The Wee Folk
Meet the faeries and goblins who inhabited the medieval imagination - and mine
Please wait a moment for the images to download - they are worth the wait!
"The Merlin followed Igraine with his eyes as she came back to him. She looked into his face and said, 'Here and now, my father, from this moment, be witness that I have done forever with sorcery. What God wills be done.'
The Merlin looked tenderly into her ravaged face. His voice was gentler than she had ever heard it. 'Do you think all our sorcery could bring about anything other than God's will, my child?'" - from "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley - a truly magical book!
It may appear strange, to some, that I include a section about the faeries and goblins
(et al - as you will soon see) in a site dedicated to Christian spirituality. By contrast, I believe that no
vision of medieval thought would be complete without mention of these fabulous beings,
in whom those of the Middle Ages firmly believed. And, after all, how do we know for
certain that they do not exist? I, for one, believe that they do, though not necessarily in the form in which they were immortalized in medieval legends.
The faeries that I mention here may be classed as "literary faeries", not those considered in Celtic tradition
as the ancient gods of Ireland. Those interested in that area may find some of the links more
informative.
As I have mentioned, those in the Middle Ages were highly aware of powers beyond their
own. The faeries, to use the term inclusively, were staple characters in much of the
literature and theatre of the period. Rich though the imagery may be for our more practical
minds, remember that creative expression of the period was not primarily the artist's
interpretation of reality. Rather, it was didactic - it told a story, and usually one commonly
accepted. The wee folk were not symbolic in the twentieth century sense, but were beings, neither human nor angelic, that interacted with mankind.
Belief in faeries was to endure past the Middle Ages. When Shakespeare gave us a
masterpiece of faerie lore in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the mind of the renaissance
still had not banished the benevolent, if tricky, spirits Will portrayed to the bin of distant
memory. Of course, the faerie characters appear in numerous literary and theatrical works,
and are so much a part of such popular legends as that of King Arthur that it is easy to
picture a world in which faerie and human interacted strongly in each other’s lives.
If we apply the viewpoints of our more sophisticated (and presumably more enlightened)
day, the faeries can be treated in the realm of the figurative. Magical happenings, powers
to influence others, inexplicable actions, the help of powers unseen, and, in total candour,
the roundabout ways of getting even, still can appeal to human nature. Unfortunately, this
quite valid viewpoint that can make the faeries come alive for a modern era rather strips
them of their charm.
Well, did you expect a different way of thinking from one who believes in unicorns? My
literary bent will make me concede that faerie stories are amongst the best expressions of
the dark and merry sides of human nature. Today, we fear children will be frightened by
the realities that are cloaked in the fanciful expression. Were we to recall that children are
realists, with a sense of justice and truth that often exceeds ours, we would realise that
they can see both sides of the stories that the “faerie tales” provide.
Grimm, Yeats, Shakespeare, Spenser, Andersen - all did the faeries justice, even into
modern times. But I cannot bear to even think of what Disney reduced
them to!
Enough of that for now! Even one with no interest in psychology can find herself in danger
of applying Jungian terminology to the wee folk in this odd age of ours. Let me proceed
with a little overview of the magical spirits that the medieval man knew well.
The Noble Court of the Fae
These faeries, the frequent and wonderful characters we know well from literature, were
ruled by Titania and Oberon, and had many a noble title among them in their court by the
streams of the forests.
Lords and ladies all, many of these faeries are not known for the mischief for which other
wee folk are noted. The most notable exception, of course, is Puck (Robin Goodfellow),
whose tricks are best set forth in a Midsummer Night's Dream.
There are a few contradictions in the images of the noble faeries. By some accounts, they
were never seen by human beings, yet other tales tell us of their being related to humans.
Morgan le Fey, depicted as King Arthur’s sister in the legends of the round table, is said to
be the mother of King Oberon.
Those with a grasp of history believed that the noble faeries were the children of the dryads
and nymphs of the Greek and Roman myths. An old and quite meaningful legend has it
that, when Christ was born, the god Pan sounded his horn to signal that the reign of the old
gods was ended. (And indeed that soon was to be true, when Peter brought the new faith
to Rome, and Paul to Greece.) Yet the offspring of the old gods, the faeries, continued to
live throughout much of the Christian era, perhaps helping man to recall that another noble
and benevolent King was close by, even if our senses could not behold Him.
Meanwhile, these courtly lords and ladies danced in the forest, far from the trials of the
village, living in the imagination of those who needed to think of something more than
those trials.
Elves
Originally a part of Scandinavian mythology, it is fair to conclude that knowledge of the
elves was brought to Western Europe during the Norse invasions. Elves apparently came
in several distinct varieties. Though they were a rather mournful lot, one breed of elves
was an invisible kitchen helper for good servants, the other the bringer of illness and
misery.
The good elves lived in the air and the trees. Not surprisingly, the evil ones lived
underground. All could assume various forms at their whim and disappear in puffs of
smoke. It is tempting to equate them with evil spirits, but that might be unfair to their
image. After all, it would have been quite appealing for a struggling servant to believe that
one in a good temper may help her tidy the massive kitchens of the manors.
In twentieth century style, one can see obvious images of the two sides of human nature,
and the reality of good and evil that can hide itself behind deceptive appearances.
Goblins
Goblins took up their residence in the homes of France. They were pranksters, and defied
their own love for neatness by rearranging items in the house or tangling horses’ manes.
(Seems strange, since they were known to love horses!) As we near the 21st century, it
seems obligatory to see the goblins as representing the conflicts we all have within
ourselves - most as ugly and mischievous as the goblins were known to be.
Pixies
Pixies, my favourite wee folk since childhood, shared the compulsion for
neatness that is typical of fairy folk. They were known to be handsome little ones, who
favoured green clothing.
The pixies were not evil, but could be quite unkind and
tricky, known to lead travellers astray or to steal naughty children. (Perhaps the latter is a
public service, but be that as it may....) Neat freaks that they were, they’d pinch the maids
who didn’t keep the house clean as a whistle.
These sprites, who arose from English folklore, were often thought to be the souls of
babies who had died before baptism. Since one could not enter heaven without the
cleansing of baptism, it is appealing to think that medieval man thought of the infants’
souls as living on as mischievous and pretty creatures, rather than being relegated to the
puzzling limbo. (Actually, limbo hadn’t quite caught on yet...but the alternative to limbo
was far worse...)
Leprechauns
Were ye looking for a pot of gold, now? All you would get from these miserly
shoemakers was a pack of lies. These little ones apparently were as rich as Midas, having
a prosperous business of being the equivalent of Florsheim for the noble faeries of Ireland.
They were cranky, solitary, yet, unlike other faeries, often seen by humans. Of course, the
caught leprechaun would be freed by sending his captor on the fruitless search for the gold
pieces.
Poltergeists
Forget what you’ve read of poltergeist phenomena or seen in horror pictures. The poltergeist has enough problems
of identity without being reduced to the object of an adolescent’s mental conflicts. No one
ever could agree whether these noisy, argumentative creatures were faeries or ghosts. At
any rate, they created pandemonium in house or street. Poltergeists are part of German
folklore.
Trolls
The Brothers Grimm would give them much bad press later on, but, during the Middle
Ages, trolls weren’t noted for harming others. They had such magical powers as
fortune-telling, and frequently made people rich. They lived in fine homes, in caves or
underground, and favoured grey garb and red caps.
Trolls, like many other faeries, originated in the Scandinavian lands. For some unknown
reason, Thor, the god of thunder, amused himself by throwing his hammer at them - so
they presumably packed up from Valhalla and brought both wealth and a persistent hatred
of noise.
Nixes
Nixes were similar to mermaids, though many of them were able to assume
totally human form. In a manner much like the Devil, they always retained some mark of
their identities, even when looking human in other respects. With mobility beyond the
mermaids, what with being able to dispose of their tails, the nixes were feared for their
luring people to dangerous waters to drown.
Proceed to the faerie links page!
Maintained by Elizabeth G. Melillo,
Ph.D.
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