1872

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

THE ELFIN HILL

by Hans Christian Andersen

A FEW large lizards were running nimbly about in the clefts of

an old tree; they could understand one another very well, for they

spoke the lizard language.

"What a buzzing and a rumbling there is in the elfin hill," said

one of the lizards; "I have not been able to close my eyes for two

nights on account of the noise; I might just as well have had the

toothache, for that always keeps me awake."

"There is something going on within there," said the other lizard;

"they propped up the top of the hill with four red posts, till

cock-crow this morning, so that it is thoroughly aired, and the

elfin girls have learnt new dances; there is something."

"I spoke about it to an earth-worm of my acquaintance," said a

third lizard; "the earth-worm had just come from the elfin hill, where

he has been groping about in the earth day and night. He has heard a

great deal; although he cannot see, poor miserable creature, yet he

understands very well how to wriggle and lurk about. They expect

friends in the elfin hill, grand company, too; but who they are the

earth-worm would not say, or, perhaps, he really did not know. All the will-o'-the-wisps are ordered to be there to hold a torch dance, as it is called. The silver and gold which is plentiful in the hill will

be polished and placed out in the moonlight."

"Who can the strangers be?" asked the lizards; "what can the

matter be? Hark, what a buzzing and humming there is!"

Just at this moment the elfin hill opened, and an old elfin

maiden, hollow behind, came tripping out; she was the old elf king's

housekeeper, and a distant relative of the family; therefore she

wore an amber heart on the middle of her forehead. Her feet moved very fast, "trip, trip;" good gracious, how she could trip right down to the sea to the night-raven.

"You are invited to the elf hill for this evening," said she; "but

will you do me a great favor and undertake the invitations? you

ought to do something, for you have no housekeeping to attend to as

I have. We are going to have some very grand people, conjurors, who

have always something to say; and therefore the old elf king wishes to

make a great display."

"Who is to be invited?" asked the raven.

"All the world may come to the great ball, even human beings, if

they can only talk in their sleep, or do something after our

fashion. But for the feast the company must be carefully selected;

we can only admit persons of high rank; I have had a dispute myself

with the elf king, as he thought we could not admit ghosts. The merman and his daughter must be invited first, although it may not be

agreeable to them to remain so long on dry land, but they shall have a

wet stone to sit on, or perhaps something better; so I think they will

not refuse this time. We must have all the old demons of the first

class, with tails, and the hobgoblins and i

mps; and then I think we

ought not to leave out the death-horse, or the grave-pig, or even

the church dwarf, although they do belong to the clergy, and are not

reckoned among our people; but that is merely their office, they are

nearly related to us, and visit us very frequently."

"Croak," said the night-raven as he flew away with the invitations.

The elfin maidens we're already dancing on the elf hill, and

they danced in shawls woven from moonshine and mist, which look very pretty to those who like such things. The large hall within the elf

hill was splendidly decorated; the floor had been washed with

moonshine, and the walls had been rubbed with magic ointment, so

that they glowed like tulip-leaves in the light. In the kitchen were

frogs roasting on the spit, and dishes preparing of snail skins,

with children's fingers in them, salad of mushroom seed, hemlock,

noses and marrow of mice, beer from the marsh woman's brewery, and sparkling salt-petre wine from the grave cellars. These were all

substantial food. Rusty nails and church-window glass formed the

dessert. The old elf king had his gold crown polished up with powdered slate-pencil; it was like that used by the first form, and very

difficult for an elf king to obtain. In the bedrooms, curtains were

hung up and fastened with the slime of snails; there was, indeed, a

buzzing and humming everywhere.

"Now we must fumigate the place with burnt horse-hair and pig's

bristles, and then I think I shall have done my part," said the elf

man-servant.

"Father, dear," said the youngest daughter, "may I now hear who

our high-born visitors are?"

"Well, I suppose I must tell you now," he replied; "two of my

daughters must prepare themselves to be married, for the marriages

certainly will take place. The old goblin from Norway, who lives in

the ancient Dovre mountains, and who possesses many castles built of rock and freestone, besides a gold mine, which is better than all,

so it is thought, is coming with his two sons, who are both seeking

a wife. The old goblin is a true-hearted, honest, old Norwegian

graybeard; cheerful and straightforward. I knew him formerly, when

we used to drink together to our good fellowship: he came here once to fetch his wife, she is dead now. She was the daughter of the king of the chalk-hills at Moen. They say he took his wife from chalk; I shall be delighted to see him again. It is said that the boys are

ill-bred, forward lads, but perhaps that is not quite correct, and

they will become better as they grow older. Let me see that you know

how to teach them good manners."

"And when are they coming?" asked the daughter.

"That depends upon wind and weather," said the elf king; "they

travel economically. They will come when there is the chance of a

ship. I wanted them to come over to Sweden, but the old man was not inclined to take my advice. He does not go forward with the times, and that I do not like."

Two will-o'-the-wisps c

ame jumping in, one quicker than the other,

so of course, one arrived first. "They are coming! they are coming!"

he cried.

"Give me my crown," said the elf king, "and let me stand in the

moonshine."

The daughters drew on their shawls and bowed down to the ground.

There stood the old goblin from the Dovre mountains, with his crown of hardened ice and polished fir-cones. Besides this, he wore a

bear-skin, and great, warm boots, while his sons went with their

throats bare and wore no braces, for they were strong men.

"Is that a hill?" said the youngest of the boys, pointing to the

elf hill, "we should call it a hole in Norway."

"Boys," said the old man, "a hole goes in, and a hill stands

out; have you no eyes in your heads?"

Another thing they wondered at was, that they were able without

trouble to understand the language.

"Take care," said the old man, "or people will think you have

not been well brought up."

Then they entered the elfin hill, where the select and grand

company were assembled, and so quickly had they appeared that they

seemed to have been blown together. But for each guest the neatest and pleasantest arrangement had been made. The sea folks sat at table in great water-tubs, and they said it was just like being at home. All

behaved themselves properly excepting the two young northern goblins; they put their legs on the table and thought they were all right.

"Feet off the table-cloth!" said the old goblin. They obeyed,

but not immediately. Then they tickled the ladies who waited at table,

with the fir-cones, which they carried in their pockets. They took off

their boots, that they might be more at ease, and gave them to the

ladies to hold. But their father, the old goblin, was very

different; he talked pleasantly about the stately Norwegian rocks, and

told fine tales of the waterfalls which dashed over them with a

clattering noise like thunder or the sound of an organ, spreading

their white foam on every side. He told of the salmon that leaps in

the rushing waters, while the water-god plays on his golden harp. He

spoke of the bright winter nights, when the sledge bells are

ringing, and the boys run with burning torches across the smooth

ice, which is so transparent that they can see the fishes dart forward

beneath their feet. He described everything so clearly, that those who

listened could see it all; they could see the saw-mills going, the

men-servants and the maidens singing songs, and dancing a rattling

dance,- when all at once the old goblin gave the old elfin maiden a

kiss, such a tremendous kiss, and yet they were almost strangers to

each other.

Then the elfin girls had to dance, first in the usual way, and

then with stamping feet, which they performed very well; then followed the artistic and solo dance. Dear me, how they did throw their legs about! No one could tell where the dance begun, or where it ended, nor indeed which were legs and which were arms, for they were a

ll flying about together, like the shavings in a saw-pit! And then they spun round so quickly that the death-horse and the grave-pig became sick and giddy, and were obliged to leave the table.

"Stop!" cried the old goblin," is that the only house-keeping they

can perform? Can they do anything more than dance and throw about

their legs, and make a whirlwind?"

"You shall soon see what they can do," said the elf king. And then

he called his youngest daughter to him. She was slender and fair as

moonlight, and the most graceful of all the sisters. She took a

white chip in her mouth, and vanished instantly; this was her

accomplishment. But the old goblin said he should not like his wife to

have such an accomplishment, and thought his boys would have the

same objection. Another daughter could make a figure like herself

follow her, as if she had a shadow, which none of the goblin folk ever

had. The third was of quite a different sort; she had learnt in the

brew-house of the moor witch how to lard elfin puddings with

glow-worms.

"She will make a good housewife," said the old goblin, and then

saluted her with his eyes instead of drinking her health; for he did

not drink much.

Now came the fourth daughter, with a large harp to play upon;

and when she struck the first chord, every one lifted up the left

leg (for the goblins are left-legged), and at the second chord they

found they must all do just what she wanted.

"That is a dangerous woman," said the old goblin; and the two sons

walked out of the hill; they had had enough of it. "And what can the

next daughter do?" asked the old goblin.

"I have learnt everything that is Norwegian," said she; "and I

will never marry, unless I can go to Norway."

Then her youngest sister whispered to the old goblin, "That is

only because she has heard, in a Norwegian song, that when the world shall decay, the cliffs of Norway will remain standing like monuments; and she wants to get there, that she may be safe; for she is so afraid of sinking."

"Ho! ho!" said the old goblin, "is that what she means? Well, what

can the seventh and last do?"

"The sixth comes before the seventh," said the elf king, for he

could reckon; but the sixth would not come forward.

"I can only tell people the truth," said she. "No one cares for

me, nor troubles himself about me; and I have enough to do to sew my grave clothes."

So the seventh and last came; and what could she do? Why, she

could tell stories, as many as you liked, on any subject.

"Here are my five fingers," said the old goblin; "now tell me a

story for each of them."

So she took him by the wrist, and he laughed till he nearly

choked; and when she came to the fourth finger, there was a gold

ring on it, as if it knew there was to be a betrothal. Then the old

goblin said, "Hold fast what you have: this hand is yours; for I

will have you for a wife myself."

Then the elfin girl said that the stories about the ring-finger

a

nd little Peter Playman had not yet been told.

"We will hear them in the winter," said the old goblin, "and

also about the fir and the birch-trees, and the ghost stories, and

of the tingling frost. You shall tell your tales, for no one over

there can do it so well; and we will sit in the stone rooms, where the

pine logs are burning, and drink mead out of the golden drinking-horn of the old Norwegian kings. The water-god has given me two; and when we sit there, Nix comes to pay us a visit, and will sing you all the songs of the mountain shepherdesses. How merry we shall be!

The salmon will be leaping in the waterfalls, and dashing against the stone walls, but he will not be able to come in. It is indeed very pleasant to live in old Norway. But where are the lads?"

Where indeed were they? Why, running about the fields, and blowing

out the will-o'-the-wisps, who so good-naturedly came and brought

their torches.

"What tricks have you been playing?" said the old goblin. "I

have taken a mother for you, and now you may take one of your aunts."

But the youngsters said they would rather make a speech and

drink to their good fellowship; they had no wish to marry. Then they

made speeches and drank toasts, and tipped their glasses, to show that they were empty. Then they took off their coats, and lay down on the table to sleep; for they made themselves quite at home. But the old goblin danced about the room with his young bride, and exchanged boots with her, which is more fashionable than exchanging rings.

"The cock is crowing," said the old elfin maiden who acted as

housekeeper; now we must close the shutters, that the sun may not

scorch us."

Then the hill closed up. But the lizards continued to run up and

down the riven tree; and one said to the other, "Oh, how much I was

pleased with the old goblin!"

"The boys pleased me better," said the earth-worm. But then the

poor miserable creature could not see.

THE END

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