|
Definition
and
meaning
:
The
word
Fairy
comes
from
the
Latin
fata
which,
in
turn,
derived
from
fatum,
meaning
fate
or
destiny.
In
the
Middle
Ages,
it
was
defined
by
the
gentiles
as
a
divinity
or
unknown
force
which
had
a
fascinating
effect
on
the
other
divinities
and
on
men
and
events.
The
French
word
fée
has
a
similar
origin
and
resulted
in
the
English
words
fey
and
fairie
which,
as
time
went
by,
suffered
spelling
variations
from
fayerye,
fayre,
faerie,
faery,
and
fairy.
According
to
its
ethimology,
it
is
a
fantastic
being
pictured
as
a
woman
known
to
have
magical
powers.
For
the
Saxons,
the
word
ferie
refers
to
the
world
of
fairies
as
an
entity,
being
a
geographical
location.
In
Spanish
it
turned
out
to
be
féerico,
depicting
something
wonderful
or
fantastic,
as
applied
for
example
to
música
féerica
(fairy
music).
The
fairy
in
folklore
is
one
of
a
variety
of
supernatural
beings
endowed
with
the
powers
of
magic
and
enchantment.
Belief
in
fairies
has
existed
from
earliest
times,
and
literatures
all
over
the
world
have
tales
of
fairies
and
their
relations
with
humans.
Some
Christians
said
that
fairies
were
the
ancestors
of
the
ancient
pagan
gods,
who,
having
been
replaced
by
newer
deities,
were
therefore
hostile.
Others
thought
that
fairies
were
nature
deities,
similar
to
the
Greek
nymphs.
Still
others
identified
fairies
with
the
souls
of
the
dead,
particularly
the
unbaptized,
or
with
fallen
angels.
Among
their
many
guises,
fairies
have
been
described
as
tiny,
wizen-faced
old
men,
like
the
Irish
leprechaun;
as
beautiful
enchantresses
who
wooed
men
to
their
deaths,
like
Morgan
le
Fay
and
the
Lorelei;
and
as
hideous,
man-eating
giants,
like
the
ogre.
Fairies
were
frequently
supposed
to
reside
in
a
kingdom
of
their
own,
which
might
be
underground,
e.g.,
gnomes;
in
the
sea,
e.g.,
mermaids;
in
an
enchanted
part
of
the
forest,
or
in
some
far
land.
Sometimes
they
were
ruled
by
a
king
or
queen,
as
were
the
trolls
in
Ibsen's
Peer
Gynt
and
the
fairies
in
Shakespeare's
A
Midsummer
Night's
Dream.
Although
fairies
were
usually
represented
as
mischievous,
capricious,
and
even
demonic,
they
could
also
be
loving
and
bountiful,
as
the
fairy
godmother
in
Cinderella.
Sometimes
fairies
entered
into
love
affairs
with
mortals,
but
usually
such
liaisons
involved
some
restriction
or
compact
and
frequently
ended
in
calamity,
as
did
those
of
Melusine
and
Undine.
Various
peoples
have
emphasized
particular
kinds
of
fairies
in
their
folklore,
such
as
the
Arabic
jinni,
Scandinavian
troll,
Germanic
elf,
and
English
pixie.
Among
the
great
adapters
of
fairy
lore
into
popular
fairy
tales
were
Charles
Perrault,
the
brothers
Grimm,
and
Hans
Christian
Andersen.
Other
notable
contributors
were
Andrew
Lang
and
James
Stephens.
|
Fairy
or
Faerie:
The
word
is
also
said
to
be
derived
from
the
ancient
"faunoe
o
fatuoe"
which,
in
the
pagan
mythology,
indicated
the
faun's
companions,
creatures
endowed
with
power
of
foretelling
the
future
and
ruling
the
human
events.
The
word
Fairy
also
comes
from
"fatigue",
which
in
Middle
Ages
was
synonymous
with
"wild
woman",
that
is
woman
of
woods,
waters
and,
in
general,
of
the
natural
world.
The
belief
in
fairies
was
an
almost
universal
attribute
of
early
folk
culture.
In
ancient
Greek
literature
the
sirens
in
Homer’s
Odyssey
are
fairies,
and
a
number
of
the
heroes
in
his
Iliad
have
fairy
lovers
in
the
form
of
nymphs.
The
Gandharvas
(celestial
singers
and
musicians),
who
figure
in
Sanskrit
poetry,
were
fairies,
as
were
the
Hathors,
or
female
genii,
of
ancient
Egypt,
who
appeared
at
the
birth
of
a
child
and
predicted
the
child’s
future.
Fairies
are
supernatural
creatures
endowed
with
magic
power,
thanks
to
which
they
can
change
their
appearance
and
make
it
change
to
the
others.
They
frequent
caves,
rocks,
hills,
woods
and
sources;
they
are
ready
to
help
innocents
and
victims
of
persecution;
they
make
up
for
a
wrong,
they
avenge
an
offence,
but
they
also
can
be
malicious
and
revengeful.
The
good
ones
are
called
fairies,
elves,
ellefolks,
and
fays;
the
evil
ones
are
urchins,
ouphes,
ellmaids,
and
ellwomen.
Alternate
spellings
include:
Faerie,
Fai,
Fae,
Faierie,
Faiery,
Fair,
Fairye,
Farie,
Fary,
Fay,
Fayerie,
Fayery,
Fayry,
Fee,
Feiri,
Fery,
Fey,
Feyrie,
Feyrye,
Phairie,
Pharie,
Pherie
(from
the
Latin:
Fata
"Fates").
Fairies
could
bestow
good
fortune
on
people,
but
if
they
felt
offended
they
could
cast
spells
and
cause
mischievous
trouble.
Fairy
Food:
Where
I
live,
mallow
fruits
are
still
called
"fairy
cheeses"
,
and
dogwood
fruits
are
pixie
pears.
Little
cakes
are
another
favorite
fairy
food,
and
if
they
are
made
with
saffron,
they
are
especially
cherished
since
saffron
is
highly
valued
by
fairies.
|
Fairy
Pastimes:
The
most
popular
pastimes
of
fairies
are
music
and
dancing.
At
night
the
fairies
rise
from
their
homes
and
come
out
to
dance
away
the
hours
of
darkness.
They
especially
love
to
dance
in
the
evening
of
the
full
moon.
When
the
morning
sun
begins
to
rise,
the
fairies
vanish.
Where
fairies
have
been
dancing,
a
darker
green
mark
is
left
in
the
grass,
often
with
small
toadstools
in
it
-
this
is
the
Fairy
Ring.
Fairy
music
is
said
to
bewitch
humans.
To
sleep
above
a
fairy
raithe
(their
home
in
the
ground)
it
is
said
to
leave
you
haunted
for
life
by
the
beautiful
sound.
Men
are
known
to
have
gone
mad
for
they
could
not
rid
their
minds
of
the
fairy
tune.
It
is
also
known
that
should
you
come
upon
a
fairy
raid
or
party
and
you
hear
the
music
you
will
start
dancing.
You
will
dance
until
you
finally
die
from
sheer
exhaustion.
On
the
other
hand
Fairies
are
often
lured
by
the
sound
of
beautiful
music.
If
you
come
upon
a
Leprechaun,
play
music.
He
will
dance
his
way
to
his
gold.
If
you
stop
the
music
he
will
stop
dancing
and
disappear.
While
there
are
some
fae
that
dislike
music,
the
majority
love
it.
Many
are
quite
good
musicians.
So
if
you
hear
a
haunting,
lilting
melody
deep
in
the
woods
and
your
feet
are
urged
to
dance
you
may
have
been
bewitched
by
fairy
music.
Fairy
music
is
more
melodious
than
human
music
and
there
are
many
songs
and
tunes
which
are
said
to
have
originated
from
the
fairies.
Many
pipers
and
fiddlers
of
Europe
learned
their
songs
from
the
fairies.
Fairy
Plants:
Bluebells:
Fairies
are
summoned
to
their
midnight
revels
and
dances
by
the
ringing
of
these
tiny
flowers.
Primroses:
Primroses
are
one
key
into
fairyland.
There
is
a
German
legend
about
a
little
girl
who
found
a
doorway
covered
in
flowers,
and
when
she
touched
it
with
a
primrose,
the
door
opened
up,
leading
into
an
enchanted
fairy
castle.
Ferns:
Pixie
fairies
are
especially
fond
of
ferns.
One
story
tells
of
a
young
woman
who
accidentally
sat
on
a
fern,
and
instantly
a
fairy
man
appeared
and
forced
her
to
promise
to
watch
over
his
fairy
son
and
remain
in
fairyland
for
a
year
and
a
day.
Foxgloves:
The
name
"foxglove"
came
from
the
words
"folk's
glove."
Folks
referred
to
little
people,
or
fairies.
One
legend
says
that
fairies
gave
the
blossoms
to
foxes
to
wear
as
gloves
so
they
would
not
get
caught
raiding
the
chicken
coop.
According
to
another
legend,
if
you
picked
foxglove,
you
would
offend
the
fairies.
And
if
the
fairies
stole
your
baby,
the
juice
of
the
foxglove
would
help
to
get
it
back.
In
some
stories,
foxglove
appears
as
a
fairy's
hat.
Foxglove
can
sometimes
heal
and
sometimes
hurt.
It
is
a
poisonous
plant,
but
it
is
also
used
as
medicine
to
treat
heart
disease.
Toadstools
:
Used
by
fairies
as
tables
and
stools.
The
red
and
white
species
Amanita
so
often
seen
in
fairy
paintings
is
the
Fly
Agaric
and
is
very
poisonous....
Ragwort,
cabbage
stalks,
grass
and
straw:
all
of
these
were
used
by
fairies
for
transportation
in
the
same
manner
as
a
witch
uses
a
broom.
Saffron
Crocus:
The
stamens
from
this
autumn
flowering
crocus
give
the
spice
saffron.
Any
food
prepared
with
saffron
is
a
favourite
fairy
food.
Saffron
used
as
a
dye
will
turn
cloth
a
royal
gold.
Such
cloth
is
very
valuable
to
fairies.
Apple
and
or
Oak
trees
:
Fae
often
inhabit
these
trees.
The
oak
is
held
sacred
by
many
of
them.
Tulips
:
fairies
like
to
use
a
tulip
bloom
as
a
bed
for
their
babies. |
Some
Famous
Fairies
:
Probably
the
most
famous
fairy
of
the
modern
era
is
Tinkerbell,
the
companion
of
Peter
Pan
in
J.M.
Barrie's
book
of
the
same
name.
It
was
Tinkerbell
who
said
,
"When
the
first
baby
laughed
for
the
first
time,
the
laugh
broke
into
a
thousand
pieces
and
they
all
went
skipping
about,
and
that
was
the
beginning
of
fairies"
and
also
that,
every
time
a
child
says
that
they
don't
believe
in
fairies,
somewhere
a
fairy
drops
down
dead.
Morgan
le
Fey
was
reputed
to
be
King
Arthur's
half
sister,
althoughb
her
name
means
literally
"water
faerie"
leading
some
to
connect
her
to
the
Lady
of
the
Lake
Titania
is
the
Queen
of
the
Fairies
and
wife
of
Oberon
in
Shakespeare's
Midsummer
Night's
Dream.
She
is
an
enchantress
in
the
classical
mould
and
also
enjoys
the
fairy
pursuits
of
singing,
dancing
-
and
mischief!
The
Cottingley
Fairies
:
In
July
of
1917
in
Cottingley,
Yorkshire,
two
young
girls
set
out
with
a
new
camera
and
took
the
most
famous
pictures
of
fairies
known.
Frances
Griffiths
and
her
cousin
Elsie
Wright
caught
on
film
what
seemed
to
be
dancing,
leaping
fairies
and
even
a
gnome.
Interest
in
the
pictures
was
minimal
until
two
years
later.
Suddenly
people
were
struck
with
fairy
fever.
Many
people
tried
to
debunk
the
pictures
but
soon
they
were
declared
to
be
the
real
thing.
|
|
Even
Sir
Arthur
Conan
Doyle
believed
in
the
girls
and
their
pictures.
He
sent
the
girls
out
to
take
more
pictures
that
he
used
in
articles
based
on
the
girl’s
story.
The
girls
continued
to
claim
they
had
in
fact
seen
and
photographed
fairies.
Meanwhile
people
were
trying
to
prove
their
validity
or
that
the
pictures
were
faked.
Finally,
on
March
18th
1983,
at
the
age
of
76,
Frances
admitted
that
the
pictures
were
a
hoax.
Soon
afterwards
Elsie
-
now
aged
-
83
confirmed
the
hoax.
The
fairies
were
actually
cutouts
that
Elsie
had
drawn.
Hatpins
were
used
to
hold
the
cutouts
in
place.
The
girls
had
claimed
they
had
indeed
seen
and
photographed
fairies
and
kept
up
the
deception
for
nearly
66
years!
|
|
|
