NPPF Comm3: Alder

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p. 116
"also called alder"

The alder is part of the reference set for Göethe's "Der Erlkönig."
Commonly thought a mistranslation* from Johann Gottfried von Herder's
version of the Danish "Erlkönigs Tochter" ("ellerkonge", "elverkonge" "king
of the elves"), the Erlkönig may refer to an Elf King, or (as it does
literally) to the Alder King (German "Erle" "alder" and "König" "king").  In
Germanic folklore the Erlkönig is an evil spirit malicious especially toward
children.

"Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif?"
See also Kron glacier (99), Mt. Kron (132), Kronberg (143)
See also elfinwood (142), alfear (143)

http://www.fln.vcu.edu/goethe/erl_dict.html
http://germanenglishwords.com/rlge.htm

The Alder
Betulaceae (Birch family) 

Alnus spp. (A. Glutinosa - "European or Black Alder", A. Maritima - "Seaside
Alder", A. Rugosa - "Tag Alder", A serrulata - "Common or Hazel Alder")

A member of the sacred tree club in Pale Fire (along with Cedar, Hazel, Yew,
Ash, Beech, Birch) (and remember the first rule of tree club!), the alder is
the Celtic Tree of Life (when cut it seems to bleed red), associated with
resurrection, the emergence of the solar year, and protection against water
(it's leaves resist rain better than other deciduous trees, and it's timber
resists decay when used for conduits, bridges, or boats). 

Graves says, "But principally the alder is the tree of fire, the power of
fire to free the earth from water; and the alder-branch by which Bran was
recognised at the /Câd Goddeu/ is a token of resurrection -- its buds are
set in a spiral. This spiral symbol is ante-diluvian: the earliest Sumerian
shrines are 'ghost-houses', like those used in Uganda, and are flanked by
spiral posts." (Robert Graves, _The White Goddess_, p. 172)

And of course the spiral is an important construct for VN.

Also known as the faerie's tree, it is the tree of witches, who can use its
wood to fashion whistles to summon and control the four winds.  It's wood is
used for the construction of pipes, flutes, staves, and (historically)
shields that were believed to inherit the protection of the tree's spirit.
Also used to produce charcoal.  Sometimes called Gummy or Gluey in European
folklore.

Three dyes derive from the alder: red from its bark, green from its flowers,
and brown from its twigs, so it contains the elements of fire, water, and
earth, and is also associated with the colors crimson, green-brown, and
royal purple.

In Celtic myth Bran the Blessed is a giant who bridges the charmed river
Linon using alder wood, fights the Ash King on behalf of the Alder King, and
his sister Branwen's son is burned in an alder bonfire.  Bran is the god of
regeneration, whose name means "raven."  Later legend has it that after
receiving a mortal wound in the foot with a poisoned spear, Bran's head was
brought to the White Mound, where the Tower of London now stands, in order
to face any enemy invasion (thus the legend that if the ravens leave the
Tower of London, Britain will be invaded).  King Arthur later dug it up in
order to become Britain's sole protector.
 
http://www.cyberphile.co.uk/~taff/taffnet/mabinogion/bran2.html

In the Irish Ossianic "Song of the Forest Trees" it is the "the very
battle-witch of all woods, tree that is hottest in the fight," and in Irish
legend the first human male was created from the alder.  In the legends of
the Rollright stones in Oxfordshire, the King Stone, which stands alone, was
reputedly once associated with a grove of alder trees.  In ancient Greek
mythology, the god Cronos was represented by an alder tree.  In Norse legend
March was known a the "lengthening month of the waking alder" (JM Paterson,
_A Tree in Your Pocket_).

http://www.treelore.com/trees/alder.html
http://grandpasgeneral.com/boswood.html
http://treetotem.com/tealder.htm
http://www.thornr.demon.co.uk/bran/alderims.html


* A recent essay by Burkhard Schröder disputes Göethe's supposed
mistranslation, and shows Erlkönig to connect to the color white and some of
the associations that surround it (he includes the Greek goddess Alphito,
the Jewish Lilith, the German Alberich (the Erlking is sometimes thought to
be the King of the dwarves; also the alder grows near water and is said to
be under the protection of water fairies (Rhinemaidens for the Wagnerphiles
out there)), to the Celtic Bran the Blessed, and even forward to Moby Dick).

http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/co/12692/1.html (in German)
http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth09.htm

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