Susan Hillings, age 8, of Hattiesburg, Miss., for her question:

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS  AN ELF?

An elf is a dwarflike fairy that you'll find only in folklore  And in Norse mythology. The elf doesn't actually exist. The elf is also sometimes called a gnome. There are good ones, called light elves, and bad ones, called black elves.

The bad elves live in the ground and move through earth as easily as if it were water. They are said to be dangerous and can cause disease in cattle and men. The men are ugly and humpbacked and live under ground all of their lives. Daylight turns them to stone. The women are beautiful.

They often creep out at night and make lonely wanderers lose their way in the darkness. Light elves live in the air, dance on the grass and rest in trees. Black elves are often confused with trolls. Trolls come from Scandinavian folklore.