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452
WIGHTS AND ELVES.
as the Alvismal implies by putting alfar, dvergar, and helbuar (if
I may use the word), by the side of men, giants, gods, ases and
vanir, each as a separate class of beings, with a language of its
own. Hence too the expressions
das stille voile ; the good
people (p. 456) ; huldu-/oZ& ; in Lausitz ludki, little folk volksl. 2, 268),
(Wend,
from lud, liud (nation), OHG. liut, Boh. lid; and
in Welsh y teidu (the family), y tylwyth teg (the fair family, the
pretty little folk, conf. Owen sub v. tylwyth, and DiefenbacVs
this a histo
Celtica ii. 102. Whether we are to understand by
rical realm situate in a particular region, I leave undecided here.
Dvergmdl (sermo nanorum) is the ON. term for the echo : a very
expressive one, as their calls and cries resound in the hills, and
when man speaks loud, the dwarf replies, as it were, from the
mountain. HerrauSssaga, cap. 11, p. 50: SigurSr
stilti sva
hatt horpuna, at dvergmdl qva$ i hollunni/ he played so loud
on the harp, that dwarfs voice spoke in the hall. When heroes
dealt loud blows, dvorgamdl sang uj qvorjun hamri/ echo
sang in every rock (Lyngbye, p. 464, 470) ; when hard they
hewed, f
dvorgamdl sang uj fiodlun/ echo sang in the mountains
(ibid. 468). ON. qveffr viff i klettunum/ reboant rupes. Can
groeti dlfa (ploratus nanorum)
in the obscure Introduction to
the Hamdismal (Saem. 269 a
) mean something similar ? Even our
German heroic poetry seems to have retained the same : image
Dem fehten allez nach erhal, To the fighting everything
resounded,
do beide berg und ouch diu tal then both hill and also dale
gdben ir slegen stimme. gave voice to their blows.
(Ecke, ed. Hagen, 161.)
Daz da beide berg und tal
vor ir slegen wilde wider einander allez hal. (ibid. 171.)
The hills not only rang again with the sword-strokes of the
heroes, but uttered voice and answer, i.e. the dwarfs residing in
them did. 1
This nation of elves or dwarfs has over it a Icing. In Norse
legend, it is true, I remember no instance of it among alfar
or dvergar; yet Huldra is queen of the huldrefolk (p. 272), as
1 The Irish for echo is similar, though less beautiful: muc alia, swine of the rock.