Dutch Fairy Tales by William Elliot Griffis.pdf

Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks
In these old days, long since gone by, there were more people than there are now, who were sure they had
many times enjoyed the sight of the elves. Some places in Holland show, by their names, where this kind of
fairies used to live. These little creatures, that looked as thin as gauze, were very lively and mischievous,
though they often helped honest and hard working people in their tasks, as we shall see. But first and most of
all, they were fond of fun. They loved to vex cross people and to please those who were bonnie and blithe.
They hated misers, but they loved the kind and generous. These little folks usually took their pleasure in the
grassy meadows, among the flowers and butterflies. On bright nights they played among the moonbeams.
There were certain times when the elves were busy, in such a way as to make men and girls think about them.
Then their tricks were generally in the stable, or in the field among the cows. Sometimes, in the kitchen or
dairy, among the dishes or milk−pans, they made an awful mess for the maids to clean up. They tumbled over
the churns, upset the milk jugs, and played hoops with the round cheeses. In a bedroom they made things look
as if the pigs had run over them.
When a farmer found his horse's mane twisted into knots, or two cows with their tails tied together, he said at
once, “That's the work of elves.” If the mares did not feel well, or looked untidy, their owners were sure the
elves had taken the animals out and had been riding them all night. If a cow was sick, or fell down on the
grass, it was believed that the elves had shot an arrow into its body. The inquest, held on many a dead calf or
its mother, was, that it died from an “elf−shot.” They were so sure of this, that even when a stone arrow
head—such as our far−off ancestors used in hunting, when they were cave men—was picked up off the
ground, it was called an “elf bolt,” or “elf−arrow.”
Near a certain village named Elf−berg or Elf Hill, because there were so many of the little people in that
neighborhood, there was one very old elf, named Styf, which means Stiff, because though so old he stood up
straight as a lance. Even more than the young elves, he was famous for his pranks. Sometimes he was
nicknamed Haan−e'−kam or Cock's Comb. He got this name, because he loved to mock the roosters, when
they crowed, early in the morning. With his red cap on, he did look like a rooster. Sometimes he fooled the
hens, that heard him crowing. Old Styf loved nothing better than to go to a house where was a party indoors.
All the wooden shoes of the twenty or thirty people within, men and women, girls and boys, would be left
outside the door. All good Dutch folks step out of their heavy timber shoes, or klomps, before they enter a
house. It is always a curious sight, at a country church, or gathering of people at a party, to see the klomps, big
and little, belonging to baby boys and girls, and to the big men, who wear a number thirteen shoe of wood.
One wonders how each one of the owners knows his own, but he does. Each pair is put in its own place, but
Old Styf would come and mix them all up together, and then leave them in a pile. So when the people came
out to go home, they had a terrible time in finding and sorting out their shoes. Often they scolded each other;
or, some innocent boy was blamed for the mischief. Some did not find out, till the next day, that they had on
one foot their own, and on another foot, their neighbor's shoe. It usually took a week to get the klomps sorted
out, exchanged, and the proper feet into the right shoes. In this way, which was a special trick with him, this
naughty elf, Styf, spoiled the temper of many people.
Beside the meadow elves, there were other kinds in Elfin Land; some living in the woods, some in the
sand−dunes, but those called Staalkaars, or elves of the stall, were Old Styf's particular friends. These lived in
stables and among the cows. The Moss Maidens, that could do anything with leaves, even turning them into
money, helped Styf, for they too liked mischief. They teased men−folks, and enjoyed nothing better than
misleading the stupid fellows that fuddled their brains with too much liquor.
Styf's especially famous trick was played on misers. It was this. When he heard of any old fellow, who wanted
to save the cost of candles, he would get a kabouter to lead him off in the swamps, where the sooty elves come
out, on dark nights, to dance. Hoping to catch these lights and use them for candles, the mean fellow would
find himself in a swamp, full of water and chilled to the marrow. Then the kabouters would laugh loudly.
THE ELVES AND THEIR ANTICS 22