Fairy Faith, Fairy Fear (Part 1)

An in-depth look at folklore’s most notorious trickster. Drawing from history, folklore, and interviews, this series will provide everything you want to know (and maybe more) about the good folk. Discover the true ancient origins of these beings, which are a far cry from the likes of Tinker Bell.  Hear the good, bad, the ugly, and find out what it was about these creatures that struck fear and awe into the hearts of our ancestors.  Part 1 sets the stage, introducing  a motley assortment of different types, such as the Pookah, Jenny Greenteeth, Red Cap, and Fenodyree, and describes their general nature. 

Transcript

“Faerie” contains many things besides elves and fae’s, and besides dwarves, witches, trolls, giants, dragons; it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted.” J.R.R. Tolkien on fairy stories. 

Within the folklore of ancient cultures around the world, there have been many tales told of small preternatural beings said to inhabit the earth, existing somewhere between this world and a spiritual plane of existence, a dimension the Celts referred to as the Otherworld. Mysterious in their origin, neither quite here nor there, and in both places at once, these magic-wielding entities were a source of great awe and fear. While oral tradition of indigenous peoples involving such beings goes back thousands of years, the oldest known written records come from ecclesiastical texts dating back to 500 AD. In contemporary times, such creatures have been relegated to the subject of myths and fiction. However, until the age of enlightenment and even beyond, the belief in them was strong, and in remote areas, disconnected from the influence of modernized society, these traditions are in effect preserved. While often invisible to the naked eye, people were nonetheless convinced of their existence, and they were given many names. The earliest known moniker of such entities was the English “elf”, originally used as a term to apply to all spirits. The Germans referred to them as zwerg, dwarf, the Irish had their aos si, or people of the mounds, and Scandinavian legends featured huldras, meaning “hidden beings.” The term fairy eventually became the most commonly used appellation, especially in Europe where these creatures are most well-known. The word faierie, derived from an old French term, fae, relating to magic and enchantment, came to be used as an umbrella term, encompassing all manner of supernatural beings seemingly part of one larger group. Over time these beings have been categorized and sub-categorized in multitudes, depending on their appearance, habits, and location. The range and depth of classification among these entities is a reflection of their enigmatic, capricious nature.  Indeed, the distinction between fairy, ghost, demon, and even in recent times, extraterrestrials, has been the subject of differing interpretations with changing cultural norms and beliefs. Despite its historical mutations, the image of a diminutive creature, with features both human yet otherworldly, has persisted into modern day.

In this podcast, I will describe the different aspects of the fairy, drawing from stories across cultures to provide an overview of what is believed to be the general nature of this being as described in historical texts. In the latter part, I will look at the scientific, psychological, and sociological implications of this subject, bringing in some of my own thoughts on what these myths might say about human beings and our relationship to nature. 

Folklore has described the fairies as being two steps removed from the world of humans.  The fairies were said to haunt areas of untamed nature, preferring privacy and seclusion from humans. They seemed to dislike being seen at all. If a human happens to catch one in his or her sight, as soon as he or she breaks their stare, the fairy will vanish. Interactions between humans and fairies were best kept secret so as not to upset them. “As the fairies can have everything they want for wishing, poverty does not trouble them much, and all their care is to seek out unfrequented nooks and places where it is not likely anyone will come to spoil their sport.” (T Crofton Croker) However, certain types, such as the Scottish brownie or German Kobold were known to dwell among humans, living in the home and sharing with household tasks. Not only were they hidden in a physical sense, but they were also hidden in a metaphysical sense, as they were thought to not be of this world, but rather existing in a world alongside it.

Paradoxical by nature, these beings seem to exhibit characteristics ranging from the ethereal to the concrete, having the ability to blink into and out of our existence. As such, the fae are associated with liminality, standing at the threshhold between our world and the next. This theme is represented in the natural world in areas where land meets water, plains meet woodlands, times when day meets night, and one season passes into the next. The Gaelic festival of Samhain, what is today Halloween, was a particularly active time for fairies, as it was thought that during this time, the barrier between this world and the spirit came down, allowing all manner of beings to crossover into the world. Humans who may have been trapped in the fairy realm also had a chance to escape during this time. 

Naturally formed stone arches or passages were considered to be doors to the realm in which fairies dwelled, where the veil between worlds grew thin, where untold wonders and horrors can come forth into our world, and where humans could embark on quests for enlightenment or be swept away into the ether. Humans are most likely to see fairies when they are in puberty, transitioning from one stage to the next.  The mushroom, often associated with fairies, is ecologically positioned in a liminal zone itself, between death and life, being responsible for the decomposition of organic matter into a reusable inorganic form. Not coincidentally, the psychoactive properties of several strains of hallucinogenic mushrooms have caused those who have ingested large doses to encounter elf-like entities in their altered state. In fact, hallucinogenic substances have been used in religious ceremonies worldwide to facilitate contact with the spirit world. The mushroom’s ability to grow rapidly overnight might have seemed uncanny to ancient peoples, seemingly the result of magic.  In folklore, there were several infamous Fairy kingdoms with specific locations, often described as islands, some actually being under the ocean or at the bottom of lakes. The infamous Lady of Lake is one such fairy that dwelled on the lake-bottom. These fairy kingdoms would sometimes appear to humans, only to once again vanish from sight. This would only happen at night or once every several years. Of the most well known fairy kingdom islands was the Irish Tir Nan Og, meaning the land of the young. These were known to be paradises of great beauty, where sickness and death were nonexistent, food was abundant, and the only season was springtime. In Arthurian legend, king Arthur was said to have been brought to Avalon after having been wounded, to be healed by four fairy queens.

Fairy dwellings were to be left undisturbed at all costs. Even in modern times, the Icelandic government builds roads around fairy dwellings so as not to disturb them. Construction projects which disregarded fairy territory were fraught with mechanical failure. In the tale of the Pooka, the name for an infamous Irish goblin, a farmer decides to develop a piece of land which had up until then been left undisturbed, as it was known by the locals to be the abode of the creature. “The Pooka, thus beaten up and driven from the marsh, naturally turned his thoughts to the meditation of revenge on him who, with profane hand, rent asunder that sacred veil which the superstition of ages had woven round the dreaded spot.” According to legend, this goblin took the form of a ragged black horse-like animal that ran between the victim’s legs, hoisting he or she up onto its back, proceeding to run through the countryside, through treacherous areas of thickets and rushing rivers. The unfortunate rider is unable to dismount the Pookah, and is thus battered by the terrain and sheer force of the ride.  Despite the man’s attempts to beat the Pooka into submission using whips and spurs, eventually one day after years of altercation, it caught him off guard, scaring his horses off a cliff, causing him to lose his crop. This was the beginning of a string of misfortune befell him and his offspring, cursing his lineage. 

 A fairy home could usually be identified by some type of standout feature in the landscape, such as a ring of mushrooms, an old tree, or a large rock. Often these things could be seen standing alone in a field, as whoever had cleared the land of trees knew to leave them undisturbed. Thorn bushes were identified as common fairy dwellings, and the hawthorne tree was especially sacred to them. Certain types of beings like the dwarves were thought to live underground, in caves and under mountains. The fairie rings were particularly dangerous, because if one were to step inside it, he or she may become permanently trapped in their realm. The fae were also said to travel along “fairie paths”, any obstruction of which would surely anger them. If a house was to be built upon one, it needed to be positioned so that the front and back doors aligned with the path, sometimes being left open overnight to facilitate their passage. In Europe, fairies were also believed to inhabit ancient human burial mounds, known as fairy forts or hills. This may explain why fairy dwellings were said to contain treasures which were guarded by them ferociously, as the dead were often buried with valuables to aid them in the afterlife. There are many tales of ignorant humans who attempt to steal such treasures and paid a heavy price. 

Just as there is a folkloric consensus on the fairy’s place of dwelling, there is also a common description of their character. Like the space between worlds which they inhabit, their nature was also dualistic, embodying both the light and the shadow. This was aptly reflected in their disposition towards man. There were those who were malevolent, whose sole purpose seemed to be wreaking havoc on humans, while others were thought to be benevolent, bestowing gifts upon humans who showed appreciation. Their magical abilities allowed them to alter reality and accomplish great feats of creation and destruction.  The Germanic tribes spoke of the light and dark elves, and the Scottish the seelie and unseelie courts.

An example of a benign fairy was the Fenoderee, hailing from the Isle of Man. This fairy was a variant of the brownie, an industrious, humble household fairy that preferred to live among humans and work for them as laborers. The Fenoderee was a skilled mower, employed by farmers to work the fields. Preferring to remain naked, he was greatly offended by the offering of clothes. Brownies would accept only small compensation for their work, such as a small bowl of milk and some bread. Anything more could be considered offensive and drive them away. Another benevolent fairy was the Tommy Knocker, a Cornish belief which became prevalent among early American mining communities. Many perplexed miners have heard the sounds of pickaxes and strange voices deep within the rock beyond their tunnels. These fairies were thought to warn miners of imminent cave-ins by knocking on the walls of the mine, and would also lead them to areas rich with ore. Like many fairies, however, they were not always good. If a miner died from a cave-in, the tommy knocker was thought to have caused it. This was a common assumption among the superstitious. When things go well, the gods must be happy. When tragedy strikes, the gods must be angry. Nothing was by chance.  

An example of a malicious fairy is the redcap goblin from England. Goblin was a term used to describe a particularly ugly, malicious fairy. Redcaps were said to inhabit old ruins of towers and castles with a violent history of war, and would slaughter humans, using the blood of their victims to dye their hats. Another fairy to be avoided was Jenny Greenteeth, a hag-like water fairy with green skin, long black hair and sharp teeth, preying on children from the banks by dragging them into the water to drown. 

Malevolent fairies were thought to commit various transgressions against humans.
Of these, the most notorious was stealing children, replacing them with facsimiles, such as dolls made of sticks, or even elderly fairies themselves. This was known as a changeling. Although less common, adults could be abducted as well. The impostor was then disguised through the use of enchantment. Once a human had been taken to the fairy realm, he or she would become entranced, finding it difficult to remember their old life and summon the will to return.

The fairy king Finvarra was a notorious womanizer who stole many women. Overall, however, young boys seemed to be most preferred, so much so that parents would dress their boys in girl’s clothing in order to confuse the fairies. Aside from physical abnormalities, other indications of a changeling would be in its behavior. He or she would appear to communicate with invisible beings. He or she would also display skills and abilities far beyond that of a normal child. In order to get the fairies to return the child, the changeling had to be tricked into revealing its true identity. One method was to boil water inside eggshells, to which the fairy would exclaim that in all their years they have never seen anyone do such a thing, thus revealing that they were not an infant.  Sometimes the fairies had to be threatened with fire or exposure to direct sunlight, and in extreme cases were even tortured. There was some speculation as to why abduction occurred, one reason being that the fairies coveted certain traits in humans that they wanted to infuse into their own kind, or that they needed human milk to survive. A more Christian perspective proposed that fairies used humans as a tithe* to hell. Another perspective was that this was done simply so the elderly changeling could live the rest of its days in the comfort of human care. Interestingly, there are accounts that humans spirited away into the fairy realm actually lived happy and fulfilled lives, while fairies transplanted to human families would sometimes suffer feelings of boredom and loneliness.  The fear of fairy abduction held a firm psychological grip on people even into contemporary times. In 1826, a boy names Michael Leahy was drowned by his parents, who were actually acquitted of murder on account of the death being part of an attempt to reverse a changeling swap. In 1895, a young woman named Bridget Cleary was reported missing. It was alleged by her family that she had been abducted by fairies. The authorities later discovered her body in the woods and identified the family members themselves as the culprits. Apparently, she had become seriously ill, which to the family, was an indication that she had been replaced by a fairy. They tortured her for several days in an attempt to get the creature to reveal its true identity, and she eventually died from her injuries. 

The other most common way of harming humans was through shooting magical arrows, causing the victim to become ill. This was known as “elf shot” or “elf stroke”. This could cause any manner of affliction and in worse cases result in death.

Aside from the more serious inflictions, other misdeeds by the fairies involved creating confusion. They could also cause travelers to become lost. If a person was led astray by fairy magic, they were said to have been pixy-led. (the word pixie meaning a especially mischievous fairy). They could make a familiar place suddenly seem unfamiliar, or cause someone to unwittingly begin to walk in the opposite direction. The person could also be lured into the fairy realm through various means of seduction. One of their magical abilities used to deceive was the power to create illusions and sway a peoples’ minds. This caused suspicion among people, as they could not trust their senses in dealing with fairies.  This propensity to make things appear more than they were was called fairy “glamour”. There are stories involving fairy gifts that appear to be extravagant which later revert back to their true form of worthless forest detritus. 

 Their music for instance was said to be exceptionally beautiful to human ears, sometimes being heard in the countryside with no visible source. In fact, certain old Irish folk tunes are said to have come from the fairies themselves, such as the renown “Londonderry Air”. Despite its pleasing quality, to follow the music, or to accept any offering of food or drink from the fairies, could also lead to entrapment.  In stories involving passage into their realm, a common trope is that the person stumbles upon a fairy gathering, and accepts an invitation to join in the revelry. If he or she becomes wary of the situation and wishes to leave, the fairies plead them to stay.  If they are lucky enough to make it back at all, several months or even many years would have passed, though they had perceived having been gone only a few moments.