"Elveskud" or "Elverskud" (pronounced [ˈelvɐskuð] ; 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 sickness and death'; Danmarks gamle Folkeviser 47; Sveriges Medeltida Ballader 29; NMB 36; CCF 154; IFkv 1).
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. [1]
The ballad has close parallels across Europe (the closest English-language parallel being "Clerk Colvill"). The earliest surviving manuscript is Karen Brahes Folio, 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, [2] and seventeen from Sweden. [3]
It is also widely known as:
In the summary of The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad,
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. [9]
Vésteinn Ólason's summary of the Icelandic variants of the ballad, generally known as "Kvæði af Ólafi liljurós", is
The most widely known version of "Elveskud" is that published by Peder Syv in 1695, [11] given here in modernised spelling:
Original | Translation |
---|---|
Mangen rider rank og rød, | Many ride tall and red |
These and other available translations by Borrow, Prior, etc., are listed in Syndergaard's survey: [12]
The ballad has inspired a very large number of reworkings.
Most famously, a translation of a Danish variant (DFG 47B, from Peter Syv's 1695 edition) into German by Johann Gottfried Herder as "Erlkönigs tochter" inspired Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's poem "Der Erlkönig", which developed the concept of the Erlking.
The ballad was one of the inspirations for the 1828 play Elves' Hill by Johan Ludvig Heiberg.
Other works inspired by "Elveskud" include Henrik Ibsen's 1856 play Olaf Liljekrans ; Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir's 1995 novel Mávahlátur ; [13] : 288–89 Böðvar Guðmundsson's 2012 novel Töfrahöllin ; [13] : 212, 251, 289 and Steeleye Span's folk-rock song Dance with Me.
An elf is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda.
Axel Olrik was a Danish folklorist and scholar of mediaeval historiography, and a pioneer in the methodical study of oral narrative.
Þrymskviða is one of the best known poems from the Poetic Edda. The Norse myth had enduring popularity in Scandinavia and continued to be told and sung in several forms until the 19th century.
Kvæði are the old ballads of the Faroe Islands, accompanied by the Faroese chain dance. They typically recite stories and can have hundreds of stanzas plus a chorus sung between every verse.
Svend Hersleb Grundtvig was a Danish literary historian and ethnographer. He was one of the first systematic collectors of Danish traditional music, and he was especially interested in Danish folk songs. He began the large project of editing Danish ballads. He also co-edited Icelandic ballads. He was the son of N. F. S. Grundtvig.
"Clerk Colvill" or "Clerk Colven" otherwise known as "The Mermaid", is a traditional English-language folk ballad. This ballad was one of 25 traditional works included in Ballads Weird and Wonderful (1912), where it was illustrated by Vernon Hill.
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 between 1983 and 2001 by the Svenskt visarkiv, and edited by Bengt R. Jonsson, Margareta Jersild and Sven-Bertil Jansson.
Danmarks gamle Folkeviser is a collection of 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 activity.
The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad: A Descriptive Catalogue (TSB) is the designation for a cataloguing system for Scandinavian ballads.
Elves' Hill is a comedy by Johan Ludvig Heiberg, with overture and incidental music by Friedrich Kuhlau, which is considered the first Danish national play.
A Folk Tale is a ballet in three acts, created in 1854 for the Royal Danish Ballet by the Danish ballet master and choreographer August Bournonville to the music of Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann and Niels W. Gade. The first performance took place on 20 March 1854. Set in the Middle Ages, the ballet tells the story of a changeling living among the trolls and elves. Bournonville declared the ballet "The most complete and best of all my choreographic works."
Harpens kraft (Danish) or Harpans kraft, meaning "The Power of the Harp", is the title of a supernatural ballad type, attested in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic variants.
Ungersven och havsfrun or Herr Bøsmer i elvehjem is a supernatural ballad type. Known witnesses are edited in Sveriges Medeltida Ballader in ten Swedish variants, from the mid-1700s onwards; five of the Swedish variants are recorded with melodies. It appears in Danmarks gamle folkeviser, among the earliest manuscripts to contain it being Karen Brahes Folio.
Elvehøj is the Danish name of a Scandinavian ballad, known in Swedish as Älvefärd, type A 65 in The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad; it is also attested in Norwegian.
Thomas o Yonderdale is an English-language folk song, catalogued as Child ballad number 253 and Roud number 3890. Child assessed that this "apocryphal" ballad seemed like a recent fabrication from a pastiche of other ballads.
Herr Tønne af Alsø is a Danish ballad. Danmarks gamle Folkeviser records two versions: A and B (38); it also appears in Norway and Sweden. Dokumentasjonsprosjektet in Norway notes eight different variants, one dating back to the 1840s.
"Agnete og Havmanden" (Danish) or "Agneta och havsmannen" (Swedish) is a ballad. It is also found in Norway and as a prose folktale published by Just Mathias Thiele in his 1818 Danske Folkesagn, though Thomas Bredsdorff has argued that this prose version is of literary rather than folkloric origin. The ballad too is generally thought to be relatively late in its composition, perhaps from the eighteenth century.
Trolden og Bondens Hustru is a Danish ballad.
"Herr Holger" or "Rige herr Holgers hjemkomst" is a Swedish and Danish folk ballad revolving around the execution of a corrupt tax collector.