The elf bull

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Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm , 1865, English edition 1912

The elf bull , also known as the water bull , is a mythical bull in Irish and Scottish folk tales , from the Isle of Man as well as from northern Germany . The story of the elf bull is contained in the Irish fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm , which they translated in 1825 from Fairy legends and traditions of the South of Ireland by Thomas Crofton Croker . A similar legend is also known in Germany.

Mythology and Appearance

The motif of the bull shape of fertility-bringing mythical figures can be ascertained from the early days to the folk tales of modern times. A bull living underwater, either in the sea or in a lake, comes ashore at regular intervals and mates with the cows grazing on the shore. In Irish and Scottish Gaelic it is called tarbh uisge , in Manx , the extinct language of the Isle of Man, tarroo ushtey (both means "water bull ").

The elf bull is described in Ireland as small, mouse-colored, with clipped ears, short horns and short legs, but a long body with smooth fur. He is very strong and aggressive, always grazes near a body of water at night and eats the green grain. His presence can be recognized by the great unrest that affects the whole herd of cattle. A human can only see the elf bull if he looks through a knothole drilled by elves or through an animal skin perforated by an elven shot. However, once he has actually seen the Elf Taurus, he is forever blind in that eye.

Irish legend

The cow of a tenant whose property was on a river never let a normal bull cover it. But on a certain day she left the herd, went to the bank opposite a small, densely vegetated island, and swam across. Each time she returned, she gave birth to a calf that looked exactly like the elf bull. Once at Martini , the farmer said to his people, when they talked about the Christmas roast, that he wanted to slaughter this cow because she had done her job at the plow and had given birth to many beautiful young bulls. At the same moment the cow broke through the wall of the barn along with all of her young and ran with them to the river. They swam over him to the island, where they disappeared into the thicket and were never seen again.

Scottish legend

At the beginning of the 13th century, the legend of the elf bull is said to have been known in Iceland ( Eyrbyggia Saga , Cap. 63) and should have reached Scotland from there. A cow suddenly disappears, someone sees her in the pasture with a gray bull, which apparently resembles the mouse-colored bull of Irish legend. In winter, the cow suddenly stands pregnant in front of the barn and, in summer, gives birth to a bull calf that is so big that it dies while calving. An old blind clairvoyant cries out when she hears the calf roar: "This is the roar of an elf and not a living being, you will do it good to kill it immediately!" But because of the beauty of the animal it is not done. It grows tremendously and pierces its own master with its horns in the fourth year.

German legend

A similar legend is told in Germany: In the book Der adventurliche Simplicissimus by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (Book V, Cap. 10) it can be read that a brown bull rose from the Mummelsee (the lake of the mermaids ) and joined the have joined other cattle. A mermaid or a nock followed him to drive him back again, but only when he was threatened with all the suffering of the earthly did he dive back into the lake.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview . P. 99 f.