er by accident or design, she immediately effected her escape
and never returned.

The Peaks of the Trolls

Naturally, traditions of the little folk abound everywhere throughout
the North, and many places are associated with their memory. The
well-known Peaks of the Trolls (Trold-Tindterne) in Norway are said
to be the scene of a conflict between two bands of trolls, who in
the eagerness of combat omitted to note the approach of sunrise,
with the result that they were changed into the small points of rock
which stand up noticeably upon the crests of the mountain.

A Conjecture

Some writers have ventured a conjecture that the dwarfs so often
mentioned in the ancient sagas and fairy-tales were real beings,
probably the Phoenician miners, who, working the coal, iron, copper,
gold, and tin mines of England, Norway, Sweden, etc., took advantage
of the simplicity and credulity of the early inhabitants to make
them believe that they belonged to a supernatural race and always
dwelt underground, in a region which was called Svart-alfa-heim,
or the home of the black elves.

CHAPTER XXV: THE ELVES

The Realm of Faery

Besides the dwarfs there was another numerous class of tiny creatures
called Lios-alfar, light or white elves, who inhabited the realms of
air between heaven and earth, and were gently governed by the genial
god Frey from his palace in Alf-heim. They were lovely, beneficent
beings, so pure and innocent that, according to some authorities,
their name was derived from the same root as the Latin word "white"
(albus), which, in a modified form, was given to the snow-covered
Alps, and to Albion (England), because of her white chalk cliffs
which could be seen afar.

The elves were so small that they could flit about unseen while
they tended the flowers, birds, and butterflies; and as they were
passionately fond of dancing, they often glided down to earth on a
moonbeam, to dance on the green. Holding one another by the hand,
they would dance in circles, thereby making the "fairy rings," which
were to be discerned by the deeper green and greater luxuriance of
the grass which their little feet had pressed.

"Merry elves, their morrice pacing
To aerial minstrelsy,
Emerald rings on brown heath tracing,
Trip it deft and merrily."

Sir Walter Scott.

If any mortal stood in the middle of one of these fairy rings he
could, according to popular belief in Engla