WUFFACYNN
Early English Otherworldly Entities
Early English literature and folk lore advise us of many entities both seen and unseen share this land that we know as home. Each one has its own identity, mannerisms, and traits. Some are social toward mankind and some are not.
Some, like mankind are a complete mixed bag of attitudes and mood swings. Each has its own intricate folk lore that advises us of the positives and pitfalls of likely encounters we may have. On some cases we are advised on who to try and avoid, and how to literally survive encounters with the more antagonistic and antisocial.
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Dragons
There appear to be definitely two and possibly three types of creatures that fall under this umbrella category.
Drakes
This is the name given to creatures that we most commonly recognise as dragons today. Drakes lived in caves and are winged and can fly, they are associated with guarding hoards of treasure as found in Beowulf.
Wyrms
More akin to what we would consider today to be land serpents, great legless snakelike creatures that crawl upon the earth on their bellies. There are a number of tales from local folklores from across the country featuring Wyrms. Locally to us here in Suffolk there are several different tales of wyrms and possibly Drakes found in the Bures/Great Cornard area of Suffolk, there is even a village in this area named Wormingford.
Nicor
We know very little about these, other than they are water dwelling creatures of different sizes of the sea serpent genre. There are a number of reports of them living in lakes, wells, rivers, etc.
All the aforementioned appear to be of a savage nature, indeed one of the tales from Bures, Essex, UK, advises us that the Wyrm ate both Shepherd and some of his sheep. Wyrms, Drakes, and Nicors majorly do not seem to be of a disposition for peaceful co-existence with each other let alone mankind, so best to be avoided, perhaps.
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Elves
There are believed to be two categories of Elves, Light Elves and Dark Elves. Never be fooled or tempted into believing that Dark = sinister/bad, and Light = good, as this is very much a case of where modern English has strayed from the Anglo-Saxon origin. In this instance dark would translate more accurately as “unseen” with light equating to “being seen”.
Elves are believed to live in mounds, hills or other features in the landscape and can most probably be likened to the Sidhe in Irish Mythology and folklore. They are said to be like beautiful shining people, very powerful.
In Norwegian folklore it is common for great people to be elevated to elfdom after death. The great King Olaf Gerstad Alf, a Norwegian King from history is one such human who was elevated to Alfdom after death, his life was extolled in a poem written by the Skald Tjofolf of Hvin who lived around 900ce the poem is primarily about Olafs son King Ragnvald the mountain high. This particular royal lineage has a smack of the Arthurian legend about as to whether his life is fact or fiction. This possibility of ancestors rising to Afdom could explain why in Norwegian folklore the Alfs are associated with ancestor worship.
Elves interact with mankind and evidence of this can be found in the folk tales and mythology from across northern Europe (as do the Sidhe from Irish source).
This can also entail romantic liaisons (Icelandic) Thirdreks saga from Norway tells of a Norwegian Queen whose lover is elfkind indeed she has a child by him!!! Their son became a great leader and warrior who was invincible in battle. In the saga of Hrolf Kraki the King rapes an elven maiden the daughter from this was called Skuld and she was a great Seidr practitioner. From Sweden we have the wonderful tale of Sigvat Thordason a Christian who was refused hospitality in a heathen household as it was the night of an Alfablot a night when the elven folk were honoured and treats would be laid out for them. There are many more accounts to be found in tales and sagas.
From the modern era there is a wonderful account from Iceland when at a football match the ball was kicked out of play into an area where it was believed the hidden folk lived. Not wishing to upset the hidden folk the game was called off and the ball left in situ. Also from Iceland we hear of roads being diverted and houses not being built for fear of offending elfkind.
In Germany the elves are very much associated with industry and some are quite small, more in line with what we would consider to be house brownies. There is a wonderful tale that retells of a cobbler who kept his elven assistants without clothes so that they would stay and help him make the finest shoes in the area, and he worked them hard. Over a period of time the old mans attitude softened and he had clothes made for them. Once clothed the elves ran off never to be seen again.
There is another lovely piece of Scandinavian folklore is that dancing meadow elves in the autumn would cause rings of toadstools to grow and as a result these areas were enchanted, and if anyone perchance would urinate in these circle they would end up with a venereal disease!!!!
English elves are much more associated with the givers and relievers of illness, many of the early Leechcraft books give remedies for those stricken with elfshot.
Interestingly our preoccupation with Elves in folklore is not just confined to the early period. They crop up across the spectrum of history in guises both good and bad.
Giants (Ents)
We read in the Eddas of many great battles between the Gods and Giants, with Thor as the champion of the Gods. Although this said we must remember that all was not totally bad between Gods and Giants as several Gods Married giantkind, also the Greater Norns are themselves of Jotunkind (Giantkind).
There are plenty of folk tales that have survived from across Scandinavia and these lands from which we learn that It would appear that mostly the relationship between mankind and giantkind was of a kinder gentler disposition. there are a few very heartwarming tales from both Sweden as well as early English folklore that show a very benevolent side to the Giant/Human relationship equation. Perhaps the same conclusion can be drawn that we see with humanity "There is good and bad to be found amongst us".
The aforementioned represent but a few of what is to be found, and if this whets your appetite it is worth devoting some time to explore this interesting and intriguing topic.