The Erlking
A father rides home through the night with his son in his arms. The boy says a king of the forest is calling to him. The father sees only mist.
What was reported
In Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1782 poem 'Erlkönig', a father gallops through a dark forest with his young son. The boy cries that he sees the Erlking, a crowned figure who whispers promises to him and then threatens to take him by force. The father tells him it's only mist, the wind in the leaves, old willows. When they reach home, the child is gone.
The poem, set to music by Franz Schubert, became one of the most famous songs ever written. A stone statue of the Erlking stands in the woods by the Saale River near Jena, where some say the poem was inspired.
Explanations offered
The Erlking came from Danish folklore, where the 'elf king' or elf maidens lured people to their deaths. When the writer Johann Gottfried Herder translated a Danish ballad, he turned 'elf king' into 'alder king'. Goethe used it to explore the gap between what children and adults see in the dark.
- When
- Poem written in 1782
- Where
- Jena, Thuringia, Germany
- Witnesses
- German and Danish folklore, and Goethe's poem
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
More from Thüringen