LL-L "Folklore" 2004.08.11 (13) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 11.AUG.2004 (13) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Roger Hondshoven 2 <roger.hondshoven at pandora.be>
Subject: LL-L "Folklore" 2004.08.10 (07) [E]

Re: kabouter, kobold, imp and many more

Hi Frank,

You came up with an extremely fascinating subject. I might add one more
Flemish term: alvermanneke. In East-Brabant folklore it designates (in a
jocular fashion) a friendly creature that might carry out at night irksome
household chores silently and without being noticed. The word is clearly
related to Dutch 'elf', Middle Dutch 'alf, elf' ("wicked spirit, devil"). In
Brabant the creature has turned from evil, wicked to good-natured, benign.

Kind regards,

Roger

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Folklore

Hello, Roger, Lowlanders!

Today's image of elves (which apparently is a Dutch loan in English) is much
influenced by the fantasy world of 19th-century romantic literature.
However, even before that, elves, dwarfs, brownies and other little
people--living in and around people's houses--were not always malivolent but
often helped those who deserved it and were kind to them.  This is clearly
the case in the folkloristic traditions of the areas just east of the
Belgian and Dutch borders in the Rhenish areas of Germany (e.g., _Die
Heinzelmännchen zu Köln_) and continues on to the formerly and presently
Slavonic-speaking areas (e.g., the Sorbian _lutki_).  Good folks would find
their work completed in the morning as a reward for their kindness toward
the little folk.  My mother and the female elders in my family would often
say they wished the _Heinzelmännchen_ would pay them an overnight visit,
meaning that the remaining household chores would miraculously be done in
the morning.  (Sometimes that was a not so subtle hint for us children to
play _Heinzelmännchen_).

So there is this old idea of domestic spirits that can do good and bad
things.  This theme is found in the Nordic countries as well, and the
Scandinavian _nisse_ and their ilk show up for Christmas in those areas.  As
I said earlier, this is wide-spread pretty much all over Eurasia.  In many
Siberian, Manchurian, Chinese and Korean (nowadays mostly rural) traditions
the house spirit is considered part of the family, given gifts as bribes in
return for protection and other benevolent acts.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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