h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Fairies - A3710954
Author: Emmily (ACE/Guru) Roses are red, Peas are green, My face is a laugh, But yours is a scream - U190758

I took a brief break from h2g2, escaped from reality and wrote 'Fairies'

Emmily

I enjoyed it. But I think moved a bit vaguely between 'fairytale' fairies at one extreme and the sort of fairies that were thought to have been fit for neither heaven nor hell at the other; chidren's fairies are really quite different from those notions, and I'm not sure that successfully brought out. I'm sure not every director makes Puck fit the stereotypical visual description, for example.

I'm not sure Ariel qualifies. But sylphs may be worth leaving in; how about a reference to The Rape of the Lock?

Some other possibilities... Possibly something on changelings? This, again, is more of the old-style notion of fairies as rather nasty things...

How about The Faerie Queene?

Wasn't there a famous painter of fairy images? I think this is the chap:
http://www.artpassions.net/rackham
(On the general theme: http://fairies.artpassions.net/fairy.html )

(I reckon the fairies most familiar to me are those in the Legend of Zelda games, but maybe that's too far from the core topic.)

'There are legends about fairy’s that' --> 'There are legends about fairies that'

Lastly... have you considered the disappointment you could cause with your suggestion that fairies are purely imaginary? You could be guilty of causing immense trauma...

RFJS

I found Puck and Ariel under the section of famous fairies, on a fairy site, I'm no fan of Shakespeare so I just added a brief reference about the Shakespeare fairies. I'll try to find out a bit more, if it doesn't bore me to

I'd rather not get into the sinister side of fairies. From what I researched, that includes Pagans. I don't think my knowledge or understanding of Pagans is sufficient to enable me to do that.

>"Lastly... have you considered the disappointment you could cause with your suggestion that fairies are purely imaginary? You could be guilty of causing immense trauma...

I've got that 'covered' I think

>"Fairies exist in the imagination of the young, innocent, **believers** and dreamers."

Emmily

Nice start E, but by goodness me, you're missing out on some especially important fairy facts;
Fairy rings and fairy wings.
Iron and their dislike of it.
The Wild Hunt (Oberon's Ride on a Stag - to see the Wild Hunt is an omen of death)

Famous fairies;
The Blue Fairy (Pinocchio)
Fairy Godmother's? (Disney or otherwise) Fairy Godparents even (or fairy odd-parents)

Books;
Lady Cottington's Fairy Books by Terry Jones (Python)
The Artemis Fowl books by Eoin Colfer
Stardust by Neil Gaimin
Fairie Tale by Raymond E. Feist
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
The Old Man of Lochnagar by HRH Charles Windsor

Toys;
Barbie Fairytopia range.
Fairy costumes.
Fairy wands.

Fairy artists;
Arthur Rackham
Sidney Nolan

Fairy movies and television;
Fern Gully, The Last Rainforest

Fairies in Music;
Clannad and Enya, anything Celtic will bound to have a song about a fairy or two.

There's oodles of stuff to think of, I'm sort of a bit of a folklore fanatic...

HF

Dyou know what; I noticed thisa Entry and guessed correctly who'd written it. I'll try to discipline myself not to read it until the weekend (or at least Friday evening).

Great entry! Though there's so much more that can be written on the suject this could really be a fantastic entry..



Is it true that there people who live as faries in the same way that there are people who live as vampires?

Ok, I'll see what else I want to add. I don't want to make it too long, I'd rather keep it short, and (hopefully) interesting.

I didn't come across anything about fairies dislike of iron, I'm not denying it, just that I didn't come across it.

Why you leaving reading it to W/End BigAl, there's not s

Emmily

No, just busy.

Ref dislike of iron:

"The fairies have a great reputation for various skills. They are seen and heard working on their own account, they teach skills to mortals and they do work for them. Of the crafts in which fairies are distinguished, the most curious and contradictory is smithy work, when we consider the fairies' fear of cold iron. Gnomes and dwarves are reputed metal"

from www.fairie.monstrous.com/

That link was supposed to be:

http://faerie.monstrous.com/

Ref the Cottingley Fairies, what I've never been able to understand is, if the fairies were cut from a book, it should be possible to identify the book.

Paper fairies was one of the first things Elsie's (I think, or was it France's it was one of them) Father thought of, and search her bedroom and the area they claimed to have seen the fairies, but he found nothing.

Emmily

Well, I thought one of the ladies' eventually admitted to cutting them from a book - in which case it should be locatable.

Yeah, that was Elsie who made the confession. Frances denied it, claiming the fairies were real, and according to her daughter, Frances was such an honest person, she can't imagine that she would have lied. So it was one word against the other.

I've got as far as a header 'Fairies in Art and Literature' can't figure out how to word that just yet I'll take note pad and pen to bed with me, just incase I get any inpsiration during the night, which I sometimes do, then can't remember it in the morning.

Emmily

Hi Emmily,

Interesting entry.

You have hit on a very rich vein of folklore. Ireland had a long tradition of believing in fairies, at least before electricity was introduced and spoilt it all for everyone!

The Gaelic for fairy is "saoi", pronounced "shee". In many parts of Ireland you will see fairy bushes, hawthorn bushes standing in the middle of a field which will not be cut down, as it is regarded as a portent of bad luck. There are also many fairy rings and fairy forts, which are normally just natural features or old medieval habitations which have remained untouched through the centuries because of their supernatural connotations.

It was widely believed that a fairy woman known as the "banshee" was reputed to scream out on the night someone died. Many people fervently believed that they had heard the banshee on occasions of family deaths.

A small tornado which might occur during hot weather was called the "shee gaoith" (shee ghee), or fairy wind.

And the dark side : there was a belief one time that fairies would take children and replace them with one of their own. These children were known as 'changelings', and in a celebrated case in the nineteenth century a man threw his wife into a fire because he believed that she was a changeling.

and there's me thinking this was gonna be a nice short Entry, looks like I've got loads of works to do. But I won't be including all suggestions. ( for them) I'll see what I can find out about the suggestions

Emmily

Don't worry Emmily - it was a bit of a brain dump from me. You don't need to use any of it if you don't want. I think though what I would like to see would be a bit more context if you can find it: how belief in the "fairy folk" was widespread all through the previous centuries across Europe and maybe if you can determine some of the origins of this it might be helpful. As you have said, it is already alluded to in your reference to Shakespeare and Adam and Eve, but the belief was far more prevalent than even this.

Ok, I'll see what I can find

A question (I always have at least one question )

Is it ok to use this link? http://www.lindaravenscroft.com/index2.php it contains pages that have items for sale, there is information on the site too. just wondered if the selling part is ok, as 'Aunty' (BBC) does not advertise.

Emmily

Just re-read all suggestions, some really good ones. though I don't think I'll be including fairy toys or music.

Currently waiting for fairy book I 'ordered' from local library, should get it in a couple of day, hopefully that will give me more infomation.

I've added some under 'Faires art and litreture' heading, I've bit more to add to that.

Emmily

One of the Cottingley photographs is shown in http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/doyle.htm
and it really does answer all questions. The feature you can see best, a neatly turned fairy ankle, is a work of art, squarely within the "Victorian sentimental" genre. A link to this site might be helpful?

The Irish tradition of "the good people" or "the little people" (briefly referred to in A954759 "Rainbows End - Fact and Fiction") can be anchored to history to some extent. When the Celts took over Ireland the previous civilisation (the Tuatha de Danaan) went, as the tale of Diarmuid and Gráinne puts it, "underground". Diarmuid lived with this underground community while on the run, and found them courteous and hospitable. They could however prove mischievous, and that is why the dominant culture turned to calling them "the good people" in order to avert their opposition.

I've got this Entry on 'hold' at the moment, waiting for a book from local library, it's taking longer than expected, apparently it is travelling from one end of Esssex to the other, should have it Thursday I'll take a look then, at what I understand and what to add.

Emmily