The Elder Mother is an arboreal guardian figure in British, Germanic, and Scandinavian folklore, known by various names, such as the Danish Hyldemoer ("Elder Mother") and the Lincolnshire names Old Lady or Old Girl. She is known as the protector of the Elder Trees, as well as the one who guards the door to the Otherworld—realm of the Faerie and/or the Dead. As such, she is associated with some of the darker mysteries and magics, especially in relation to the cycles of life, death and rebirth. Until relatively recently in Scandinavia and the UK, it was widely believed that if one harvested wood from an Elder Tree without permission from the Elder Mother, they would suffer misfortune at her hands. In order to gain her consent, the wood-cutter was required to address the Elder Mother by chanting or singing a particular promise: "Old girl, give me some of thy wood and I will give thee some of mine when I grow into a tree." This simple vow refers to the potentiality for growth and renewal offered through death, as the decaying of the body gives way to the enrichment of the natural environment that serves as its final resting place. One such story of the Elder Mother's retribution recounts the mother of a sick child saying : “It were all along of my maister’s thick ‘ead. It were in this ‘ow't’ rocker comed off t'cradle, and he hadn’t no more gumption than to mak’ a new ‘un out on illerwood (elder wood) without axing the Old Lady’s leave, and in course she didn’t like that, and she came and pinched the wean that outrageous he were a’most black in t’ face; but I bashed un off, and putten an eshen on, and the wean is gallus as owt agin."
Bearing such an intimate connection to the Otherworld, Elder is widely considered one of the Faerie trees. In Denmark, it was said that if a person stood beneath an Elder tree, wearing a crown of Elder on May Eve, they would be able to commune with the Other Realm and see the Faerie and the spirits of the Dead. According to a similar, Scottish tradition, it was said that if you stood beneath an Elder on the eve of Samhain, you would be able to see the Elven Monarchs and their hosts of Elves. However, while the Elder is intimately linked to the Faerie Faiths, it is also closely connected to the lore of witches.
A different tale, from Northamptonshire, tells of a man who cut a switch from the branch of an Elder, only to see that the tree was oozing blood. Later that day, upon meeting the local witch, he notices that her arm is newly dressed with a bloody bandage.
Another story casts the Elder Mother, not only as an Arboreal Witch, but as the morally ambiguous heroine of the tale. She is credited in the tale with rescuing Britain from being conquered by a foreign king and his cavalry. This also serves as an origin myth for how the Rollright Stones, rest along the Oxfordshire / Warwickshire border, came to be. As the king and his knights made their way to Long Compton, they came across the witch, who told the king:
“Seven long strides thou shalt take,
And if Long Compton thou shalt see,
King of England thou shalt be."
The king went onwards though, saying:
As King of England I shall be known."
However, when the King's made his seventh stride, a hill rose up before him, preventing him from seeing Long Compton. The witch spoke to the king and his men once again, saying:
"As Long Compton thou canst not see
King of England thou shalt not be.
Rise up stick and stand still stone
For King of England thou shalt be none;
Thou and thy men hoar stones shall be
And I myself an Eldern tree."
And so, the king and his knights were turned to stone and the witch turned herself into an Elder Tree.
Yet another tale, from Somerset, describes the Elder Mother as a malevolent witch who is seen by a farmer, in the form of an Elder Tree, milking his cows. The farmer shoots a silver bullet at the witch, but misses, and is forced back into his home. However, the old grandmother of the household is able to save them all by taking a burning ember from the hearth with a shovel, and throwing it at the Elder Tree, which burns to ashes.
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