The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter Read Online Free PDF Page B

evil—creatures are known to steal healthy human babies and replace them with sickly elvin children (called changelings), a story depicted movingly in Maurice Sendak’s Outside Over There (although, in that story, the baby is kidnapped by goblins, not elves).
    J.R.R. Tolkien’s elves in The Lord of the Rings were unique to literature, because for the first time in literary history, they were no longer tiny, devious, and impish but rather, tall, elegant, commanding guardians of the earth and woods. No longer kidnappers or players of practical jokes, Tolkien’s elves are among the wisest and most noble of all creatures, as well as phenomenally long-lived. Michael Paolini, in Eragon and Eldest, continues Tolkien’s literary interpretation of the elven people.
    Elves in the wizarding world are nothing like any elves in literature— neither impish little pixies nor elegant woods-dwellers. Rowling’s house-elves are, instead, a form of slave labor to aristocratic wizards, who use them as free housekeepers, servants, and cooks. Elves are not allowed to own clothing, so they wear sacks or pillowcases and little else; if an elf’s master gives him or her an article of clothing, the elf is free to leave that service and find paying work elsewhere, but most elves consider such freedom shameful. Most elves are lifelong servants (bound to one master for life) who despise, rather than wish for, freedom from their conditions. They know no other life than serving a master.
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    Beware bad dreams in Germany! Germans call nightmares akpdrücken, which translates to "elf-pressure,” based on the notion that elves sit on the chest of a sleeping person, feeding terrible dreams into his or her brain.
    Wizard elves are quite similar to wizards, albeit with quite a different look: large ears; large bulging eyes; skinny arms and legs; and short bodies. They think and act like wizards and are full of magical powers that they can employ without the use of a wand. Still, because of their low status, they are not supposed to use their magic and are banned from owning or using wands.
Fairy
    Fairies have historically been thought of as tiny, gauzy, magical, female creatures who often fly, like Tinkerbell in Peter Pan . Unlike sweet Tink, however, most folktale fairies are devious, even dangerous creatures, especially because of their desire to kidnap human children (see the “Elf” section).
    Fairies are not only a part of Celtic folklore, but are also present in the tales of such diverse cultures as ancient Greece and some Native American tribes.
    Fairy godmothers, which are popular in Disney movies, bear little resemblance to fairies, except that they could be described as fairly gauzy-looking, and they are, indeed, magical. They tend to be grand-motherly types: older; plump; wise; and kind. Fairy godmothers are an integral component of fairy tales, which originated in the seventeenth century.
    The wizarding-world fairy continues the pre-Disney, nongrandmotherly, nonsweet folkloric tradition, so fairies in the wizard world are tiny, wing-bearing, woods-dwelling, and mean. Fairies are hatched from eggs and cannot speak, thus bearing absolutely no resemblance to Tinkerbell or fairy godmothers.
Grindylow
    Grindylows have long been part of British folklore, utilized as a concept by parents to keep their children from getting too close to ponds and lakes while playing. Grindylows are said to use their long, green fingers to grab children who come close to the water’s edge.
    Similarly, in the wizarding world, Grindylows are small water demons who use their sharp horns and long, green fingers to attack whatever comes in the water with them. Grindylows live peacefully with merpeople but attack just about anything else they find in the water.
Goblin
    Goblins (also called hobgoblins or orcs) have a long tradition in English folklore. Because of their almost universal association with money, goblins are discussed in further detail in Chapter 4,