The etin of the Scottish version is, in Scandinavian and German versions, an elf-king, a hill-king, a dwarf-king, or even a merman. Only in the Danish is the ballad found before the nineteenth century; a sixteenth-century Danish form, "Jomfruen og Dværgekongen" (DgF 37, TSB A 54).
The etin of Scottish origin is akin to an elf-king, hill-king, dwarf-king, or even merman in Scandinavian and German folklore. Notably, the Danish version emerged before the nineteenth century; a sixteenth-century Danish form, "Jomfruen og Dværgekongen" (DgF 37, TSB A 54).