In Daniel Helen’s brief article“Earliest reference to‘elf’manuscript digitised”on tolkiensociety.org,he discusses theimportance of digitizing an early English text.Discovering the word“elf”inearly texts,Helen explains,emphasizes Tolkien’s desire to change the ancientview of elves as evil creatures.The text in question is an 8thcentury prayerbook from the Anglo Saxon Kingdom of Mercia,which includesa prayer about exorcising an elf(demon)from a human.Helen mentionsthat“Tolkien could not bear such a negative association,”perhaps explainingTolkien’s depiction of elves as brave,good creatures.