A C U R I O U S J O U R NEY INTO THE H I D D E N RE A L M O F ELVES, FAEµIES, H O B G O B L I N S & O THER NOT-SOMY T H I C A L C REATURES
Praise for Na n c y Ar rows m i t h Field Guide to the Little People Rationalists, materialists, be forewarned: the ancient forces governing earthly incident and momentum lie neither in our heads nor our economics, but, rather, in the revelations from A Field Guide to the Little People. —The New York Times
Essential Herbal Wisdom This trove of herbal wisdom is a splendid homage to herbariums of the past. —Publishers Weekly A beautifully written historical almanac of fifty remarkable herbs. —Library Journal An impressive overview of fifty herbs. —New Age Retailer The coverage of herb folklore and history is impressive. The new book will add to your pleasure of windowsill herb gardening. —The Plain Dealer
Stephan Pick
Nancy Arrowsmith (Arizona) is the founder and former editorin-chief of Kraut & Rßben, Germany’s first organic gardening magazine. She also founded the international seed organization Arche Noah with a mission to preserve endangered plants. Arrowsmith has a master’s degree in acupuncture and runs her own healing practice in Arizona. She is also the author of Essential Herbal Wisdom.
N A N C∂ A R µOWSM≤TH FIELD GUIDE TO
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A C U R I O U S J O U R N EY I N T O THE HIDDEN REALM O F E LVE S , F A E µ I E S , H O B GOBLINS & OTHER N O T - S O - MY T H I C A L CREATURES
LLEWELLYN PUBLICATIONS w o o d b u r y, m i n n e s o ta
Field Guide to the Little People: A Curious Journey into the Hidden Realm of Elves, Faeries, Hobgoblins & Other Not-So-Mythical Creatures © 1977, 2009 by Nancy Arrowsmith. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
first llewellyn edition First Llewellyn Printing, 2009 originally printed in 1977 by farrar, straus and giroux Art direction by Lynne Menturweck Book design by Rebecca Zins Cover design by Kevin R. Brown Cover illustration by Lisa Hunt Interior and back cover illustrations by Sabrina the Ink Witch Llewellyn is a registered trademark of Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Arrowsmith, Nancy, 1950Field guide to the little people : a curious journey into the hidden realm of elves, faeries, hobgoblins & other not-so-mythical creatures / Nancy Arrowsmith. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7387-1549-0 1. Fairies. 2. Folklore—Europe. 3. Folklore—Structural analysis. 4. Tales—History and criticism. I. Title. GR549.A762 2009 398.094—dc22 2009020618 Llewellyn Worldwide does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business transactions between our authors and the public. All mail addressed to the author is forwarded, but the publisher cannot, unless specifically instructed by the author, give out an address or phone number. Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific location will continue to be maintained. Please refer to the publisher’s website for links to authors’ websites and other sources. Llewellyn Publications A Division of Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. 2143 Wooddale Drive, Dept. 978-0-7387-1549-0 Woodbury, MN 55125-2989 www.llewellyn.com Printed in the United States of America
This new edition is dedicated to Ninski and to the children she meets on her journey.
C O NTENTS Publisher’s Note xvii Preface to the Llewellyn Edition xix Introduction to the Llewellyn Edition xxii Author’s Note xxxi Introduction to the Original Edition xxxiii
L I G H T E LVE S
Alven
2
Dames Vertes
3
Ellefolk
5
Fylgiar
8
Sidhe
11
White Ladies
15
Will o’ the Wisps
19
Wind Folletti
20
D A R K E LVE S
Church Grims
25
Erdluitle
26
Knockers
31
Korred
34
Quiet Folk Changelings
39
Quiet Folk
43
Red Caps
49
Wichtln
51
contents … xii
DUSKY ELVES Asrai 56 Barabao 58 Brownies 60 Bwciod 63 Callicantzaroi 67 Domoviye 69 Drakes 73 Duendes 75 English Fairies 77 Fate 81 Fées 84 Fir Bolg 89 Follets 93 Folletti & Incubi 96 Fountain Women 101 Giane 103 Glashans & Shopiltees 105 Goat People 107 Gwagged Annwn 108 Heinzelmännchen & Hütchen 111 Hey-Hey Men 114 Hobgoblins 119 Klabautermannikins & Kaboutermannikins 120 Kobolde 125
contents … xiii
Kornböcke & Hausböcke 129
Laúru 131
Leprechauns 133
Leshiye & Lisunki 139
Linchetti 142
Lutins 145
Massarioli 149
Mermen 152
Merwomen 156
Moerae 161
Monacielli 165
Moss People 167
Mound Folk 171
Nereides 176
Night Elves 180
Nissen & Tomtrå 185
Nixen & River Men 187
Norggen, Orculli & Fänkenmannikins 192
Pamarindo 197
People of Peace (Sìth) 199
Pixies 203
Poleviki, Pilwiz & Pavaró 206
Poltersprites 209
Portunes 211
River Women 213
contents … xiv
Roosters, Snakes & Basiliscs 217 Rusalky 221 Salvanelli 224 Salvani & Aguane 229 Seal People: Sea Trows & Roane 231 Seligen Fräulein 233 Serván 239 Sirens 241 Skogsrå, or Wood Trolls 243 Sleigh Beggey & Tylwyth Teg 249 Tree Elves 253 Vazily, Bagany & Banniki 257 Vily 259 Vodyaniye 267
Notes 271
Bibliography 279
Index of Names 285
[A]ll nature is full of invisible people … some of these are ugly or grotesque, some wicked or foolish, many beautiful beyond any one we have ever seen, and … the beautiful are not far away when we are walking in pleasant and quiet places. W. B. Yeats, Mythologies
P UBLISHER’S NOTE
Everything we know and understand to be true results from the systems of understanding and classification created by the limited minds of human beings. One would think this situation would encourage agnosticism, moderation, tolerance, objectivity, and perpetual curiosity in even the most stubborn of minds. After all, in how many cases has the march of time rendered our dear truths inaccurate, obsolete, or, even worse, absurd? And how many times has a seemingly two-dimensional thing looked many-sided and different when viewed from a new perspective? What seems most true is that the truth lies just out of reach of the human mind. It is a constellation of microscopically generated forces manifested in myriad terrestrial and spiritual actions and reactions that we don’t have words for and sometimes barely understand. This, of course, is the mystery of existence. So how do we understand and talk about those things in life that we cannot see but know in our deepest hearts to be real? We can begin by reading the work of Nancy Arrowsmith. Arrowsmith is the author of Essential Herbal Wisdom: A Complete Exploration of 50 Remarkable Herbs, a 560-page book Publishers Weekly calls a “trove of herbal wisdom” and “a splendid homage to herbariums of the past.” She is also author of the time-honored cult classic you hold in your hands, Field Guide to the Little People. Both of these books show us an author who is deeply in touch with the synergistic forces that lie beyond the standard deductions of reality. The ongoing veneration of the Field Guide to the Little People has made it an obvious choice to republish for the newly curious minds of the … xvii
publisher’s note … xviii
twenty-first century. Originally published in 1977, put out of print, and then republished in a few limited countries around the world, Llewellyn’s new edition is the first opportunity for fans to once again own an English-language copy of this book. And it couldn’t come at a better time! Today we are trading what we don’t know for what we might discover—and we need more people like Nancy Arrowsmith to show us the way. It is an honor to once again publish her Field Guide to the Little People. May you experience a more magical time.
PREFACE TO THE L L EWELLYN EDITION
In the years since the first publication of the Field Guide, there has been a tremendous shift in beliefs about so-called supernatural beings. Aliens, witches, devas, angels, flower fairies, dragons, trolls, hags, goblins, vampires, wizards, spiritual guides, helpers, power animals, ascended beings, and various things that go bump in the night have become part of our world again. There is great confusion about all of these beings and how they relate to us, so most people listen to spiritual leaders and New Age gurus to tell them what it is all about. Polls about beliefs in the paranormal are inconsistent, with people admitting to beliefs in certain beings but not to a general belief about the existence of such things. In a 2006 poll in England, only 9 percent of the respondents said they believed in magic, but 15 percent of the underthirty-four-year-olds admitted to magic in their lives. If this book has one message, it is this: do not believe everything that New Age gurus tell you, but do go back to the stories about nature spirits that have been around for centuries. Our ancestors lived closer to nature than we do, and they actually had frequent interactions with nature spirits. Almost every culture has their own version of nature spirits, and many similar stories pop up independently in different parts of the world. There must be some reason for it. Read about what our ancestors said in this book, or do your own research and then make up your mind, following the promptings of your heart. In the words of one reviewer of the Field Guide (“Occult books: treasures found in library” by Matt Williams), “It may sound strange, but don’t knock it until you can prove that they don’t exist.” … xix
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The one culture in the world with the worst relationship to the Little People is white modern American society. Native Americans recognized the importance of nature spirits, but either they often didn’t care to share these beliefs with white settlers or the stories were not recorded in writing as diligently as they were in Europe. There are some written accounts, but these stand in no relationship to the number of stories that must have been told about nature spirits by the various tribes. White settlers often brought their beliefs with them from the old country, but very few nature spirits survived the ocean crossing and managed to thrive in the New World. As a result, we know little about the beings who populate certain areas of the United States and tend to react in four different ways when we meet nonhuman beings or have experiences we cannot explain rationally: 1) we accept the encounter and try to find out if others have had similar experiences, or 2) we pooh-pooh all such beliefs, or 3) we make up our own fanciful stories to explain things, or 4) we are terrified when we do have such experiences. It has been my experience that almost everyone has had one or more experiences that they cannot explain rationally, but very few people like to talk about them because they are afraid of being called crazy, or being crazy, or because the whole thing scares them. In many cases, this is a fear of the unknown, and the fears can be relieved if people know what they are up against and do some reading or talk to people versed in these matters. Some readers over the years have accused me of writing a book that focuses on the dark side of folklore, in the spirit of the brothers Grimm, and have asked me why I didn’t lighten up a little bit. The answer is that I did not invent or edit these stories; the depictions of the Little People are what our ancestors told each other. These stories in the oral tradition were written down, and it is from these written stories that I have made
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my compilations. I have not invented anything or tried to make the stories more gory and bloodthirsty; I have simply reported what I found. This may not correspond to the concept of gentle angels and devas helping us humans to find our way to higher and better realms, and it may also not correspond to our ideas of classifying everything as either completely evil or thoroughly good. The old folk traditions portray nature spirits as chthonic beings, as gentle as a summer breeze or as implacable as an Arctic gale but as earthy as they come, with all the devious desires and emotional turmoil we humans also experience. These beings can be benign or malevolent by turns, as variable as the wind. Another misunderstanding is that the Field Guide is a children’s book, suitable for preschoolers, as I saw posted in a review on the Web. These are adult tales that may interest children, but the book was certainly never written specifically for children. Much more, it is a book for adults who want to reexperience a childish wonder in the world and in those magical beings who populate it.
I N T RODUCTION TO THE L L EWELLYN EDITION
It has been a long time since the first edition of the Field Guide to the Little People was published and even longer since I first began researching the subject. I guess the adventure started when my parents left the United States for Oxford, England. While they were there, I was born, and my father discovered a rather eccentric scholar by the name of J. R. R. Tolkien. Back in California, we waited impatiently for his books to be sent by Blackwell’s bookstore as they appeared. My father ignored his publishing deadlines to devour The Lord of the Rings, and my mother read The Hobbit to me, night after night. I was all of five years old. Although I didn’t like Shelob, the other personages in the stories made sense to me and became part of my world. A couple of years later, in Italy, my father and I made up a game of looking for orcs at every castle we visited, and we visited a lot of them. One other place in Italy will always remain in my memory: the magical gardens of Ninfa, outside of Rome. While my parents attended formal literary dinners with the Caetanis, I tripped around the gardens with the ruined basilica, the bamboo forest, the wells and pomegranate trees, the castle moat, and the burbling trout brook. Archibald MacLeish took me one day by the hand and told me a modern version of the Circe story as we walked through the gardens. If I were one of the Little People, that garden would be my very first choice for living quarters. Many years later, I found myself in Munich, with little knowledge of German, no college degree, no money, and few prospects. I tried various odd jobs and then had a brilliant idea: I would write a book, it would … xxiii
introduction to the llewellyn edition … xxiv
become a bestseller, and I would be able to live happily ever after on the proceeds! I was all of twenty-one, very enthusiastic, and very naïve. My friend and mentor George Moorse encouraged me. I thought about what I could write about, and then came up with the next brilliant idea: I would write about all those magical beings I had always known existed. I suspected I would find twenty or so different groups in Europe, such as hobgoblins, pucks, elves, and faeries. So I set off to the Bavarian National Library and first proceeded to teach myself German so I could read about the local Little People. From the brothers Grimm, I went on to Lady Gregory and Thomas Keightley, and then discovered Giuseppe Pitrè and Wilhelm Mannhardt and a fabulous many-volumed reference book on German superstition. Soon, my notebooks were overflowing, and I started categorizing the different Little People on large index cards. There were literally thousands of them, and I was overwhelmed. Other library users would involve me in discussions during coffee breaks: “Is what you are doing really politically relevant?” “Why aren’t you including the elementary beings of Rudolf Steiner or Paracelsus’ salamanders?” “Why do you stick to folk tales and not just make some things up? No one will know the difference.” “How can you be so serious about such a frivolous topic?” “Have you been to Findhorn?” These library patrons helped me to define just what it was I was doing. After two years of research, the time came to spread out all the cards on the floor and try to find some way of organizing them. It wasn’t easy, because little people are shape-changers, but I found that they divided themselves into three groups. Now able to start compiling the information, I shut myself in a dark room and continued to visit the library to have the quiet I needed to retell the stories. George Moorse encouraged me and made suggestions as to how I could improve my writing, for which I am grateful, and that is why his name was included in the first edition of the book. When the manuscript, laboriously typed on a portable manual typewriter, was almost finished, I had another brilliant idea: I would send an excerpt to Tolkien, to see what he thought of it. While I was copying
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pages, I received the news that he had passed away. That brilliant idea was not meant to bear fruit. Finally, the manuscript was finished. Armed with a few introductions to British publishers, I withdrew all my money from the bank and flew to London. I called up the publisher of Pan Books, Sonny Mehta, and said I had written a book about the little people, and would anybody be interested in publishing it? Sometime later, Sonny confided to me that he had been about to hurl the telephone across the room when he heard that but then thought he should at least have the courtesy to hear me out. We got to talking, and a few days later, against all odds, I had a publisher. The ensuing process of publication was harmonious and exciting and very much in the old-school style: Kyle Cathie handled all the details, Peter Collenette painstakingly edited the book, and it was laboriously typeset. Heinz Edelmann supplied the first set of drawings, handing them to me with the ink still wet. Books have to be publicized to sell well, but I had no experience at all with publicity work and was terrified when I had to appear on the evening news in London. One of the more pleasurable publicity events was a live radio show with a popular radio host who was retiring from the business. It was her last appearance. After fielding many questions from listeners, there were only a few minutes left in the program. Suddenly, a very young boy with a thick Cockney accent blurted out, “My brother says there ain’t no faeries!” I just had time to reply, “Then he’s missing out on a lot, isn’t he?” before the red light went off, and the show ended. Then I got the news that an American publisher had been visiting in London and was so excited about the Little People that he was hopping around the Macmillan office in his enthusiasm. This was Arthur W. Wang, a gentleman if I ever met one, who bought the book for Hill & Wang and then skillfully guided me through four American editions. One day, he whipped out a camera and took a photograph of me for the jacket (see next page). Recently, I was surprised to see that photograph turn up in the Beinecke Library Collection of Arthur’s photographs (http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/wang.htm).
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This photo of Nancy Arrowsmith taken by Arthur W. Wang is used by the kind permission of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
After publication of the book in the United States in 1977, my father told me about a man who came up to him after one of his lectures and asked, “Are you the Arrowsmith?” While he was figuring out how to answer him, the man went on to say, “The one who wrote Field Guide to the Little People?” For once, my father was speechless. For a while in the ’90s, all was quiet with the Field Guide. It continued to be sold by rare book dealers, and later came to be offered by booksellers over the Internet. Then, suddenly, interest was reawakened. This corresponded in part to renewed interest in magical beings after the publication of the Harry Potter books, although the Field Guide was not included in the curriculum of Hogwarts. Several years ago, I found myself at a job with nothing to do. All my work was finished, and I was going to be let go in a few days’ time. Since I was supposed to look busy, I spent the time looking up friends and acquaintances on the Internet. At one point, I was so bored that I
introduction to the llewellyn edition … xxvii
typed in my own name. It was amazing what came up. I found an interview with someone who had supposedly visited me while I was “living in a garret” in Munich (this was my much-loved apartment in one of Munich’s oldest houses near the main vegetable market). I also learned that, above and beyond the usual Amazon and bookseller sites, there was a whole community out there who had read my book and was trading information about it or using it to produce more or less serious “encyclopedias” of Faerie. Here are a few quotes I found: “It is a rather special guide, for dreamers with wide-open eyes, to the enchanting Realm of Faery.”—Arthur Wang “Great source for info on European magical mini beings.”—Angus “This collection is probably the fullest description of these expressions of the Goddess to be found, exceeding in quality and content other works on the subject available today ... a full and sympathetic view is given of this hidden realm of nature.” —The Very-Faery Shoppe “It’s a wonderful reference book to everybody who is interested in fairies and wants to learn more about them and their myths and customs.”—Inara “If you can ever, ever find a copy, run, do not walk, and get a copy of Nancy Arrowsmith’s Field Guide to the Little People—this is brimming with information on fey lore. The information is drawn from hundreds of short folktales and is inordinately useful. Sadly, I believe it went through a single printing back in about 1977. I practically keep my copy under lock and key!”—from www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=88806 “I wish I still had my copy of Field Guide to the Little People, it was a cool, cool, book.”—from www.enworld.org/archive/index.php/ t-109765.html
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“Is this a work of scholarship, a trip down memory (or nightmare) lane, or a true field guide? I leave you to be the judge, but this book is an absolute delight. I picked it up when it first came out in hardcover many and many a year ago and have been known to pick it up (still) two or three times a month and read a selection.”—from http://lavendise.com/fairybooks/fairybooks.php “Nancy Arrowsmith is the author of the cult book Field Guide to the Little People that has appeared for 30 years in various editions and has just been republished in Germany.”—Magazin Kwick! Community, 25 December 2007 “This reference work gives us a wonderful chance to focus on the magic that surrounds us!”—Steffani Lehmann, Literaturtipp.com “For me, many other books on this subject simply can’t measure up to this one.”—Die richtige und vollmundige Schmökerkost, Berliner Zeitung Obviously, the Field Guide had helped fuel a worldwide discussion about magic and the Realm of Faerie. Even if the Field Guide never did become the bestseller I had hoped it would turn out to be, it has certainly been a long seller, appearing again and again in various editions in different countries over more than three decades. I guess I must have done something right and have not unduly offended the Little People with my stories. A little while ago, I was looking for an agent to help me sell Essential Herbal Wisdom. I found myself exchanging emails with a woman in New York City who admitted that she had grown up on the Field Guide to the Little People and was thrilled to finally meet me. This, of course, dates me, but it also gives me hope that new generations can be sensitized to the world of Faerie before adult worries set in, just like I was by Tolkien’s books.
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I would like to close this introduction with a plea for more magic in our everyday lives. If our ancestors—who lived much less hectic, if not always less stressful, lives—needed magic to buoy their spirits and make sense of the unseen world around them, then how much more do we need it, with our shopping malls and nerve-racking jobs and instantmessaging barrage day and night? And if we adults need it, how much more do our children need it, if they are to change the world as we know it into a more welcoming and delightful place? Bisbee, Arizona July 2008
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Elf is a generic term for all Little People and is the term most commonly used in this book. Sprite is also a generic term for all Little People. Spirit is used to refer to wood spirits, water spirits, nature spirits, etc.; it has nothing to do with spiritualism. The term fairy is avoided in the book as a general term because it has been so often misused, for example in “fairy tale” and to mean homosexual, and so on. Elves of Celtic origin are called Faeries, and the term is used as a specific name. Dwarf is a generic name usually applied to Dark Elves; it is never used in reference to Light Elves. Other terms such as imp, goblin, wight, etc., are used rarely in the book. There are also hundreds of euphemistic names for the Little People: the Fair Folk, the Good Folk, the Forgetful Folk, the Good Neighbors from the Sunset Land, the Hidden Folk, the Night Folk, Them, the Little Darlings, Mother’s Blessing, the Lovers, etc. There are literally hundreds of alternative spellings for the single elves, due to local dialects. A name in small capitals indicates a separate entry for the species concerned. An asterisk (*) indicates a note at the back of the book. Also in the notes are the sources of the stories, where they are identified by opening and closing phrases. Since the first publication of this book, geographical boundaries have changed, hence some antiquated place-name references. For example, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia do not exist anymore, and the designation U.S.S.R. is best remembered from the Beatles’ song.
… xxxi
I N T RODUCTION TO THE O RIGINAL EDITION
From the beginning of recorded history, the Little People have held an important position in the folk cultures of the world. At one time—when each tree had a name, when every deer was recognized— they grew and thrived in the country and in small villages where farmers worked the land like their fathers before them. Known and called by name, the Little People were numerous and very powerful, and they played a large role in everyday life. In those times, men were not considered the supreme rulers of our planet. The world was peopled not only with humans and animals but also with giants, gods, monsters, ghosts, spirits, and elves, many of them the equals of men in cunning, strength, and power. With the coming of Christianity, belief in spirits and “false” gods was discouraged; but despite this official disapproval, many of the old traditions lived on, slightly changed to suit the new times. Until a few centuries ago, elves still held a position in the folklore of Europe—second only to the Devil and Christ. Elves are nature spirits, Mother Nature’s children. They are spritely, sad, vengeful, morose, friendly, fun-loving, and hateful in turn, as manysided as Nature herself—psychic fauna who take many forms, appearing as iridescent beauties or as crippled old men with hunchbacks, as goats, caterpillars, cats, stones, plants, or even gusts of wind. They range in height from those the size of a tree to those so small that they can hide under a blade of grass. Elves are “more unstable and transmutative in their shapes and natures, and are not so clearly distinguishable from each other” * as men or animals. They are not generally bound by the … xxxiii
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material precepts of our existence, often having the ability to travel instantaneously through the dimensions and vanish altogether. Because of these abilities and characteristics, it has always been a difficult matter for humans to see elves. Children, poets, seers, healers, those gifted with second sight, and men and women at peace with (and in tune with) their natural surroundings have historically been those most likely to enter into contact with the Little People. Reports of such encounters were first transmitted orally by storytellers, wise men and women, priests, witches, servants, and poets. Hallucinogenic or poisonous drugs, complicated rites of initiation, and experience were once used to facilitate communication with elves and other fantastic beings, but all accounts agree that the main prerequisite to seeing the elves is an emotional affinity or a “blood relationship� with them. Relationships (sexual or otherwise) with elves are always reported as being difficult to maintain, as both parties are usually bound by a great number of taboos. It is only in the last century that detailed, word-for-word written accounts of the earlier oral reports have been set down and preserved. These accounts have formed my basic research sources. I have not used literary sources because, in my opinion, the imagination and fancy of writers often alter or confuse the facts of elf existence as it has been recognized in folk belief for centuries. (Hobbits, for example, are not included, because there have been no reports of Hobbit sightings to date.) Now that the Little People have retreated before us and our noisy cities and polluted streams, we find it harder still to come into contact with them, although they can sometimes be discovered in the country, in deserted houses, on mountaintops, in rivers, and in open fields. Most reports of modern sightings are so fragmentary as to be easily forgotten, and those who do actually encounter the elves are led to believe that their experience was just a fancy, a flight of the imagination, an aberration. This book is an attempt to treat a definite body of folk information in a scientific manner by codifying reports of sightings and presenting
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them clearly to the modern reading public. The elves are here spoken of as belonging to species, genera, and families, and their identifying characteristics and habitats are given, along with stories of their activities and dealings with humanity. I hope both to have simplified the task of identifying the elves of Europe and to have created a larger interest in them by opening the reader’s eyes to the possibility of their actual existence in our day and age. One of my most difficult tasks has been that of sifting older, more believable, and more complete versions of folk tales and oral reports from newer, Christianized, or garbled versions. If what modern folklore theoreticians say is true—that the background and origin of most folk tales can be found in the Stone Age (!), and because of the Little People’s elusive and transmutative natures—it is obvious that codification and classification is at best problematic. Any system is by necessity incomplete and liable to suffer from contradictions, and the writer is often forced to rely on intuition and luck as well as on endless examinations of the material, careful historical reconstructions, exercises in logic and linguistics, categorization, and sub-classification. I have, however, been able to distinguish three separate groups of elves from the confusion, and I have used this division as the organizational backbone of the book. Light Elves are masters at shape-changing and can travel through the four known dimensions. Their beauty is often evanescent, like that of the butterfly. They are among the best-natured Little People but are unfortunately less often seen by humans than the Dark or Dusky Elves. The Dark Elves, like caterpillars, make their homes in the earth, and their skin reflects its colors: grey, brown, red, and black. They occasionally live in human houses but always prefer dark corners and only appear at noon or late at night. The Dusky Elves are by far the most numerous. They are tied to their environment, and their life is defined by laws of time, space, and place. Because of these limitations, they can be more easily recognized by humans—hence the large role they play in this book. One can compare
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them to the butterfly in its chrysalid stage, a pupa bound by silken threads to its environment. Dusky Elves take great pains to shield themselves from foreign interference and rarely travel far from their native tree, herb, brook, mound, or pond. Although it has been fairly easy to separate the elves into these categories, precise classification into species and families has proved more difficult. For example, changelings are usually referred to as changelings, regardless of the elf species to which they belong. Changelings exchanged for humans by the Irish Sidhe bear the same name as those of the Gwagged Annwn , and the German Stille Volk and Moosweibchen Changelings are both called Wechselbälge. To further complicate matters, an extremely large number of popular names exist for each species, while the names Skogsrü , Thusser, Mound Folk, and Trolls may all be found to designate the same elves in accounts from varying times and authors. Another problem has been the unevenness of distribution: Ireland, for example, has more recorded folk tales per inhabitant than any other country in Europe, while Spanish records are so sketchy that is it is difficult to find any references at all. In many countries, especially the Slavic ones, the information and knowledge contained in folk tales have only rarely been compiled, translated, or presented to the West. Despite confusion over naming and clarification, accounts of elf sightings seem to suggest distinct patterns. From the great body of information about them, one can extract a general picture of what an elf is, apart from all variations in size, nature, and appearance. Elves are extremely old beings, possessing many traits and characteristics in common with the older European peoples (Lapps, Celts, Teutons, etc.). In order to gain power over them, humans have only to make them reveal their age, which is, in every case, venerable. In keeping with their age, elves are very conservative. They distrust iron and steel, religion, and industrialization; they are not fond of humans who follow new ways, even going to the extreme of tabooing the use of salt
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and spices in the preparation of food. They are often incapable of counting and do not know the names of the days of the week. Some elves have hollow backs: they are never quite corporeal in our world. Elf women often have long, drooping breasts, like many animals, and are capable of working in the fields and at the same time giving suck to baskets of children on their backs, an arrangement indicating their extreme fecundity. Other elves have human appearance, sometimes with the exception of animal feet, ears, skin, or teeth. Both elf men and elf women dress in old-fashioned peasant clothes, wear the colors of magic—red and green—or go naked. Materialism and material things are not respected by the Little People, to the great discomfiture of many humans. In our time, it may seem irrelevant to speak of old pagan beliefs, of elves and beings of folklore. But is there not some truth in the old stories? In our endless search for a more modern form of life, we have rejected the harsher existence of the village for that of the city and forgotten the names of the elves and disfigured the earth with our tools and machinery. We have moved from city to city in search of profit, and with each move we have grown less sensitive to the nuances of nature. We no longer have the ability to see elves with our children’s or seers’ eyes. Instead, we read of the Leprechaun and laugh at the simplicity of people who can still believe in him. This book was written for people who want to rediscover elves—the majestic, cruel, beautiful, and irrepressible elves of our forebears.
VE S L E T H G I L
light elves …
• alven •
ALVE N The Dutch Alven are the most representative species of Light Elves. Their bodies are so insubstantial to our eyes that we usually call them invisible. They can travel through the air with the same ease with which they cross rivers and streams, gliding quietly through the currents.
light elves ‌
The Alven should never be taken lightly. Their bodies may look weak, but their power is awesome. They control many bodies of water, including the fabled River Elbe. Their power is at its strongest at night, when they wake from their sleep and come to land to do mischief and greet friends. They then care for their favorite plants, nightwort and elf leaf, watering and strengthening them against the coming day. Their attachment to these plants is so strong that they will sicken or kill cattle and humans who touch them. Identification: Very few detailed descriptions of the Alven exist because of their translucent, almost transparent bodies. To further complicate things, the Alven are shape-changers and can shrink to minuscule size, only to then grow and spread into gorgeous monsters who cover half of the morning sky. Habitat: The Dutch Alven live in ponds in which there are no fish or under small mounds called Alvinnen hills. They travel with the wind and through water inside air bubbles or broken eggshells.
DAM E S VE RT E S Originally forest elves, the Dames Vertes have lately been seen close to human habitations. At one time, they lived together in small groups in the forest and led men astray, destroying them with the violence of their emotions and the exuberance of their lovemaking. The Dames Vertes were later seen at the edge of the woods, teasing travelers, laughing at young people, and dangling strangers by their hair over waterfalls. Then they became friends with the wind and traveled over the ripening grain, breathing life into the seed with every step. They appeared before fires, visiting the fields and orchards with their haunting presence. Through their long association with the wind, the Dames Vertes have become more and more ethereal until, at the present time, they are
light elves …
• dames ver tes •
light elves …
sometimes referred to as revenants, or visitors from another world. It cannot be denied that the winds of the Dames Vertes smell of earth and mold and death, but to refer to them as “ghosts” is far from correct. Their nature, however ethereal, remains that of a life-giving, greening force, like the warm wind that melts the winter’s snows. Identification: The Dames Vertes are tall, beautiful, and extremely seductive, and they dress in green tunics. Very rarely seen in their natural forms, they are usually invisible, walking so gracefully and lightly over a field that the only sign of their passage is a slight ripple in the grass. Habitat: The Dames Vertes live in thickly wooded areas in eastern France, at the edge of meadows, in forest caves, near waterfalls and springs, and on the slopes leading to fishponds. They have occasionally been known to work inside houses. During rainy weather, they can be found behind trees or overhanging vines.
ELL E F O L K Although the Ellefolk are often classed as Trolls, they have little in common with their relatives the Mound Folk or the Skogsrå. They are Light Elves, are not daybound, and can travel with great ease through air, fire, wood, water, and stone. The females ride sunbeams through keyholes while the males prefer to sit on the edges of the moors, basking in the morning sunlight. Both males and females can foretell the future and are the guardians of ancient secrets. But their favorite occupation by far is dancing. On moonlit nights, they can often be seen weaving patterns of incredible complexity, tirelessly celebrating to the delicate music of stringed instruments. The grass grows better where they have danced, and rich circles of green blossom under their feet. They are such masters of the musical arts that a few notes on one of their instruments are enough to make a human lose all reason.
light elves …
• ellefolk •
light elves …
Because of their power over all things natural and the great beauty and strength of their lives, it is very dangerous for humans to come into contact with them. A single whiff of their breath can cause sickness and even death. A man who sees one of their females through a knot in a tree will leave his wife and home in order to join her. Women should avoid disturbing the Ellemen at their sunbathing, or they will be lured into the realm of the Ellefolk. Cows should not graze where these elves have passed, or they will sicken and join the large elfin herds. But the magic of the elfin dance remains the most dangerous temptation for those of our world. Those who have stepped inside their circles and felt the whirling vibrations of their madness can find no safe haven on earth. Identification: Although the Ellefolk are usually considered Danish elves, the name can also be applied to the similar Swedish (called Elfor) and Norwegian sprites. The female Ellefolk are young, beautiful, and seductive, but they have hollow backs. Their breasts are long and drooping, their hair loose and blond. Their height is a little above four feet, and their voices are soft and gentle. The male Ellefolk are shorter than the females and wear broadbrimmed hats. The Danish and Swedish Ellemen are most often seen as old men, the Norwegian as naked young boys. Habitat: The Ellefolk live in ellemoors, next to rivers, under hills, and in marshes. Their homes can be seen only once by humans before vanishing, never to be found again. Those who have seen the Ellefolk talk of fabulous gardens hidden in the moss at the edge of forests. The Ellefolk and Elfor live in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
The cows were grazing, the sun shone high overhead, and the herdsman had little work. He tried to overcome his sleepiness and thought of what he had to do at home. A visit to his girlfriend … a walk around town in