ERLAII, What, or EGER. The capital of the minify of Cleves, Iltnigary, about eighty miles northeast of Budapest (Map: Hungary, G 3). The streets are narrow and ill kept, but some of its piddle buildings are very beautiful. Among are the large cathedral in the Italian style, with two towers and a dome, erected in 1831-37; the a•elibishop's palace, with a valuable library; a lyceum built by Count EszterlUizr in 176585, with a lofty observatory and a library. There is ah-o a beautiful minaret, the remains of a mosque. Thc industries and commerce of Erlan are important Wine produetion is the chief occupation. The red Erlauer wine is famous as the best in Hungary. Near Erbtu, on a spur of the Almagy Mountains, are the ruins of a castle, in the grounds of which is the tomb of Do16. \yip defended the town against the Turks in 1552. A bishopric was founded here in the eleventh century by Saint Stephen. In 1241 the
place was destroyed by the Tatars, but was soon rebuilt. It was held by the Turks from 1596 to 1687. Population, in 1590, 22,427; in 1900, 24,650.
ERLKoNIG, ftl'ke-nig (Ger., from Dan. elle konge, clrer-konge, elf-king). The name given in popular German mythology to a mischievous spirit that deludes men and children by weird rather than playful sednetion. The word is prop erly Elfenkonig: its present form is due to Her der, who seems to have misapprehended the etymology of the Danish Ellerkonge, whence he took the title. The myth came from Scandinavia through Herder's (q.v.) Voices of the Peoples, which has a translation of the Danish Erlking's Daughter. It passed into universal literature through Goethe's ballad "Der Erlkiinig."