Breton legend informs us: A man had dug a treasure out of a dwarf's hole, and then cautiously covered his floor with ashes and glowing embers; so when the dwarfs came at midnight to get their property back, they burnt their feet so badly, that they set up a loud wail (supra, p. 413) and fled in haste, but they smashed all his crockery. Villemarqué 1, 42 (see Suppl.). From this dependence of the elves on man in some things, and their mental superiority in others, there naturally follows a hostile relation between the two. Men disregard elves, elves do mischief to men and teaze them. It was a very old belief, that dangerous arrows were shot down from the air by elves; this evidently means light elves, it is never mentioned in stories of dwarfs, and the AS. formula couples together 'êsagescot and ylfagescot,' these elves being apparently armed with weapons like those of the gods themselves; 1 the divine thunderbot is even called an albschoss (pp. 179, 187), and in Scotland the elf-arrow, elf-flint, elf-bolt is a hard pointed wedge believed to have been discharged by spirits; the turf cut out of the ground by lightning is supposed to be thrown up by them. On p. 187 I have already inferred, that there must have been some closer connexion, now lost to us, between elves and the Thundergod: if it be that his bolts were forged for him by elves, that points rather to the black elves. 3 Their touch, their breath may bring sickness or death on man and beast; one whom their stroke has fallen on, is lost or incapable (Danske viser 1, 328): lamed cattle, bewitched by them, un de buer, de vorher nichts nich seien harre, un den et so lichte in schipp vorkomen was, ans of he nichts inne herre, süt de ganze Allerô von luter lütjen minschen krimmeln un wimmeln. Dat sind de twarme west, dei wier trökken sind. Von der tit heft Hövermanns noch immer vull geld ehat, dat se nich kennen dêen, averst nu sind se sau ein nan annern ut estorven, un de hof is verkoft. 'Wann ist denn das gewesen?' Vor olen tien, ans de twarme noch sau in der welt wesen sind, nu gift et er wol keine mehr, vor drüttig, virzig jaren. [Substance of the foregoing : -Hövermann, a large farmer at Offensen, had also a ship on the R. Aller. Two little men asked him to ferry them over. He did so twice, each time to a large open space called Allerô. Dwarf: 'Will you have a lump sum, or be paid so much a head?' Farmer: A lump sum.' Dwarf: You'd better have asked so much a head.' He put his own hat on the farmer's head, who then saw the whole Allerô swarming with little men, who had been ferried across. The Hövermanns grew rich, have now all died out, farm sold. When did that happen?' Ages ago, in the olden time, when dwarfs were in the world, 30 or 40 years ago.] 1 Arrows of the Servian vila, p. 436. The Norw. äli-skudt, elf-shotten, is said of sick cattle, Sommerfelt Saltdalens prästegield, p. 119. Scot. elfshot. 2 Irish Elf-stories xlv. xlvi. cii. 3 Ibid. ciii. are said in Norway to be dverg-slagen (Hallager p. 20); the term elbentrötsch for silly halfwitted men, whom their avenging hand has touched, was mentioned on p. 443. One who is seduced by elves is called in Danish ellevild, and this ellevildelse in reference to women is thus described: 'at elven legede med dem.' Blowing puffing beings language itself shews them to be from of old as spiritus comes from spirare, so does geist, ghost from the old verb gîsan (flari, cum impetu ferri); the ON. gustr, Engl. gust, is flatus, and there is a dwarf named Gustr (Sæm. 181b);1 other dwarfs, Austri, Vestri, Norðri, Suðri (Sæm. 2o. Sn. 9. 15. 16) betoken the four winds, while Vindâlfr, still a dwarf's name, explains itself. Beside the breathing, the mere look of an elf has magic power: this our ancient idiom denominates intsehan (torve intueri, Gramm. 2, 810), MHG. entsehen: 'ich hân in gesegent (blessed), er was entsehen,' Eracl. 3239; ‘von der elbe wirt entsehen vil maneger man,' MS. 1, 50b (see Suppl.). The knot-holes in wood are popularly ascribed to elves. In Småland a tale is told about the ancestress of a family whose name is given, that she was an elfmaid, that she came into the house through a knot-hole in the wall with the sunbeams; she was married to the son, bore him four children, then vanished the same way as she had come. Afzelius 2, 145. Thiele 2, 18. And not only is it believed that they themselves can creep through, but that whoever looks through can see things otherwise hidden from him; the same thing happens if you look through the hole made in the skin of a beast by an elf's arrow. In Scotland a knot-hole is called elfbore, says Jamieson: a hole in a piece of wood, out of which a knot has dropped or been driven viewed as the operation of the fairies.' They also say auwisbore, Jutish ausbor (Molbech's Dial. lex. p. 22. 94). If on the hill inhabited by elves the following rhyme be uttered 15 times : ällkuon, ällkuon, est du her inn, (elf-woman, art thou in here, so shalt thou come out through 15 1 Norweg. alvgust, an illness caused by having been breathed upon by elves, Hallager 4b. 2 Old French legend has an elf called Zephyr; there is a German home-sprite Blaserle, Mone's Anzeiger 1834, p. 260. oak knot-holes, egepind), the elfin is bound to make her appearance, Molb. Dial. 99 (see Suppl.). In name, and still more in idea, the elf is connected with the ghostlike butterfly, the product of repeated changes of form. An OHG. gloss (Graff 1, 243) says: brucus, locusta quae nondum volavit, quam vulgo albam vocant. The alp is supposed often to assume the shape of a butterfly, and in the witch-trials the name of elb is given by turns to the caterpillar, to the chrysalis, and to the insect that issues from it. And these share even the names of gute holden and böse dinger (evil things) with the spirits themselves. These light airy sprites have an advantage over slow unwieldy man in their godlike power (p. 325) of vanishing or making themselves invisible. No sooner do they appear, than they are snatched away from our eyes. Only he that wears the ring can get a sight of Elberich, Ortn. 2, 68. 70. 86. 3, 27. With the light elves it is a matter of course, but neither have the black ones forfeited the privilege. The invisibility of dwarfs is usually lodged in a particular part of their dress, a hat or a cloak, and when that is accidentally dropt or cast aside, they suddenly become visible. The dwarf-tales tell of nebelkappen (Deut. sag. nos. 152-3-5), of gray coats and red caps (Thiele 1, 122. 135), of scarlet cloaks (supra, p. 451n.). Earlier centuries used the words helkappe, helkeplein, helkleit (Altd. bl. 1, 256), nebelkappe (MS. 2, 156a. 258; Morolt 2922. 3932) and tarnkappe. By Alberîch's and afterwards Sigfrit's turnkappe (Nib. 98, 3. 336, 1. 442, 2. 1060, 2) or simply kappe (335, 1) we must understand not a mere covering for the head, but an entire cloak; for in 337, 1 we have also tarnhût, the protecting skin, and the 1 Hujus tempore principis (Heinrici ducis Karinthiae) in montanis suae ditionis gens gnana in cavernis montium habitavit, cum hominibus vescebantur, ludebant, bibebant, choreas ducebant, sed invisibiliter. Literas scribebant, rempublicam inter se gerebant, legem habentes et principem, fidem catholicam profitentes, domicilia hominum latenter intrantes, hominibus consedentes et arridentes. Principe subducto, nihil de eis amplius est auditum. Dicitur quod gemmas gestant, quae eos reddunt invisibiles, quia deformitatem et parvitatem corporum erubescunt.' Anon. Leobiens. ad ann. 1335 (Pez 1, 940a). 2 Ol. Wormius's pref. to Claussön's Dan. transl. of Snorre, Copenh. 1633 : 'derfor sigis de (dverger) at hafve hätte paa, huormid kunde giöre sig usynlig.' Other proofs are collected in Ir. Elfenm. lxxiv. lxxv. A schretel wears a rôtez keppel on him (not on his head), ibid. cxvi. Rollenhagen's 'bergmännlein' wear little white shirts and pointed caps, Froschmeuseler xx. vb. Maugis, the Carolingian sorcerer, is called lerres (latro) o le noir chaperon.' schretel's 'rôtez keppel' becomes in H. Sachs 1, 280b a' mantel scharlach rot des zwergleins.' Beside invisibility, this cloak imparts superior strength, and likewise control over the dwarf nation and their hoard. In other instances the cap alone is meant a Norwegian folk-tale in Faye p. 30 calls it uddehat (pointed hat ?), and a home-sprite at Hildesheim bears the name of Hôdeken from the felt hat he wore. Probably the OHG. helothelm (latibulum), Gl. Hrab. 969, the OS. helith-helm, Hel. 164, 29, AS. heoldhelm, Cod. Exon. 362, 31, hælohelm, Cædm. 29, 2, ON. hialmr huliz (an Eddic word for cloud), Sæm. 50a,1 and the AS. grimhelm, Cadm. 188, 27. 198, 20. Beow. 666, all have a similar meaning, though the simple helm and grîme (p. 238) already contain the notion of a covering and a mask; for helm is from helan (celare) as huot, hood, or hat, from huotan (tegere). No doubt other superior beings, beside elves and dwarfs, wore the invisible-making garment; I need only mention Odin's hat with turned-up brim (p. 146), Mercury's petasus, Wish's hat, which our fairy-tales still call wishing-hat, and Pluto's or Orcus's helmet ('Aïdos kvvén, Il. 5, 845. Hesiod, Scut. 227). The dwarfs may have stood in some peculiar, though now obscured, relation to Oðinn, as the hat-wearing pataeci, cabiri and Dioscuri did to Jupiter (see Suppl.). 2 From such ability to conceal their form, and from their teazing character in general, there will arise all manner of deception and disappointment (conf. Suppl. to p. 331), to which man is exposed in dealing with elves and dwarfs. We read: der alp triuget (cheats), Fundgr. 327, 18; den triuget, weiz Got, nicht der alp, not even the elf can trick him, Diut. 2, 34; Silvester 5199; die mag triegen wol der alp, Suchenwirt xxxi. 12; ein getroc daz mich in dem slâfe triuget, Ben. 429; dich triegen die elbin (1. elbe, rhyme selbe), Altd. bl. 1, 261; elbe triegent, Amgb. 2Þ; diu elber triegent, Herbort 5b; in bedûhte daz in trüge ein alp, Ir. elfenm. lvii.; alfs ghedroch, Elegast 51, 775. Reinh. 5367, conf. Horae Belg. 6, 218-9; alfsche droch, Reinaert (prose lxxii."). In our 2 1 Fornm. sög. 2, 141 says of Eyvindr the sorcerer: giörði þeim hulidshialm,' made for them a mist, darkness. hulinhialmr, Fornald. sög. 3, 219; kuflshöttr 1, 9. 2, 20. See Rafn's Index sub v. dulgerfi. 2 A weighty addition to the arguments for the identity of Wuotan and Mercury; conf. p. 419 on the wishing-rod. elder speech gitroc, getroc, âgetroc, abegetroc, denotes trickery especially diabolic, proceeding from evil spirits (Gramm. 2, 709. 740-1). To the same effect are some other disparaging epithets applied to elves: elbischez getwâs, elbischez âs, elbischez ungehiure, as the devil himself is called a getwâs (fantasma) and a monster. So, of the morbid oppression felt in sleep and dreaming, it is said quite indifferently, either: the devil has shaken thee, ridden thee,' 'hînaht rîtert dich satanas (Satan shakes thee to-night),' Fundgr. 1, 170; or else the elf, the nightmare: dich hat geriten der mar,' 'ein alp zoumet dich (bridles thee).' And as Dame Holle entangles one's spinning or hair (p. 269), as she herself has tangled hair,3 and as stubbly hair is called Hollenzopf;* so the nightelf, the nightmare, rolls up the hair of men or the manes and tails of horses, in knots, or chews them through: alpzopf, drutenzopf, wichtelzopf, weichselzopf (of which more hereafter), in Lower Saxony mahrenlocke, elfklatte (Brem. wörtb. 1, 302), Dan. marelok, Engl. elflocks (Nares sub v.), elvish knots, and in Shakspeare to elf means to mat: 'elf all my hair in knots,' K. Lear ii. 3. Here will come in those comae equorum diligenter tricatae,' when the white women make their midnight rounds (supra, p. 287). The Lithuanian elf named aitwaras likewise mats the hair: aitwars yo plaukus suzindo, suwele (has drawn his hair together). Lasicz 51 has: aitwaros, incubus qui post sepes habitat (from twora sepes, and ais pone). Some parts of Lower Saxony give to the wichtelzopf (plica polonica) the name of selkensteert, selkin's tail (Brem. wörtb. 4, 749), sellentost (Hufeland's Journal 11. 43), which I take to mean tuft of the goodfellow, homesprite 1 Daz analutte des sih pergenten trugetieveles, N. Bth. 44; gidrog phantasma, O. iii. 8, 24; gedrog, Hel. 89, 22; tievels getroc, Karl 62a; 'ne dragu ic ênic drugi thing,' Hel. 8, 10. The dwarf Elberich (Ortn. 3, 27. 5, 105) is called 'ein trügewiz'; conf. infra, bilwîz. 2 Our nachtmar I cannot produce either in OHG. or MHG. Lye gives AS. 'mære fæcce' incubus, ephialtes, but I do not understand fæcce. Nearly akin is the Pol. mora, Boh. můra, elf and evening butterfly, sphinx. In the Mark they say both alb and mahre, Adalb. Kuhn, p. 374. French cauchemare, cochemar, also chaucheville, chauchi vieilli (Mém. des Antiq. 4. 399; J. J. Champollion Figeac patois, p. 125); Ital. pesaruole, Span. pesadilla, O. Fr. appesart; these from caucher (calcare), and pesar (to weigh down). 3 In Kinderm. 3, 44, Holle gets her terrible hair combed out, which had not been combed for a year. A girl, whom she has gifted, combs pearls and precious stones out of her own hair. 4 Hess. Hollezaul (for -zagel, tail), Holle zopp, Schmidt's Westerw. idiot. 341. Adelung has: 'höllenzopf, plica polonica, Pol. koltun, Boh. koltaun.' |