Fairy Legends and Traditions by Thomas Crofton Croker [1825]

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102 ON THE NATURE OF THE ELVES.
was more than he could carry ; quite enraged, he
threw it on the ground—it was of the purest gold
—but from that time he and his fellows disappeared,
and the house fell into decay (Strack,
Beschr. v. Eilsen, p. 124). The old proverb of
the straw in the path (Berthold's Sermons, p.
194 ft ) is illustrated by such traditions.
The fairies like above all things to tease people
by pelting them invisibly with small stones.
Scotch Brownie derived its nickname from this
circumstance.
A
The mountain dwarfs in German
traditions (No. 37) are fond of this jest ; Elberich,
too, pelts Otnit, but so that he cannot see him
(Str. 162). According to the Legenda Aurea,
cap. 177* there was a spectre in Mayence, in the
year 856, who threw stones at the priests while
singing mass. The ignis fatuus is called in
Hanover the Tiickebold, and is regarded as a malicious
spirit, which, by its elfish light, entices the
wanderers into bogs. (J. H. Voss, Lyr. Ged. ii.
Anm. p. 315. See Hebel Aleman. Ged. 31—35)
2. But the Elves are likewise faithful, and only
seem to require confidence from men. " No one
shall break a solemn vow," says the dwarf, in the
Edda. (Alvismal, iii.) Elberich, who, in the song
of the Nibelungen, is entirely and sincerely devoted
to Siegfried from the moment that he has
vowed fidelity to him, keeps his word also to