SCORPION

CHAPTER XXIV: THE DWARFS


Little Men

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, and they became known as 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 enjoined to hide underground,
being commanded never to show themselves during the daytime lest they
should be 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.

The dwarfs were also known as trolls, kobolds, brownies, goblins,
pucks, or Huldra folk, according to the country where they dwelt.


    "You are the grey, grey Troll,
      With the great green eyes,
    But I love you, grey, grey 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).



The Tarnkappe

These little beings could transport themselves with marvellous celerity
from one place to another, and they loved to conceal themselves
behind rocks, when they would mischievously repeat the last words
of conversations overheard from such hiding-places. Owing to this
well-known trick, the echoes were called dwarfs' talk, and people
fancied that the reason why the makers of such sounds 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 without it the dwarfs dared not appear above the surface of the
earth after sunrise for fear of being petrified. When wearing it they
were safe from this peril.


    "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-Fouquй.



The Legend of Kallundborg

Helva, daughter of the Lord of Nesvek, was loved by Esbern Snare,
whose suit, however, was rejected by the proud father with the scornful
words: "When thou shalt build at Kallundborg a stately church, then
will I give thee Helva to wife."

Now Esbern, although of low estate, was proud of heart, even as
the lord, and he determined, come what might, to find a way to win
his coveted bride. So off he strode to a troll in Ullshoi Hill,
and effected a bargain whereby the troll undertook to build a fine
church, on completion of which Esbern was to tell the builder's name
or forfeit his eyes and heart.

Night and day the troll wrought on, and as the building took shape,
sadder grew Esbern Snare. He listened at the crevices of the hill
by night; he watched during the day; he wore himself to a shadow
by anxious thought; he besought the elves to aid him. All to no
purpose. Not a sound did he hear, not a thing did he see, to suggest
the name of the builder.

Meantime, rumour was busy, and the fair Helva, hearing of the evil
compact, prayed for the soul of the unhappy man.

Time passed until one day the church lacked only one pillar,
and worn out by black despair, Esbern sank exhausted upon a bank,
whence he heard the troll hammering the last stone in the quarry
underground. "Fool that I am," he said bitterly, "I have builded
my tomb."

Just then he heard a light footstep, and looking up, he beheld his
beloved. "Would that I might die in thy stead," said she, through
her tears, and with that Esbern confessed how that for love of her
he had imperilled eyes and heart and soul.

Then fast as the troll hammered underground, Helva prayed beside her
lover, and the prayers of the maiden prevailed over the spell of the
troll, for suddenly Esbern caught the sound of a troll-wife singing
to her infant, bidding it be comforted, for that, on the morrow,
Father Fine would return bringing a mortal's eyes and heart.

Sure of his victim, the troll hurried to Kallundborg with the last
stone. "Too late, Fine!" quoth Esbern, and at the word, the troll
vanished with his stone, and it is said that the peasants heard at
night the sobbing of a woman underground, and the voice of the troll
loud with blame.


    "Of the Troll of the Church they sing the rune
    By the Northern Sea in the harvest moon;
    And the fishers of Zealand hear him still
    Scolding his wife in Ulshoi hill.

    "And seaward over its groves of birch
    Still looks the tower of Kallundborg church,
    Where, first at its altar, a wedded pair,
    Stood Helva of Nesvek and Esbern Snare!"

            J. G. Whittier



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, studded with the gems which his subjects had
mined 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 the little men, who were very clever smiths,
would fashion marvellous jewels or weapons, which their ruler would
bestow upon favourite 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 Miцlnir,
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 its 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.

Another famous weapon, which according to tradition was forged by
the dwarfs in Eastern lands, was the sword Angurvadel which Frithiof
received as a portion of his inheritance from his fathers. Its hilt
was of hammered gold, and the blade was inscribed with runes which
were dull until it was brandished in war, when they flamed red as
the comb of the fighting-cock.


                            "Quick lost was that hero
    Meeting in battle's night that blade high-flaming with runics.
    Widely renown'd was this sword, of swords most choice in the
    Northland."

            Tegnйr's Frithiof (G. Stephens's tr.).



The Passing of the Dwarfs

The dwarfs were generally kind 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 to ridicule, these little creatures would forsake
the house and never come back again. When the old gods ceased to be
worshipped in the Northlands, the dwarfs withdrew entirely from the
country, and a ferryman related how he had been hired by a mysterious
personage to ply his boat back and forth across the river one night,
and at every trip his vessel was so heavily laden 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
carried the dwarfs across the river, as they were leaving the country
for ever in consequence of the unbelief of the people.



Changelings

According to popular superstition, the dwarfs, in envy of man's
taller stature, 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 recognisable 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 troll women were 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 wed 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.



The Peaks of the Trolls

Naturally, traditions of the little folk abound everywhere throughout
the North, and many places are associated with their memory. The
well-known Peaks of the Trolls (Trold-Tindterne) in Norway are said
to be the scene of a conflict between two bands of trolls, who in
the eagerness of combat omitted to note the approach of sunrise,
with the result that they were changed into the small points of rock
which stand up noticeably upon the crests of the mountain.



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 Phoenician 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.