Don’t Piss Off the Elves

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The people who say that they believe in the Huldafolk probably don’t. The ones who say they don’t believe probably do, which leaves the great majority, about 80 per cent, not wanting to take a chance in either direction. They prefer to sit on the fence, so to speak; an uncomfortable position at best.

This is not a matter to be taken lightly! Elves, especially the Huldafolk, or hidden people of Iceland, are harmless, gentle and shy. They often reward their human neighbors with small kindnesses. So why would you want to piss them off? That’s what I’d like to know!

What exactly do we know about the Huldafolk? — Not much really. “They live a better life than human beings,” said Arni, whose interviews with fellow Icelanders have produced a book listing 500 supernatural beings. “Their houses are nice and clean. They often possess gold and other valuables. This is the wishful thinking of the poor.”1

“Icelandic elves, for example, can have long, spindly legs, big ears, or crazy hair but they don’t wear pointed hats or shoes. Such garb is found on an Icelandic dwarf, perhaps, but he could just as well be wearing a long cloak or a beard. Hidden people are dressed like old-time, country folk, even though these same hidden people have been known to label us regular mortals as the ‘primitive’ ones.”2

They like to wear bright costumes, floppy hats, drink coffee and eat pancakes. There are so many variations that an entire flora has been described: 13 types of elves, 3 kinds of hidden people, 4 varieties of gnomes, 2 forms of trolls, 3 types of fairies, lovelings (slender wee creatures inhabiting hedgerows), mountain spirits and a glut of 13 unjolly Santas, the so-called Yuletide Lads, who skulk about cities, towns and rural farmsteads each Christmas — traditionally bringing more mayhem than merriment, although lately they’ve stopped stealing and eating children. They live in, around and under rock outcroppings as long as there is not too much noise or light, which can turn them to stone.

Having a Huldafolk neighbor can be a real blessing, as any Icelander will readily testify. Once, a country girl had assisted an elf maiden in childbirth. She was rewarded with an apron full of wood shavings. She dumped them in a huff and upon her return home she found that the shavings that still clung to her apron had turned to gold.

Highways have been rerouted around supposed elf dwellings. A psychic negotiator, or medium is brought in during such a crisis. “Our basic approach is not to deny this phenomenon,” Birgir Gudmundsson, an engineer with the Iceland Road Authority, told Reuters. “We tread carefully. There are people who can negotiate with the elves, and we make use of that.”3The alternative might be mechanical breakdown, electrical failures, cost overrunns, broken limbs or worse — no point taking chances.

“I believe the elves want people to preserve nature,” said Erla Stefansdottir, another medium and part-time consultant to the road authorities. “Elves are nice and sweet, the other side of nature, they are like light on the trees and the flowers.” Elves were not always at fault when roadworkers ran into unexpected problems. “You cannot blame it all on the elves,” Erla said. “People are good at bungling things themselves.”4

Iceland has a small population; with the introduction of the Huldafolk it has almost doubled. With its surplus of lava rocks it is an ideal location for Huldafolk and a wide variety of other miraculous creatures.

“For the most part, huldafolk are harmless, even gentle beings,” said Magnus Skarphedinsson, a schoolteacher and self-described elf expert. “But if you brutalize them, bad things will happen. Perhaps only that your project will have big cost overruns. But also you could fall from a disease. Or die. It can be very dangerous to bother elves.”5

In conclusion, as beneficial as these creatures can be they also have a mischievous nature – so don’t piss them off!

Footnotes
1  http://www.ismennt.is/vefir/ari/alfar/alandslag/aelvesmod.htm
2  http://www.gonomad.com/features/0101/waigand_iceland.html
3  http://www.ismennt.is/vefir/ari/alfar/alandslag/aelvesmod.htm
4  http://www.ismennt.is/vefir/ari/alfar/alandslag/aelvesmod.htm
5  http://www.seattlepi.com/national/elvs25.shtml