Part 12

Esthonia is very large, and there are many towns there, and in every town there is a king. There is also very much honey, and fishing. The king and the richest men drink mare's milk, but the poor men and the slaves _150_ drink mead. There is much strife among them. There is no ale brewed by the Esthonians; there is, however, plenty of mead. And there is a custom among the Esthonians that when a man dies he lies unburied in his house, with his kindred and friends, for a month--sometimes _155_ two; and the kings and most powerful men still longer, in proportion to their riches; it is sometimes half a year that they stay unburnt, lying above ground, in their own houses. All the time that the body is within, drinking and merry-making continue until _160_ the day that he is burned. The same day on which they are to bear him to the funeral-pyre they divide his possessions, whatever may be left after the drinking and pleasures, into five or six parts--sometimes into more, in proportion to the amount of his goods. Then they _165_ place the largest share about a mile from the town, then the second, then the third, until it is all laid within the one mile; and the smallest portion must be nearest the town in which the dead man lies. Then there are gathered together all of the men in the land that have _170_ the swiftest horses, about six or seven miles from the goods. Then they all run toward the possessions, and the one who has the swiftest horse comes to the first and largest part, and so one after another till all is taken up; and the man who arrives at the goods nearest the _175_ town obtains the smallest part. Then each man rides his way with the property, and he may keep it all; and for this reason fast horses are very dear in that country. When the property is thus all spent, they bear him out and burn him along with his weapons and his raiment. _180_ And generally they spend all his wealth, with the long time that the corpse lies within and with the goods that they lay along the roads, and that the strangers run for and bear off with them. Again, it is a custom with the Esthonians to burn men of every tribe, _185_ and if any one finds a bone which is unburned he has to make amends for it. And there is one tribe among the Esthonians that has the power of making cold, and it is because they put this cold upon them that the corpses lie so long and do not decay. And if a man _190_ places two vessels full of ale or water, they cause both to be frozen over, whether it is summer or winter.

INDEX TO TITLES

PAGE Account of the Poet Cædmon 179 Alfred's Preface to His Translation of Gregory's "Pastoral Care" 183 Badger, A 51 Battle of Brunnanburg, The 159 Battle of Maldon, The 163 Bede's Death Song 84 Bible, A 52 Bookworm, A 54 Bow, A 52 Brunnanburg, The Battle of 159 Cædmon, Account of the Poet 179 Cædmon's Hymn 83 Charm Against a Sudden Stitch 42 Charm for Bewitched Land 38 Christ, Selections from the 95 Conversion of Edwin, The 187 Crossing of the Red Sea, The 90 Deor's Lament 26 Dough 54 Dream of the Rood, The 108 Edwin, The Conversion of 187 Elene, Selections from the 103 Exeter Gnomes 56 Exodus, Selections from 90 Fates of Men, The 58 Fight at Finnsburg, The 34 Finnsburg, The Fight at 34 Genesis, Selections from 85 Grave, The 157 Gregory's "Pastoral Care," Preface to 183 Horn, A 50 Husband's Message, The 75 Isaac, The Offering of 85 Judith 116 Maldon, The Battle of 163 Nightingale, A 49 Offering of Isaac, The 85 Ohthere and Wulfstan, The Voyages of 189 "Pastoral Care," Preface to 183 Phoenix, The 132 Reed, A 54 Riddles 44 I. Storm, A 44 II. Storm, A 45 III. Storm, A 46 V. Shield, A 48 VII. Swan, A 49 VIII. Nightingale, A 49 XIV. Horn, A 50 XV. Badger, A 51 XXIII. Bow, A 52 XXVI. Bible, A 52 XLV. Dough 54 XLVII. Bookworm, A 54 LX. Reed, A 54 Ruin, The 78 Seafarer, The 68 Shield, A 48 Storm, A 44 Storm, A 45 Storm, A 46 Swan, A 49 Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, The 189 Waldhere 29 Widsith 15 Wife's Lament, The 72