Especially for Hallowe'en month - Fairies.

To the modern reader, the word 'fairy' may evoke an image of a diminutive, gossamer winged creature with a tinkling voice and the ability to grant an occasional wish. But this image is due, almost entirely, to the nineteenth century bowdlerisation of fairy lore, when the traditional folk stories were sanitised for children.

Several strands of fairy lore suggest the assimilation and manipulation of pre-Christian religious notions and deities. Faeries' demonic associations were a far later addition, developed under the more stringent variations of Christianity. The Puritans were especially enthusiastic in this regard, and considered them to be a lesser order of devils. The seventeenth century Scottish Minister and collector of fairy lore, Robert Kirk, was kinder in believing them to be of a nature "betwixt man and angel".

Fairy wrath was greatly feared and they were often blamed for the health afflictions of people, livestock and crops. Our word "stroke" derives from the older term "elf-stroke", when a person was believed to have been struck by elf shot - flint, probably prehistoric, arrows. Fairies were also blamed for infantile paralysis, tuberculosis and arthritis.

Nocturnal lights were thought to be the work of a specific kind of fey - the Will O' the Wisp. These lights could be seen twinkling deep in the forest and were intended to lead travellers until they became hopelessly lost and died. Wills O' the Wisp are strongly connected with the activities of the malign dead the world over

The lucky or resourceful could turn a meeting with a fairy to his advantage, but such a mercurial and potentially dangerous supernatural species were best avoided or appeased.

artwork © Kate Hill 2002

Next Month -

Check back in the new year for another creature.

Previously Displayed in the Bestiary -

The Callicantzaros with illustration by Bill Sienkiewicz
The Strix with illustration by Garry Leach
The Civatateo with illustration by Garry Leach
The Celtic Water Horse with illustration by Una Fricker
The Penangalang of Malaysia with illustration by Floyd Hughes