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ELYES, DWAEFS. 459
Whilst in this and other ways the dwarfs do at times have
dealings with mankind, yet on the whole they seem to shrink
from man ; they give the impression of a downtrodden afflicted
race, which is on the point of abandoning its ancient home
to new and more powerful invaders. There is stamped on
their character something shy and something heathenish, which
estranges them from intercourse with Christians. They chafe
at human faithlessness, which no doubt would primarily mean
the apostacy from heathenism. In the poems of the Mid. Ages,
Laurin is expressly set before us as a heathen. It goes sorely
against the dwarfs to see churches built, bell-ringing (supra,
p. 5) disturbs their ancient privacy ; they also hate the clearing
of forests, agriculture, new fangled pounding-machinery for ore. 1
1 More fully treated of iii Ir. Elfenm. xciv. xcv. ; conf. Thiele 1, 42. 2, 2. Fare
p. 17, 18. Heinchen driven away by grazing herds and tinkling sheepbells, Variscia
2, 101, Hessian tales of iviclitelmannerchen, Kinderm. no. 39, to which I add the
following one : On the Schwalm near Uttershausen stands the Dosenberg close
;
to the river s bank are two apertures, once the exit and entrance holes of the
often had a little
wichtelmanner. The grandfather of farmer Tobi of Singlis
wichtelmann come to him in a friendly manner in his field. One day, when the
farmer was cutting corn, the wichtel asked him if he would undertake a carting job
across the river that night for a handsome price in gold. The farmer said yes, and
in the evening the wichtel brought a sack of wheat to the farmhouse as earnest so
;
four horses were harnessed, and the farmer drove to the foot of the Dosenberg.
Out of the holes the ivichtel brought heavy invisible loads to the waggon, which the
farmer took through the water to the other side. So he went backwards and
forwards from ten in the evening till four in the morning, and his horses at last
got tired. Then said the wichtel : That will do, now you shall see what you have
been carrying. He bid the farmer look over his right shoulder, who then saw the
whole wide field full of little wichtelmen. Said the wichtel : For a thousand years
we have dwelt in the Dosenberg, our time is up now, we must away to another
left in the mountain to content the whole
country ; but there is money enough
neighbourhood. He then loaded Tobi s waggou full of money, and went his way.
The farmer with much trouble got his treasure home, and was now a rich man ;
his descendants are still well-to-do people, but the icichtelmcn have vanished from
the land for ever. On the top of the Dosenberg is a bare place where nothing will
grow, it was bewitched by the wichtel Holding their trysts upon it. Every seven
years, generally on a Friday, you may see a high Hue flame over it, covering a
larger space of ground than a big caldron. People call it the geldfeuer, they have
brushed it away with their feet (for it holds no heat), in hopes of rinding treasure,
but in vain : the devil had always some new hocuspocus to make some little word
pop out of their mouths.
Then, lastly, a Low Saxon story of the Aller : country Tau Offensen bin
Kloster Wienhusen was en groten buern, Hovermann nenne he sick, die harre ok en
schip up der Aller. Eins dages komt 2 liie tau jiirn un segget, he scholle se over dat;
water schippen. Tweimal fauert hei over de Aller, jedesmal iia den groten rume,
den se Allero heiten dauet, dat is ne grote unminschliche wische laug un breit, dat
man se kums afkiken kann. Ans de buer tauii tweitenmale over efauert is, segt
ein von den twarmen to ome : Wut du nu ne summe geldes hebben, oder wut du
na koptal betalt sin ? Ick will leiver ne summe geld nemen sa de buer. Do
nimt de eine von den liltjen liien sinen haut af, un settet den dem schipper up :
Du herrst dik doch beter estan, wenn du na koptal efodert herrst segt de twarm ;