a number of different roles, as guardians, guides, gatekeepers, muses, and messengers, exerting an influence over human lives that may be by turns benevolent, malevolent, or mischievous, which makes pinning them down to definitions a tricky task.
Toward a Definition
Definitions are slippery things in the fairy world. Hard and fast rules have a habit of bending, blurring, or evaporating into thin air when applied to the capricious denizens of fairyland. The harder you try to pin down a fairy, the more likely it is to wiggle out of your grasp and vanish with a mischievous poke of the tongue.
As a rule of thumb, it is generally said that fairies belong to a race of supernatural beings possessing magic powers who sometimes meddle in the affairs of humans.
C. S. Burne, in The Handbook of Folklore (1914), describes fairies as beings somewhere between gods and men, not quite human yet not quite divine. They share the Earth with humans more or less invisibly. They may be messengers for higher powers or operate independently but interact in some way with the lives of humans.
In Native American folk beliefs, every aspect of the natural world is imbued with the universal life force, which goes by many names, including manitou, orenda, and wakanda. Fairies in the form of nature spirits are found in many other cultures, too.
Under these broad definitions we find fairies of all shapes and sizes. The ant-sized abatwa of South Africa are small enough to hide behind a blade of grass, while the Cornish spriggans, generally no taller than a person’s bootlaces, can rapidly increase to the size of giants to frighten away would-be thieves who attempt to steal their treasure. The German household spirit King Goldemar is invisible, but makes his presence known by the touch of his thin, froglike hands.
Shapeshifting is a common fairy attribute, and looks can be deceptive—a wizened old hag is likely to be a beautiful princess in disguise. Swan maidens and selkies transform from human to animal form and have been known to interbreed with humans—though unions between mortals and fairies seldom run smoothly. Other fairies manifest as animals in the shape of cats, dogs, birds, or hybrid creatures, part-human, part-animal, such as mermaids, merrows, and Lamia, or in humanlike form, whether tiny or larger than life.
The denizens of fairyland are eclectic, beautiful, beguiling, and often downright bizarre. The hebu of South America has a glowing posterior and eyebrows so bushy that she must stand on her head if she wishes to look at the sky. The Matshishkapeu, or “Fart Man,” of the Innu people in Canada is the source of much amusement, but also wields great power and serves a serious function in having dominance over animal masters as well as human behavior. In the fairy world, sometimes wisdom is found in the most unlikely of places. Grave seriousness mixes with playfulness and humor.
Already we have glimpsed many fairy creatures and there is hardly a pair of wings in sight. The winged fairies of children’s picture books are a relatively new addition to the fairy world, popularized during the Victorian era. The fairies you will find here are drawn from the folk beliefs of cultures around the world.
Sources
The work of folklorist Katharine Briggs provides a rich store of reference for fairy lore of the British Isles, while Thomas Keightley’s The Fairy Mythology (1828) brings together fairy lore from many different cultures around the world. These, along with many other sources, have provided starting points for investigation. Where possible, the oldest sources of accounts have been tracked down. Material has been drawn from anthropological texts, journals, periodicals, encyclopedias and dictionaries of mythology, collections of folklore, folk tales, superstitions, customs, and letters.
In 1881, the Cornish folklorist Robert Hunt wrote that even then:
… old-world stories were perishing like shadows in the mist before the rising sun. Many wild tales which I heard in 1829 appear to have been lost in 1835 … I drank deeply from the stream of legendary lore which was at that time flowing, as a well of living waters … and longed to renew my acquaintance with the wild tales of Cornwall which had either terrified or amused me as a child.
How many more wild tales from around the globe must have been lost as the old stories were swept away by the march of progress? And yet the fairies are still with us. With a little digging, it is possible to unearth old tales and beliefs. In some places fairies still inhabit the here and now. Elsewhere the stream of legendary lore is buried deep underground and one must dig deep to find it. Yet still it flows.
Inevitably, there is not room here to include the many thousands of denizens of fairyland, and apologies are extended to those who do not appear between these pages. However, it is hoped that the fairies here, representing many cultures around the world, will spark interest for further exploration of the fairy realm.
A Note on Spellings
As beliefs have passed down the generations through oral tradition and spread to different locations, fairy names have taken on the dialects of different places. This means there are often many spellings of the same name, none of which is “correct.” Here, effort has been made to list the most commonly used names, along with common alternative spellings.
Using This Book
The A–Z listings contain entries for hundreds and hundreds of individual fairies, alongside some of the folklorists and fairytale collectors, such as the Brothers Grimm, whose work has contributed to what we know about fairy lore today. Words in bold cross-reference related entries, allowing you to hopscotch your way through the world of fairy.
You’ll find more information on specific aspects of fairy lore in the various sections. “What are Fairies?” explores theories on the origins of fairies, from a conquered pygmy race to fallen angels.
Fairyland has always exerted an irresistible pull on humans and “Where is Fairyland?” delves into the realms of fairy. Here you will discover entrances to fairyland, but tread carefully, for the path is often beset with danger, and that glittering pile of fairy gold is likely to turn into a handful of withered leaves in the light of day. Yet those who approach fairyland with a pure heart might be rewarded with a peek behind the veil of the everyday at the curious wonders of the fairy realm.
Fairies are well known for their capricious nature. Those wishing to make their acquaintance would be wise to ensure they have a protective piece of iron in their pocket before peering through a self-bored stone or picking a fourleafed clover. “Connecting with Fairies” looks at traditions and customs concerned with seeing fairies—and how to ward off unwanted attention from pernicious or mischievous fairies. Here you will also find tales of fairy encounters, a calendar of the times of year when fairies are at their most active, and information on fairy music and art.
One of the most commonly held beliefs about fairies, still widespread today, is that they
