The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various CountriesKeightley, Thomas
General
The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries
Keightley, Thomas
Fairies; Fairy tales; Folk literature; Folklore
A girl named Inge of Rantum had some way or other got into an
engagement with one of the Underground people. The wedding-day was
actually fixed, and she could only be released from her bond on one
condition--that of being able, before it came, to tell the real name
of her lover. All her efforts to that effect were in vain, the dreaded
day was fast approaching and she fell into deep melancholy. On the
morning of her wedding-day she went out and strolled in sorrowful mood
through the fields, saying to herself, as she plucked some flowers,
"Far happier are these flowers than I." As she was stooping to gather
them, she thought she heard a noise under the ground. She listened and
recognised it as the voice at her lover, who, in the excess of his joy
at the arrival of his wedding-day, was frolicking and singing, "To-day
I must bake and boil and roast and broil and wash and brew; for this
is my wedding-day. My bride is the fair Inge of Rantum, and my name is
Ekke Nekkepem. Hurrah! Nobody knows _that_ but myself!" "Aye, but _I_
know it too!" said Inge softly to herself, and she placed her nosegay
in her bosom and went home. Toward evening came the Dwarf to claim his
bride. "Many thanks, dear Ekke Nekkepem," said she, "but if you please
I would rather stay where I am." The smiling face of the bridegroom
grew dark as thunder, but he recollected how he had divulged his
secret, and saw that the affair was past remedy.[281]
* * * * *
The Nis of Jutland is called Puk[282] in Friesland. Like him he wears
a pointed red cap, with a long grey or green jacket, and slippers on
his feet. His usual abode is under the roof, and he goes in and out
either through a broken window, which is never mended, or through some
other aperture left on purpose for him. A bowl of groute must be left
on the floor for him every evening, and he is very angry if there
should be no butter in it. When well treated he makes himself very
useful by cleaning up the house, and tending the cattle. He sometimes
amuses himself by playing tricks on the servants, tickling, for
example, their noses when they are asleep, or pulling off the
bed-clothes. Stories are told of the Puk, similar to some above
related of the Juttish Nis.
FOOTNOTES:
[260] Another term is Wicht and its dim. Wichtlein, answering to the
Scandinavian Vættr and the Anglo-Saxon _wiht_, English _wight_, all of
which signify a being, a person, and also a thing in general. Thus our
words _aught_ and _naught_ were _anwiht_ and _nawiht_.
[261] See Grimm's Deutsche Sagen, vol. i. p. 38. As this work is our
chief authority for the Fairy Mythology of Germany, our materials are
to be considered as taken from it, unless when otherwise expressed.
[262] In Lusatia (Lausatz) if not in the rest of Germany, the same idea
of the Dwarfs being fallen angels, prevails as in other countries: see
the tale of the Fairies'-sabbath in the work quoted above, p. 179.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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