Salme
Role: maiden · First appears: Canto I · The Marriages of Salme and Linda · Part 1
In Canto I · The Marriages of Salme and Linda · Part 1, the widow became Salme’s foster-mother after finding her as a hen that had grown into a maiden. Salme and Linda were sisters. The Moon and Sun sought Salme’s hand, but she refused them; she accepted the Youth of the Stars as her suitor, saying, “Give the Star my hand in marriage”.
In Canto I · The Marriages of Salme and Linda · Part 2, Salme and the Youth of the Stars celebrated their wedding. She took leave of her foster-mother and departed with him, saying she would be “hidden behind the clouds, or wandering through the heavens transformed into a star.”
Relationship record
Life events
- The widow found Salme and Linda as a hen and an egg had become maidens.(Canto I · The Marriages of Salme and Linda · Part 1 · 📍 the province of Lääne)
- Salme refused the Moon’s marriage suit, and he returned home sorrowful.(Canto I · The Marriages of Salme and Linda · Part 1)
- With: Moon
- “When the Moon heard her answer, he grew yet paler, and returned home sorrowful.”
- Salme rejected the Sun’s suit, and he departed in a rage.(Canto I · The Marriages of Salme and Linda · Part 1)
- With: Sun
- “The Sun was deeply offended; his eyes glowed with anger, and he departed in a rage.”
- Salme accepted the Youth of the Stars as her suitor and agreed to marry him.(Canto I · The Marriages of Salme and Linda · Part 1)
- With: Youth of the Stars
- “Him I will accept as lover, Give the Star my hand in marriage, And will prove his faithful consort.”
- The Youth of the Stars and Salme celebrated their wedding.(Canto I · The Marriages of Salme and Linda · Part 2)
- With: Youth of the Stars
- “Starry youth and maiden Salme, Thus their nuptials held in rapture.”
- Salme departed with the Youth of the Stars, leaving her foster-mother behind.(Canto I · The Marriages of Salme and Linda · Part 2)
- With: Youth of the Stars the widow
- “But now the Youth of the Stars could delay no longer, and Salme took an affecting farewell of her foster-mother and all her kith and kin, declaring that she would now be hidden behind the clouds, or wandering through the heavens transformed into a star. Then she mounted her sledge, and again bade her foster-mother a last and eternal farewell.”
Canto I · The Marriages of Salme and Linda · Part 1
- foster-parent: the widow “The widow went into the storehouse to look at her foster-children, and what did she behold on raising the lid of the basket? The hen had grown into the fair maiden Salme; the egg had given birth to a second maiden, Linda, while the poor crow had become an orphan girl, a maid-of-all-work, to carry wood to the stove and to bend under the weight of water-pails from the well.”
- siblings with Linda “But Salme asked him to wait awhile while she adorned herself, and asked her sister Linda to fetch her woollen dress and her silken shift with gold-embroidered sleeves, her stockings with the pretty garters, and the brightly coloured and gold-worked kerchiefs of silk and linen.”
- admirer: Moon “not merely mortal lovers, but even the Moon, the Sun, and the eldest son of the Pole Star sought her hand in marriage.”
- admirer: Sun “not merely mortal lovers, but even the Moon, the Sun, and the eldest son of the Pole Star sought her hand in marriage.”
- admirer: Youth of the Stars “not merely mortal lovers, but even the Moon, the Sun, and the eldest son of the Pole Star sought her hand in marriage.”
- engaged with Youth of the Stars “Him I will accept as lover, Give the Star my hand in marriage, And will prove his faithful consort. Gently shine his eyes of starlight, And his temper alters nothing. Never can he thwart the sowing, Never will destroy the harvest.”
Canto I · The Marriages of Salme and Linda · Part 2
- admirer: Youth of the Stars “Starry youth and maiden Salme, Thus their nuptials held in rapture.”
- married with Youth of the Stars “Starry youth and maiden Salme, Thus their nuptials held in rapture.”
- foster-parent: the widow “At last Salme herself appeared in the hall, but the Meadow-Queen and the wood nymphs had so adorned her that her foster-mother did not know her again, and asked in astonishment, ‘Is it the moon, or the sun, or one of the young daughters of the sunset?’”
- siblings with Linda “In the midst of these joyous festivities, the Moon and then the Sun returned in greater state than before to seek the hand of Linda, who was resting on a couch in the bathroom; but she also refused them both, almost in the same terms as her sister had done; and they retired sorrowfully.”
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Extracted from the original text of The Kalevipoeg. Made with Rho MD.