J. F. Campbell Collection > Minstrelsy of the Scottish border > Volume 2

112 MINSTRELSY OF
divided steel like watei*, and was never unsheathed with-
out slaying a man. — Hervarar Saga, p. 9. Similar to
this was the enchanted sword, Skqffnung, which was
taken by a pirate out of the tomb of a Norwegian mo-
narch. Many such tales are narrated in the Sagas ; but
the most distinct account of the duergar, or elves, and
their attributes, is to be found in a preface of Torfasus
to the history of Hrolf Kraka, who cites a dissertation
by Einar Gudmund, a learned native of Iceland. " I
'' am firmly of opinion," says the Icelander, " that these
" beings are creatures of God, consisting, like human
" beings, of a body and rational soul ; that they are of
" different sexes, and capable of producing children,
" and subject to all human affections, as sleeping and
" waking, laughing and crying, poverty and wealth ;
•* and that they possess cattle, and other effects, and are
<' obnoxious to death, like other mortals." He proceeds
to state, that the females of this race are capable of pro-
creating with mankind ; and gives an account of one
who bore a child to an inhabitant of Iceland, for whom
she claimed the privilege of baptism ; depositing the
infant, for that purpose, at the gate of the church-yard,
together with a goblet of gold, as an offering. — IJixloria
Hrolji Krakoe, a Torfaeo.
Similar to the traditions of the Icelanders, are those
current among the Laplanders of Finland, concerning a
subterranean people, gifted with supernatural qualities,
and inhabiting the recesses of the earth. Resembling
men in their general a2)pearance, the manner of their ex-