"Elveskud" or "Elverskud" (;

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

for "Elf-shot") is the Danish, and most widely used, name for one of the most popular ballads in Scandinavia (''

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 ...

'' A 63 'Elveskud — Elf maid causes man's sickness and death'; ''

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 activi ...

'' 47; ''

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 ...

'' 29; NMB 36; CCF 154; IFkv 1).

Origins and distribution

The origins of the ballad are agreed to be considerably earlier than the earliest manuscripts, in the Middle Ages, but there is little consensus beyond this. Many scholars suggest a Breton or French origin but the routes by which it came to and was disseminated within Northern Europe are unknown. The ballad has close parallels across Europe (the closest English-language parallel being "

Clerk Colvill "Clerk Colvill" is Child ballad No. 42, otherwise known as "The Mermaid". This ballad was one of 25 traditional works included in ''Ballads Weird and Wonderful'' (1912) where it was illustrated by Vernon Hill. Synopsis Clerk Colvill, ignoring th ...

"). The earliest surviving manuscript is

Karen Brahes Folio Karen Brahes Folio (Odense, Landsarkivet for Fyn, Karen Brahe E I,1, also known as Karen Brahes Foliohåndskrift) is a manuscript collection of Danish ballads dating from c. 1583. The manuscript contains the following names, presumed to be of its o ...

, a Danish manuscript from the 1570s; the earliest surviving Swedish version is from the 1670s. At least seventy Scandinavian variants are known; over forty come from Denmark, and seventeen from Sweden. It is also widely known as: * "Herr Olof och Älvorna" ("Sir Olof and the Elves", Swedish). * "Elf-Qvinnan och Herr Olof" ("The Elf-Woman and Sir Olof", Swedish). * "Kvæði af Ólafi liljurós" ("Song of Ólafur lily-rose", Icelandic). * "Olaf liljekrans" ("Olaf lily-wreath", Norwegian). * "Ólavur riddarrós og álvarmoy" ("Ólavur knight-rose and the elf-maiden", Faroese).

Summary

In the summary of ''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad'', :: Olav rides out at dawn and comes upon elves dancing in the woods. One of the elf maids invites him to dance with her, but he refuses and tells her that he is to be married the next day. She puts a fatal sickness on him. When he comes home he is dying. He expresses his last wishes. Not all versions precisely fit this summary. For example, in many Danish versions, Olav does dance with the elves, sometimes to death; in some versions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden Olav's death is at first concealed from his bride, but eventually she finds out; in the Icelandic versions, the bride is not mentioned at all, and Olav's refusal to dance arises from his Christian faith. In one Faroese variant, Olav is implied to have been romantically involved with the elf-woman for some time; it also begins with his mother predicting his death. Vésteinn Ólason's summary of the Icelandic variants of the ballad, generally known as "Kvæði af Ólafi liljurós", is :: Ólafur rides along a rocky hillside, meets four elf-maidens who welcome him and invite him to drink (or live) with them. He refuses to live with the elves and would rather believe in God (Christ). One of the elf-maidens asks him to wait, and goes to fetch a sword which she hides under her clothing as she asks him for a kiss. When Ólafur bends down to kiss her, she thrusts the sword under his shoulderblade to his heart. Ólafur spurs his horse and rides home to his mother; she asks why he is so pale; (he hedges at first); tells the truth; asks his mother to make his bed and his sister to dress the wounds. Thereupon he dies (and is buried along with his mother and sister(?)).

Text

The most widely known version of "Elveskud" is that published by

Peder Syv Peder Pedersen Syv (also spelled Siuf) or in Latin Petrus Petri Septimius (22 February 1631 – 17 February 1702) was a Danish philologist, folklorist and priest, known for his collections of Danish proverbs and folksongs, and his contributions to ...

in 1695, given here in modernised spelling:

Translations

These and other available translations by Borrow, Prior, etc., are listed in Syndergaard's survey:. * "Elfin Shaft", * "Sir Oluf and the Elf-king's daughter", * "Sir Olof in Elve-Dance" and "The Elf-Woman and Sir Olof" (two versions), ). * "Sir Olof and the Elves",

References in popular culture

The ballad has inspired a very large number of reworkings in popular culture. Most famously, a translation of a Danish variant ( DFG 47B, from Peter Syv's 1695 edition) into German by

Johann Gottfried Herder Johann Gottfried von Herder ( , ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism. Biography Born in Mohrun ...

as "Erlkönigs tochter" inspired Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's poem "

Der Erlkönig Der or DER may refer to: Places * Darkənd, Azerbaijan * Dearborn (Amtrak station) (station code), in Michigan, US * Der (Sumer), an ancient city located in modern-day Iraq * d'Entrecasteaux Ridge, an oceanic ridge in the south-west Pacific Ocean ...

", which developed the concept of the

Erlking In European folklore and myth, the Erlking is a sinister elf An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned i ...

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

Elves' Hill ''Elves' Hill'' ( da, Elverhøj) is a comedy by 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 by Frederik V ...

'' by Johan Ludvig Heiberg. Other works inspired by "Elveskud" include

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

's 1856 play '' Olaf Liljekrans'';

Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir is an Icelandic writer born on 21 January 1949 in Hafnarfjörður. Background She received her degree in 1991 from the University of Iceland in the fields of German and Icelandic. Writing Her first novel ''T ...

's 1995 novel ''

Mávahlátur ''The Seagull's Laughter'' ( is, Mávahlátur) is a 2001 Icelandic film directed by Ágúst Guðmundsson. It stars Ugla Egilsdóttir as Agga, an orphaned preteen distrusting of her cousin Freyja, played by Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir, who turns ...

''; Böðvar Guðmundsson's 2012 novel ''

Töfrahöllin ''Töfrahöllin'' ('hall of enchantments') is the fifth novel by Böðvar Guðmundsson, published in 2012 by Uppheimar. Summary The protagonist of ''Töfrahöllin'' is Jósep Malmholm, born in the 1960s into a wealthy and highly educated family. ...

''; and

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...

's folk-rock song ''Dance with Me''.

Origins and distribution

Summary

Text

Translations

References in popular culture

References

See also