CHAPTER III.
THE BLACK ELVES.
ACCORDING to the very old Scandinavian notion, land-fairies were of twosorts; the Light or Good Elves who dwelt in air, or out-of-doors on theearth, and the Black or Evil Elves who dwelt beneath it.
We will follow the Norse folk. If we were required to group human beingsunder two headings, we should choose that same Good and Evil, becausethe division occurs to one naturally, because it saves time, and becauseeverybody comprehends it, and sees that it is based upon law; and so dowe deal with our wonder-friends, who have the strange moral sorcerybelonging to each of us their masters, to help or to harm.
The evil fairies, then, were the scowling underground tribes, who hidthemselves from the frank daylight, and the open reaches of the fields.Yet just as the good fairies had many a sad failing to offset theirgrace and charm, the grim, dark-skinned manikins had sudden impulsestowards honor and kindness. In fact, as we noted before, they wereastonishingly like our fellow-creatures, of whom scarce any is entirelyfaultless, or entirely warped and ruined.
For instance, the Hill-men, in Switzerland, were very generous-minded;they drove home stray lambs at night, and put berry-bushes in the way ofpoor children. And the more modern Dwarves of Germany, frequenting theclefts of rocks, were silent, mild, and well-disposed, and apt to bringpresents to those who took their fancy. Like others of the elf-kingdom,they loved to borrow from mortals. Once a little bowing Dwarf came to alady for the loan of her silk gown for a fairy-bride. (You can imaginethat, at the ceremony, the groom must have had a pretty hunt among thewilderness of finery to get at her ring-finger!) Of course the lady gaveit; but worrying over its tardy return, she went to the Dwarves' hilland asked for it aloud. A messenger with a sorrowful countenancebrought it to her at once, spotted over and over with wax. But he toldher that had she been less impatient every stain would have been adiamond!
THE DWARF THAT BORROWED THE SILK GOWN.]
The huge, terrible, ogre-like Hindoo Rakshas, the weird Divs and Jinnsof Persia, and the ancient demon-dwarves of the south called Panis, maybe considered the foster-parents of our dwindled minims, as the gloriousPeris on the other hand gave their name, and some of their qualities, toa little European family of very different ancestry.
The Black Elves will serve as our general name for dwarves andmine-fairies. These are closely connected in all legends, live in thesame neighborhoods, and therefore claim a mention together. They havefour points in common: dark skin; short, bulky bodies; fickle andirritable natures; and occupations as miners, misers, or metalsmiths.And because of their exceeding industry, on the old maxim's authority,where all work and no play made Jack a dull boy, they are curiouslyheavy-headed and preposterous jacks; and, waiving their plain faces, notin any wise engaging. Yet perhaps, being largely German, they may bephilosophers, and so vastly superior to any little gabbling,somersaulting ragamuffin over in Ireland.
In the Middle Ages, they were described as withered and leering, withsmall, sharp, snapping black eyes, bright as gems; with cracked voices,and matted hair, and horns peering from it! and as if that were notenough adornment, they had claws, which must have been filched from theghosts of mediaeval pussy-cats, on their fingers and toes.
The first Duergars belonging to the Gotho-German mythology, weremuscular and strong-legged; and when they stood erect, their armsreached to the ground. They were clever and expert handlers of metal,and made of gold, silver and iron, the finest armor in the world. Theywrought for Odin his great spear, and for Thor his hammer, and for Freythe wondrous ship _Skidbladnir_.
Long ago, too, armor-making Elves, black as pitch, lived inSvart-Alfheim, in the bowels of the earth, and were able, by theirglance or touch or breath, to cause sickness and death wheresoever theywished.
THE BLACK DWARVES OF RUeGEN PLANNING MISCHIEF.]
Still uglier were the Black Dwarves of the mysterious Isle of Ruegen; norhad they any frolicsome or cordial ways which should bring up ouropinion of them. Their pale eyes ran water, and every midnight theymewed and screeched horribly from their holes. In idle summer-hours theysat under the elder-trees, planning by twos and threes to wreak mischiefon mankind. They, as well, were once useful, if not beautiful; for inthe days when heroes wore a panoply of steel, the Black Dwarves wroughtfair helmets and corselets of cobwebby mail which no lance could pierce,and swords flexible as silk which could unhorse the mightiest foe. Thelittle blackamoors frequented mining districts, and dug for ore ontheir own account. They were said to be very rich, owning unnumberedchests stored underground. The most exciting tales about gnomes of allnations were founded on the efforts of daring mortals to get possessionof their wealth.
To the mining division belong the dwarf-Trolls of Denmark and Sweden(for there were giant-Trolls as well), and the whimsical Spriggans ofCornwall. The Trolls burrowed in mounds and hills, and were called alsoBjerg-folk or Hill-folk; they lived in societies or families, baking andbrewing, marrying and visiting, in the old humdrum way. They madefortunes, and hoarded up heaps of money. But they were often obligingand benevolent; it gave them pleasure to bestow gifts, to lend andborrow, and sometimes, alas! to steal. They played prettily on musicalinstruments, and were very jolly. People used to see the stumpy littlechildren of the genteel Troll who lived at Kund in Jutland, climbing upthe knoll which was the roof of their own house, and rolling down oneafter the other with shouts of laughter. The Trolls were famousgymnasts, and very plump and round. Our word "droll" is left to us inmerry remembrance of them.
THE TROLL'S CHILDREN.]
They were tractable creatures, as you may know from the tale of thefarmer, who, ploughing an angry Troll's land, agreed, for the sake ofpeace, to go halves in the crops sown upon it, so that one year theTroll should have what grew above ground, and the next year what grewunder. But the sly farmer planted radishes and carrots, and the Trolltook the tops; and the following season he planted corn; and his queerpartner gathered up the roots and marched off in triumph. Indeed, it wasso easy to outwit the simple Troll that a generous farmer would neverhave played the game out, and we should have lost our little story. Itwas mean to take advantage of the sweet fellow's trustfulness. There wasan English schoolmaster once, a man wise, firm, and kind, and of vastinfluence, of whom one of his boys said to another: "It's a shame totell a lie to Arnold; he always believes it." That was a ray of realchivalry.
The Spriggans were fond of dwelling near walls and loose stones, withwhich it was unlucky to tamper, and where they slipped in and out withsuspicious eyes, guarding their buried treasure. If a house was robbed,or the cattle were carried away, or a hurricane swooped down on aCornish village, the neighbors attributed their trouble to theSpriggans; whereby you may believe they had fine reputations formeddlesomeness. Their cousins, the Buccas, Bockles or Knockers, weregentlemen who went about thumping and rapping wherever there was a veinof ore for the weary workmen, cheating, occasionally, to break themonotony.
A COBLYNAU.]
The Welsh Coblynau followed the same profession, and pointed out thedesired places in mines and quarries. The Coblynau were copper-colored,and very homely, as were all the pigmies who lived away from the sun;they were busybodies, half-a-yard high, who imitated the dress of theirfriends the miners, and pegged away at the rocks, like them, with greatnoise and gusto, accomplishing nothing. Their houses were far-removedfrom mortal vision, and unlike certain proper children, now obsolete,the Coblynau themselves were generally heard, but not seen.
Their German relation was the Wichtlein (little wight) an extremelysmall fellow, whom the Bohemians named Hans-schmiedlein (little JohnSmith!) because he makes a noise like the stroke of an anvil.
Dwarves and mine-men went about, unfailingly, with a purseful of gold.But if anyone snatched it from them, only stones and twine and a pair ofscissors were to be found in it. The Leprechaun, or Cluricaune, whom weshall meet later as the fairy-cobbler, was an Irish celebrity who knewwhere pots of guineas were hidden, and who carried in his pocket ashilling often-spent
and ever-renewed. He looked, in this banker-likecapacity, a clumsy small boy, dressed in various ways, sometimes in along coat and cocked hat, unlike the Danish Troll, who kept to homelygray, with the universal little red cap. Even the respectable Kobold,who was, virtually, a house-spirit, caught the fever of fortune-hunting,and often threw up his domestic duties to seek the fascinating nuggetsin the mines.
There is a funny anecdote of a Troll who, as was common with his race,cunningly concealed his prize under the shape of a coal. Now a peasanton his way to church one bright Sunday morning saw him trying vainly tomove a couple of crossed straws which had blown upon his coal; foranything in the shape of a cross seemed to shrivel up an elf's power inthe most startling manner. So the little sprite turned, half-crying, andbegged the peasant to move the straws for him. But the man was tooshrewd for that, and took up the coal, straws and all, and ran, despitethe poor Troll's screaming, and saw, on reaching home, that he hadcaptured a lump of solid gold.
All Black Elves were particular about their neighborhoods, and a wholecolony would migrate at once if they took the least offence, or if thevillagers about got "too knowing" for them. (An American poet once wrotea sonnet "To Science," in which he berated her for having made him "tooknowing," and for having driven
--"the Naiad from her flood The elfin from the green grass";
and it was in consequence of his very knowingness, no doubt, that,beauty-loving and marvel-loving as were his sensitive eyes, they neversaw so much as the vanishing shadow of a fairy.) A little dwarf-womantold two young Bavarians that she intended to leave her favoritedwelling, because of the shocking cursing and swearing of thecountry-people! But they were not all so godly.
"I CAN'T STAY ANY LONGER!"]
Ever since the great god Thor threw his hammer at the Trolls, they havehated noise as much as Mr. Thomas Carlyle, who, however, made Thor's ownbluster in the world himself. They sought sequestered places that theymight not be disturbed. The Prussian mites near Dardesheim werefrightened away by the forge and the factory. Above all else,church-bells distressed them, and spoiled their tempers. A huckster oncepassed a Danish Troll, sitting disconsolately on a stone, and asked himwhat the matter might be. "I hate to leave this country," blubbered thefat mourner, "but I can't stay where there is such an eternal ringingand dinging!"