In the folklore of the Germanic and Celtic peoples, faeries are the general name for supernatural beings. They can be divided into several genera. There are fairies, good and evil, heroic, wandering, tamed and lonely.
The heroic fairies include those noble knights and beautiful ladies, about whom the authors of the cycle of medieval Welsh stories "Mabinogion", Sir Thomas Mallory and the writers of courtly novels narrate. A typical example of such a fairy is young Tamlane, the hero of the Scottish ballad of the same name.
Wandering fairies are perhaps the largest group. They are very different in height, appearance and character - from a fierce army of restless corpses named sluagh to tiny pixies falling asleep in the cups of flowers.
Lonely fairies are evil by nature and prefer solitude to communication.
Without exception, all fairies are distinguished by unearthly beauty, darkened, however, by some serious ugliness. For example, women-fairies are written beauties in the front, but if you come from the back, it turns out that they have hollow heads. Scottish fairies - glaists - wear long robes to hide their goat hooves. In other words, faeries can always be distinguished from humans by some kind of physical defect. Some have only one nostril or one eye, others have no nose at all, some have fangs sticking out of their mouths, some have legs and arms with membranes, etc.
In terms of clothing, most fairies like to wear outfits in shades of green, but many prefer red and some choose white. On the Isle of Man, some faeries prefer blue; there are also lovers of gray or black outfits. Usually, the outfit of a magical creature is made up of a green jacket, dark pants and a red cap or hat, sometimes with an owl feather. These two colors - green and red - are loved by fairies the most. Almost all wandering creatures dress like this. The lonely ones have red not only hats, but also jackets. There are also those who prefer robes made of fallen leaves or moss, and even cobwebs glued together with dew. Faeries can be of different heights, among them you can find both short and tall. But the main feature by which you can distinguish them from a person is the pointed ears at the top.
Most often, fairies settle inside the hills, which in the British Isles are called nou and consist, as it were, of two parts - shiin and bru (or tulmen). Shiin is a cave, and the brus is a hall with a ceiling resting on columns. Bru is usually home to several faeries at once, and lone faeries live in tulmen.
On the night of November 11, the fairies travel between the hills along roads and paths only known to them.
Promotional video:
Sometimes you can see the entrance to the bru: to do this, you should walk around the hill exactly nine times during the full moon - and then what is happening inside will appear to your eyes. By the way, dwellings, churches, or castles should not be built on hills known to be home to faeries, as creatures can move these structures to another location.
In addition, there are widely known legends about a certain "parallel reality" in which fairies live - about the Magic Land. Sometimes it appears to the eyes of people as a ghostly, fog-shrouded small island in the sea. This island has many names - the Island of the Blessed, High-Braceil, and the most famous is Inis Avalon or simply Avalon. It is on this island that the legendary King Arthur rests, transferred there by three sorceresses after a bloody battle in which he received a mortal wound.
In Wales, the Magic Land is called Tir-Nan-Og, or the Land of Eternal Youth, but this is no longer a small island, but a kind of land lying across the sea in the west. It is believed that the passages to the Magic Land can be found on the seabed and in the depths of mountain lakes, as well as in the hills - it is not for nothing that the fairies are sometimes called the "people of the hills".
In the Wizarding Land, time flows differently than in the human world. One day there is equal to several years, if not tens of years. Sometimes it happens the other way around. Tradition says that a young shepherd joined the fairies' dance and ended up in a beautiful palace, where he spent many years in contentment and joy. He was not hindered in anything, he was forbidden only to drink from the fountain, in which gold and silver fish swam. Once he could not resist and broke the ban. And then the palace disappeared, and the shepherd found himself on the hillside among his sheep. It had not been more than five minutes since the moment he entered the fairies' round.
Each faerie has its own entertainment. Wanderers generally indulge in the same amusements as people. Heroic fairies spend their time in aristocratic delights - they dance, play music, hunt, arrange horseback riding. But at the same time, they are constantly at war - with each other and with people. Having barely healed the wounds received in the battles, they go hunting.
Good fairies hunt deer with their white red-eared dogs; and the wicked hunt people, collecting human souls. They ride horses across the sky, making a sound like the cry of migratory birds; horses' eyes glow with fire. In addition, these creatures go in for sports: football and grass hockey, as well as chess, are especially popular.
Faeries are wonderful masters. Moreover, they not only work themselves, but also teach people their craft. In addition, they are great musicians. Some of them pass on their gift to people. In particular, the famous Scottish pipers learned this art from the magical people. The most pleasant, sweet and dangerous melody for mortals is "the melody of the elven king." Even stones and trees dance to it. If a person learns this melody, he is lost: the charm of music is so great that nothing can disturb it, except that the piper can play the melody backwards, or someone will cut the strings of his violinist.
As already mentioned, fairies are divided into good and evil. Kind people are quite friendly towards people and therefore rarely allow themselves any dishonest acts, although they do not mind being naughty. But the evil will never miss an opportunity to deceive a person. It is the evil faeries who steal cattle and steal children, leaving so-called changelings in their place. Sometimes they tell people to kill their own kind, but they can be carried out by finishing off a cow or a horse instead of a person: the fairies will not suspect anything, and the death of the animal will temporarily quench their bloodthirstiness.
However, good fairies can also, on occasion, steal cattle or steal a baby from the cradle. Often the good and the bad walk together, and it is worth offending some, as others immediately take revenge. In general, these creatures live by the adage: "What is yours is mine, and what is mine I will not give to anyone." True, among all the fairies, noble creatures stand out, always ready to help a person who they like, and who always act extremely honestly: if they take something, they will certainly give something in return. As for deception, we must remember that fairies, even evil ones, do not lie - they are only dissembling: they tell the truth, but in such a way that not everyone will understand the true meaning of words.
Faeries have their own notions of honor, which they strictly adhere to. But they strictly punish those who do not follow these rules. People who boast of their merits to the fairies often fall ill, they have "elven marks" on their bodies, they can even be paralyzed. And those who try to steal the treasures of the fairy people risk their lives.
Fairies hate stinginess, rudeness and impoliteness, in addition, they dislike gloomy types, while a cheerful person has the right to count on a warm welcome. If the house is clean and tidy, the hostess may well receive a reward from them. And they will not refuse to teach a lesson to the unscrupulous and lazy. At the same time, it goes to lovers of foul language, as well as husbands who beat their wives.
In the folklore of the Germanic peoples, the plot of the "wonderful funeral" of fairies, foreshadowing misfortune for a person, is quite common. One legend says that one night two men were returning home. The road went past the cemetery; at the very moment when they drew level with the cemetery gates, the clock on the bell tower struck midnight. Then there was silence, which was suddenly broken by the death knell. The bell struck 26 times - exactly as old as one of the men was. And a strange procession appeared: hundreds of tiny creatures silently moved along the road, carrying the coffin with the lid open, and an inexpressibly sad melody floated in the still air. When the coffin drew level with them, the eldest of the men looked inside and saw that the one lying in the coffin was like two drops of water similar to his companion. The man immediately reported this to the young man,and he decided to ask the faeries how long he had to live. No one answered, the procession soon disappeared, and the people made it safely home. A month later, the young man broke his neck and died.
But the fairies themselves do not die - at least from old age: they can only be killed or mortally wounded. Dying - more precisely, dying in the human world - they return to the Magic Land, where they continue to live as if nothing had happened. However, sometimes they get so tired of life that they begin to dream of death, which would save them from the burdens of life. And in order to die, they need to find a soul like a human.
Thumbelina, known to everyone from childhood, can also be attributed to the faeries - the character of the tale of the Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. Who else could this cute creature be?