3.6.09

~Old Girl~

~Elder Mother~Arthur Rackham

"Old girl, give me some of thy wood
and I will give thee some of mine
when I grow into a tree."

The Elder Mother is thought to be the guardian
of the elder trees, and it was said,
until recent time in various parts of England and
Scandinavia that to take wood from the elder
tree one would have to ask the elder Mother first,
or else ill luck would befall the woodsman.
this is what the woodsman has to ask the Elder Mother…

~Hyldemoer~Oskar Klever HYLDEMOER:

Elder Mother. That’s elder as in elder tree,
not older or alder.

She is a Tree Spirit who seems nice enough,
provided you respect elder trees.
If you don't, she may take her revenge.
Scandinavian folklore reveals that she particularly dislikes
her trees being chopped down to make cradles and cribs.
If you put a baby to sleep in an elderwood cradle,
Hyldemoer will come along and pull at the innocent
babe's legs until it shrieks.

The Elder Mother is an elder-guarding being
in English and Scandinavian folklore known by a variety
of names, such as the Danish Hyldemoer ("Elder-Mother")
and the Lincolnshire names Old Lady and Old Girl.
The Mother Hulda (or Frau Holle) of German folklore
is often seen as a variant on the same folkloric being,
due to her connection with the elder and the
similarity of her name.

2 opmerkingen:

Hermes zei

Fascinating, we don't seem to have that folklore here in the west of England.

Anna zei

I love folklore, legends and fairy tales...but here in the Netherlands?
I don't think we have that either!!!