“We do not want merely to see beauty... we want something else which can hardly be put into words—to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. That is why we have peopled air and earth and water with gods and goddesses, and nymphs and elves.”

C.S. Lewis

Elves—the hidden people (huldufolk, or alfaer) as they are known in ancient Icelandic lore—are everywhere. These sometimes visible but usually invisible beings are thought to move quietly about our world, interacting with the affairs of humans in ways both benign and mischievous. The popular notion of elves in modern lore links them to toy-making with Santa Claus at the North Pole. But to the cultures who first posited the existence of elves dwelling among them, these hidden people serve both to explain and to obscure the reasons why things happen as they do. The reality is, we often don’t know or realize why our lives unfold the way they do. Must be the elves.

Our natural tendency is to focus on the many little mischiefs that befall us in our daily lives—no doubt caused by elves intent on doing us harm (for reasons apparently known only to them). We get sick, our cars break down, the weather takes an unexpected turn for the worse—blame the elves! But do we credit the hidden folks among us for the good fortune that also quietly comes our way?

Who made your life a little more enjoyable recently? What secret mysterious sprite got you out of an unexpected jam? Which small (or not-so-small) victory that you experienced this year was due to the unbidden assistance of some person working behind the scenes on your behalf?

Credit the elves in your life. It may not do much for them—they’re content to be hidden folks, after all—but it will do so much for you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!