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Below is a short guide to the many different kinds of fairy folk to be found around the world. Hope it enlightens you more on fairies!

Ankou - (Ahn-koo)
Sometimes called the King of the Dead. He collects souls upon their death and escorts them to the land of the dead. Traveling with his own subjects he is a feared fairy that is mainly seen on November Eve.

Asrai
An ancient water fairy in female or male form that lives in the sea. They are rarely seen and only at night. They are sometimes called sea ghosts because of their extremely pale, translucent skin. Legend states that they must not be exposed to the sun lest they dissolve into a pool of water

Bean-Nighe
Sometimes called the “washer woman” because she sits on the banks of streams and rivers frantically washing bloodstains from a white shirt. She is similar to the Bean-Sidhe in that she also foretells death.

Bean-Sidhe - ( ban-shee )
This fairy woman is feared by humans because her wails and moaning foretell the impending death of someone near. She has been described as very beautiful, pale with long hair and fearsome red eyes which some say is from her constant weeping.

Bean-Fionn
Also called Jenny Greentooth, she is a malevolent fairy who lives underwater in streams and lakes. She can be either beautiful or hideous and is known to reach up from her watery depths and drag young children under the water with her.

Bean-Tighe
Sometimes called the “King of the Dead”. He is similar to the Ankou in that he collects souls upon their death and escorts them to the land of the dead. Traveling his own familiar paths in black with a black cart he is mainly seen on November Eve.

Bogie
A male hobgoblin who is only up to evil and capricious acts of wrongdoing. He enjoys tormenting any traveler who is unfortunate enough to cross his path. Also called bogy, bug-a-boo, bogle or boggart.

Brownie
A scruffy small brown male fairy who wears dirty, torn clothing and likes to live with humans. They like to help with chores but also like to be left alone. They expect small rewards and will abandon a home when there is no extra milk and cakes left for them. The Brownie is generally helpful unless they are crossed then they become mean and ill-tempered.

Cailleac Bhuer - (call-y’ac V’fhoor)
Also called the Blue Hag or Stone Woman. She originates in Scotland and is an old woman of human size who walks by night with a walking stick made of holly with the carved head of a crow on top. A large carrion crow sits on her left shoulder and a touch from her magical staff means instant death to a human. If her staff is found unattended it will give its owner the power of enchantment.

Changeling
Some fairies love beautiful human babies and will steal them and leave an old, near-death fairy in their place. Humans have been known to place iron bars on or in their baby cradles to protect them from such thefts.

Corrigan
These female fairies are enchanted to forever roam the earth as beautiful blonde women by day and repulsive old hags by night. Legend states that if a mortal man loves the old hag and beautiful woman equally the enchantment is lifted.

Duergarrs (Doo-ay-gahrs)
A male dwarf fairy approximately 2 feet tall. They are unfriendly to humans and guard fairy paths and hills.

Elves
Elves are small and thin with pointed ears and sinewy bodies. Despite their small stature they are very intelligent and industrious and play a major part in the land of fairy.

Gancanagh (Gon-cawn-ah)
A legendary beautiful male fairy who enjoys seducing mortal women to fall in love with him and then disappearing only to leave them to search for him until their deaths.

Ghillie Dhu (Gillee Doo)
These are tree fairies who disguise themselves as leaves and love to play pranks on human travelers who unknowingly have ventured into their forest.

The Glastig (clee-stickh)
An infamous fairy who is believed to no longer exist. A beautiful woman fairy of human size who attempts to lure mortal human males to be her companion and is friendly until they notice her goat hooves. Then she either drowns them or drains them of their blood.

Gnomes or Dwarves
Earth fairies who age very quickly. They seem to have been born old and they live for hundreds of years. They are very intelligent and they make their homes in hollowed out trees or partly underground. They vary in personalities and temperament.

Gwragedd Annwn (Gwer-geth Ai-noon)
A beautiful blond fairy of human size who is helpful and kind to humans. She lives near lakes.

Gwyllions
Either male or female they live in the mountains and tend goats but also have a disturbing habit of sitting on rocks above roads and staring eerily at passing travelers.

Goblins and Hobgoblins
A name given by humans to the mean, mischievous elves who sometimes haunt their homes.

Kelpies
Also called Uiseges or Fuath. Small, strange creature with huge teeth, pointed ears, web feet with manes and tails like horses. According to folk lore they sometimes inhabit lonely ponds of water where they shapeshift into horses and lure solitary travelers onto their backs for a deadly ride.

Knockers
Dwarf fairies who live underground and are expert miners

Leanan-Sidhe (lan-awn-shee) the Fairy Mistress
similar to the Lhiannan-Shee, except she is given a more benevolent description by Lady Wilde in Ancient Legends of Ireland: ‘The Leanan-Sidhe, or the spirit of life, was supposed to be the inspirer of the poet and singer, as the Ban-Sidhe was the spirit of death, the foreteller of doom.’ Her inspiration comes at a price, in that poets and artists fueled by her die an early death.

Leprechauns
A solitary male fairy with the cunning ability to steal or find treasure. He loves riddles and dares others to find the treasure that he has hidden, sometimes so well that he himself cannot find it.

Lhiannan-Shee (lannan-shee)
A beautiful vampiric fairy who has been said to either drain her victims of blood or collects it in a cauldron where she performs spells and rituals to keep herself youthful and beautiful.

Lunantisidhe (Loo-nan-tee-shee)
An extremely thin, wiry old hairless man with pointed ears, long teeth, arms and fingers. He travels in a group that climbs and lives in the Blackthorn trees. They despise humans and will go to great lengths to harm them if their beloved trees are trodden upon.

Mermaids
Also called the merpeople, mermen, merrows. A generally gentle fairy who lives in the sea with a human torso and fish tail. They sometimes travel upstream and have been known to take human lovers to their underwater kingdoms.

Robin Goodfellow or Puck
This male fairy looks like a satyr with a boys head and the body of a goat. He is playful and loves to play his pipes throughout the forests which entices all the animals and fairies alike to follow his melodious music.

The Seelie-Court
Seelie means “blessed”, and this court consists of all the noble and kind fairies whose inner code of fair and good ethics contrast that of the Unseelie court.

Selkies
Selkies appear as seals but are able to shed their sealskins and walk on land in female or male form.

Spriggans
A fairy monster who is able to inflate himself and float along the countryside. They sometimes appears as rocks or stones and create havoc on those who cross their paths.

Tara
The ancient hill fort that became the capital of the Tuatha Dé Danaan. It was a meeting place for fairy kings and visiting dignitaries.

Tir Nan Og or Tir Na N-og (teer na nogue) - "Land of the Young" an earthly paradise where time stopped and the grass was always green and the flowers blossoming. A land of beauty where there was much music, feasting, loving and hunting.

Trooping Fairies
Fairies are sometimes divided into two classes which includes the trooping or solitary fairies. Solitary generally being the less friendly of the two.

Tuatha Dé Danann - (Too-ah-day Thay-nan)
Also called the Gentry. They are the earliest fairies. Their goddess was Dana. They are the origin of the fairy race.

Tylwyth Teg
A welsh name for the “fair race”. Given to represent all fairies whom they believed lived in matriarchal clans.

The Unseelie Court
The tricksters and sorrow makers belong to the Unseelie Court where they reign without any regards for rules or niceties.Their more benevolent counterparts belong to the Seelie Court.

Will-o’-the-Wisp
Also called Fairy Lights, Elf-fire, Hobbedy’s Lantern or Night Whispers. Small winged fairies whose glowing lights can be seen at dusk in the meadows and grassy hills.