Old elves.... some facts from europe

[Baltazaar]

basically, I have some issues that I have to talk about. Especially, I would love to hear about them from the elfkin community.
So, it all started when i was reading the Elf versus human article. basically, the statements about the elfs are not quite what I used to remember from my Time when I was told stories. So, I asked myself the question.... Why are Elfs so appreciated today?

People today just seem to think of Elves as tall, sparkly creatures who dance around nekkid in the woods, in the gleam of the moonlight to the most wonderfull music anybody can imagine.
Or, the second kind of elfs I encountered on my studies for the post arte the wee little fellas with wings on their backs, who swoosch around taking flowers and weeds.
But why are the old elves, or as I like to call them, the pre Tolkien elves, so much different from the ones today?

So, I did a little research, and found about 50 pictures of how artists drew them. So, my base hypothesis for the fairies or elves or high ones is as follows:
The artists, which produces media about them, all copied from one another. In fairness to all elf-kin, I suspect that one or two have really seen them, and then painted / sung / wrote about them. I mean, if they are creatures of myth, there surely would have been discrepancys in the pics, or stuff.
Instead, the physical description of elves gave me the shiverings.
Why?
Let's review what they have in common...
1. tall, beautifull and glamorous. This I think is mainly the artists description and immagination. because, as any reasonable artist knows, if you want to get money, you paint nice stuff. So, we can rank that as lower priority.
The tall part of the elves deserves special attention. In my psychology lectures, I heard that the mightier a person percieves a being, the bigger it gets. You perhaps know that from the common tales of how big the fish was, or how the dog grew higher each time the person told the story. if something is percieved very dangerous, or very mighty, it automatically gets bigger and bigger, because we remember not the exact minor details, but our feelings about them. So, the height discrepancy can be explained by the simple fact that the little hippie fairies with butterfly wings do not really pose any real danger, but that the bigger ones packed quite a punch... (more later on)
2. thin. As far as I know, the pre-elves never ever had fat ones. The later ones too. So, we canm ask ourself the question: are there any fat elves? mainly, in my oppinion, the thin part came from three sources.
- the diet. All elves seemed to eat nothing more then a few veggies and perhaps some morning dew, and to be quite honest, the only fairy with some popularity that I can think of as a bit different is Puck, the guy from shakespear. So, to put it all together, most elves from the media are purely herbivores, with the occasional omnivore. It seems to be the same with vegans.... you allmost never see a really fat one.
- Thinness equals beauty. Look in any nude pics magazine, or in any fantasy drawing mag. all elves are portraied as some sort of hermaphrodit characters, which basically could render them in the medieval version of nudie pics.
- thinness as an element of power. Basically, all the old and new elves are woodland critters. as far as I am in the game, any animal worth his weight is thin if it is a herbivore, because then, it can run faster. Possibly from that source, the older folks back then made the same equasion, and made them thin... I really don't know.
- their faces where of special interest to me. if we cut away all artificial cult and beauty ideals, their faces allways share two characteristics.
Triangular, tender faces, with large, slightly slanted eyes. keep that in mind, you have to put the facts together in the end.
- an other point in their beauty was the way they looked. Basically, each elf has the look of someone who spends 90 hours in the bathroom before going out shopping. I do not really know, but as I see it, most artists had the complex of making things bigger and better. So, in those days, the genetical imperative of survival was a big point in the beauty ideal. if a woman could cook, tend the pigs, and was healthy enough to help plowing the fields, she surely was not looking very good, except in the young age.
So, just in my mind, or as an other explanation, the ability to survive increases the potential beauty. Big point for them, considering their allways amazing skill and their supercool abilities.
So, lets keep the important facts in mind.
Outward appearance: Thin, beautifull, triangular faces, slightly hermaphrodite figure and big eyes.

what is also a nice clue towards my final poiunt is that in earlyer days, the surefire sign to see if elves where at work was big circles in the field, where they had danced....

So, after that, I basicakllly could not stop my grinning.... The old elves, and in the mirror, the new elves, looked remarkably like the figures we use to adress as greys.

But wait, there is more. Because I am quite honestly a bit lazy and a bit drunk, I think if you can handle gaia, you can regoogle my sources for yourself.
Let's see how the Elves and fairies hold their ground in the field of their reported actions...
So, in 1684, a guy named richard bovet wrote about someone who had known a guy who had seen the fairies hold a market on blackdown hill in the wonderfull area of Sommerset.
So, the Bloke was obviously curious, and tried to join them, and as the story goes, he felt a sharp pain in his side, and by the he got home, "lameness seized him all on one side", and even if he remained though, he survived for many years. That sounds suspiciously like inducing a stroke in someone.
what I find most amusing is that even in recent years, the stories abvout the not so very friendly elves where quite vivid in russia and eastern europe.
From a guy named gail klingman, a folk-lore writer in 1975, who used to work in romania, heard about a particular kind of elves called iele, litterally translated to "they" or "themselfs", since, and that was a real kicker for me, it was even dangerous to utter their true name, becauseit might call the iele. from the description part, it is quite similar to our standfart after tolkien elf.
A tribe of wonderously beautifull but malevolent fairy maidens, which live in the woods and in wild places, travel by night, sing and dance, standart elvenfolk as far as I can say. But what got me smiling was the following...
"Whoever listens to their music or joins in their dance will regrett it. At best, those poor fools will be crippled for life, deaf, or may as well become mad."
In his tales, there seems to be no limit to their ability to deal death, destruction and wickedness, which these iele inflict on the humans which have troubled them, and something which got me smiling especially, even on those who are totally innocent.
In germany, my homeland, and the east of europe, we also have the wood elves, who trick wanderers at night to leave the secure paths, and wander aimlessly amongst the trees untill they starve to death, or water elves, sometimes called nixies or Nixen, who are described similarely to the normal elves, but who live in the water and like nothing more then to catch and drown the ones careless enough to deal with them. For reference, read the story of the lorelei, by a gent calles Moerike, in which a single nixie has constipation, and simply rises the water level so much that the nearby town nearly gets drowned.
So, basically, the earlier accounts of the old Elves tell us of nothing less then a race of beings whose greatest pleasure it is to show certain people how foolish they are, and how much more inferior. They simply do what they want, wiothout any regards to the danger or physical and mental harm they place the human they deal with in.
So, from the old accounts, let's summ up.
behavior: they treat everybody as inferiors/slaves, they hurt whoever they like, and they are more powerfull then any human.

So, the only protection against these violent creatures was either the recorded obedience, often in form of do not go there, do not play alone in the woods, put milk out for the elves, basically, the behavior of servitude of an enslaved race.
or, it was horseshoes over the door, or iron in general, which banned the elves from entering the home. Again, that is also not the behavior of any kind of nice and gentle creature, that is the behavior of something very much akin to a demon.
Also, in that account, I have stumbled about a theorie in which all the superior looks of elves are just a byproduct of their mental powers, to make the inferiority complex of the humans even deeper. Even I can not take that fully for the truth. but it still makes a whole lotta sense....

then, we have a whole different but similarely linked byproduct of elves, the changelings.
For these who do not know, one of the most remembered actions of elves and fairies around here is the fact that they used to break into human households, steal their beautifull healthy children, and replace them with ugly and malformed children.
Now, even I can speak a word of defense. In these days, we know that in remote villages, when two healthy people are in the prime of their youth, they seldomly care about the importance of the term "limited gene pool", and the term "Incest", and so it could sometimes very well happen that a healthy young couple with a clouded family history could produce a child that was beautifull but not very smart, or that looks like an old man, or that seems to allways stare in "other worlds"...
Today, we know that a great many of these so called "changeling sympthoms" can be linked to inbreeding and genetic-deficciency diseases, but back then, there were only two alternatives.
- God saw that we have led a sinfull life, and thus deccided to punish us by giving us this sick child
or
- The fairies broke in, when noone was looking, stole our perfectly good child, and left one of their bastards. our personal lives are very good and sin free, thank you very much....

...
... ...
It is kind of easy to see which explanation was picked more often.
if you are really interested in this, look for a paper by the Folklore society in 1988. A certain Susan Shoon Eberly has had the same idea as myself, and has taken tales of changelings, and listed many childhood disorders that could cause children to act and behave, like described in the cases, like the "high ones"/elves.
even more disgusting, but interesting is the folk remedy described for these cases. the changelings ere viewed as a form of parasites to a good wholesome christian family, so you had to treat them as badly as possible, for "if the b*****d chylde doese not feel welle, it does return to hise folks, and brinnges backe the real chylde. " Common remedies included beating the changeling with a stick, putting it in an oven, or even leaving the child outside in the middle of winter.
seems like a legitimation for child abuse and infanticide, at best..... most likely, the elves where framed for that, so to speak.
But still..... these abductions kind of fit in with the official canon of aliens and Greys.... But remember, this is not ment as an accusation, or as flame-bait.... I simply pick together facts because they seem to fit.

What most amazes me is how these, at least from the descriptions, vicious dangers to humanity suddenly got softened down. Sure, they lead you out in the woods, and made you loose the path and land in a ditch, but hey, it was just their kind of fun (plus, it is easier to blame the elves then the fact that you had too much beer, despite the wishes of the misses....)
All in all, the standart suddenly changed. It was ok for them to prank you, provided you where carefull not to offend them, and respected them. hey, it seemed it was all in good fun....
They also imposed various rules. Do not cut down their trees, do not ******** up the hills where they live, do not meddle with their paths and/or circles, do not throw dirty waters out carelessly, keep the house clean, and leave out some food in case a hungry and sleepy fairy wants to crash at your place.

So, my question at that place was, what turned these demonlike fellas into nice little floaty pixies that helped you, and brought good luck?
Well, the most fitting record in time was the Midsummer night's dream, the most ingenius plot of all.
See, untill then, the general rule of thumb was, do not call them by their true names, or they will come. So, what easier then to give them new ones? of course, his choice was sweet, but also nicely silly. Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and even.... Mustardseed.
In his immagination, they where barely big enough to kill a bumblebee, and a bit smaller then a thistle. Awww, how sweet.... who could be afraid of that?
And before you protest, yes, he also invented Puck (the fella with the girdle and the hairyness), but that guy is just a barely disguised faun. And still, he managed to get something from the original horror of the Elves back in his plays.
Don't believe me? Enter queen mab, the lady from the Romeo and juliet scene. Basically, a nice little tiny thing. A little chariot, the wagon spores made from spider legs, traces of the ssmallest spider webbs, and even the wagoneer a small grey coated gnat.
The genius that person had.... See what Queen mab does, is basically go muddin in peoples dreams, and call up the most evil things they do, and reinforce them. The soldier dreams after her visit about cutting necks, the merchant about counting money....

So, basically, all adults have stopped to believe in the elves. But they sure as hell reinforce the belief in the evil fairies in children. examples are the wood elves, who get children who are in the woods after dark, water nixies that get children that play near water.
A very nice story came from my computer science prof, a natural icelander. At christmas time, 13 hideous Elves would sneak down from the caves in the mountains, and would abduct every child that was evil or did not behave good. Nowadays, in the age of political and racial correctness, they still come, but each of them is required to hide a sweet for the nice children.

Since I know there are ome folks from scotland there, the next part will surely delight them. Basically, Thomas the Rhymer.
The bloke lived around thirteenth century, and has even his own ballad, which I highly reccomend asking for in the next pub of your choice.

Basically, the story goes like this. Thomas, a decent guy and a musician, deccided to jham near the hills of edinburgh, when the queen of elfland came by, and deccided that he should be her harpist. he agreed, kissed her, and hopped on the horse behind her. They then ride on, very fast, untill they reach a desert with three paths. One thick and thorny, is the path of the christians. the path with flowery meadows is the path of the wicked. as for the third:
(sorry if i butcher the accent)

"And see ye not the bonny road,
that winds about the fernie brae?
That is the road to fair Elfland,
where thou and I this night maun gae"

Any trained magick-fan, or wickan will notice the significance of the three paths meeting place, so i will not retell the different views.
As they go on, the bonnie road is not that bonnie at all. Moon and sun are no longer visible, water till the knee, the only sound the roaring of the sea. as they go on, even the starlight disappears, and they ride through rivers of blood, because "all the blood shed on earth runs through the springs of that country.
Finally, he reaches elfin-land, where the queen gives him an apple that gifts him with a thongue that can never lie. After that, he returns home,v and finds out that only one night has passed for him,but seven for the real world.
truth told, he was only away for seven years, and became a famous seer afterwards.

these sometimes forcefull abductions are quite often, so they also have develloped a remedy.
they suggest that one year after the person has passed, a human with true heart should go to the place where they disappeared, and just wait.
from there, it differs. In some cases, it is enough to just grab the abductee when they reappear and run, and in other cases, introduce iron in the situation, unsually in form of swords, daggers, and in one case even a battle-axe. the most famous case of the rescue of an elf-abductee is the case of Tan Lin (thanks to the Pub for telling me the story)
basically, the above situation happened. His lover janet pulled him of the horse, and ran. Thanks to fairy magic, tan lin changed form three times, in a serpent, a deer and some red hot iron, but his love did not let go, and so he was freed from the evil elf-clutches.
Also, there is the story of Bran the son of febal,. who followed a singing elf lass with a few lads to her magical island in the western sea.
After staying for a year, he grew homesick, and was allowed to sail back, but not touch dry land. Long story short, one of them got to the land, and turned to dust. Naturally, Bran turned around and was never again seen.

Well, One hope still remains, in this world of happy friendly elves.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/de/7/76/Dadd2.jpg
A picture of the true elves, by Richard Dadd
I want to close the research part with a few lines from the opera the immortal Hour, (1914)

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=q1XW7aithF8


So, apart from several striking similarities with what used to be called greys and alien abductions, Elves in the european sense are foilks you would not want to have around a lot.
So, my question to the elvenkin, and to everyone interested....

1. how are elvenkin and american elves different from that?
2. which side of the story do you believe in? pre-tolkien elves or post tolkien elves?
3. Do you think my theory about aliens is totally whacky, or somehow based on something?

I hereby declare the arguments to be opened.  

[iy8970970607]

I am intrigued by your information, but I need to do reaserch myself.  

[Cunning Witch Angus]

Ahh, Thomas the Rhymer, a wonderful tale of Queen Elphame. I don't believe in the Tolkien elves, but I know that the elves are many. To me any spirit of the Otherworld is an elf, or a faery. They come in different guises and go by many names.

The elves that you are referring to are indeed tall and fair. But the Queen can also appear as an old woman, or with terrible beauty.

Personally it makes me chuckle when an elfkin claims they are an elf and the way that they describe it reminds me fiercely of Tolkien or DnD. But we must remember that Tolkien was a scholar and professor of Anglo-Saxon lore which is where much of the tales of elves and dwarves and such comes from. And the Norse travelled down into Scotland and England. The Germanic countries have similar beliefs about the elves and such.

Another favorite tale of mine is one of my clan, the Clan MacLeod. The tale of the Faery Flag of Dunvegan. Lovely tale.  

[Gandalf_the_Girl]

2. which side of the story do you believe in? pre-tolkien elves or post tolkien elves?

Atleast in appearance, I'd have to go with a more Post-Tolkien Elf. This because I've seen one and he was tall. Well, not tall tall, but....relatively so. Didn't look exactly like the Tolkien kind, though, but....just more like that than other ideas of how they look that I'd encountered. I'd describe him as elegent. And was definitely of attractive features.