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In European folklore and myth, the Erlking is a sinister elf who lingers in the woods. He stalks children who stay in the woods for too long, and kills them by a single touch. The name "Erlking" is a name used in German Romanticism for the figure of a spirit or "king of the fairies". It is usually assumed that the name is a derivation from the ellekonge in Danish folklore. The name is first used by Johann Gottfried Herder in his ballad "Erlkönigs Tochter", an adaptation of the Danish Hr. Oluf han rider, and was taken up by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his poem "Erlkönig", which was set to music by Schubert, among others. Goethe added a new meaning, as "Erl" does not mean "elf", but "black alder" – the poem about the Erlenkönig is set in the area of an alder quarry in the Saale valley in Thuringia. In English translations of Goethe's poem, the name is sometimes rendered as Erl-king. Wikipedia