[114] _i. e._ The _Bruiser_ or _Crusher_, from _Myla_, to bruise or crush. Little the Fancy know of the high connexions of their phrase _Mill_.
[115] Edda Resenii, Daemisaga 59.
[116] Thorston's Saga, c. 3, in the Kampa Dater.
[117] The Berserkers were warriors who used to be inflamed with such rage and fury at the thoughts of combats as to bite their shields, run through fire, swallow burning coals, and perform such like mad feats.
"Whether the avidity for fighting or the ferocity of their nature,"
says Saxo, "brought this madness on them, is uncertain."
[118] The northern nations believed that the tombs of their heroes emitted a kind of lambent flame, which was always visible in the night, and served to guard the ashes of the dead; they called it _Hauga Elldr_, or The Sepulchral Fire. It was supposed more particularly to surround such tombs as contained hidden treasures.--_Bartholin, de Contempt. a Dan. Morte_, p. 275.
[119] Hervarar Saga _passim_. The Tirfing Saga would be its more proper appellation. In poetic and romantic interest it exceeds all the northern Sagas.
[120] In Swedish Dverg also signifies a spider.
[121] In the old Swedish metrical history of Alexander, the word _Duerf_ occurs. The progress in the English word is as follows: Anglo-Saxon [Old English: deorg]; thence _dwerke_;
A maid that is a messingere And a _dwerke_ me brought here, Her to do socour.
_Lybeaus Disconus._
lastly, _dwarf_, as in old Swedish.
SCANDINAVIA.
De vare syv og hundrede Trolde, De vare baade grumme og lede, De vilde gjore Bonden et Gjaesterie, Med hannem baade drikke og aede.
ELINE AF VILLENSZOV.
There were seven and a hundred Trolls, They were both ugly and grim, A visit they would the farmer make, Both eat and drink with him.
Under the name of Scandinavia are included the kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, which once had a common religion and a common language. Their religion is still one, and their languages differ but little; we therefore feel that we may safely treat of their Fairy Mythology together.
Our principal authorities are the collection of Danish popular traditions, published by Mr. Thiele,[122] the select Danish ballads of Nyerup and Rahbek,[123] and the Swedish ballads of Geijer and Afzelius.[124] As most of the principal Danish ballads treating of Elves, etc., have been already translated by Dr. Jamieson, we will not insert them here; but translate, instead, the corresponding Swedish ones, which are in general of greater simplicity, and often contain additional traits of popular belief. As we prefer fidelity to polish, the reader must not be offended at antique modes of expression and imperfect rimes. Our rimes we can, however, safely say shall be at least as perfect as those of our originals.
These ballads, none of which are later than the fifteenth century, are written in a strain of the most artless simplicity; not the slightest attempt at ornament is to be discerned in them; the same ideas and expressions continually recur; and the rimes are the most careless imaginable, often a mere _assonnance_ in vowels or consonants; sometimes not possessing even that slight similarity of sound. Every Visa or ballad has its single or double Omquaed[125] or burden, which, like a running accompaniment in music, frequently falls in with the most happy effect; sometimes recalling former joys or sorrows; sometimes, by the continual mention of some attribute of one of the seasons, especially the summer, keeping up in the mind of the reader or hearers the forms of external nature.
It is singular to observe the strong resemblance between the Scandinavian ballads and those of England and Scotland, not merely in manner but in subject. The Scottish ballad first mentioned below is an instance; it is to be met with in England, in the Feroes, in Denmark, and in Sweden, with very slight differences. Geijer observes, that the two last stanzas of 'William and Margaret,' in Percy's Reliques, are nearly word for word the same as the two last in the Swedish ballad of 'Rosa Lilla,'[126] and in the corresponding Danish one. This might perhaps lead to the supposition of many of these ballads having come down from the time when the connexion was so intimate between this country and Scandinavia.
We will divide the Scandinavian objects of popular belief into four classes:--1. The Elves; 2. The Dwarfs, or Trolls, as they are usually called; 3. The Nisses; and 4. The Necks, Mermen, and Mermaids.[127]
FOOTNOTES:
[122] Danske Folkesagn, 4 vols. 12mo. Copenh. 1818-22.
[123] Udvalgde Danske Viser fra Middelaldaren, 5 vols. 12mo. Copenh.
1812.
[124] Svenska Folk-Visor frn Forntiden, 3 vols. 8vo. Stockholm, 1814-16. We have not seen the late collection of Arvidsson named Svenska Fornsnger, in 3 vols. 8vo.
[125] The reader will find a beautiful instance of a double Omquaed in the Scottish ballad of the Cruel Sister.
There were two sisters sat in a bower, _Binnorie o Binnorie_ There came a knight to be their wooer _By the bonny mill-dams of Binnorie._
And in the Cruel Brother,
There were three ladies played at the ba', _With a heigh ho and a lily gay_; There came a knight and played o'er them a', _As the primrose spreads so sweetly_.
The second and fourth lines are repeated in every stanza.
[126] These are the Swedish verses:
Det vaxte upp _Liljor_ p begge deres graf, _Med aran och med dygd_-- De vaxte tilsamman med alla sina blad.
_J vinnen val, J vinnen val bde rosor och liljor._ Det vaxte upp _Rosor_ ur bda deras mun, _Med aran och med dygd_-- De vaxte tilsammans i fagreste lund.
_J vinnen val, J vinnen val bde rosor och liljor._
[127] Some readers may wish to know the proper mode of pronouncing such Danish and Swedish words as occur in the following legends. For their satisfaction we give the following information. J is pronounced as our _y_; when it comes between a consonant and a vowel, it is very short, like the y that is expressed, but not written, in many English words after _c_ and _g_: thus _kjaer_ is pronounced very nearly as _care_: _o_ sounds like the German _o_, or French _eu_: _d_ after another consonant is rarely sounded, Trold is pronounced Troll: _aa_, which the Swedes write __, as o in _more_, _tore_. Aarhuus is pronounced _Ore-hoos_.
ELVES.
Sag, kannar du Elfvornas glada slagt?
De bygga ved flodernas rand; De spinna af mnsken sin hogtidsdragt, Med liljehvit spelande hand.
STAGNELIUS.
Say, knowest thou the Elves' gay and joyous race?
The banks of streams are their home; They spin of the moonshine their holiday-dress, With their lily-white hands frolicsome.
The Alfar still live in the memory and traditions of the peasantry of Scandinavia. They also, to a certain extent, retain their distinction into White and Black. The former, or the Good Elves, dwell in the air, dance on the grass, or sit in the leaves of trees; the latter, or Evil Elves, are regarded as an underground people, who frequently inflict sickness or injury on mankind; for which there is a particular kind of doctors called _Kloka man_,[128] to be met with in all parts of the country.
The Elves are believed to have their kings, and to celebrate their weddings and banquets, just the same as the dwellers above ground. There is an interesting intermediate class of them in popular tradition called the Hill-people (_Hogfolk_), who are believed to dwell in caves and small hills: when they show themselves they have a handsome human form.
The common people seem to connect with them a deep feeling of melancholy, as if bewailing a half-quenched hope of redemption.[129]
There are only a few old persons now who can tell any thing more about them than of the sweet singing that may occasionally on summer nights be heard out of their hills, when one stands still and listens, or, as it is expressed in the ballads, "lays his ear to the Elve-hill"
(_lagger sitt ora till Elfvehogg_): but no one must be so cruel as, by the slightest word, to destroy their hopes of salvation, for then the spritely music will be turned into weeping and lamentation.[130]
The Norwegians call the Elves Huldrafolk, and their music Huldraslaat: it is in the minor key, and of a dull and mournful sound. The mountaineers sometimes play it, and pretend they have learned it by listening to the underground people among the hills and rocks. There is also a tune called the Elf-king's tune, which several of the good fiddlers know right well, but never venture to play, for as soon as it begins both old and young, and even inanimate objects, are impelled to dance, and the player cannot stop unless he can play the air backwards, or that some one comes behind him and cuts the strings of his fiddle.[131]
The little underground Elves, who are believed to dwell under the houses of mankind, are described as sportive and mischievous, and as imitating all the actions of men. They are said to love cleanliness about the house and place, and to reward such servants as are neat and cleanly.
There was one time, it is said, a servant girl, who was for her cleanly, tidy habits, greatly beloved by the Elves, particularly as she was careful to carry away all dirt and foul water to a distance from the house, and they once invited her to a wedding. Every thing was conducted in the greatest order, and they made her a present of some chips, which she took good-humouredly and put into her pocket. But when the bride-pair was coming there was a straw unluckily lying in the way, the bridegroom got cleverly over it, but the poor bride fell on her face. At the sight of this the girl could not restrain herself, but burst out a-laughing, and that instant the whole vanished from her sight. Next day, to her utter amazement, she found that what she had taken to be nothing but chips, were so many pieces of pure gold.[132]