or _duergar_, of the
Scandinavians. From the most early of the Icelandic Sagas, as well as
from the Edda itself, we learn the belief of the northern nations in
a race of dwarfish spirits, inhabiting the rocky mountains, and
approaching, in some respects, to the human nature. Their attributes,
amongst which we recognize the features of the modern Fairy, were,
supernatural wisdom and prescience, and skill in the mechanical arts,
especially in the fabrication of arms. They are farther described, as
capricious, vindictive, and easily irritated. The story of the elfin
sword, _Tyrfing_, may be the most pleasing illustration of this
position. Suafurlami, a Scandinavian monarch, returning from hunting,
bewildered himself among the mountains. About sun-set, he beheld a large
rock, and two dwarfs, sitting before the mouth of a cavern. The king
drew his sword, and intercepted their retreat, by springing betwixt
them and their recess, and imposed upon them the following condition of
safety:--that they should make for him a faulchion, with a baldric and
scabbard of pure gold, and a blade, which should divide stones and iron
as a garment, and which should render the wielder ever victorious in
battle. The elves complied with the requisition, and Suafurlami pursued
his way home. Returning at the time appointed, the dwarfs delivered to
him the famous sword _Tyrfing_; then, standing in the entrance of their
cavern, spoke thus: "This sword, O king, shall "destroy a man every time
it is brandished; but it shall "perform three atrocious deeds, and it
shall be thy bane." The king rushed forward with the charmed sword, and
buried both its edges in the rock; but the dwarfs escaped into their
recesses.[A] This enchanted sword emitted rays like the sun, dazzling
all against whom it was brandished; it divided steel like water, and was
never unsheathed without slaying a man--_Hervarar Saga,_ p. 9. Similar
to this was the enchanted sword, _Skoffhung_, which was taken by a
pirate out of the tomb of a Norwegian monarch. 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 Torfaeus
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 differen