Light elves of the Scandinavians and Celtic fairies of Broceliande
For many centuries, the elves and fairies of Celtic legends and the bright elves of Scandinavian sagas did not arouse much interest among their neighbors. And in their homeland, stories about them were the lot of the illiterate and superstitious common people; aristocrats preferred the more “high” literature of the medieval “fantasy” genre – heroic poems and chivalric romances. Shakespeare wrote the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” but it is far from the popularity of “Macbeth,” “King Lear,” and “Hamlet.”
Joseph Noel Paton. The Reunion of Oberon and Titania
John Simmons. Titania, Queen of the Elves from Shakespeare's Play
Moreover, the Church declared elves and fairies to be demons or fallen angels seduced by the devil, and talking about them was sometimes simply life-threatening. Even Shakespeare in the above-mentioned play included elves and fairies among the subjects of the ancient Greek goddess of witchcraft Hecate.
By the way, do you know what "glamour" is? The real thing, not the degenerate, modern one? It is the ability of elves and fairies to "divert the eyes", creating visual illusions. It is believed that the word "glamour" is related to the French "gramarye" (grimoire), which is what they call books of spells. "Glamourous" was then also called gypsy women who cleverly deceived simpletons. And now - voiceless singers and self-proclaimed "social lionesses".
The Dark Side of the Elves
Sudden illnesses of people and domestic animals began to be explained by their defeat by "elven arrows". In Scotland, for example, they were called "saighead sith" - "magic arrows", in Ireland - "gae sídhe", "darts of the sidhe" (we will talk about the sidhe later). And sudden paralysis or epileptic seizure was called a "fairy blow" or "elven blow". A characteristic sign of defeat by an elven arrow was also considered to be an unexpected attack of pain in the joints or spine. In rural areas of Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia, elven arrows were believed in even at the beginning of the 20th century.
A drawing from the 12th century Edwin Psalter showing elves and a man struck by their arrows
Scandinavian amulet against elf arrow
In addition, it was claimed that elves could cause serious illness by spilling ale or beer. Elves were also credited with replacing unbaptized newborn children: the Germans, Scandinavians and Celts called frequently ill and simply overly capricious children elven foundlings. In order to return your child, it was recommended to frighten the "real" parents of the "foundling" by exposing him to some kind of danger. Priests explained to the flock that elves and fairies are as ugly and disgusting during the day as they seem beautiful at night.
It is known that Joan of Arc was also accused of "idolatry at the fairy tree", which in her native village was also called "I'll give you a tree" and "Maypole" Mark Twain wrote about this in his novel "Private Memories of Joan of Arc by Sieur Louis de Conte, Her Page and Secretary":
"They (the children) wove garlands of flowers, hanging them on the tree and around the spring to please the fairies who lived there... And in gratitude for these signs of attention, the fairies tried to do everything in their power for the children; they, for example, made sure that the spring was always clean, cool and abundant in water; they drove away snakes and insects that sting... from time immemorial, all the children who grew up in Domremy were called Children of the Tree."
"The Source of the Fairies" in Domremy, photograph 1910.
Later, Archangel Michael, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and the Great Martyr Margaret of Antioch began to appear to Jeanne at this tree.
E. Guerin. Joan of Arc at the "fairy tree" surrounded by angels, 1921
C. Ricketts. Joan of Arc and her voices, 1924
The highest hierarchs of the French Catholic Church and the most authoritative professors of the Sorbonne later “proved” that in fact the demons Belial, Behemoth and Satan himself had addressed the future saint with calls for the salvation of France.
Elves and fairies were credited with the construction of many menhirs, and in Denmark, even some Gothic churches. Incidentally, the founding of the Danish city of Roskilde is associated with King Hroðgar (aka Roas), who had a connection with magical creatures. This king is one of the heroes of the oldest epic poem written in the Anglo-Saxon language, Beowulf, and ruled Denmark at the time when the monster Grendel attacked the country.
Among the structures “built by elves” is the largest dolmen in France, Roche aux fées, which is also called “fairytale stone" or "fairy stone" It is located near the Breton town of Essay:
According to legend, fairies carried the stones for its construction in aprons, then poured out the extra ones - and the famous dolmen alley was created, which locals also call "fairy stones". In the Middle Ages, after the engagement, a young man and a girl had to walk around these stones on the night of the new moon, counting them: the young man on the right, the girl on the left. If they were wrong in their calculations by three stones or more, it was strictly not recommended to arrange their wedding. In general, it was a good "excuse" for those who did not want to get married - it was enough to "make a big mistake" in the counting in one direction or another.
The most famous megalithic structure in Ireland, Newgrange, dating back to 2500 BC, is also called the “fairy mound”.
Newgrange is officially recognized by UNESCO as the largest and most important megalithic structure in Europe.
The underground chambers of this mound are also called the “cave of the Sun” – its rays penetrate here on the day of the winter solstice.
Newgrange Barrow Cave
And in this 19th century engraving you can also see the famous Logan Rocking Stone in Cornwall, which is associated with elves and witches – it rocks even when lightly touched:
In the Middle Ages, there was a widespread legend that a woman could become a witch if she managed to touch this stone 9 times without moving it.
Modern Elves
The efforts of the Catholic Church and new trends in literature and culture did their job, and in the 1823th century the elves degenerated into assistants of St. Nicholas, who also underwent a very strange evolution in Catholic and Protestant countries (avoiding it in countries whose people profess Orthodoxy). In 1863, Clement Clarke Moore published in the United States the poem "One Night Before Christmas" - about St. Nicholas, who, having flown in on a reindeer sleigh, entered the house through the chimney to leave gifts for sleeping children. It was written based on a church legend about the dowry money that three poor girls received from this hierarch. In XNUMX, the American artist Thomas Nast came up with the idea of settling St. Nicholas at the North Pole, dressing him in a red fur coat with a red cap and making him spend the whole year preparing gifts for obedient children. The archbishop of the resort of Myra in Lycia (the territory of the modern Turkish province of Antalya), who probably had never seen snow, was probably shocked by the prospect of such a move. But he had nowhere to go: both large and small traders immediately realized that they could make money from this business by sharply raising prices on Christmas Eve. Like the legend of St. Valentine, this story Santa Claus's gifts quickly became commercial. Then the artist Louisa May Alcott decided that although Santa Claus was a saint, he probably couldn't handle the task of making so many gifts on his own, and in general, production needed to be expanded. So she added helpers to the Christian saint - not angels, but elves, whom the former Archbishop of Myra apparently enslaved: how else could one explain the free work of pagan magical creatures for him? Louisa Alcott's elves unexpectedly turned out to be not eternally young handsome men, but homely elderly men. Real fairies and elves of folk tales began to fade into the background. One fantasy story, written in the second half of the 20th century, tells how the elves who have survived to our time decided to return and seize power over the world. They were able to take control of the consciousness of adults who still remembered them, but they failed because modern children no longer knew anything about them.
The situation began to change after the publication of fantasy works by British philologist and translator John Tolkien. True, again, this Oxford professor was not talking about real elves, but about magical creatures he had invented. But he wisely placed them not in Broceliande or the Norwegian fjords, but in the non-existent Middle-earth, which removed all the claims of specialists.
John Tolkien
Tolkien's books immediately gained a large following, a movement of "role-players" began to develop, playing out certain episodes of these novels, and the roles of elves were always and everywhere the most desirable and prestigious. Crowds of imitators of varying degrees of talent rushed to "cultivate" the promising theme. It turned out something like in this parody poem:
Let's say you are the king of the underground elves,
The forest prince of the dwarves and the chancellor of the orcs.
Empires shake around you,
Necromancers feast in the cemeteries,
Anyone can fight each other...
(Henry Lion Oldie).
The forest prince of the dwarves and the chancellor of the orcs.
Empires shake around you,
Necromancers feast in the cemeteries,
Anyone can fight each other...
(Henry Lion Oldie).
However, the readership of the "sword and magic" genre was still limited, and therefore the vast majority of people treated Tolkien's fans as half-crazy, but harmless freaks with fake swords and bows. The elves won their final victory thanks to this funny fat man:
This is director Peter Jackson, who made two film trilogies: the first was based on Tolkien's large-scale work "The Lord of the Rings", the second - on a short story "The Hobbit or There and Back Again". Jackson's noble and wise elves turned out to be so "cute" that there was no chance to resist their charm.
Still from the film "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies":
And here, in the role of the elf queen Galadriel, was Stalin's favorite - the hero of socialist labor and holder of three Orders of Lenin, Colonel Irina Spalko (that is, the actress Cate Blanchett, who also played in the film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"):
Computer game developers also provided great support to the elves.
But today we will talk about real light elves, elves and fairies. Let us note right away that elves differed from other lower-level nature deities (the same nymphs, naiads or dryads) by the presence of a certain hierarchy, social life and even signs of statehood. In Norway, it was believed that all lower forest deities - tusser (elves, gnomes or vettirs, trolls) live in villages, keep cattle and even build churches. This is what one of these elven churches looks like - these stones can be seen in Iceland near Reykjavik:
Elves and fairies had their own kings and queens.
John Duncan. Merlin and the Fairy Queen
There were territories that they controlled and tried to keep outsiders out of them – but they also did not lay claim to other people’s lands.
Light elves of the Scandinavians
The Elder Edda tells of the elves - the light ones, who are associated with the elves of other countries, and the dark ones - the dwarves or dwarves, who are often called gnomes. And, it must be said, it is precisely about the light elves that the myths of the Scandinavian and Germanic peoples tell very little - about the same dwarves or ice giants, you can learn much more. The Younger Edda, written by Snorri Sturlson, claims that the elves were born as worms in the flesh of Ymir - a giant killed by the gods Odin, Vili and Vö. Incidentally, all land was created from this same flesh. Thus, the elves appeared simultaneously with the nine worlds of Yggdrasil (two more worlds - the fiery Muspelheim and the icy Niflheim, existed before the appearance of Ymir). It is claimed that the light elves resemble humans, but surpass them in beauty and grace - "more beautiful in appearance than the sun." They had their own language and runic writing system.
By the way, the name of Tolkien's Gandalf can be translated as "Magician of the elves". Some other names are also associated with the elves: for example, the prophetess Albruna ("Endowed with the knowledge of the elves") mentioned by Tacitus in "Germania", the first ruler of the Lombard kingdom in Italy Alboin ("Friend of the elves") and even the name Alfred ("Consultant with the elves"), which is still used.
One of the goddesses of fate, Norn, came from the family of light elves (the second was from the family of the Aesir, the third from the dwarves). The prince of the elves was the blacksmith Völund, the most famous character in Scandinavian legends.
The light elves settled in one of the new worlds, which was called Alfheim. In the "Gylfissee" (the first part of the "Younger Edda") it is said that it is in the third heaven (the highest), which is called Vidblain. According to the "Elder Edda", Alfheim was given by the Aesir to the god of the Vanir family - Freyr, who, like his father Njord and sister Freya, became a voluntary hostage when concluding peace between these gods: all of them enjoyed great respect in Asgard.
Freyr and Freya
In some sources, Alfheim is the name of the area in Norway and Sweden – between the mouths of the rivers Göta-älv and Glomma. The fact is that Freyr's other name is Yngvi, and he is considered the founder of the dynasty of kings (Ynglings), who ruled Sweden until 1060, and Norway – until 1319.
In Denmark, the light elves were called "elv", in Sweden and Norway - "alv", in Iceland - "alf-ur", in England, where many Scandinavians settled during the Viking Age - "aelf". The origin of these, of course, cognate words is unclear, the most reliable seems to be the "Celtic" version, according to which they all originated from "ellyl" or "aillil" ("shining").
The Icelandic skald Sighvatur Thordarson reports that as early as the 11th century, sacrifices to the elves were made in Västergötland (a region in western Sweden) – and “elf-altars” have survived to this day. And the “Kormac Saga” claims that sacrifices to the elves were made in Iceland in the 13th century.
Those elves who live not in the heavenly Alfheim, but in the forests, are called skoge in Sweden, and elle in Denmark. Such magical creatures usually had some kind of defect, for example, the notorious pointed ears or one nostril. Sometimes they are said to have hooves or bull's tails. In Sweden and Denmark, it was believed that forest elves can be recognized by their hollow back and neck - and therefore they try to cover them with a cloak and hat. At the same time, forest elf men are described as old men in wide-brimmed hats, but women are always young and beautiful.
Most elves, apparently, now live in Iceland, local historian Magnus Skarphedinsson "counted" 13 types of elves, 4 types of dwarves and 2 types of trolls on this island. In 2007, employees of the university of this island state conducted a very serious sociological study, during which it was found that 8% of the surveyed citizens of the country sincerely believe in the existence of elves, more than 80% do not deny their existence, 62% believe that there are currently no elves in Iceland, but they could have lived here earlier.
In Iceland, by the way, they still try not to build anything next to a large stone, and they move this stone to another place, since it could be the home of some elf.
Both the Celts and the Scandinavians with the Germans associate circles in the forests with elves and fairies, which we call "witch rings": it is believed that in these places they dance and dance in circles. They sometimes invite mortals who happen to be nearby to take part in their dances. In the area near the Danish city of Odense, they told a legend about a wedding in Norre-Brabi, where the bride, seeing that the neighboring hill had risen and stood on red columns, out of curiosity approached it, accepted a cup of wine from an elf and agreed to dance with him. When the dance was over, she remembered her husband and hurried home. No one recognized her, except for an ancient old woman, who said:
"So it was you who disappeared from my grandfather's brother's wedding a hundred years ago?"
After these words, the girl fell to the ground and died.
There was also a story about a peasant who married a fairy who entered his house through a small hole in the door. When the man drove a wedge into the hole, the fairy took the form of a normal woman, forgot about her past and stayed with him, giving birth to many children. In his old age, the peasant decided to tell her about how they first met, and even pulled out the wedge he had once inserted into the door. His wife immediately turned into a fairy again and went to her relatives.
Another common belief is that elves are afraid of iron, do not like the sound of bells, and also the smell of garlic and valerian.
The Fairies of Broceliande
A real photo taken in the Broceliande forest: in the background a gilded chestnut tree surrounded by five black skeletons of burnt trees
We have already said that in the regions inhabited by the descendants of the Celts there were "fairy trees", in communication with which Joan of Arc was later accused. But there was also a whole forest in which fairies were supposedly the absolute mistresses. This is the famous Brocéliande, and even Victor Hugo mentioned it in the novel "The Year 93":
"The seven so-called 'black forests' of Brittany were the following: the forest of Fougères, which enclosed the space between Dole and Avranches; the forest of Pronçais, which was eight miles in circumference; the forest of Pemppont, which was cut by ravines and streams, almost inaccessible from the direction of Beignon, but had a convenient connection with the royalist town of Concornet; the forest of Rennes, in which the alarms of the republican parishes, quite numerous in the environs of the cities, could be heard; it was in this forest that the detachment of Puissey destroyed the detachment of Focard; the forest of Machecoul, in which Charret hid like a wild beast; the forest of Garnache, which belonged to the families of La Tremoille, Gauvain and Rohan; and finally, the forest of Brocéliande, which belonged to the fairies."
(Broceliande is now considered part of the Paimpont Forest.)
Brocéliande is closely connected with the famous legends of the Breton (Arthurian) cycle, which the Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski called "archetype, prototype of all fantasy works».
Merlin's famous student, Morgan le Fay, is often associated with the Breton river fairy Morgan. However, some associate her with the Irish war goddess Morrigan, others with the Welsh fertility goddess Modron.
John Roddam Spencer-Stanhope. Morgan le Fay. 1880
Morgana is undoubtedly the most popular fairy of the Breton cycle, and in the 19th century a rare natural phenomenon of several partially overlapping mirages, known since ancient times, was even named in her honor:
Fata Morgana
There is even a description of Fata Morgana in Chekhov’s story “The Black Monk”:
“A thousand years ago, a monk dressed in black walked through the desert, somewhere in Syria or Arabia… A few miles from where he walked, fishermen saw another black monk moving slowly across the surface of a lake. This second monk was a mirage. Now forget all the laws of optics, which the legend seems to ignore, and listen further. From the mirage came another mirage, then from that a third, so that the image of the black monk began to be transmitted endlessly from one layer of the atmosphere to another. He was seen now in Africa, now in Spain, now in India, now in the Far North.”
On December 10, 1941, near the Maldives, a treacherous Breton fairy showed the sailors of the English transport ship Vendor the sinking cruiser Repulse, attacked by Japanese torpedo bombers near Ceylon – 900 km away. The sight was so convincing that the captain of the Vendor decided to help his drowning compatriots and spent several hours searching for them.
But let's return to Brocéliande, where Morgana created the "Valley of No Return", from which the knights who were unfaithful to their ladies could not find a way out. They were later freed by the ward of another fairy - Vivienne, the famous Sir Lancelot (with whom, by the way, Morgana was hopelessly in love).
Broceliande, Valley of No Return
Lancelot fighting two dragons guarding the entrance to the Valley of No Return, 15th century painting
Morgan's niece was the fairy Melusine (half-woman, half-snake), whose descendants were considered to be the English kings Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland, and Queen Elizabeth Woodville.
Miniature from the manuscript of "The Romance of Melusine" by Gilbert de Metz, circa 1410.
According to legend, she was forcibly taken to Sunday mass and disappeared from the church without a trace. Melusine's prototype is considered to be Princess Melisande, the niece of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and the wife of Count Fulk V of Anjou, who became the mother of the first king of the Plantagenet dynasty. She certainly did not have a snake's tail, but her contemporaries took this legend quite seriously, and the future Saint Bernard said of the Plantagenets:
"They came from the devil and will return to the devil."
And Thomas Becket wrote about Henry II Plantagenet and his children:
"They come from the devil and will return to him."
Henry II's son Richard also had no doubts about his origins as a fairy. After the fall of Accra in 1191, he ordered the killing of 2700 prisoners for whom ransom had not been paid. In response to the murmur that arose, he declared to his fellow crusaders:
"What did you expect from me? Are we (the Plantagenets) not the children of the devil?"
By the way, it was for this act that Richard received his famous nickname – Lionheart: at that time, lions personified not only military valor, but also cruelty.
According to another version of this legend, Melusine became the founder of the House of Lusignan. Martin Luther claimed that Melusine was a demon of lust and debauchery – a succubus, and in the Middle Ages, sinners were even called "daughters of Melusine."
There are two lakes in the Brocéliande forest – the “Mirror of the Fairies” (le Miroir aux Fées) and Compère. The second of them contained the underwater castle of the above-mentioned fairy Vivienne, who is also called Nimue, Nineve, the Lady and the Maiden of the Lake. She was proud that Merlin was never able to deprive her of her virginity (unlike his other students), and later even imprisoned the famous Celtic wizard in a rock.
Gaston Bussiere. Merlin and Vivienne
Broceliande, "The Tomb of Merlin"
It was Vivienne who gave Arthur his famous sword Excalibur.
Lady of the Lake
She also saved this king twice from assassination attempts by his half-sister, Morgana, who was offended by him for forcibly marrying her off (she fled from her unloved husband to Broceliande, where she became Merlin’s student).
By the way, the famous melody by Schubert, to which the prayer Ave Maria is set, was originally written as Ellens Gesang III – the 3rd song of Elaine, the heroine of Walter Scott’s poem “The Lady of the Lake”.
To this day, Brocéliande shows the Barenton spring (la Fontaine de Barenton), whose water supposedly cures madness. It was also called the fountain of youth: it was believed that washing with its water smoothes out wrinkles.
Broceliande, Barenton source
The next article will cover the Sidhe of Ireland, the Elves and Fairies of Britain, and the Orcs and Ugrians.
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