''Elvehøj'' (''Elf Hill'') is the Danish name of a Scandinavian

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

(''

Danmarks gamle folkeviser ''Danmarks gamle Folkeviser'' is a collection of (in principle) all known texts and recordings of the old Danish popular ballads. It drew both on early modern manuscripts, such as Karen Brahes Folio, and much more recent folk-song collecting acti ...

'' no. 46), known in Swedish as ''Älvefärd'' (''

Sveriges medeltida ballader ''Sveriges Medeltida Ballader'' (''SMB'') is a scholarly edition which compiles, in principle, all of the known Swedish medieval (traditional) ballads in existence, including those from Swedish-speaking parts of Finland. The collection was published ...

'' no. 31), type A 65 ('knight released from elves at dawn') in ''

The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad ''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad: A Descriptive Catalogue'' (TSB) is the designation for a cataloguing system for Scandinavian ballads. It is also the title of the underlying reference book: ''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieva ...

''; it is also attested in Norwegian.

Summary

The ballad is in the first person. The narrator, an attractive young man, falls asleep beside an elf-mound (or ''elvehøj''). Some women (usually elf-maidens) then attempt to woo the narrator, singing so beautifully that the natural world responds (the streams stop flowing, fish dance for joy, etc., depending on the variant). The narrator, however, resists their blandishments, grasping his sword (usually in silence). The man is most often rescued by the crowing of a cock awaking him, though in the Danish A-version, from the mid-sixteenth-century

Jens Billes visebog Jens Billes visebog ('Jens Bille's song-book', Odense, Landsarkivet for Fyn, Karen Brahe E I,2, also called 'Jens Billes håndskrift' and 'Jens Billes poesiebog' and once known as 'Steen Billes Haandskrift') is the second oldest major collection of ...

(known to Grundtvig as 'Sten Bille’s Haandskrift'), he is saved by the advice of his sister who, previously enchanted, is one of the elf-maidens. The ballad usually ends with moralising advice to the listeners. The following table, by Lynda Taylor, charts the differences between the main versions.

Manuscripts

'' DgF'' includes three main variants of ‘'Elvehøj'’, one of which survives in several near-identical copies. There are three versions in ''

'': two (A and C) are complete, with eight four-line stanzas each, while the B-version is fragmentary, with only four stanzas. Each one is very different from the others. A is the oldest Swedish version, collected in the 1670s from a farmer’s wife in Västergötland; C was collected in Östergötland in the 1840s.Lynda Taylor,
The Cultural Significance of Elves in Northern European Balladry
(unpublished PhD thesis, The University of Leeds, 2014), pp. 137-38, 148.

Translations

* German by

Herder A herder is a pastoralism, pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on extensive management, open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic pastoralism, nomadic or transhuma ...

(1774) (this translation translated into English by Lewis (1801)) * Scots by Robert Jamieson, 'Elfer Hill', in
Popular Ballads and Songs from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Editions; with Translations of Similar Pieces from the Ancient Danish Language and a Few Originals by the Editor, Volume I
' (Edinburgh: Constable, 1806), pp. 225-28.

Analogues and influence

The ballad can be seen as a 'happy ending' version of the much more famous ''

Elveskud "Elveskud" or "Elverskud" (; Danish for "Elf-shot") is the Danish, and most widely used, name for one of the most popular ballads in Scandinavia. Origins and distribution The origins of the ballad are agreed to be considerably earlier than th ...

''. The story is also similar to the ballads ''Herr Magnus och havsfrun'', SMB 26, and ''Jungfrurnas gäst'', SMB 30. H. C. Andersen wrote a fairy tale called ' Elverhøi' in 1845, 'and the celebrated elfin mound has now become a tourist spot in

Stevns Peninsula Stevns Peninsula is a peninsula on Zealand in Denmark. It is separated from Zealand Zealand ( ) is the largest and most populous islands of Denmark, island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size ...

, Denmark. The ballad was one of the inspirations for the 1828 patriotic play ''

Elverhøj ''Elves' Hill'' () is a comedy by Johan Ludvig Heiberg (poet), Johan Ludvig Heiberg, with overture and incidental music by Friedrich Kuhlau (Op. 100), which is considered the first Danish national play. History ''Elves' Hill'' was commissioned ...

'' (Elves' Hill) by Johan Ludvig Heiberg. ''Elverhøj'' is still a popular play in Denmark.

In popular culture

* Norwegian singer Helene Bøksle used part of the text of the ballad as lyrics for her song ''Elverhøy''. *

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

neofolk Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrume ...

band SKÁLD used part of the text of the ballad as lyrics for their single ''Elverhøy'', from their 2023 album ''Huldufólk''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elvehoj Scandinavian folklore Danish folklore Swedish folklore Norwegian folklore Folk ballads Swedish folk music

Folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

Danish folk music Nordic folk music Norwegian folk music