Hans Christian Andersen tells of a certain Rose Elf who was instrumental in punishing the murderer of a beautiful young maiden to whom he was attached. The Rose, in olden times, was reputed to be under the especial protection of Elves, Fairies, and Dwarfs, whose sovereign, Laurin, carefully guarded the Rose-garden. “Four portals to the garden lead, and when the gates are closed, No living wight dare touch a Rose, ’gainst his strict command opposed. Whoe’er would break the golden gates, or cut the silken thread, Or who would dare to waste the flowers down beneath his tread, Soon for his pride would leave to pledge a foot and hand; Thus Laurin, King of Dwarfs, rules within his land.” A curious family of the Elfin tribe were the Moss- or Wood-Folk, who dwelt in the forests of Southern Germany. Their stature was small, and their form weird and uncouth, bearing a strange resemblance to certain trees, with which they flourished and decayed. Describing a Moss-woman, the author of ‘The Fairy Family’ says:-- “‘A Moss-woman!’ the hay-makers cry, And over the fields in terror they fly. She is loosely clad from neck to foot In a mantle of Moss from the Maple’s root, And like Lichen grey on its stem that grows Is the hair that over her mantle flows. Her skin, like the Maple-rind, is hard, Brown and ridgy, and furrowed and scarred; And each feature flat, like the bark we see, Where a bough has been lopped from the bole of a tree, When the newer bark has crept healingly round, And laps o’er the edge of the open wound; Her knotty, root-like feet are bare, And her height is an ell from heel to hair.” The Moss- or Wood-Folk also lived in some parts of Scandinavia. Thus, we are told that, in the churchyard of Store Hedding, in Zealand, there are the remains of an Oak wood which were trees by day and warriors by night. The Black Dwarfs were a race of Scandinavian Elves, inhabiting coast-hills and caves; the favourite place of their feasts and carousings, however, was under the spreading branches of the Elder-tree, the strong perfume of its large moon-like clusters of flowers being very grateful to them. As has been before pointed out, an unexplained connection of a mysterious character has always existed between this tree and the denizens of Fairy-land.