Ä Area: Mythology ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Msg#: 23 Date: 07-02-96 15:18 From: Pat Sherman Read: Yes Replied: No To: All Mark: Subj: Of Fairies and Pixies... ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ The following is a re-post of a message I entered in this echo last March. I am currently working on extending this information, and would like to receive any comments and/or input from others interested in this subject. I would especially appreciate descriptions and anecdotes of all kinds of "little people", preferably those from Celtic lands. -=> Fairy Folk & Other Little People <=- In folklore, the fairies are supernatural beings, skilled in magic, and capable of becoming invisible, changing shape and size, and bewitching humans. Robert Kirk, a Scottish minister and Gaelic scholar, described fairies in *Secret Commonwealth* (1691) as "of a middle Nature, betwixt Man and Angel." Fairies lived far longer than men, but had no souls and perished utterly at death. While some were of human size and appearance, the flower fairies of Devonshire were minute beings, and the "portunes" mentioned by Gervase of Tilbury in his early 13th-century book of marvels were only three inches tall. The tendency to prettify and glorify fairies in children's stories is the degeneration of a serious and somewhat sinister tradition. Once feared as dangerous and powerful beings, they were euphemistically called "the gentle people" or "the good neighbours". Refering to them by name would give them power over the speaker. Anyone who visited fairyland was bound to return with scattered wits, or to find that many years had elapsed over the course of an apparently short absence. Despite their sinister aspects, fairies were often resorted to for their legendary healing powers, and the fairies, in turn, often sought human midwives. Fairy folk might marry human spouses, the fairy men being especially wont to do so. Fairies purportedly stole human babies and substituted changelings (fairy children), so they might have the benefit of human milk. Deformed or cretinous babies were often thought to be changelings, and feared for their supposed powers. Some fairies were agriculturists, cattle keepers, weavers, woodworkers and metalworkers. Some, such as the English and Scottish *Brownies* attached themselves to human families as helpers. Nature fairies inhabited woodlands, moors, fens, and river-bottoms. Scandinavian trolls, German wood-women, Scottish kelpies and glaistigs, all are variants of the basic Nature fairy. One theory as to the source of the widespread and persistant belief in fairies is that it derives from an actual memory of Neolithic peoples who precariously survived in ancient communities after conquest by other peoples. With their superior knowledge of the countryside and of native gods, they might be credited with magic, and they might also help, harm, or intermarry. Another suggestion is the belief that springs from legends of pagan gods and nature spirits, whose worship was suppressed under Xtianity. The *Daione S*dhe* of Eire, and the *Twylwyth Teg* of Wales, have strong affinities with the displaced gods. Some of the fairies most famous in English literature are Teutonic. King Oberon derives his name, through the French *fablieux*, from Elberich, the dwarf king of the *Niebelungenlied*. Oberon's queen, Titania, was probably named out of Ovid's *Metamorphoses*. Puck, one of Shakespeare's fays, is merely the personification of his race, the "pwccas" of Wales, "pookas" of Ireland, "poakes" of Worcestershire, and "pixies" of Southwestern England. Wales, at the present time, preserves the most numerous and diverse collection of fairies. Some of them are beautiful, some hideous; some kindly, some malevolent. There are gentle damsels of lakes and streams, called *Gwragedd Annwn*, and ferocious mountain fairies known as the *Gwyllion*. There are household sprites called *Bwbachod*, like the Scottish and English brownies; the *Coblynau* or gnomes of the mines (known in Cornwall as the "knockers"); and the *Ellyllon*, or elves, of whom the pwccas are a branch. The Welsh *bwbach* is described as brown and hairy, the coblynau as black or copper-faced. >end of file... (\__/) -=> Hecat* <=- (..) _) /\/\ ( * e-mail: xalbermc@ssimicro.com * (m__m)_) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ... We live in a universe of Magick! -!- PPoint 2.00 ! Origin: The Northern nighthawk, Yellowknife NWT (1:134/67.400)