LITHUANIA, LATVIA 287

length, but the preference is markedly for the quatrain. In the
absence of other verses, the stanzaic structure is no longer apparent,
and the Latvian '(lamas' have the appearance of unrhymed, un-
strophic, octosyllabic verse, with element? of assonance and allitera-
tion corresponding to no fixed plan. Such a description would fit
the folk-poetry of their neighbours, the Esthonians, though the
4lauhuT of the latter are normally longer than a quatrain. Phrases
of the Latvian 4dainas' are made to ran parallel, and a similar
parallelism of phrase in the longer folk-sonars of Esthonia tends to
form strophes of unequal length. Such divisions are optional, and
not always present. They occur in the Finnish 'runot' also, which
have the Esthonian characteristics, together with a more scrupu-
lous use of alliteration, which becomes a principle of versification
in Finland, though not reduced to a mathematical norm. Thus by
a sequence of minor changes the technique of German folk-song
can be placed at the end of a continuous band, of which the other
extreme lies in Finland. That is, I have no doubt, what actually
occurred; and the Latvian "daina* is a form derived from the
Lithuanian by compression. This does not imply necessarily
Lithuanian priority, but only that the Lithuanian form is the older
as now extant.

The unity of "dainas* and "dairies* is attested not only by the
words, and by the close kinship of the two languages; but also by
the use of the same mythology, the same domestic range, the same
motifs and divisions, and even the same fables. The Owl at the
Sparrow's Wedding, The Orphan at her Mother's Grave, The stolen
Sister (Barons 2546, 3944, 13646), are pieces with Lithuanian
parallels (Nesselmann 13, 67, 204). Correspondences of this sort
are the more remarkable, since the Latvian quatrains are essentially
improvizations. In a sense, they have no permanent existence;
they can be called into being at any moment in accordance with an
accepted formula of composition. Under such conditions there
would be an inevitable loss of narrative particulars which were
already elusive in the longer Lithuanian 'dames*. On the other
hand, the fact that the Latvian songs spring spontaneously on all
occasions, and not only on such as are naturally fitted for poetic
elaboration, causes them to follow much more intimately the joys,
sorrows, and thoughts of the singers. Their documentary value is
high; their aesthetic value is much lower than that of the Lithuanian
songs.