 Fantasy: December 12, 2018 Issue [#9272] |
This week: Time for Elves! Edited by: eyestar~*  
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 Hi all you fantastical beings, muses and quill scribblers!
Happy December to light bearers everywhere!  I am thrilled to be a guest editor this month. Let's go to the land of elves!
"Go not to elves for counsel, for they say both yes and no." Tolkien
Missing socks are signs of a freed house elves.
"The tender violet bent in smiles,
To elves that sported nigh
Tossing the drops of fragrant dew
To scent the evening sky." Elizabeth Oakes Smith
..on lake shores, where the forest met the lake, you could find elf circles. They were round places where the grass had been flattened like a floor. Elves had danced there. By Lake Tisnaren, I have seen one of those. It could be dangerous and one could become ill if one had trodden over such a place or if one destroyed anything there."
~~Anne Marie Hellstrom |
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Elves?
 The term "elf" is found in Germanic languages meaning "white being" and elves were seen as supernatural beings with magical powers capable of being helpful or a hindrance to humans.
Elves have a Norse myth origin and have captured the imagination down through the years. The small shape shifters associated with the Norse gods, and with causing illness, with magic, beauty and seduction. After the medieval time, the word elf was often changed with dwarf, hidden folk (hulda} and french word fairy and were thought to live along side human communities. As urbanisation rose, belief dissipated but they entered the literary world. The details about them vary from time and culture.
A Land of Elves?
Now you may think I am speaking of Santa's elves way up at the north pole, those made popular in the 1800's with the "Elves and the shoemaker" and the "jolly old Elf" in "The Night before Christmas." You would be wrong.
You may be thinking of Shakespeare's flowery garden elf land in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" or even kingdom of Tolkien's tall elegant elves in 'Lord of the Rings" or the world of Dungeons and Dragons! Nope! 
On my travels with {item:} this year I discovered that Iceland, with its Norse and Scandenavian influences, is the land of elves! Yep! 10% of the population believe in these supernatural Huldufolk: the hidden people, among whom are found elves, dwarves and others.
Jon R Hjalmarsson even wrote a Traveller's Guide that reveals that there are myths associated with this spectacular landscape as old as the Eddas and as new as the 19th century. Legends and stories abound there even today. Huldufolk habitats, like the Galgahraun Lava field, where they were known to have lived are even protected, after attempts to build met with disasters!  In the 1930's and again in the 1980's road construction through the Álfhóll was stopped because of strange mishaps that spooked workers! Now the place protected as a cultural heritage. Everyone knows that the wee folk can do pranks and damage if one trifles with them.
People honour these elementals and in towns or rural areas they have placed 'Alfhol', small wooden houses constructed for the benefit of elves. Some are simple and others elaborate. Some folks even make small churches hoping to convert them to Christianty. Apparently, they do not like crosses or electrictity!
There are four holidays that have associations with the fae. New Year's Eve, elves move to new locations, so folks put out candles. On 12th Night the fae have bonfires. At Midsummer, the fae tempt folks at the crossroads and those who resist the treats gained rewards. At Christmas, some believers clean house and leave treats out for the fairy visitors.
There is even an Elf School! Yep, you heard right. I did not believe it at first either. At Reykjauk there is the Elf School where one can take courses on folklore, elves, fairies, dwarves etc. A textbook and diploma is provided and there is a tour through the habitats of the hidden folk. Apparently there are 13 types of elves. I would so love this, especially as a Tolkien Fan! 
So there you go, fantasy or no!
"I have seen a fairy ring
pixies, fairies on the wing.
Another name for fae, could be
elf, from another view you see.
Pointy ears or pointy hats
Santa's elves or shoemaker's help
Kuebler's elves with cookie vats
House elves in the wizard's keep.
Tall warrior elves of Lothlorien
small, etherial Queen Mab
Oberon and the Fairie Queen
Changelings all in time and name."
Earlier I wrote this limerick about one who did not heed the elf warning!
"Limerick"
  So your challenge, if you feel called is to write your own short poem about elves!
I will award my favorites! 
In closing I quote J.R. Tolkien:
"Farewell and may the blessings of elves and men and all free folk go with you.
May the stars shine upon your faces."  
Thanks for reading! Clap if you believe in elves and fairies! Be on the look out. They are real!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elf
https://www.livescience.com/39689-history-of-elves.html
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Read about Elves! 
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Remember, send me your elf poem!
 Thanks to these wonderful authors for responses to my last note "Fantasy Newsletter (May 30, 2018)" way back in May!
Azrael Tseng
"Quite possibly my favourite scifi/fantasy writer. Ursula Le Guin is a firm inspiration to me, not just for her writing, but for her resilience. She was not published until she had written five novels! I use that as fuel to keep going on, especially when I receive rejection letters from publishers. I love her literary style in the Earthsea series. There is so little action compared to the Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends trilogies, but some powerful energy keeps me completely immersed in the world and story. Whenever I feel like giving up on reworking and developing my scifi novel, I remember her call to scifi writers to envision a world free of capitalism, and that firms my resolve to finish my work and share it with those who would partake of it."
Uncommonspirit 
"Thanks for honoring Ursula Le Guin with an article, Eyestar. She was one of the authors that I view as a major influence on me growing up. I think she is up there with Charles Dickens and Jane Austen without a doubt."
Joy 
"Great NL, Eyestar.
I don't think Ursula Le Guin was a big influence on me, but I liked her writing. In fact, I am just about to begin reading Le Guin's No Time to Spare, a collection of essays from her blogs, which is on my desk next to my laptop now. I read a few other things she wrote, but more than her fantasy stories, I like her ideas."
LMs❤️BrewinMagic 
"What a great newsletter and people say that we can't learn from history. We can, because it repeats itself. I will have to read some of Ursula Le Guin's work now. Thanks for sharing." |
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