THE DWARFS.
In the first chapter we saw how the black elves, dwarfs, or
Svart-alfar, were bred like maggots in the flesh of the slain giant
Ymir. The gods, perceiving these tiny, unformed creatures creeping
in and out, gave them form and features, calling them dark elves on
account of their swarthy complexions. These small beings were so
homely, with their dark skin, green eyes, large heads, short legs, and
crow’s feet, that they were told to hide underground and never show
themselves during the daytime under penalty of being turned into stone.
Although less powerful than the gods, they were far more intelligent
than men, and as their knowledge was boundless and extended even to the
future, gods and men were equally anxious to question them.
They were also known as trolls, kobolds, brownies, goblins, pucks, or
Huldra folk, according to the country where they dwelt.
“You are the gray, gray Troll,
With the great green eyes,
But I love you, gray, gray Troll--
You are so wise!
“Tell me this sweet morn,
Tell me all you know--
Tell me, was I born?
Tell me, did I grow?”
THE LEGEND OF THE LITTLE FAY (Buchanan).
[Sidenote: The Tarnkappe.]
These dwarfs could transport themselves with marvelous celerity from
one place to another, loved to conceal themselves behind rocks, and
mischievously repeated the last words of every conversation they
overheard. Owing to this well-known trick, the echoes were called
dwarfs’ talk, and people fancied that the reason why they were never
seen was because each dwarf was the proud possessor of a tiny red cap
which made the wearer invisible. This cap was called Tarnkappe, and it
was owing to it only that the dwarfs dared appear above the surface of
the earth after sunrise without fear of being petrified.
“Away! let not the sun view me--
I dare no longer stay;
An Elfin-child, thou wouldst me see,
To stone turn at his ray.”
LA MOTTE-FOUQUÉ.
[Sidenote: The magic of the dwarfs.]
The dwarfs as well as the elves were ruled by a king, who, in various
countries of northern Europe, was known as Andvari, Alberich, Elbegast,
Gondemar, Laurin, or Oberon. He dwelt in a magnificent subterranean
palace, all studded with the gems which his subjects had drawn from the
bosom of the earth, and, besides untold riches and the Tarnkappe, he
owned a magic ring, an invincible sword, and a belt of strength. At his
command his subjects, who were very clever smiths, fashioned marvelous
jewels or weapons, which he bestowed upon favorite mortals.
We have already seen how the dwarfs fashioned Sif’s golden hair, the
ship Skidbladnir, the point of Odin’s spear Gungnir, the ring Draupnir,
the golden-bristled boar Gullin-bursti, the hammer Miölnir, and Freya’s
golden necklace Brisinga-men. They are also said to have made the magic
girdle which Spenser describes in his poem of the “Faerie Queene,”--a
girdle which was said to have the power of revealing whether the wearer
were virtuous or a hypocrite.
“That girdle gave the virtue of chaste love
And wifehood true to all that did it bear;
But whosoever contrary doth prove
Might not the same about her middle wear
But it would loose, or else asunder tear.”
FAERIE QUEENE (Spenser).
The dwarfs also manufactured the mythical sword Tyrfing, which
could cut through iron and stone, and which they gave to Angantyr.
This sword, like Frey’s, fought of its own accord, and could not be
sheathed, after it was once drawn, until it had tasted blood. Angantyr
was so proud of this weapon that he had it buried with him; but his
daughter Hervor visited his tomb at midnight, recited magic spells, and
forced him to rise from his grave to give her the precious blade. She
wielded it bravely, and it eventually became the property of another of
the Northern heroes.
The dwarfs were generally kindly and helpful; sometimes they kneaded
bread, ground flour, brewed beer, performed countless household tasks,
and harvested and threshed the grain for the farmers. If ill treated,
however, or turned into ridicule, these little creatures forsook
the house and never came back again. When the old gods ceased to be
worshiped in the Northlands, the dwarfs entirely withdrew from the
country, and a ferryman once said that he had been hired to ply his
boat back and forth across the river one night, and that at every trip
his vessel was so laden down with invisible passengers that it nearly
sank. When his night’s work was over, he received a rich reward, and
his employer informed him that he had helped all the dwarfs across the
river, for they were leaving the country forever to punish the people
for their unbelief.
[Sidenote: Changelings.]
According to popular superstition, the dwarfs envied man’s taller
stature and often tried to improve their race by winning human wives or
by stealing unbaptized children, and substituting their own offspring
for the human mother to nurse. These dwarf babies were known as
changelings, and were recognizable by their puny and wizened forms.
To recover possession of her own babe, and to rid herself of the
changeling, a woman was obliged either to brew beer in egg-shells
or to grease the soles of the child’s feet and hold them so near the
flames that, attracted by their offspring’s distressed cries, the dwarf
parents would hasten to claim their own and return the stolen child.
The female trolls were also said to have the power of changing
themselves into Maras or nightmares, and of tormenting any one they
pleased; but if the victim succeeded in stopping up the hole through
which a Mara made her ingress into his room, she was entirely at his
mercy, and he could even force her to marry him if he chose to do so.
A wife thus obtained was sure to remain as long as the opening through
which she had entered the house was closed, but if the plug were
removed, either by accident or design, she immediately effected her
escape and never returned.
[Sidenote: A conjecture.]
Some writers have ventured a conjecture that the dwarfs so often
mentioned in the ancient sagas and fairy-tales were real beings,
probably the Phœnician miners, who, working the coal, iron, copper,
gold, and tin mines of England, Norway, Sweden, etc., took advantage
of the simplicity and credulity of the early inhabitants to make them
believe that they belonged to a supernatural race and always dwelt
underground, in a region which was called Svart-alfa-heim, or the home
of the black elves.