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512
WIGHTS AND ELVES.
sprites guard treasures, and in Nib. 399 Siegfried becomes
master of the hoard as soon as he has taken Alberich s tarnkappe
from him. In Calderon s Darna duende the little goblin wears a
tenia un cucurucho tamano.
large hat : era unfrayle tamanito, y
The Swedish tomte i garden looks like a year-old child, but
has an old knowing face under his red cap. He shews himself at
midday (see chap. XXXVI., daemon meridianus) in summer and
autumn, slow and panting he drags a single straw or an ear
(p. 459) ; when the farmer laughed and asked, What s the
odds whether you bring me that or nothing ? he quitted the
farm in dudgeon, and went to the next. From that time pros
perity forsook the man who had despised him, and went over to
his neighbour. The farmer who respected the busy tomte and
cared for the tiniest straw, became rich, and cleanliness and
order reigned in his household. Many
Christians still believe in
such home-sprites, and present them an offering every year, *
them their wage as they
pay
call it. This is done on the morn of
Yule, and consists of grey cloth, tobacco and a shovelful of earth,
Afzelius 2, 169. A piick served the monks of a Mecklenburg
monastery for thirty years, in kitchen, stall and elsewhere ; he
was thoroughly good-natured, and only bargained for tunicam
de diversis coloribus, et tintinnabulis plenani. 1 In Scotland there
lived a goblin 8hellycoat} and we saw (p. 465) that the dwarfs
of the Mid. Ages also loved bells [schellen ; and schellenkappe is
Germ, for cap and bells] . The bells on the dress of a fool still
attest his affinity to the shrewd and merry goblin (fol, follet) ;
see Suppl.
He loves to play merry pranks, and when he has accomplished
one, he is fain to laugh himself double for delight : hence that
goblin laughter (p. 502) and chuckling. But also when he sulks,
and means mischief to those who have brought him into trouble
and difficulty, he utters a scornful laugh at the top of his voice. 2
As henchman true, he abides by the master he once takes up
with, come weal come woe. But his attachment is often found
4 irksome, and one cannot be rid of him again. A farmer set fire
1 The story (as written down in 1559) is given in Ern. Joach. Westphal s Speci
men documentorurn ineditorum, Kostock 1726, pp. 156-166.
2 Scott s Minstrelsy I. civ. mentions a North English Brag or Bar guest : he
usually ended his mischievous frolics with a horselaugh. Conf . Hone s Tablebook
2, 656.