Northern mythology

26 XORTHERX MYTHOLOGY.
and slayer of Bcli ; is owner of the ship Skidbladnir, and
rides in a chariot drawn by the hog GuUinbursti (Gold-
Dwarfs and Alfs, believing the former to live solitary and in quiet, while
the latter love music and dancing. Faye, p. 48.
The fairies (elves) of Scotland are precisely identical with the above.
They are described as " a diminutive race of beings, of a mixed or rather
dubious nature, capricious in their dispositions, and mischievous in their
resentment. They inhabit the interior of green hills, chiefly those of a
conical form, in Gaelic termed Sighan, on which they lead their dances by
moonlight ; impressing upon the surface the marks of circles, which sometimes
appear yellow and blasted, sometimes of a deep green hue ; and
within which it is dangerous to sleep, or to be found after sunset. Cattle,
which are suddenly seized with the cramp, or some similar disorder, are
said to be elf-nhot,'" Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, ii. 162,
edit. 1821.
Of the Swedish elves, Arndt gives us the following sketch :— " Of giants
and dwarfs, of the alp, of di-agons that keep watch over treasures, they
have the usual stories ; nor are the kindly elves forgotten. How often has
ray postillion, when he observed a circular mark in the dewy grass, exclaimed
:
*
See ! there the elves have been dancing !' These elf -dances
play a great part in the spinning room. To those who at midnight happen
to enter one of these circles, the elves become visible, and may then play
all kinds of pranks with them ; though, in general, they are little, merry,
harmless beings, both male and female. They often sit in small stones
that are hollowed out in a circular form, and which are called alfquarnar
(elf-querns or -millstones). Their voice is said to be soft like the air. If
a loud cry is heard in the forest, it is that of the Skogsra (see vol. ii.), or
spirit of the wood, which should be answered only by a ' He
!
'
when it
can do no harm." Reise durch Schweden, iii. 16.
The elf-shot was known in this country in very remote times, as appears
from the Anglo-Saxon incantation printed in Grimm, D. M. 1192 and
:— in the Appendix to Kemble's Saxons in England (i. 530, sq.) " Gif hit
WEere csagescot, o'S^e hit waere ylfa gescot." If it were an cesir-shot or
an elve's-shot. On this subject Grimm says :
" It is a very old belief, that
dangerous arrows were shot by the elves from the air The thunderbolt
is also called elf-shot, and in Scotland, a hard, sharp, wedge-shaped
stone is known by the name of elf-arrow, elf-flint, elf-holt, which it is
supposed has been sent by the spirits." D. M. 429. See also the old Danish
ballad * Elveskud,' in which the elf-king's daughter strikes Sir Oluf
between the shoulders, and causes his death. Danske Viser, i. 237; or
the Engl, transl. in Jameson's Ballads, i, 219.
The wives of the elves are called ' clliser.' They are to be seen only in
fine weather, and then in the '* elf-marshes," particularly in spots where