''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 derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

(''

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 ...

'' 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 ''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 ...

'' 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 pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic or transhumant management of stock, or with common land grazin ...

(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 (''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad'' A 63 'Elveskud — Elf maid causes man's sicknes ...

''. 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 Sjælland in Denmark. It is separated from Sjælland by the three streams Stevns Å, Tryggevælde Å and Kildeå. The main town of the peninsula is Store Heddinge, and most of the peninsula is covered by the ...

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

Elverhøj ''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 ...

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

In popular culture

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

singer

Helene Bøksle Helene Margrete Bøksle (born April 1, 1981, Mandal, Norway) is a Norwegian singer and actress. Career Bøksle performs a mixture of traditional Norwegian folk music and popular music. Bøksle has performed with singers such as Bjørn Eids ...

used part of the text of the ballad as lyrics for her song ''Elverhøy''.

References

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

Songs A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

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

Danish folk music Nordic folk music Norwegian folk music