Herla often has been identified as Woden [citation needed] and in the writings of the twelfth-century writer Walter Map, he is portrayed as a legendary king of the Britons who became the leader of the Wild Hunt after a visit to the Otherworld, only to return some three hundred years later, after the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.
The first and longer account, found in section 1.12, provides far more detail; it tells of Herla's encounter with an otherworldly being, his journey to the latter's homeland, his transformation into the leader of the Hunt after his return to the human realm, and, finally, the disappearance of Herla and his band during the first year of the reign of Henry II of England (a synopsis of this longer version appears below).
King Herla is a modernisation of an Old English form reconstructed as *Her(e)la Cyning,[1][2] a figure that usually has been identified with Woden in his guise as leader of the Germanic Wild Hunt and thus the name is thought to be related to the French Harlequin[3] (variant form of Harlequin, Hellequin), the leader of the Wild Hunt in Old French tradition.
On the day of Herla's marriage, the dwarf king attends with a vast host, bringing gifts and provisions.
After the wedding ceremony, which lasted for three days in the dwarf king's realm, is over, Herla prepares to depart, and he and his men mount their horses.
The dwarf gives him hunting animals and other gifts; in particular, he presents Herla with a small bloodhound, which jumps up onto the mounted king’s lap.
The story bears strong resemblances to the Welsh tale of Preiddeu Annwn or the "Spoils of the Otherworld" and the First Branch of the Mabinogi to which it may be connected, with Herla replaced by Pwyll.