Page "Gnome" Paragraph 5

In 19th century fiction, the chthonic gnome became a sort of antithesis to the more airy or luminous fairy.

Nathaniel Hawthorne in Twice-Told Tales ( 1837 ) contrasts the two in " Small enough to be king of the fairies, and ugly enough to be king of the gnomes " ( cited after OED ).

Similarly, gnomes are contrasted to elves, as in William Cullen Bryant's Little People of the Snow ( 1877 ), which has " let us have a tale of elves that ride by night, with jingling reins, or gnomes of the mine " ( cited after OED ).