Northern mythology

116 DANISH TRADITIONS.
were not yet washed. Our Lord asked her if all her
children were there ; she answered ' yes/ to avoid his
anger, if he should see that they were not all washed. Then
said our Lord, that what she had concealed from him
should thenceforth be concealed from mankind; and at
the same moment the unclean children disappeared and
were concealed in the hills. From these descend all the
underground folk.
In a rabbinic tradition it is said, that after Adam had eaten of the tree
of knowledge he was accursed for a hundred and thirty years. During all
these years, as we are informed by Rabbi Jeremias ben Elieser, he procreated
only schedim, i. e. demons and the like.
ELF-FOLK.
The Elf-folk dwell in the Elf-moors. The male appears
as an old man with a broad-brimmed hat ; the female
Elf is young and seducing in
appearance, but behind she
is as hollow as a dough-trough. Young men should be
particularly on their guard against her, for it is difficult
to withstand her, and she has besides a stringed instrument,
when she touches which she infatuates every heart.
The male is often to be seen by the Elf-moors basking in
the sunbeams ; but if any one approach him too near, he
will stretch his jaws and blow on them, which causes sickness
and pestilence ^ The females are most frequently to be
seen in the moonlight, when they dance their circling dance
in the high grass with such lightness and grace, that
seldom get a refusal, when they offer
they
a young man their
hand. Good care must be taken to prevent cattle from
grazing where the Elf-folk have been ; for if an animal
come on a place where they have either spat or done worse,
it will be seized with grievous complaints, which can be
remedied only by giving them to eat a handful of St.
1
That the blast of the elves is dangerous, is also a popular behef in
Scotland.