PS:
1. I forgot to mention that Goethe's "Erlkönig" is transformed into a
pedophile by Kinbote ( in Goethe's lines he has various hoary daughters at his
side). This particular poem is mentioned by Shade in line 662,and others: "Who
rides so late in the night and the wind" and its lines were repeated ( in
Zemblan and in German) by fleeing King Charles.
According to Kinbote Goethe's ballad deals with "the erlking,
hoary enchanter of the elf-haunted alderwood, who falls in love with the
delicate little boy..." and the easy transposition of Wind/Kind,
Vett/Dett, Vent/Enfant that is impossible to repeat in
English.
Kinbote mentions
"matted elfin-wood" and a certain Elvina Krummholz (related to
Lavender) and gender-changes are alluded in connection to Lavender (the
collector of "ombrioles", not the color of flower and butterflies) when Kinbote
mentions L's governess "whom the King had always called to her pleased face Mademoiselle
Belle instead of Mademoiselle Baud" (Belle instead
of Baud/Beau, a word-play that may not
be transposed into English).
2. The play with pedophile/father&child relates to the
mountainous "range" of adult/child
seduction.
I wonder if VN might have been alluding to W.Wordsworth's "My heart
leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky" that mentions the lines (
mocked by dappled G.M.Hopkins) "The Child is father to the
Man"