Re: Non-stereotypical elves was Re: Quick Intro

On Friday 21 February 2003 10:09 pm, Wesley Parish wrote:
> On Saturday 22 February 2003 02:25 am, you wrote:
> > Wesley Parish wrote:
> > >At last, someone who's put some thought into "Elves".
> > >
> > >I remind myself of the times I was warned in Papua New Guinea about
> > > masalai -
> > >forest spirits - who'd eat me if they caught me; and Tolkien's Quenyar
> > > are essentially forest spirits with a touch of the Christian Church's
> > > Angels about them.
> >
> > Apart from that Tolkien's elves are called "Quendi", I find that
> > characterization extremely odd. Certainly, some of them were more than a
> > bit fond of forests, but "forest spirits"? That sounds alot more like the
> > Ents.
>
> Sorry about that Quendi/Quenyar mix-up.
>
> "Forest spirits"?  If you go into Western folktales and folklore and
> suchlike, you'll find that "elves" are spirits who live in the woodlands.
> Related are the sea-spirits (Selkies) in (mostly) Scottish folk-lore
Tolkien has those, too, the Teleri.