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Keightley, Thomas - The Elle-king's soldiers
Identifier
014278
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Elves are often associated with woods because many fungi grow on trees, particularly oak, beech, lime, linden, chestnut, ash and birch. Flowering trees that also support fungi are likely to be particularly 'potent' spiritually....
Symbolism and actual experience all mixed up - wonderful.
A description of the experience
Thomas Keightley – The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves and other Little people
In the popular creed there is some strange connection between the elves and the trees. They not only frequent them, but they make an interchanged form with them. In the church yard of Store Heddinge in Zealand, there are the remains of an oak wood. These, say the common people, are the Elle-king's soldiers, by day they are trees, by night valiant warriors.
The linden or lime tree is a favourite haunt of the elves and cognate beings and it is not safe to be near it after sunset