Keel bolster

Kiel goiter is a clear certain fabulous name for a child, sometimes of animals, the result of adhesions or mental breakdown as a freak considered and its ancestry to the devil , dwarves or mermaids is returned, literary for a erdgeisthaftes , dwarf-like creature. Used partly synonymous with changeling .

Germanic origin

Above all in Germanic mythology , the keel heads (also Umskiptungr) are used as children of the underground dark elves (in the Snorra-Eddaare called these night albums) reported. These are placed by the underground in the cradle of a human child, the human child is then stolen and brought underground. To get her own child back, the mother must first make the keel-head speak and then threaten to hit him. As a result, the real mother of the Elf will return and want to save her child. To test whether it is such a change child, the “deprived mother should, in view of the hated bellows, cook beer in eggshells or put a very long mixing spoon made from many sticks in a very small pot. Because at this sight the ugly old brat lets itself be carried away to a sudden cry of astonishment [...] Now the mother has good reason to ruthlessly beat him with the rod until the dwarf brings the stolen child back with him at his screams The egg plays a decisive role in this, because according to Germanic belief, creation begins with the well of Niflheim , which is called a rushing cauldron, sending out twelve currents. Brewing and boiling begin in the kettle, and that is the beginning of the process. This brewing took place before all beings came into being. Niflheim is the lower half of the shell of the world egg . Brewing in an eggshell therefore leads to the astonished utterance of the previously mute child. Crossing a river can also lead to realizing the true nature of the child.

Origin of the Myth

In many medieval and pre-medieval reports and legends that have come down to us, the keel is portrayed as a decidedly ugly little child with an oversized head, who learns neither to speak nor to walk in the usual time for human children. One explanation for the origin of the mythological figure could be the disease hydrocephalus (colloquially “water head”), in which the cerebrospinal fluid spaces of the brain change pathologically and enlarge, which can lead to unnatural growth of the skull. Some forms of the disease are associated with significant delays in intellectual and motor development.

literature

• Keel bolster. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 11 : K - (V). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1873, Sp. 680-681 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
• Nancy Arrowsmith: The World of Nature Spirits. Wilhelm Goldmann GmbH, 1989, ISBN 3-442-08822-4 .
• Ron van Valkenberg: Atlas of the nature spirits. Ludwig, Munich, 2002, ISBN 3-7787-5067-4 .
• Walter Bachmann: The unfortunate legacy of Christianity: The changeling - on the history of curative education. Inst. For healing u. Special Education, Giessen 1985, ISBN 3-922346-13-8 .
• The keel heads. In: Ludwig Bechstein: German saga book. Wigand, 1853 pp. 164-165 ( books.google.de ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Elard Hugo Meyer: Mythology of the Teutons . KJ Trübner, Strasbourg 1903, p. 181 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
2. ↑ Heinrich Bertsch: Weltanschauung, folk tale and folk custom, examined in their context . Ruhfus, Dortmund 1910, p. 438–439 ( Text Archive - Internet Archive ).
3. ↑ Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm: The changeable bellows in the water . In: German legends . 1st edition. tape 1 . Nicolai, 1816, p. 134-135 ( books.google.de ).