus_. To return to the _Kalevipoeg_, the poem consists of twenty cantos and about 19,000 verses. Some of the legends are found also in the _Kalevala_, and the giant-hero whose life and adventures form its subject is evidently the same as the Kullervo of the _Kalevala_, as will be seen in our notes on various passages in the poem. Of the other heroes of the _Kalevala_, besides an occasional reference to Vanemuine and Ilmarine (Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen), we find no trace; but three heroes, apparently cousins of the Kalevipoeg, appear suddenly in the poem. These are usually [Pg xxii] called by their patronymics, Alevide, Sulevide, and Olevide, but sometimes simply Alev, Sulev, and Olev. FOLK-TALES IN PROSE