Erlking

Quick meaning: Erlking is a noun meaning (European folklore) In German literature and modern folklore, a malicious elf or spirit who preys on children.

Meaning

(European folklore) In German literature and modern folklore, a malicious elf or spirit who preys on children.

Example Sentences

So easy for one young son to be swallowed up in a world teeming with Erlkings, real and imagined.

He was in the forest looking to see the trees / But none were there / He found a girl / She found the erlking

By now, he seems less a cartoon character than some contemporary Erlking, the malicious spirit made famous by Goethe (and Schubert) but found originally in a Danish ballad.

This line, and indeed the whole passage (lines 653-664), allude to the well-known poem by Goethe about the erlking, hoary enchanter of the elf-haunted alderwood, who falls in love with the delicate little boy of a belated traveler.

Word Forms

• erlkings
• erl-king

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include erl-king, elfe, elvenkind, elfkind, were-elf, woodelf.

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