Fae And Their Myths 5a4b4

The Fae and their Myths

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Contents Articles Lord of the animals

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Solar deity

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Trickster

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World tree

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Ouroboros

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Jack Frost

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Enchanted forest

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Fairy

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Classifications of fairies

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Fairy ring

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Púca

59

References Article Sources and Contributors

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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

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Article Licenses License

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Lord of the animals

Lord of the animals The Lord of the Animals (also known as Master of (the) Animals) is a generic term for a number of deities from a variety of cultures with close relationships to the animal kingdom or in part animal form (in cultures where that is not the norm). They sometimes also have female equivalents, the so-called Mistress of the Animals. The implication being these all have a Stone Age precursor who was probabably a hunter's deity. The classic example of which is the 'horned god of the hunt' (see also Deer in mythology), typified by Cernunnos, Herne the HunterWikipedia:Disputed statement and Arnon,[citation needed] and a Egyptianizing gold pendant showing the Lord of variety of Stag, Bull, Ram and Goat gods. Horned gods are not the Animals, Minoan (British Museum) universal however, and in some cultures Bear gods, like Arktos might take the role, or even the more anthropomorphic deities who lead the Wild Hunt. Such figures are also often referred to as 'Lord of the forest'* or 'Lord of the mountain'. Shiva has the epithet Pashupati meaning the "Lord of cattle". The Horned God of the Wiccans is believed to be derived from the same source as Shiva.[citation needed] Some Saints such as St Giles and Hubertus also preserve the image.[citation needed] It is possible that we are dealing with an Proto-Indo-European deity or archetype.[citation needed] • In some s of werewolves, a figure known as the 'Lord Of The Forest', who usually provides the means for the change, is mentioned as well, such as the case of The Werewolf of Besançon, or that of Jean Grenier.[citation needed]

• In European cultures, there is also a prevalent legendary relating to "lords" or "kings" of specific species, especially of the cats, and of the means by which this kingship es and the age is announced. [See http:// www.pitt.edu/~dash/type6070b.html#kingcat]

Further reading • Hinks, Roger (1938). The Master of Animals [1], Journal of the Warburg Institute, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Apr., 1938), pp. 263–265 • Chittenden, Jacqueline (1947). The Master of Animals [2], Hesperia, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1947), pp. 89–114 • Slotten, Ralph L. (1965). The Master of Animals: A study in the symbolism of ultimacy in primitive religion [3], Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 1965, XXXIII(4): 293-302

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External links • Master of the Animals [4] at Encyclopædia Britannica

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

http:/ / www. jstor. org/ pss/ 749988 http:/ / www. jstor. org/ pss/ 146954 http:/ / jaar. oxfordjournals. org/ cgi/ pdf_extract/ XXXIII/ 4/ 293 http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 25796/ master-of-the-animals

Solar deity A solar deity (also sun god/dess) is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. Hence, many beliefs have formed around this worship, such as the "missing sun" found in many cultures.

Overview The Neolithic concept of a solar barge, the sun as traversing the sky in a boat, is found in the later myths of ancient Egypt, with Ra and Horus. Earlier Egyptian myths imply that the sun is within the lioness, Sekhmet, at night and can be seen reflected in her eyes or that it is within the cow, Hathor during the night, being reborn each morning as her son (bull).

The Trundholm sun chariot

Mesopotamian Shamash plays an important role during the Bronze Age, and "my Sun" is eventually used as an address to royalty. Similarly, South American cultures have a tradition of Sun worship, as with the Incan Inti. Svarog is the Slavic god sun and spirit of fire. Proto-Indo-European religion has a solar chariot, the sun as traversing the sky in a chariot.[citation needed] In Germanic mythology this is Sol, in Vedic Surya, and in Greek Helios (occasionally referred to as Titan) and (sometimes) as Apollo. During the Roman Empire, a festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun (or Dies Natalis Solis Invicti) was celebrated on the winter solstice—the "rebirth" of the sun—which occurred on December 25 of the Julian calendar. In late antiquity, the theological centrality of the sun in some Imperial religious systems suggest a form of a “solar monotheism.” The religious commemorations on December 25 were replaced under Christian domination of the Empire with the birthday of Christ.[1]

Statue of Hathor – Luxor Museum

The winged sun was an ancient (3rd millennium BC) symbol of Horus, later identified with Ra

Solar deity

Africa The Tiv people consider the Sun to be the son of the supreme being Awondo and the Moon Awondo's daughter. The Barotse tribe believes that the Sun is inhabited by the sky god Nyambi and the Moon is his wife. Even where the sun god is equated with the supreme being, in some African mythologies he or she does not have any special functions or privileges as compared to other deities. The Ancient Egyptian god of creation, Amun is also believed to reside inside the sun. So is the Akan creator deity, Nyame and the Dogon deity of creation, Nommo.

Aztec mythology In Aztec mythology, Tonatiuh (Nahuatl: Ollin Tonatiuh, "Movement of the Sun") was the sun god. The Aztec people considered him the leader of Tollan (heaven). He was also known as the fifth sun, because the Aztecs believed that he was the sun that took over when the fourth sun was expelled from the sky. According to their cosmology, each sun was a god with its own cosmic era. According to the Aztecs, they were still in Tonatiuh's era. According to the Aztec creation myth, the god demanded human sacrifice as tribute and without it would refuse to move through the sky. It is said that 20,000 people were sacrificed each year to Tonatiuh and other gods, though this number is thought to be inflated either by the Aztecs, who wanted to inspire fear in their enemies, or the Spaniards, who wanted to vilify the Aztecs. The Aztecs were fascinated by the sun and carefully observed it, and had a solar calendar similar to that of the Maya. Many of today's remaining Aztec monuments have structures aligned with the sun. In the Aztec calendar, Tonatiuh is the lord of the thirteen days from 1 Death to 13 Flint. The preceding thirteen days are ruled over by Chalchiuhtlicue, and the following thirteen by Tlaloc.

Buddhism In Buddhist cosmology, the bodhisattva of the Sun is known as Ri Gong Ri Guang Pu Sa (The Bright Solar Bodhisattva of the Solar Palace) / Ri Gong Ri Guang Tian Zi (The Bright Solar Prince of the Solar Palace) / Ri Gong Ri Guang Zun Tian Pu Sa (The Greatly Revered Bright Solar Prince of the Solar Palace / one of the 20 or 24 guardian devas). In Sanskrit, He is known as Suryaprabha. He is usually depicted with Yue Gong Yue Guang Pu Sa (The Bright Lunar Bodhisattva of the Lunar Palace) / Yue Gong Yue Guang Tian Zi ( The Bright Lunar Prince of the Lunar Palace) / Yue Gong Yue Guang Zun Tian Pu Sa (The Greatly Revered Bright Lunar Prince of the Lunar Palace / one of the 20 or 24 guardian devas known as Candraprabha in Sanskrit. With Yao Shi Fo / Bhaisajyaguru Buddha (Medicine Buddha), these two bodhisattvas create the Dong Fang San Sheng or the Three Holy Sages of the East.

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Chinese mythology In Chinese mythology (cosmology), there were originally ten suns in the sky, who were all brothers. They were supposed to emerge one at a time as commanded by the Jade Emperor. They were all very young and loved to fool around. Once they decided to all go into the sky to play, all at once. This made the world too hot for anything to grow. A hero named Hou Yi shot down nine of them with a bow and arrow to save the people of the earth. He is still honored this very day. In another myth, the solar eclipse was caused by the magical dog of heaven biting off a piece of the sun. The referenced event is said to have occurred around 2,160BCE. There was a tradition in China to make lots of loud celebratory sounds during a solar eclipse to scare the sacred "dog" away. The Deity of the Sun in Chinese mythology is Ri Gong Tai Yang Xing Jun (Tai Yang Gong / Grandfather Sun) or Star Lord of the Solar Palace, Lord of the Sun. In some mythologies, Tai Yang Xing Jun is believed to be Hou Yi. Tai Yang Xing Jun is usually depicted with the Star Lord of the Lunar Palace, Lord of the Moon, Yue Gong Tai Yin Xing Jun (Tai Yin Niang Niang / Lady Tai Yin).

Taiyang Shen, the Chinese solar deity

Statue of the sun goddess Xihe charioteering the sun, being pulled by a dragon, in Hangzhou

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Ancient Egypt Sun worship was prevalent in ancient Egyptian religion. The earliest deities associated with the sun are all goddesses: Wadjet, Sekhmet, Hathor, Nut, Bast, Bat, and Menhit. First Hathor, and then Isis, give birth to and nurse Horus and Ra. Hathor the horned-cow is one of the 12 daughters of Ra, gifted with joy and is a wet-nurse to Horus. The Sun's movement across the sky represents a struggle between the Pharaoh's soul and an avatar of Osiris. Ra travels across the sky in his solar-boat; at dawn he drives away the demon Apep of darkness. The "solarisation" of several local gods (Hnum-Re, Min-Re, Amon-Re) reaches its peak in the period of the fifth dynasty.

Isis, bearing her solar disk and horns nurses her infant, Horus

Akhet (horizon) in hieroglyphs

Rituals to the god Amun who became identified with the sun god Ra were often carried out on the top of temple pylons. A Pylon mirrored the hieroglyph for 'horizon' or akhet, which was a depiction of two hills "between which the sun rose and set",[2] associated with recreation and rebirth. On the first Pylon of the temple of Isis at Philae, the pharaoh is shown slaying his enemies in the presence of Isis, Horus and Hathor. In the eighteenth dynasty, Akhenaten changed the polytheistic religion of Egypt to a monotheistic one, Atenism of the solar-disk and is the first recorded state monotheism. All other deities were replaced by the Aten, including Amun-Ra, the reigning sun god of Akhenaten's own region. Unlike other deities, the Aten did not have multiple forms. His only image was a disk—a symbol of the sun. Soon after Akhenaten's death, worship of the traditional deities was reestablished by the religious leaders (Ay the High-Priest of Amen-Ra, mentor of Tutankhaten/Tutankhamen) who had adopted the Aten during the reign of Akhenaten.

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Hinduism The Ādityas are one of the principal deities of the Vedic classical Hinduism belonging to Solar class. In the Vedas, numerous hymns are dedicated to Mitra, Varuna, Savitr etc. Even the Gayatri mantra, which is regarded as one of the most sacred of the Vedic hymns is dedicated to Savitr, one of the principal Ādityas. The Adityas are a group of solar deities, from the Brahmana period numbering twelve. The ritual of sandhyavandanam, performed by Hindus, is an elaborate set of hand gestures and body movements, designed to greet and revere the Sun. The sun god in Hinduism is an ancient and revered deity. In later Hindu usage, all the Vedic Ādityas lost identity and metamorphosed into one composite deity, Surya, the Sun. The attributes of all other Ādityas merged into that of Surya and the names of all other Ādityas became synonymous with, or epithets of, Surya. The Ramayana has Rama as a descendant of the Surya, thus belonging to the Suryavansha or the clan of the Sun. The Mahabharata describes one of its warrior heroes, Karna, as being the son of the Pandava mother Kunti and Surya.

Surya

The sun god is said to be married to the goddess Ranaadeh, also known as Sanjnya. She is depicted in dual form, being both sunlight and shadow, personified. The goddess is revered in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The charioteer of Surya is Aruna, who is also personified as the redness that accompanies the sunlight in dawn and dusk. The sun god is driven by a seven-horsed Chariot depicting the seven days of the week. In India, at Konark, in the state of Odisha, a temple is dedicated to Surya. The Konark Sun Temple has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Surya is the most prominent of the navagrahas or nine celestial objects of the Hindus. Navagrahas can be found in almost all Hindu temples. There are further temples dedicated to Surya, one in Arasavilli, Srikakulam District in AndhraPradesh, one in Gujarat at Modhera and another in Rajasthan. The temple at Arasavilli was constructed in such a way that on the day of Radhasaptami, the sun's rays directly fall on the feet of the Sri Suryanarayana Swami, the deity at the temple. Chhath (Hindi: छठ, also called Dala Chhath) is an ancient Hindu festival dedicated to Surya, the chief solar deity, unique to Bihar, Jharkhand and the Terai. This major festival is also celebrated in the northeast region of India, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and parts of Chhattisgarh. Hymns to the sun can be found in the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism. Practiced in different parts of India, the worship of the sun has been described in the Rigveda. There is another festival called Sambha-Dasami, which is celebrated in the state of Odisha for the surya. The Gurjars (or Gujjars), were Sun-worshipers and are described as devoted to the feet of the sun god Surya. Their copper-plate grants bear an emblem of the Sun and on their seals too, this symbol is depicted.

Solar deity

Indonesian mythology Solar gods have a stronger presence in Indonesian mythology. In some cases the Sun is revered as a "father" or "founder" of the tribe. This may apply for the whole tribe or only for the royal and ruling families. This practise is more common in Australia and on the island of Timor, where the tribal leaders are seen as direct heirs to the sun god. Some of the initiation rites include the second reincarnation of the rite's subject as a "son of the Sun", through a symbolic death and a rebirth in the form of a Sun. These rituals hint that the Sun may have an important role in the sphere of funerary beliefs. Watching the Sun's path has given birth to the idea in some societies that the deity of the Sun descends in to the underworld without dying and is capable of returning afterward. This is the reason for the Sun being associated with functions such as guide of the deceased tribe to the underworld, as well as with revival of perished. The Sun is a mediator between the planes of the living and the dead.

Theosophy The primary local deity in Theosophy is the Solar Logos, "the consciousness of the sun".[3]

Solar myth Three theories exercised great influence on nineteenth and early twentieth century mythography, beside the Tree worship of Mannhardt and the Totemism of J. F. McLennan, the "Sun myth" of Alvin Boyd Kuhn and Max Müller. R. F. Littledale criticized the Sun myth theory when he illustrated that Max Müller on his own principles was himself only a Solar myth, whilst Alfred Lyall delivered a still stronger attack on the same theory and its assumption that tribal gods and heroes, such as those of Homer, were mere reflections of the Sun myth by proving that the gods of certain Rajput clans were really warriors who founded the clans not many centuries ago, and were the ancestors of the present chieftains.

Solar barge and sun chariot A "solar barge" (also "solar bark", "solar barque", "solar boat" and "sun boat") is a mythological representation of the sun riding in a boat. The "Khufu ship", a 43.6-meter-long vessel that was sealed into a pit in the Giza pyramid complex at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza around 2500 BC, is a full-size surviving example which may have fulfilled the symbolic function of a solar barque. This boat was rediscovered in May 1954 when archeologist Kamal el-Mallakh and inspector Zaki Ra in his solar barge Nur found two ditches sealed off by about 40 blocks weighing 17 to 20 tonnes each. This boat was disassembled into 1,224 pieces and took over 10 years to reassemble. A nearby museum was built to house this boat.[4] Other sun boats were found in Egypt dating to different pharonic dynasties. Examples include: • Neolithic petroglyphs which (it has been speculated) show solar barges • The many early Egyptian goddesses who are related as sun deities and the later gods Ra and Horus depicted as riding in a solar barge. In Egyptian myths of the afterlife, Ra rides in an underground channel from west to east every night so that he can rise in the east the next morning. • The Nebra sky disk, which is thought to show a depiction of a solar barge. • Nordic Bronze Age petroglyphs, including those found in Tanumshede often contains barges and sun crosses in different constellations.

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A "sun chariot" is a mythological representation of the sun riding in a chariot. The concept is younger than that of the solar barge, and typically Indo-European, corresponding with the Indo-European expansion after the invention of the chariot in the 2nd millennium BC. Examples include: • In Norse mythology, the chariot of the goddess Sól, drawn by Arvak and Alsvid. The Trundholm sun chariot dates to the Nordic Bronze Age, more than 2,500 years earlier than the Norse myth, but is often associated with it. • Greek Helios riding in a chariot, (see also Phaëton) • Sol Invictus depicted riding a quadriga on the reverse of a Roman coin.[5] • Vedic Surya riding in a chariot drawn by seven horses The sun itself also was compared to a wheel, possibly in Proto-Indo-European, Greek hēliou kuklos, Sanskrit suryasya cakram, Anglo-Saxon sunnan hweogul (PIE *swelyosyo kukwelos).

Male and female Among modern English speakers, solar deities are popularly thought of as male counterparts of the lunar deity (usually female); however, sun goddesses are found on every continent (e.g. Amaterasu in Japanese belief) paired with male lunar deities. Among the earliest records of human beliefs, the early goddesses of the Egyptian pantheon carried a sun above their head as a symbol of dignity (as daughters of Ra). The sun was a major aspect of Egyptian symbols and hieroglyphs, all the lunar deities of that pantheon were male deities. The cobra (of Pharaoh Son of Ra), the lioness (daughter of Ra), the cow (daughter of Ra), the dominant symbols of the most ancient Egyptian deities, carried their relationship to the sun atop their heads; they were female and their cults remained active throughout the history of the culture. Later a sun god (Aten) was established in the eighteenth dynasty on top of the other solar deities, before the "aberration" was stamped out and the old pantheon re-established. When male deities became associated with the sun in that culture, they began as the offspring of a mother (except Ra, King of the Gods who gave birth to himself). The warrior goddess Sekhmet, shown with her sun disk and cobra crown.

Some mythologists, such as Brian Branston, Patricia Monaghan and Janet McCrickard, contend that sun goddesses are as common as, or even more common, worldwide than their male counterparts. They also claim that the belief that solar deities are primarily male is linked to the fact that a few better known mythologies (such as those of late classical Greece and late Roman mythology) rarely break from this rule, although closer examination of the earlier myths of those cultures reveal a very different distribution than the contemporary popular belief. The dualism of sun/male/light and moon/female/darkness is found in many (but not all) late southern traditions in Europe that derive from Orphic and Gnostic philosophies. In Germanic mythology the Sun is female and the Moon is male. The corresponding Old English name is Siȝel [ˈsɪjel], continuing Proto-Germanic *Sôwilô or *Saewelô. The Old High German Sun goddess is Sunna. In the Norse traditions, every day, Sól rode through the sky on her chariot, pulled by two horses named Arvak and Alsvid. Sól also was called Sunna and Frau Sunne, from which are derived the words: Sun and Sunday. Other cultures that have sun goddesses include: The Lithuanians and Latvians (Saule), the Finns (Päivätär, Beiwe) and the related Hungarians (Xatel-Ekwa) and the Slavic peoples (Solntse). Sun goddesses are found around the world; in Arabia (Al-Lat), Australia (Bila, Walo), India (Bisal-Mariamna, Bomong, Kn Sgni) and Sri Lanka

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(Pattini); among the Hittites (Wurusemu), Egyptians (Sekhmet) and Babylonians (Shapash); in Native America, among the Cherokee (Unelanuhi), Natchez (Wal Sil), Inuit (Malina) and Miwok (Hekoolas).

Missing sun The missing sun is a theme in the myths needed] sometimes including the themes of death. The missing sun is often used to phenomena, including the disappearance of days during the winter, and solar eclipses.

of many cultures,[citation imprisonment, exile, or explain various natural the sun at night, shorter

Some other tales are similar, such as the Sumerian story of the goddess Inanna's descent into the underworld. These may have parallel themes, but do not fit in this motif unless they concern a solar deity.

Amaterasu finally emerges from the cave

In late Egyptian mythology, Ra es through Duat (the underworld) every night. Apep has to be defeated in the darkness hours for Ra and his solar barge to emerge in the east each morning. In Japanese mythology, the sun goddess Amaterasu is startled by the behavior of her brother Susanoo and hides in a cave, plunging the world into darkness until she is willing to emerge. It has been suggested that the story is allegorical, symbolising that the sun goddess hiding in a cave is a metaphor for the sun exhibiting quiet periods such as the Maunder Minimum. This allegory has been used in literature such as Masks of the Lost Kings.[6] In Norse mythology, the gods Odin and Tyr both have attributes of a sky father, and they are doomed to be devoured by wolves (Fenrir and Garm, respectively) at Ragnarok. Sól, the Norse sun goddess, will be devoured by the wolf Skoll. In Hindu astronomy, Rahu and Ketu ate the sun or moon to cause lunars and solar eclipses. In later, more scientific years, their names were given to the Lunar nodes.

References [1] "Sun worship." Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009 [2] Wilkinson, op. cit., p.195 [3] Powell, A.E. The Solar System London:1930 The Theosophical Publishing House (A Complete Outline of the Theosophical Scheme of Evolution). Lucifer, represented by the sun, the light. [4] Siliotti, Alberto, Zahi Hawass, 1997 "Guide to the Pyramids of Egypt" p. 54-55 [5] Probus Coin [6] http:/ / www. tombane. com

Bibliography • Azize, Joseph (2005) The Phoenician Solar Theology. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. ISBN 1-59333-210-6. • Olcott, William Tyler (1914/2003) Sun Lore of All Ages: A Collection of Myths and Legends Concerning the Sun and Its Worship Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 0-543-96027-7. • Hawkes, Jacquetta Man and the Sun Gaithersburg, MD, USA:1962 SolPub Co. • McCrickard, Janet. "Eclipse of the Sun: An Investigation into Sun and Moon Myths." Gothic Image Publications. ISBN 0-906362-13-X. • Monaghan, Patricia. "O Mother Sun: A New View of the Cosmic Feminine." Crossing Press, 1994. ISBN 0-89594-722-6 • Ranjan Kumar Singh. Surya: The God and His Abode. Parijat. ISBN 81-903561-7-8

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External links • The Worship of the Sun Among the Aryan Peoples of Antiquity by Sir James G. Frazer (http://web.archive.org/ web/20070311123655/http://.aol.com/zoticus/bathlib/helios/) (from archive.org) • The Sun God Ra and Ancient Egypt (http://www.solarnavigator.net/egyptian_sun_god_ra.htm) • The Sun God and the Wind Deity at Kizil by Tianshu Zhu (http://www.transoxiana.org/Eran/Articles/tianshu. html), in Transoxiana Eran ud Aneran, Webfestschrift Marshak 2003. • Comparison between the Egyptian Hymn of Aten and modern scientific conceptions (http://www.aldokkan. com/religion/aten.htm)

Trickster In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. It is suggested by Hansen (2001) that the term "Trickster" was probably first used in this context by Daniel G. Brinton in 1885.

Mythology The trickster deity breaks the rules of the gods or nature, sometimes maliciously (for example, Loki) but usually with ultimately positive effects (though the trickster's initial intentions may have been either positive or negative). Often, the bending/breaking of rules takes the form of tricks (e.g. Eris) or thievery. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both; they are often funny even when considered sacred or performing important cultural tasks. An example of this is the sacred Iktomi, whose role is to play tricks and games and by doing so raises awareness and acts as an equalizer.[citation needed]

The trickster figure Reynard the Fox as depicted in an 1869 children's book by Michel Rodange.

In many cultures, (as may be seen in Greek, Norse, or Slavic folktales, along with Native American/First Nations lore), the trickster and the culture hero are often combined. To illustrate: Prometheus, in Greek mythology, stole fire from the gods to give to humans. He is more of a culture hero than a trickster. In many Native American and First Nations mythologies, the coyote (Southwestern United States) or raven (Pacific Northwest, coastal British Columbia, Alaska and Russian Far East) stole fire from the gods (stars, moon, and/or sun) and are more tricksters than culture heroes. This is primarily because of other stories involving these spirits: Prometheus was a titan, whereas the Coyote spirit and Raven spirit are usually seen as jokesters and pranksters. Examples of Tricksters in the world mythologies are given by Hansen (2001), who lists Mercurius in Roman mythology, Hermes in Greek mythology, Eshu in Yoruba mythology and Wakdjunga in Winnebago mythology as examples of the Trickster archetype. Hansen makes the observation that the Trickster is nearly always a male figure.

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Frequently the Trickster figure exhibits gender and form variability, changing gender roles and even occasionally engaging in same-sex practices. Such figures appear in Native American and First Nations mythologies, where they are said to have a two-spirit nature. Loki, the Norse trickster, also exhibits gender variability, in one case even becoming pregnant. He shares the ability to change genders with Odin, the chief Norse deity who also possesses many characteristics of the Loki cuts the hair of the goddess Sif. Trickster. In the case of Loki's pregnancy, he was forced by the Gods to stop a giant from erecting a wall for them before seven days ed; he solved the problem by transforming into a mare and drawing the giant's magical horse away from its work. He returned some time later with a child he had given birth to—the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, who served as Odin's steed. In some cultures, there are dualistic myths, featuring two demiurges creating the world, or two culture heroes arranging the world — in a complementary manner. Dualistic cosmologies are present in all inhabited continents[1] and show great diversity: they may feature culture heroes, but also demiurges (exemplifying a dualistic creation myth in the latter case), or other beings; the two heroes may compete or collaborate; they may be conceived as neutral or contrasted as good versus evil; be of the same importance or distinguished as powerful versus weak; be brothers (even twins) or be not relatives at all.[2] British scholar Evan Brown suggested that Jacob in the Bible has many of the characteristics of the Trickster:"The tricks Jacob plays on his twin brother Esau, his father Isaac and his father-in-law Laban are immoral by conventional standards, designed to cheat other people and gain material and social advantages he is not entitled to. Nevertheless, the Biblical narrative clearly takes Jacob's side and the reader is invited to laugh and ire Jacob's ingenuity - as is the case with the Tricksters of other cultures".[3]

Coyote The Coyote mythos is one of the most popular western Native American cultures, especially among indigenous peoples of California and Great Basin. The coyote mythos can be categorized in many ways. In creation myths, Coyote appears as the Creator himself; but he may at the same time be the messenger, the culture hero, the trickster, the fool, the clown. He also has the ability of the transformer: in some stories he is a handsome young man; in others he is an animal; yet others present him as just a power, a sacred one. According to Crow (and other Plains) tradition, Old Man Coyote impersonates the Creator: "Old Man Coyote took up a handful of mud and out of it made people".[4] His creative power is also spread onto words: "Old Man Coyote named buffalo, deer, elk, antelopes, and bear. And all these came into being." In such myths Coyote-Creator is never mentioned as an animal; more, he can meet Coyote often has the role of trickster his animal counterpart, the coyote: they address each other as "elder brother" and as well as a clown in traditional "younger brother," and walk and talk together. According to A. Hultkranz, the stories. impersonation of Coyote as Creator is a result of a taboo, a mythic substitute to the religious notion of the Great Spirit whose name was too dangerous and/or sacred to use apart from at special ceremonies. In other stories, the Coyote is purely a clown that entertains; however, he usually ends up tricking people and sometimes stealing from them.

Trickster In Chelan myths, Coyote belongs to the animal people but he is at the same time "a power just like the Creator, the head of all the creatures." Yet his being "just like the Creator" does not really mean being "the Creator": rarely is the Coyote-Just-Like-Creator is subject to the Creator, Great Chief Above, who can punish him, send him away, take powers away from him, etc. In the Pacific Northwest tradition, Coyote is mostly mentioned as a messenger, or minor power, "Coyote was sent to the camp of the chief of the Cold Wind tribe to deliver a challenge; Coyote traveled around to tell all the people in both tribes about the contest." As such, Coyote "was cruelly treated, and his work was never done." As the culture hero, Coyote appears in various mythic traditions, but generally with the same magical powers of transformation, resurrection, and then Coyote's "medicine". He is engaged in changing the ways of rivers, standing of mountains, creating new landscapes and getting sacred things for people. Of mention is the tradition of Coyote fighting against monsters. According to Wasco tradition, Coyote was the hero to fight and kill Thunderbird, the killer of people, but he could do that not because of his personal power, but due to the help of the Spirit Chief; Coyote was trying his best, he was fighting hard, and he had to have fasted ten days before the fight, so advised by Spirit Chief. In many Wasco myths, Coyote rivals the Raven (Crow) about the same ordeal: in some stories, Multnomah Falls came to be by Coyote's efforts; in others, it is done by Raven. More often than not Coyote is a trickster, but he is always different. In some stories, he is a noble trickster, "Coyote takes water from the Frog people... because it is not right that one people have all the water." In others, he is mean, "Coyote determined to bring harm to Duck. He took Duck's wife and children, whom he treated badly."

Archetype The Trickster or Clown is an example of a Jungian archetype. In modern literature the trickster survives as a character archetype, not necessarily supernatural or divine, sometimes no more than a stock character. Often too, the Trickster is distinct in a story by his acting as a sort of catalyst, in that his antics are the cause of other characters' discomfiture, but he himself is left untouched. A once-famous example of this was the character Froggy the Gremlin on the early children's TV show "Andy's Gang." A cigar-puffing puppet, Froggy induced the adult humans around him to engage in ridiculous and self-destructive hijinks.[5] At possibly the opposite end of the literary spectrum can be found the mysterious character of Uncle Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker. Drosslemeyer appears to be a magician of some sort, and is the source of the evening's magical adventure. In later folklore, the trickster/clown is incarnated as a clever, mischievous man or creature, who tries to survive the dangers and challenges of the world using trickery and deceit as a defense. He also is known for entertaining people as a clown does. For example many typical fairy tales have the King who wants to find the best groom for his daughter by ordering several trials. No brave and valiant prince or knight manages to win them, until a poor and simple peasant comes. With the help of his wits and cleverness, instead of fighting, he evades or fools monsters and villains and dangers with unorthodox manners. Therefore the most unlikely candidate es the trials and receives the reward. More modern and obvious examples of that type are Bugs Bunny, The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) and Pippi Longstocking. (See list). The trickster is an enduring archetype that crosses many cultures and appears in a wide variety of popular media.

Literary role Modern African American literary criticism has turned the trickster figure into one example of how it is possible to overcome a system of oppression from within. For years, African American literature was discounted by the greater community of American literary criticism while its authors were still obligated to use the language and the rhetoric of the very system that relegated African Americans and other minorities to the ostracized position of the cultural "other." The central question became one of how to overcome this system when the only words available were created and defined by the oppressors. As Audre Lorde explained, the problem was that "the master’s tools [would]

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Trickster never dismantle the master’s house."[6] In his writings of the late 1980s, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. presents the concept of Signifyin(g). Wound up in this theory is the idea that the "master’s house" can be "dismantled" using his "tools" if the tools are used in a new or unconventional way. To demonstrate this process, Gates cites the interactions found in African American narrative poetry between the trickster, the Signifying Monkey, and his oppressor, the Lion. According to Gates, the "Signifying Monkey" is the "New World figuration" and "functional equivalent" of the Eshu trickster figure of African Yoruba mythology. The Lion functions as the authoritative figure in his classical role of "King of the Jungle." He is the one who commands the Signifying Monkey’s movements. Yet the Monkey is able to outwit the Lion continually in these narratives through his usage of figurative language. According to Gates, "[T]he Signifying Monkey is able to signify upon the Lion because the Lion does not understand the Monkey’s discourse…The monkey speaks figuratively, in a symbolic code; the lion interprets or reads literally and suffers the consequences of his folly…" In this way, the Monkey uses the same language as the Lion, but he uses it on a level that the Lion cannot comprehend. This usually leads to the Lion’s "trounc[ing]" at the hands of a third-party, the Elephant. The net effect of all of this is "the reversal of [the Lion’s] status as the King of the Jungle." In this way, the "master’s house" is dismantled when his own tools are turned against him by the trickster Monkey. Following in this tradition, critics since Gates have come to assert that another popular African American folk trickster, Brer Rabbit, uses clever language to perform the same kind of rebellious societal deconstruction as the Signifying Monkey. Brer Rabbit is the "creative way that the slave community responded to the oppressor’s failure to address them as human beings created in the image of God." The figurative representative of this slave community, Brer Rabbit is the hero with a "fragile body but a deceptively strong mind" that allows him to "create [his] own symbols in defiance of the perverted logic of the oppressor." By twisting language to create these symbols, Brer Rabbit not only was the "personification of the ethic of Br'er Rabbit is a trickster character who succeeds self-preservation" for the slave community, but also "an alternative through his wits rather than through strength. response to their oppressor’s false doctrine of anthropology." Through his language of trickery, Brer Rabbit outwits his oppressors, deconstructing, in small ways, the hierarchy of subjugation to which his weak body forces him to physically conform. Before Gates, there was some precedent for the analysis of African American folk heroes as destructive agents of an oppressive hierarchical system. In the 1920s and 1930s, T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound engaged in an epistolary correspondence.[7] Both writers signed the letters with pseudonyms adopted from the Uncle Remus tales; Eliot was "Possum;" Pound was "Tar Baby." Pound and Eliot wrote in the same "African slave" dialect of the tales. Pound, writing later of the series of letters, distinguished the language from "the Queen’s English, the language of public propriety." This rebellion against proper language came as part of "collaboration" between Pound and Eliot "against the London literary establishment and the language that it used." Although Pound and Eliot were not attempting to overthrow an establishment as expansive as the one oppressing the African American slave community, they were actively trying to establish for themselves a new kind of literary freedom. In their usage of the Uncle Remus trickster figures’ names and dialects, they display an early understanding of the way in which cleverly manipulated language can dismantle a restrictive hierarchy. African American literary criticism and folktales are not the only place in the American literary tradition that tricksters are to be found combating subjugation from within an oppressive system. In When Brer Rabbit Meets Coyote, the argument is posited that the Brer Rabbit stories were derived from a mixture of African and Native American mythology, thus attributing part of the credit for the formation of the tales and wiles of Brer Rabbit to "Indian captivity narratives" and the rabbit trickster found in Cherokee mythology.[8] In arguing for a merged

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"African-Native American folklore," the idea is forwarded that certain shared "cultural affinities" between African Americans and Native Americans allowed both groups "through the trickster tales…survive[d] European American cultural and political domination."[9]

In Native American tradition While the trickster crosses various cultural traditions, there are significant differences between tricksters in the traditions of many indigenous peoples and those in the European tradition: Many native traditions held clowns and tricksters as essential to any with the sacred. People could not pray until they had laughed, because laughter opens and frees from rigid preconception. Humans had to have tricksters within the most sacred ceremonies for fear that they forget the sacred comes through upset, reversal, surprise. The trickster in most native traditions is essential to creation, to birth.[10] Native American tricksters should not be confused with the European fictional picaro. One of the most important distinctions is that "we can see in the Native American trickster an openness to life's multiplicity and paradoxes largely missing in the modern Euro-American moral tradition".[11] In some stories the Native American trickster is foolish and other times wise. He can be a hero in one tale and a villain in the next. In June 2010, a collection of Native American trickster tales were retold in comic form in a graphic novel anthology titled: Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection [12], edited by Matt Dembicki. The diverse tales in this collection depict the trickster in various forms including a raccoon, raven, coyote, rabbit, and man.

As villains In some fiction, villains come in the form of physically unintimidating characters who seek to defeat the protagonist using cerebral, yet whimsical methods. They are typically non-deadly in their intents and may only seek to humiliate or outwit the protagonist. Often such villains lean towards comedy, and conflicts with them are generally resolved non-violently. They may be recurring characters, such as of the Q Continuum in several Star Trek series. In comics, The Riddler is often presented as one of the less violent of Batman's rogue's gallery. Others, like the Trickster, The Joker, and Loki, can qualify as trickster villains, but can also lean more towards malice than clever whimsy. There is also a trickster in The Sarah Jane Adventures, a spin-off of Doctor Who, where the trickster and his brigade try to change time-lines in order to create chaos. On the CW's TV show Supernatural there is a villain known as "The Trickster" appearing in seasons 2, 3, and 5. In the show tricksters are said to be known for "deadly pranks" often things that seem funny but in reality are not. They use their tricks as "just desserts" for their victims. It's also said [in the show] that tricksters have a sweet tooth. Later in the show, however, the Trickster was revealed in the show to be the Archangel Gabriel, who used the Trickster persona to hide and to indulge certain personal preferences. Gabriel was killed by Lucifer in the show, and he left pertinent information in death via video that allowed the brothers to ultimately defeat and cage Lucifer. In the PC game series Thief by Looking Glass Studios, the former enemy of the Hammerites is Trickster, a satyr or devil-like creature.

Trickster

In oral stories • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Abenaki mythology: Azeban African mythology: Ekwensu, Thlokunyana Afrocuban mythology: Changó Akan mythology: Kwaku Ananse American folklore: Brer Rabbit (or Compere Lapin) and Aunt Nancy, a corruption of Anansi (Anansee) Arabian mythology: Juha, Sinbad, Sheherazade, Genies, Ashanti folklore: Anansi Australian Aboriginal mythology: Bamapana, Crow Aztec mythology: Huehuecoyotl Babylonian mythology: Lilith Bantu mythology: Hare (Tsuro or Kalulu) Basque mythology: San Martin Txiki Brazilian folklore: Saci, Curupira Bulgarian/Macedonian folklore: Hitar Petar (Itar Pejo) Bushmen/San Folklore: Kaggen Caribbean folklore: Anansi

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Celtic mythology: Fairy, Puck, puca Chilean mythology: Pedro Urdemales ("Peter Urdemales" in English) Chinese mythology: Huli jing (Fox spirit), Nezha, Red Boy, Sun Wukong (Monkey King) Cree mythology: Wisakedjak Croatian: Petrica Kerempuh Croatian mythology and later folklore: Domaci as group later personalized in Malik Tintilinic Crow mythology: Awakkule, Mannegishi Dutch folklore: Reynaert de Vos, Tijl Uilenspiegel Egyptian mythology: Set, Isis English folklore: Robin Hood, Puck, Brownies Estonian mythology: The Wily Ants Fijian mythology: Daucina Filipino folklore: Juan Pusong, Juan Tamad French folklore: Renart the Fox German folklore: Reineke Fuchs, the Pied Piper, Till Eulenspiegel Greek mythology: Eris, Prometheus, Hephaestos, Hermes, Odysseus, Sisyphus Haida mythology: Nankil'slas (Raven spirit), (Coyote) Haitian folklore: Anansi, Ti Malice Hawaiian mythology: Iwa, Kaulu, Kupua, Maui, Pekoi. Hindu mythology: Baby Krishna stealing butter, Narada, Mohini, Hanuman shapeshifting and teasing sages Hopi and Zuni mythology: Kokopelli Indonesian folklore: Kantjil, or kancil in modern grammar Inuit mythology: Amaguq Irish folklore: Leprechauns, Briccriu, Islamic mythology: Nasreddin, Genies, Italian folklore (Sicily): Giufà Japanese mythology: Kitsune, Susanoo, Kappa, Tanuki,

• Jewish folklore: Hershele Ostropoler • Korean folklore: Kumiho • Lakota mythology: Iktomi, Heyoka

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Trickster • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Levantine mythology: Yaw Maori mythology: Māui Mayan mythology: Maya Hero Twins, Kisin Mexican folklore: Pedro Urdemales Micronesian mythology: Olifat Miwok mythology: Coyote Nootka mythology: Chulyen, Guguyni Norse mythology: Loki, Norwegian mythology: Espen Askeladd Northwest Caucasian mythology: Sosruko Ohlone mythology: Coyote Ojibwe mythology: Nanabozho Philippine mythology: Nuno sa Punso, Tikbalang Polynesian mythology: Maui Pomo mythology: Coyote Pueblos dancing: Koshares Romanian mythology: Păcală

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Russian folklore: Ivan the Fool Scottish Gaelic mythology: MacRùsgail Slavic mythology: Veles, Spanish mythology: Don Juan, The Trickster of Seville, Tibetan folklore: Uncle Tempa, Tsimshian mythology: Txaamsm, Raven, 'Wiigyet (Big Man) Tumbuka mythology: Kalulu Ute mythology: Cin-an-ev Vodou: Papa Legba, Ti Malice, Baron Samedi Welsh mythology: Gwydion, Taliesin, Morgan Le Fay, West African mythology: Anansi, Yoruba mythology: Eshu, Shango,

Notes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Zolotarjov 1980: 54 Zolotarjov 180: 40–43 Dr. Evan Brown, "The Bible in the Context of World Culture", Ch. 3 California on the Eve - California Indians (http:/ / www. museumca. org/ goldrush/ fever04-ci. html) Smith, R.L. ing Andy Devine (http:/ / www. froggythegremlin. com/ ). Lorde, Audre, "Age, Race, Class, and Sex," Literary Theory: An Anthology, Eds. Julie Rivkin, Michael Ryan (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), 859. [7] North, Michael, The Dialect of Modernism: Race, Language, and Twentieth-Century Literature (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 77. [8] Brennan, Jonathan, "Introduction: Recognition of the African-Native American Literary Tradition," When Brer Rabbit Meets Coyote (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003), 73; Baringer, Sandra K., "Brer Rabbit and His Cherokee Cousin: Moving Beyond the Appropriation Paradigm," When Brer Rabbit Meets Coyote (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003), 116. [9] Brennan, "Introduction…," 72-73. [10] Byrd Gibbens, Professor of English at University of Arkansas at Little Rock; quoted epigraph in Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin, 2001 [11] Ballinger 1992, p.21 [12] http:/ / trickster-anthology. blogspot. com/

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References • Gates, Henry (2004), "The Blackness of Blackness: A Critique on the Sign and the Signifying Monkey", in Julie Rivkin; Michael Ryan, Literary Theory: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing) • Earl, Jr., Riggins R. (1993). Dark Symbols, Obscure Signs: God, Self, And Community In The Slave Mind. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. • Bassil-Morozow, Helena (2011). The Trickster in Contemporary Film. Routledge. • Franchot Ballinger, Gerald Vizenor Sacred Reversals: Trickster in Gerald Vizenor's "Earthdivers: Tribal Narratives on Mixed Descent" (http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0095-182X(198524)9:1<55:SRTIGV>2.0. CO;2-G&size=LARGE) American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 1, The Literary Achievements of Gerald Vizenor (Winter, 1985), pp. 55–59 doi: 10.2307/1184653 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1184653) • Franchot Ballinger Ambigere: The Euro-American Picaro and the Native American Trickster (http://links.jstor. org/sici?sici=0163-755X(199121/199221)17:1<21:ATEPAT>2.0.CO;2-9&size=LARGE) MELUS, Vol. 17, No. 1, Native American Fiction: Myth and Criticism (Spring, 1991 - Spring, 1992), pp. 21–38 doi: 10.2307/467321 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/467321) • L. Bryce Boyer, Ruth M. Boyer The Sacred Clown of the Chiricahua and Mescalero Apaches: Additional Data (http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-373X(198301)42:1<46:TSCOTC>2.0.CO;2-Y&size=LARGE) Western Folklore, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan., 1983), pp. 46–54 doi: 10.2307/1499465 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1499465) • California on the Eve - California Indians (http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/fever04-ci.html) Miwok creation story • Joseph Durwin Coulrophobia & The Trickster (http://www.trinity.edu/org/tricksters/trixway/current/Vol 3/ Vol3_1/Durwin.pdf) • Hansen, G.P.(2001). The Trickster and the Paranormal.Philadelphia: Xlibris. ISBN 1401000827 • Koepping, Klaus-Peter (http://business.nmsu.edu/~dboje/pages/toolbar2.html) (February 1985). "Absurdity and Hidden Truth: Cunning Intelligence and Grotesque Body Images as Manifestations of the Trickster". History of Religions 24 (3): 191–214. doi: 10.1086/462997 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/462997). JSTOR  1062254 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062254). • Lori Landay Madcaps, Screwballs, and Con Women: The Female Trickster in American Culture (http://books. google.com/books?id=n5BpcSboBEEC) 1998 University of Pennsylvania Press • Paul Radin The trickster: a study in American Indian mythology (1956) • Allan J. Ryan The Trickster Shift: Humour and irony in contemporary native art (http://books.google.com/ books?id=EwEDxskm3ycC) 1999 Univ of Washington ISBN 0-7748-0704-0 • Trickster’s Way Volume 3, Issue 1 2004 Article 3 TRICKSTER AND THE TREKS OF HISTORY • Zolotarjov, A. M. (1980). "Társadalomszervezet és dualisztikus teremtésmítoszok Szibériában". In Hoppál, Mihály. A Tejút fiai. Tanulmányok a finnugor népek hitvilágáról (in Hungarian). Budapest: Európa Könyvkiadó. pp. 29–58. ISBN 963-07-2187-2. Chapter means: "Social structure and dualistic creation myths in Siberia"; title means: "The sons of Milky Way. Studies on the belief systems of Finno-Ugric peoples". • Tannen, R.S., The Female Trickster: PostModern and Post-Jungian Perspectives on Women in Contemporary Culture, Routledge, 2007

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External links • Trickster, Intercultural Studies Online Review, edited in Italian (http://www.trickster.lettere.unipd.it) • How The Leopard Got His Spots (http://www.sff.net/people/karawynn/justso/leopard.htp) - a trickster tale appropriated by Rudyard Kipling • Joel Chandler Harris and the Uncle Remus Collection (http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article. jsp?id=h-525&sug=y)

World tree The world tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European religions, Siberian religions, and Native American religions. The world tree is represented as a colossal tree which s the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the world, and, through its roots, the underworld. It may also be strongly connected to the motif of the tree of life. Specific world trees include világfa in Hungarian mythology, Ağaç Ana in Turkic mythology, Modun in Mongolian mythology, Yggdrasil (or Irminsul) in Germanic (including Norse) mythology, the Oak in Slavic and Finnish mythology, and in Hindu mythology the Ashvattha (a Sacred Fig).

Norse mythology In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the world tree. Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda, written in From Northern Antiquities, an English translation of the Prose Edda from 1847. Painted by Oluf Olufsen Bagge. the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Yggdrasil is an immense ash tree that is central and considered very holy. The Æsir go to Yggdrasil daily to hold their courts. The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into the heavens, and the tree is ed by three roots that extend far away into other locations; one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir, and

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another to the well Mímisbrunnr. Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the harts Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór, an unnamed eagle, the squirrel Ratatoskr and the wyrm Níðhöggr. Scholarly theories have been proposed about the etymology of the name Yggdrasil, the potential relation to the trees Mímameiðr and Læraðr, and the sacred tree at Uppsala.

Siberian culture The world tree is also represented in the mythologies and folklore of Northern Asia and Siberia. In the mythology of the Samoyeds, the world tree connects different realities (underworld, this world, upper world) together. In their mythology the world tree is also the symbol of Mother Earth who is said to give the Samoyed shaman his drum and also help him travel from one world to another. The symbol of the world tree is also common in Tengriism, an ancient religion of Mongols and Turkic peoples.

World tree. Russian ornament. 19th century.

The world tree is visible in the designs of the Crown of Silla, Silla being one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. This link is used to establish a connection between Siberian peoples and those of Korea.

Mesoamerican culture and Indigenous cultures of the Americas • Among pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, the concept of "world trees" is a prevalent motif in Mesoamerican mythical cosmologies and iconography. The Temple of the Cross Complex at Palenque contains one of the most studied examples of the world tree in architectural motifs of all Mayan ruins. World trees embodied the four cardinal directions, which represented also the fourfold nature of a central world tree, a symbolic axis mundi connecting the planes of the Underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial world.[1] • Depictions of world trees, both in their directional and central aspects, are found in the art and mythological traditions of cultures such as the Maya, Aztec, Izapan, Mixtec, Olmec, and others, dating to at least the Mid/Late Formative periods of Mesoamerican chronology. Among the Maya, the central world tree was conceived as, or represented by, a ceiba tree, called yax imix che ('blue-green tree of abundance') by the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel.[2] The trunk of the tree could also be represented by an upright caiman, whose skin evokes the tree's spiny trunk.[3] • Directional world trees are also associated with the four Yearbearers in Mesoamerican calendars, and the directional colors and deities. Mesoamerican codices which have this association outlined include the Dresden, Borgia and Fejérváry-Mayer codices.[4] It is supposed that Mesoamerican sites and ceremonial centers frequently had actual trees planted at each of the four cardinal directions, representing the quadripartite concept. • World trees are frequently depicted with birds in their branches, and their roots extending into earth or water (sometimes atop a "water-monster", symbolic of the underworld).

World tree • The central world tree has also been interpreted as a representation of the band of the Milky Way.[5] • Izapa Stela 5 contains a possible representation of a world tree. A common theme in most indigenous cultures of the Americas is a concept of directionality (the horizontal and vertical planes), with the vertical dimension often being represented by a world tree. Some scholars have argued that the religious importance of the horizontal and vertical dimensions in many animist cultures may derive from the human body and the position it occupies in the world as it perceives the surrounding living world. Many Indigenous cultures of the Americas have similar cosmologies regarding the directionality and the world tree, however the type of tree representing the world tree depends on the surrounding environment. For many Indigenous American peoples located in more temperate regions for example, it is the spruce rather than the ceiba that is the world tree; however the idea of cosmic directions combined with a concept of a tree uniting the directional planes is similar.

Other cultures Although the concept is absent from the Greek mythology, medieval Greek folk traditions and more recent folklore claim that the tree that holds the Earth is being sawed by Kallikantzaroi (commonly translated as goblins). Parts of Hungarian folklore also bear resemblance to the world tree, such as the Égig érő fa (Sky-reaching tree) and several folktales connected to it. The world tree is widespread in Lithuanian folk painting, and is frequently found carved into household furniture such as cupboards, towel holders, and laundry beaters.[6][7] The "Cosmic tree" also was one of the most important beliefs in Latvian mythology. Remnants of the world tree concept are also evident within the history and folklore of Ireland's Gaelic past. There are many s within early Irish manuscripts of great tribal trees known as Bile being cut down by enemy tribes during times of war. This world tree concept, being strongly Indo-European, was likely to have been a feature of early Celtic culture.[citation needed] Remnants are also evident in the Kalpavriksha or "wish-fulfilling tree" of the South Asian religions. In Brahma Kumaris religion, the World Tree is portrayed as the "Kalpa Vriksha Tree", or "Tree of Humanity", in which the founder Brahma Baba (Dada Lekhraj) and his Brahma Kumaris followers are shown as the roots of the humanity who enjoy 2,500 years of paradise as living deities before trunk of humanity splits and the founders of other religions incarnate. Each creates their own branch and brings with them their own followers, until they too decline and splits. Twig like schisms, cults and sects appear at the end of the Iron Age.[8]

Popular Culture The World Tree is present in several of the Dragon Quest video games. It is also frequently the only place where character revival items such as Yggdrasil Leaves (only one at a time, in most cases) can be obtained. Giant Magic space faring trees with great powers, artistically associating the archetypus of a World Tree, play a major role in the 1992 released Japanese Anime Tenchi_Muyo!_Ryo-Ohki and appear in all related Series of the Tenchi_Muyo! universe. Several World Trees also exist in the Warcraft Universe, such as Nordrassil, the World Tree which had granted the enigmatic race of Night Elves their immortality before its destruction by Archimonde during the Third War; or Teldrassil, the new home to the Night Elves; and Vordrassil, the failed World Tree planted in Northrend. The concept of a World Tree is at the core of the Night Elven society.

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Evolutionary origins It has been suggested that the world tree is programmed into the human mind by evolutionary biology. Human beings are primates, and lived in trees for around 60 million years. The idea of a vast tree as the entirety of the world is thus still implanted in our collective unconscious.[9][10]

Notes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Miller and Taube (1993), p.186. Roys 1967: 100 Miller and Taube, loc. cit. Ibid. Freidel, et al. (1993) Straižys and Klimka, chapter 2. Cosmology of the Ancient Balts - 3. The concept of the World-Tree (http:/ / www. lithuanian. net/ mitai/ cosmos/ baltai2. htm) (from the 'lithuanian.net' website. Accessed 2008-12-26.) [8] Walliss, John (2002). From World-Rejection to Ambivalence. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 33. ISBN 978-0-7546-0951-3. [9] Burkert, Creation of the Sacred [10] Haycock, Being and Perceiving

References • David Abram. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World, Vintage, 1997 • Burkert W (1996). Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions (http://books.google.co.uk/ books?id=nXjRg_3p1s4C). Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-17570-9. • Haycock DE (2011). Being and Perceiving (http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fXFeQb1z6bsC). Manupod Press. ISBN 978-0-9569621-0-2. • Roys, Ralph L., The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1967.

External links • Cosmology of the Ancient Balts (http://www.lithuanian.net/mitai/cosmos/baltai.htm) by Vytautas Straižys and Libertas Klimka (Lithuanian.net)

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Ouroboros The Ouroboros or Uroboros (/jʊərɵˈbɒrəs/; /ɔːˈrɒbɔrəs/, from οὐροβόρος ὄφις tail-devouring snake) is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The Ouroboros often symbolize self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things such as the phoenix which operate in cycles that begin anew as soon as they end. It can also represent the idea of primordial unity related to something existing in or persisting from the beginning with such force or qualities it cannot be extinguished. While first emerging in Ancient Egypt, the Ouroboros has been important in religious and mythological symbolism, but has also been frequently used in alchemical illustrations, where it symbolizes the circular nature of the alchemist's opus. It is also often associated with Gnosticism, and Hermeticism.

Drawing by Theodoros Pelecanos, in the alchemical tract Synosius (1478).

Carl Jung interpreted the Ouroboros as having an archetypal significance to the human psyche.[citation needed] The Jungian psychologist Erich Neumann writes of it as a representation of the pre-ego "dawn state", depicting the undifferentiated infancy experience of both mankind and the individual child.[1]

Historical representations Antiquity Egypt

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The first known appearance of the ouroboros motif is in the Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld, an ancient Egyptian funerary text in KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun, in the 14th century BC. The text concerns the actions of the god Ra and his union with Osiris in the underworld. In an illustration from this text, two serpents, holding their tails in their mouths, coil around the head and feet of an enormous god, who may represent the unified Ra-Osiris. Both serpents are manifestations of the deity Mehen, who in other funerary texts protects Ra in his underworld journey. The whole divine figure represents the beginning and the end of time.[2] The ouroboros appears elsewhere in Egyptian sources, where, like many Egyptian serpent deities, it represents the formless disorder that surrounds the orderly world and is involved in that world's periodic renewal.[3] The symbol persisted in Egypt into Roman times, when it frequently appeared on magical talismans, sometimes in combination with other magical emblems.[4] The 4th-century AD Latin commentator Servius was aware of the Egyptian use of the symbol, noting that the image of a snake biting its tail represents the cyclical nature of the year.[5]

Gnostic gem from Roman-era Egypt (1st century AD), with an ouroboros surrounding a scarab and voces magicae, characters representing magic words

Greece Plato described a self-eating, circular being as the first living thing—the universe as an immortal, mythologically constructed entity. The living being had no need of eyes because there was nothing outside of him to be seen; nor of ears because there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs by the help of which he might receive his food or get rid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him. Of design he created thus; his own waste providing his own food, and all that he did or suffered taking place in and by himself. For the Creator conceived that a being which was self-sufficient would be far more excellent than one which lacked anything; and, as he had no need to take anything or defend himself against any one, the Creator did not think it necessary to bestow upon him hands: nor had he any need of feet, nor of the whole apparatus of walking; but the movement suited to his spherical form which was designed by him, being of all the seven that which is most appropriate to mind and intelligence; and he was made to move in the same manner and on the same spot, within his own limits revolving in a circle. All the other six motions were taken away from him, and he was made not to partake of their deviations. And as this circular movement required no feet, the universe was created without legs and without feet. In Gnosticism, this serpent symbolized eternity and the soul of the world. The Gnostic text Pistis Sophia describes the disc of the sun as a 12-part dragon with his tail in his mouth.[6]

Ouroboros

Middle Ages The Ouroboros symbol appears in both 14th–15th century Albigensian printing watermarks[7] and is also worked into the pip cards of many early (14th–15th century) playing cards, including Tarot cards. Watermarks similar to those used by the Albigensians appear in early printed playing cards, suggesting that the Albigenses might have had with the early authors of tarot decks.[8][9] The symbol commonly used as the ace of cups in early decks, which is one of the symbols frequently circled with an ouroboros, also frequently appears among Albigensian watermarks. It is conceivable that this is the source of some of the urban legends associating this symbol with secret societies, because the Albigenses were closely associated with the humanist movement and the inquisition it sparked. Because the Engraving by Lucas Jennis, in alchemical tract Albigenses came from Armenia, where Zoroastrianism and Mithra titled De Lapide Philosophico. worship were common, it may be that the symbol entered their iconography via the Zoroastrian Faravahar symbol, which in some versions clearly features an ouroboros at the waist instead of a vague disc-shape. In Mithran mystery cults the figure of Mithra being reborn (one of the things he is famous for) is sometimes seen wrapped with an ouroboros, indicating his eternal and cyclic nature, and even references which do not mention the ouroboros refer to this circular shape as symbolizing the immortality of the soul or the cyclic nature of Karma, suggesting that the circle retains its meaning even when the details of the image are obscured. In Norse mythology, it appears as the serpent Jörmungandr, one of the three children of Loki and Angrboda, who grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its tail in its teeth. In the legends of Ragnar Lodbrok, such as Ragnarssona þáttr, the Geatish king Herraud gives a small lindworm as a gift to his daughter Þóra Town-Hart after which it grows into a large serpent which encircles the girl's bower and bites itself in the tail. The serpent is slain by Ragnar Lodbrok who marries Þóra. Ragnar later has a son with another woman named Kráka and this son is born with the image of a white snake in one eye. This snake encircled the iris and bit itself in the tail, and the son was named Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye.

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Alchemy In alchemy, the Ouroboros is a sigil. Swiss psychologist Carl Jung saw the Ouroboros as an archetype and the basic mandala of alchemy. Jung also defined the relationship of the Ouroboros to alchemy:[10] The alchemists, who in their own way knew more about the nature of the individuation process than we moderns do, expressed this paradox through the symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail. The Ouroboros has been said to have a meaning of infinity or wholeness. In the age-old image of the Ouroboros lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process, for it was clear to the more astute alchemists that the prima materia of the art was man himself. The Ouroboros is Early alchemical ouroboros illustration. From the work a dramatic symbol for the integration and assimilation of Cleopatra the Alchemist (Greco-Roman Egypt). of the opposite, i.e. of the shadow. This 'feed-back' process is at the same time a symbol of immortality, since it is said of the Ouroboros that he slays himself and brings himself to life, fertilizes himself and gives birth to himself. He symbolizes the One, who proceeds from the clash of opposites, and he therefore constitutes the secret of the prima materia which [...] unquestionably stems from man's unconscious. The famous Ouroboros drawing from the early alchemical text The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra dating to 2nd century Alexandria encloses the words hen to pan, "one is the all". Its black and white halves represent the Gnostic duality of existence. As such, the Ouroboros could be interpreted as the Western equivalent of the Taoist Yin-Yang symbol. The Chrysopoeia Ouroboros of Cleopatra the Alchemist is one of the oldest images of the Ouroboros to be linked with the legendary opus of the Alchemists, the Philosopher’s Stone. As a symbol of the eternal unity of all things, the cycle of birth and death from which the alchemist sought release and liberation, it was familiar to the alchemist/physician Sir Thomas Browne. In his A Letter to a Friend, a medical treatise full of case-histories and witty speculations upon the human condition, he wrote of it: [...] that the first day should make the last, that the Tail of the Snake should return into its Mouth precisely at that time, and they should wind up upon the day of their Nativity, is indeed a remarkable Coincidence, Chemistry August Kekulé described the eureka moment when he realized the structure of benzene:[11] I was sitting, writing at my text-book; but the work did not progress; my thoughts were elsewhere. I turned my chair to the fire and dozed. Again the atoms were gamboling Kekulé's proposal for the structure of benzene (1872) before my eyes. This time the smaller groups kept modestly in the background. My mental eye, rendered more acute by the repeated visions of the kind, could now distinguish larger structures of manifold conformation: long rows, sometimes more closely fitted together; all twining and twisting in snake-like motion. But look! What was that? One of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail, and the form whirled mockingly before my eyes. As if by a flash of lightning I awoke; and this time also I spent the

Ouroboros

26 rest of the night in working out the consequences of the hypothesis.

Kundalini Yoga Ouroboros symbolism has been used to describe Kundalini energy. According to the second century Yoga Kundalini Upanishad, "The divine power, Kundalini, shines like the stem of a young lotus; like a snake, coiled round upon herself she holds her tail in her mouth and lies resting half asleep as the base of the body" (1.82). Another interpretation is that Kundalini equates to the entwined serpents of the caduceus, the entwined serpents representing medicine in the west or, esoterically, human DNA.

Non-western traditions It is a common belief among indigenous people of the tropical lowlands of South America that waters at the edge of the world-disc are encircled by a snake, often an anaconda, biting its own tail.

Figurative use The image of Ouroboros is used by Jadran Mimica in his analysis of the Yagwoia psychology and worldview. E.g. "this is the archetypal, cosmic tree of life^death whose structural determination is ouroboric because, like the serpent that eats its own tail, this tree grows in-through-and-out-of-itself, ad infinitum."[12]

References [1] Neumann, Erich. (1995). The Origins and History of Consciousness. Bollington series XLII: Princeton University Press. Originally published in German in 1949. [2] Hornung, Erik. The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife. Cornell University Press, 1999. pp. 38, 77–78 [3] Hornung, Erik. Conceptions of God in Egypt: The One and the Many. Cornell University Press, 2002. pp. 163–64.

Seal of the Theosophical Society - Door [4] Hornung 2002, p. 58. decoration at Kazinczy Street 55, [5] Servius, note to Aeneid 5.85: "according to the Egyptians, before the invention of the Budapest (Hungary). alphabet the year was symbolized by a picture, a serpent biting its own tail, because it recurs on itself" (annus secundum Aegyptios indicabatur ante inventas litteras picto dracone caudam suam mordente, quia in se recurrit), as cited by Danuta Shanzer, A Philosophical and Literary Commentary on Martianus Capella's De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii Book 1 (University of California Press, 1986), p. 159. [6] Hornung 2002, p. 74. [7] Bayley 1909, p. 24. [8] . See watermark on p 15 of the article. [9] Bayley 1909, p. 24–27, 45. [10] Carl Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 14 para. 513 [11] (Pages 179–180) [12] p.96 in "Womb = Tomb = House = Body: Yagwoia Experience of Blissful Self-dissolution". Proceedings of The Australian and New Zealand Society of Jungian Analysts: The Uses of Subjective Experience. Conference held in Melbourne, 20-21st October 2007. Published in 2008:82-98. http:/ / www. anzsja. org. au/ subjective_experience/ UsesOfSubjectiveExperience. pdf

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Bibliography • Bayley, Harold S (1909), New Light On the Renaissance, Kessinger. • Hornung, Erik (2002), The Secret Lore of Egypt: Its Impact on the West, Cornell University Press.

Jack Frost Jack Frost is the personification of frost and cold weather,[1] a variant of Old Man Winter held responsible for frosty weather, for nipping the nose and toes in such weather, coloring the foliage in autumn, and leaving fernlike patterns on cold windows in winter. Starting in late 19th century literature, more filled-out characterizations of Jack Frost have made him into a sprite-like character. He sometimes appears as a sinister mischief maker.

Background

19th-century cartoon depicting Jack Frost as a United States major-general during the

American Civil War Jack Frost is said to be a friendly spirit, but can be very dangerous because if one were to insult him he would cover that person with snow or turn them into frost. Jack is a spirit and the personification of crisp, cold, winter weather, a variant of Old Man Winter. He is also at times shown as a mischief-making spirit, carefree and happiest when he can behave as he pleases. With no obligations, he is able to flourish.

He is traditionally thought to leave the frosty, fernlike patterns on windows on cold winter mornings (window frost or fern frost) and nipping the extremities in cold weather. He is sometimes described or depicted with paint brush and bucket coloring the autumnal foliage red, yellow, brown, and orange.[2] In some versions, Jack Frost is friendly, but kills his victims by covering them with snow if provoked. On the other hand, other versions depict him as a kinder being who only wishes to enjoy himself and bring happiness to others. He is often portrayed as an older man, though other depictions show him as a young adult or a teenager. In more modern mythology he is often the being that parents will warn their child of in frosty winter mornings before they go outside, as it is said he will pull tricks on them and cause their extremities to become cold.

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History His roots may originate from Anglo-Saxon and Norse winter customs. In Russia however, he has taken a different form as Grandfather Frost, and in there is instead a different entity altogether. There are various other mythological beings who take on a similar role yet have different folklore to them. In recent years, Jack Frost has made appearances as a character in pop culture - he garnered a brief mention in the wintertime song The Christmas Song and several roles as a character in television and movies. Over the years he has taken the role of both villains, heroes, and neutral entities.

In popular culture Literature • Hannah F. Gould's (1789-1865) Jack Frost poem, as a mischievous being responsible for the quieter phenomenons of winter, beautiful ice paintings on windows but who also got upset at lack of gifts and caused the cold to break and ruin things.[3] • In Charles Sangster's "Little Jack Frost", published in The Aldine, (Vol.7, No.16, 1875) Jack Frost is a playful being who runs around playing pranks and 'nose-biting', coating places with snow before being chased of by Dame Nature for spring.[4] • In L. Frank Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902), Jack Frost is the son of the otherwise unnamed Frost King. He takes pleasure in nipping "scores of noses and ears and toes", but Santa Claus, who likes Jack (who he sees as a "jolly rogue") though he mistrusts him, asks him to spare the children. Jack says he will, if he can resist the temptation.[5] The same Jack appears in "The Runaway Shadows", a short story by Baum. In this story, he has the power to freeze shadows, separating them from their owners, making them their own living entities.[6]

Window with frost patterns

• In Laurell K. Hamilton's Meredith Gentry series, a character emerges as the original Jack Frost. Jack Frost has appeared as a minor character in the Rupert Bear stories, and in Jack of Fables (a Fables spinoff) the titular character became Jack Frost for a period of time. A second Jack Frost ("Jack too, or Jack two") appears as the son of Jack Horner and The Snow Queen. • In the Rainbow Magic books by Daisy Meadows, Jack Frost is an antagonist who wants to freeze Fairyland. He is accompanied by pesky goblins who steal fairies, and try to sabotage them. • Jack Frost also appears in "First Death in Nova Scotia", a poem by Elizabeth Bishop. • Jack appears in the novels Reaper Man and Hogfather by Terry Pratchett and The Veil trilogy of novels by Christopher Golden. • The Man Jack, an enigmatic and almost unnatural killer and a member of "The Jacks Of All Trades" calls himself Jack Frost in The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. • The Stranger, a picture book by Chris Van Allsburg, stars Jack Frost as a lonely stranger with amnesia. • Jack Frost is one of the co-stars of the 2002 novel Jill Chill & the Baron of Glacier Mountain with artwork by George Broderick, Jr. Jack is portrayed as Jill Chill's boyfriend.

Jack Frost

Comics • In comic books, Jack Frost appears as a superhero in works published by Timely Comics (now[7] Marvel Comics) in the 1940s. A man covered in ice, he could project ice and cold. • In Marvel Comics, there were two comic characters called Jack Frost. The first one is a Golden Age superhero that is a member of the Liberty Legion. The second Jack Frost was the first alias of the original Blizzard. • Jack Frost appears in the 2009 comic book Jill Chill & The Christmas Star. This is a traditional representation of Jack Frost as a teenager.

Films • Jack Frost, a Russian film from 1964, has the title Morozko—the Russian equivalent of Jack Frost. • The character of Jack Frost appears in three American films, two of them named simply Jack Frost. In one Jack Frost, a serial killer turns into a snowman and continues his rampage. This movie spawned a sequel: Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman, also starring this version of Jack Frost. • In the other Jack Frost film, Michael Keaton plays a human by the name of Jack Frost, who is killed in a car-crash on Christmas Eve. A year later he returns as a snowman to spend time with his son. • Jack Frost appears as the primary antagonist in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause played by Martin Short. In this portrayal, he desires to take control of Christmas and claim it as his own, as is he is jealous of the attention and popularity of Santa Claus. His "Frostmas" holiday proposal had even annoyed Santa Claus and the other of the Council of Legendary Figures (which also consisted of Mother Nature, Father Time, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, Cupid, and the Tooth Fairy). • Jack Frost appears as the main protagonist of Rise of the Guardians voiced by Chris Pine. Jack Frost is getting tired of being unseen and is suddenly forced to the Guardians (which consists of Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, and the Easter Bunny) to defeat the Boogeyman (aka Pitch Black). This version of Frost is portrayed as a fun-loving teenage boy who has no interest in being bound by rules or obligations and just wants to use his magical staff to spread his winter magic for the sake of his amusement, and for the amusement of others.

Radio, animation, and television • Prior to the popularity of television, Jack Frost appeared in the children's radio serial The Cinnamon Bear. • Jack Frost appears as the title character in a 1934 release of Ub Iwerks's ComiColor Cartoons. • In television, Jack Frost (voiced by Paul Frees) makes an appearance in the Rankin/Bass Christmas television special Frosty's Winter Wonderland, in which he grows jealous of Frosty the Snowman because of the attention the children lavish upon him. He tries to render Frosty lifeless by stealing his magic hat but is eventually chosen as the best man at Frosty and Crystal's wedding. • Jack Frost reappears at the end of Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July voiced again by Paul Frees. He helped Rudolph bring Frosty the Snowman and his family back to life after they melted. • In another Rankin-Bass TV special produced in 1979, Jack Frost, the title character (voiced by Robert Morse) falls in love with a human girl and seeks to become human. Father Winter grants his wish, but tells him that if he does not have a house, a horse, a bag of gold, and a wife by "the first sign of spring" he will become a sprite again. • Jack Frost appears in the American Dragon: Jake Long episode "Eye of the Beholder" voiced by Jonathan Freeman. This version is depicted as a big blue man in a Hawaiian shirt. He appears as a judge of Eli Pandarus' beauty contest alongside Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

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Jack Frost

Video games Jack Frost has appeared in many video games including • Jack Frost appears as a monster in AdventureQuest. • Jack Frost appears in OverSoul. • Jack Frost appears in Killing Floor. • Jack Frost appears in City of Villains. • Jack Frost appears in Guild Wars. • Jack Frost appears in Granado Espada. • Jack Frost appears in Ragnarok Online • Jack Frost appears in Rise of the Guardians: The Video Game (which is based on the film of the same name). • Jack Frost appears in RuneScape. • Frost also functions as a trademark character for the game-developer Atlus and as a mascot of the Megami Tensei series, in which it learns mainly Ice skills. • In the games Persona 3 and Persona 4, he appears as a Persona of the Magician Arcana. • Jack Frost also appears as a character in Scribblenauts Unlimited. A female version of Jack Frost is also featured.

Music • Jethro Tull have a song titled "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow". • Saint Vitus depict Jack Frost as an evil spirit of winter on their album V. • The radio station WRHS-FM 89.7 in Norridge, Illinois brands its holiday music format "Jack Frost". • The name has been employed as a pseudonym by musicians Bob Dylan and Jack Dempsey. • Jack Rosenberg (later known as "Werner Erhard") used it as a nickname while selling cars in Philadelphia in the 1950s.[8] "Jack Frost" it´s track number 5 in Rick Wakeman 1990 album Night Airs. • At the end of the 1997 Jack Frost film, Scott MacDonald [Jack Frost] plays a segment of "Silent Night"

References Notes [1] Oxford English Dictionary, first edition, s.v. 'frost' and 'Jack' [2] Bartholomew F. Bland, Laura L. Vookles, William H. Gerdts, Laura L. Vookles. (2010) Paintbox Leaves: Autumnal Inspiration from Cole to Wyeth. Hudson River Museum. p. 41. ISBN 0943651301.Tveten, John L. and Gloria Tveten. (2008). Nature at Your Doorstep: A Nature Trails Book. Texas A&M University Press. p. 47. ISBN 1603440364. [3] http:/ / www. levelwise. org/ hannah-f-gould-jack-frost-poem. html [4] http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/ pdfplus/ 20636992. pdf?acceptTC=true [5] The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum, Part 2, Chapter 2: How Claus Made The First Toy (http:/ / ozmatron. nonestica. com/ 15-9. html) [6] The Runaway Shadows or A Trick of Jack Frost by L. Frank Baum (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20050304131315/ mywebpages. comcast. net/ scottandrewh/ rs. htm) [7] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Jack_Frost& action=edit [8] Pressman, Steven, Outrageous Betrayal: The dark journey of Werner Erhard from est to exile. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993, page 6. ISBN 0-312-09296-2

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Enchanted forest In literature, an enchanted forest is a forest under, or containing, enchantments. Such forests are described in the oldest folklore from regions where forests are common, and occur throughout the centuries to modern works of fantasy. They represent places unknown to the characters, and situations of liminality and transformation. The forest can feature as a place of threatening danger, or one of refuge, or a chance at adventure.

Folktales The forest as a place of magic and danger is found among folklore wherever the natural state of wild land is forest: a forest is a location beyond which people normally travel, where strange things might occur, and strange people might live, the home of monsters, witches "Genoveva in the Forest Seclusion" by Adrian and even fairies. Peasants who seldom if ever traveled far from their Ludwig Richter – a refuge, and a magical deer villages could not conclusively say that it was impossible that an ogre could live an hour away.[1] Hence, in fairy tales, Hansel and Gretel found a cannibalistic witch in the forest;[2] Vasilissa the Beautiful, Baba Yaga herself;[3] Molly Whuppie and her sisters, a giant.[4] It was in a forest that the king of The Grateful Prince lost his way, and rashly promised his child for aid,[5] where the heroines, and their wicked stepsisters, of The Three Little Men in the Wood[6] and The Enchanted Wreath[7] met magical tests, and where Brother and Sister found the streams that their evil stepmother had enchanted.[8] In Beauty and the Beast, Belle's father is lost in the forest when he finds the Beast's castle.[9] The evil cat-spirits of Schippeitaro live in the forest.[10] Indeed, in Grimm's Fairy Tales, the hero always goes into the forest. It is not itself enchanted, but it contains enchantments and, being outside normal human experience, acts as a place of transformation.[11] The German fairy tale has an unusual tendency to take place in the forest; even such neighboring countries as or Italy are less like to have fairy tales situated in the forest.[12] Even in folklore, forests can also be places of magical refuge.[13] Snow White found refuge with dwarfs from her stepmother,[14] The Girl Without Hands found a hut to stay in when she had been slandered to her husband,[15] and Genevieve of Brabant found not only a refuge from slander but a doe magically came to her aid.[16] Even Brother and Sister hid in the forest after their stepmother turned the brother into a deer.

In Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf, the hero, heroine, and wolf travel through the forest

At other times, the marvels they meet are beneficial. In the forest, the hero of a fairy tale can meet and have mercy on talking animals that aid him.[17] The king in many variants of the ballad The Famous Flower of Serving-Men finds an enchanted hind that leads him astray uncanny, but it brings him to a talking bird that reveals to him a murder

and that a servant of his is actually a woman, whom the king then marries.[18] It is in the forest that the dwarf of Rumpelstiltskin[19] and the fairy of Whuppity Stoorie[20] reveal their true names and therefore the heroines of those

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tales have a way to free themselves. In Schippeitaro, the cats reveal their fear of the dog Schippeitaro when the hero of the tale sleeps the night in the forest. The creatures of the forest need not be magical to have much the same effect; Robin Hood, living in the greenwood, has affinities to the enchanted forest.[21] Even in fairy tales, robbers may serve the roles of magical beings; in an Italian variant of Snow White, Bella Venezia, the heroine takes refuge not with dwarfs but with robbers.[22]

Mythology The danger of the folkloric forest is an opportunity for the heroes of legend. Among the oldest of all recorded tales, the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh recounts how the heroes Gilgamesh and Enkidu traveled to the Cedar Forest to fight the monsters there and be the first to cut down its trees. In Norse myth and legend, Myrkviðr (or Mirkwood) was dark and dangerous forest that separated various lands; heroes and even gods had to traverse it with difficulty.[23] Romans referred to the Hercynian Forest, in Germania, as an enchanted place; though most references in their works are to geography, Julius Caesar mentioned unicorns said to live there, and Pliny the Elder, birds with feathers that glowed.

Medieval romance The figure of an enchanted forest was taken up into chivalric romances; the knight-errant would wander in a trackless forest in search of adventure.[24] As in the fairy tales, he could easily find marvels that would be disbelieved closer to home. John Milton wrote in Paradise Regained (Bk ii. 359) of Fairy damsels met in forest wide By knights of Logres, or of Lyones, and such ladies could be not only magical aid to the knight, but ladies for courtly love.[25] Huon of Bordeaux met Oberon the king of elves in the forest.[26] Guillaume de Palerme hid there with the princess he loved, and found a werewolf who would aid him. In Valentine and Orson, the Queen is sent into exile and so forced to give birth in the woods; one child, taken by a bear, turns to a wild man of the woods, who later aids Valentine, his long-lost brother.[27] In the "Dolopathos" variant of the Swan Children, a lord finds a mysterious woman – clearly a swan maiden or fairy – in an enchanted forest and marries her.[28] Genevieve of Brabant, having rebuffed a would-be lover and found herself accused of adultery by him, escaped to the forest.[29]

Gustave Doré’s illustration to Orlando Furioso: a knight and his men see a knight and lady approach in the forest

This forest could easily bewilder the knights. Despite many references to its pathlessness, the forest repeatedly confronts knights with forks and crossroads, of a labyrinthine complexity.[30] The significance of their encounters is often explained to the knights – particularly those searching for the Holy Grail – by hermits acting as wise old men – or women.[31] Still, despite their perils and chances of error, such forests are places where the knights may become worthy and find the object of their quest; one romance has a maiden urging Sir Lancelot on his quest for the Holy Grail, "which quickens with life and greenness like the forest."[32] Dante Alighieri used this image in the opening of The Divine Comedy, where he depicted his state as allegorically being lost in a dark wood.[33] Into the Renaissance, both Orlando Furioso and The Faerie Queene had knight-errants who traveled in the woods.

Enchanted forest While these works were being written, expanding geographical knowledge, and the decrease of woodland for farmland, meant the decrease of forests that could be presumed magical. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare wrote of a forest that was enchanted specifically by the presence of Oberon and Titania, the fairy king and queen; like many forests in Shakespeare's works, it becomes a place of metamorphosis and resolution.[34] Others of his plays, such as As You Like It, take place in a forest, which contains no enchantments but acts much as the forest of folklore.[35]

Modern fantasy The use of enchanted forests shaded into modern fantasy with no distinct breaking point, stemming from the very earliest fantasies.[36] In George MacDonald's Phantastes, the hero finds himself in a wood as dark and tangled as Dante's, una selva obscura that blots out sunlight and is utterly still, without any beasts or birdsong. The more inviting but no less enchanted forest in The Golden Key borders Fairyland and draws the hero to find the title key at the end of the rainbow.[37] In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum depicted the wild and dangerous parts of Oz as being forested, and indeed, inhabited with animated trees with human-like traits, a common feature in children's literature.[38] J.R.R. Tolkien made use of forests as representing enchantment and the ancientness of the world: Mirkwood, Fangorn forest, and the Old Forest.[39] He also made use of folklore about trees, such as the willow, believed to uproot themselves and stalk travelers, in Old Man Willow.[40] His elves are strongly associated with forests, especially Mirkwood and Lothlórien.[41] Still more, Tom Bombadil is a genius loci of the Old Forest, the wooded land about the Shire,[42] and the ents acts as the forest come to life.[43] Following him, the forest is often a magical place in modern fantasy. It continues to be a place unknown to the characters, where strange dangers lurk.[44] It is particularly close to folklore in fairytale fantasy, featuring in such works as James Thurber's The White Deer and The 13 Clocks.[45] It features in other fantasies as well. For instance, in the contemporary fantasy Harry Potter books, the forest near Hogwarts is forbidden because of its magical nature. The home of unicorns, centaurs, and giant spiders, it continues the tradition of the forest as a place of wild things and danger.[46] In Suzanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, the Raven King's capital city of Newcastle in Northern England was surrounded by four magical wood, with names like Petty Egypt, and St. Sirlow's Blessing. These forests were supposedly enchanted by the Raven King himself to defend his city. They could move around, and supposedly devoured people approaching the city with the intent of bringing harm to it. Clarke brings the notion of magical places to life by contrasting this historical within the story itself, to the actual depictions of magical woods within the story, where the trees themselves can be regarded as friend or foe, and have alliances formed with magicians.[47] In My Neighbor Totoro, the forest home of the Totoros is an idyllic place where no harm will come to the heroines of the movies.[48] In contrast, in the Touhou Project series by ZUN, the Forest of Magic is an extremely dangerous place crawling with Youkai. The forest is often filled with magical animals, plants, maybe even magical rocks and creeks. Often there will be elves, dwarfs, and other mythical creatures that may or may not have been made up by the author on the spot, and trees that talk or with branches that will push people off their horses, and thorny bushes which will open to let people in but close and leave people stuck inside, and other plants that move, or turn into animals at night, or the like. Perhaps there will even be creeks which will turn unwary travelers into frogs if drunk from, and maybe sorcerers live somewhere in the depths of the forest.

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References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

C. S. Lewis, "On Science Fiction", Of Other Worlds, p68 ISBN 0-15-667897-7 Heidi Anne Heiner, The Annotated Hansel and Gretel (http:/ / www. surlalunefairytales. com/ hanselgretel/ notes. html#EIGHT) Heidi Anne Heiner, The Annotated Vasilissa the Beautiful (http:/ / www. surlalunefairytales. com/ babayaga/ notes. html) Joseph Jacobs, " Molly Whuppie (http:/ / www. surlalunefairytales. com/ hanselgretel/ stories/ molly. html)", English Fairy Tales W. F. Kirby, " The Grateful Prince (http:/ / www. sacred-texts. com/ neu/ hoe/ hoe1-29. htm)", The Hero of Esthonia Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, " The Three Little Men in the Wood (http:/ / www. surlalunefairytales. com/ authors/ grimms/ 13threemenforest. html)" Household Tales [7] Andrew Lang, " The Enchanted Wreath (http:/ / www. rickwalton. com/ folktale/ orange11. htm)", The Yellow Fairy Book [8] Heidi Anne Heiner, The Annotated Brother and Sister (http:/ / www. surlalunefairytales. com/ brothersister/ notes. html#EIGHT) [9] Betsy Hearne, Beauty and the Beast: Visions and Revisions of an Old Tale, p 28, ISBN 0-226-32239-4 [10] Andrew Lang, The Violet Fairy Book, "Schippeitaro" (http:/ / www. mythfolklore. net/ andrewlang/ 080. htm) [11] Jack Zipes, The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World, p 65-67, ISBN 0-312-29380-1 [12] Paul Delarue, The Borzoi Book of French Folk-Tales, p xvii, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York 1956 [13] Maria Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales, p73, ISBN 0-691-06722-8 [14] Heidi Anne Heiner, The Annotated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (http:/ / www. surlalunefairytales. com/ sevendwarfs/ notes. html#THIRTEEN) [15] Heid Anne Heiner, The Annotated Girl Without Hands (http:/ / www. surlalunefairytales. com/ armlessmaiden/ index. html) [16] Max Lüthi, Once Upon A Time: On the Nature of Fairy Tales, p 76, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., New York, 1970 [17] Jack Zipes, The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World, p 115, ISBN 0-312-29380-1 [18] " The Famous Flower of Serving-Men (http:/ / sniff. numachi. com/ ~rickheit/ dtrad/ pages/ tiFLRSERV2;ttFLRSERV2;ttFLWSERV2. html)" [19] Jacob and Wilheim Grimm, " Rumpelstiltskin (http:/ / www. ucs. mun. ca/ ~wbarker/ fairies/ grimm/ 055. html)", Grimm's Fairy Tales [20] John Rhys, " Whuppity Stoorie (http:/ / www. surlalunefairytales. com/ rumpelstiltskin/ stories/ whuppity. html)", Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1901. Volume 2. [21] Holt, J. C. Robin Hood p 9 (1982) Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27541-6. [22] Italo Calvino, Italian Folktales p 739 ISBN 0-15-645489-0 [23] L. Sprague de Camp, Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy, p 227 ISBN 0-87054-076-9 [24] Maurice Keen, The Outlaws of Medieval Legend p 1-2 ISBN 0-88029-454-X [25] C. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image, p130 ISBN 0-521-47735-2 [26] Katharine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, "Huon de Bordeaux", p227. ISBN 0-394-73467-X [27] Margaret Schlauch, Chaucer's Constance and Accused Queens, New York: Gordian Press 1969 p 91-2 [28] Laura A. Hibbard, Medieval Romance in England pp. 240-1 New York: Burt Franklin, 1963. [29] Margaret Schlauch, Chaucer's Constance and Accused Queens, New York: Gordian Press 1969 p 107 [30] Penelope Reed Doob, The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages, p 177, ISBN 0-8014-8000-0 [31] Penelope Reed Doob, The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages, p 179–181, ISBN 0-8014-8000-0 [32] Penelope Reed Doob, The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages, p 181, ISBN 0-8014-8000-0 [33] Penelope Reed Doob, The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages, p 287, ISBN 0-8014-8000-0 [34] Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, p 182, ISBN 0-691-01298-9 [35] Holt, J. C. Robin Hood p 9 (1982) Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27541-6. [36] Marion Lochhead, Renaissance of Wonder p6 ISBN 0-06-250520-3 [37] Marion Lochhead, Renaissance of Wonder p23 ISBN 0-06-250520-3 [38] L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn, The Annotated Wizard of Oz, p 303, ISBN 0-517-50086-8 [39] John Clute and John Grant, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, "Forests" p 362 ISBN 0-312-19869-8 [40] Katharine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, "Fairy trees", p159. ISBN 0-394-73467-X [41] Andrew Light, "Tolkien's Green Time: Environmental Themes in The Lord of the Rings", p 153, The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, ISBN 0-8126-9545-3 [42] Tom Shippley, The Road to Middle-earth, p 108, ISBN 0-618-25760-8 [43] Andrew Light, "Tolkien's Green Time: Environmental Themes in The Lord of the Rings", p 154, The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, ISBN 0-8126-9545-3 [44] Philip Martin, The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature: From Dragon's Lair to Hero's Quest, p 115, ISBN 0-87116-195-8 [45] Brian Attebery, The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature, p 148, ISBN 0-253-35665-2 [46] David Colbert, The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter, p 91-2, ISBN 0-9708442-0-4 [47] Suzanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, London; Bloomsbury Publishing, 2004. [48] Helen McCarthy, Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation, p 123, ISBN 1-880656-41-8

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Fairy A fairy (also fay, fae; from faery, faerie, "realm of the fays") is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural. Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term fairy offers many definitions. Sometimes the term describes any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes: at other times, the term only describes a specific type of more ethereal creature or sprite.[1] Various folkloristic traditions refer to them euphemistically, by names such as wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair folk (Welsh tylwyth teg), etc.[2] Much of the folklore about fairies revolves around protection from their malice. Although in modern culture they are often depicted as young, sometimes winged, humanoids of small stature, they originallyWikipedia:Please clarify were depicted quite differently: tall, radiant, angelic beings or short, wizened trolls being two of the commonly mentioned forms. One common theme found among the Celtic nations describes a race of diminutive people who had been driven into hiding by invading humans. When considered as beings that a person might actually encounter, fairies were noted for their mischief and malice.

A portrait of a fairy, by Sophie Anderson (1869). The title of the painting is Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Things - purportedly from a poem by Charles Ede.

Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers. Their origins are less clear in the folklore, being variously dead, or some form of demon, or a species completely independent of humans or angels.[3] The concept of "fairy" in the narrow sense is unique to English folklore, conflating Germanic elves with influences from Celtic and Romance (French) folklores, and later made "diminutive" according to the tastes of Victorian era "fairy tales" for children. The English term "fairy" can be applied to comparable beings in any of these cultures, more generally to similar beliefs in other European folklores ("Slavic fairies"), or in comparative studies even worldwide. Fairies have their historical origin in the conflation of Celtic (Breton, Welsh) traditions in the Middle French medieval romances, e.g. as one of the beings that a knight errant might encounter. Fairie was in origin used adjectivally, meaning "enchanted" (as in fairie knight, fairie queene), but was used as a name for "enchanted" creatures from as early as the Late Middle English period. Fairies as the term is now understood were shaped in the literature of Romanticism during the Victorian era. Writers such as Sir Walter Scott and James Hogg were inspired by folklore which featured fairies, such as the Border ballads. Folklorists have suggested that their origin may lie partially in a conquered race living in hiding,Wikipedia:Please clarify[4] or in religious beliefs that lost currency with the advent of Christianity.[5]

Names The word fairy derives from Middle English faierie (also fayerye, feirie, fairie), a direct borrowing from Old French faerie (Modern French féerie) meaning the land, realm, or characteristic activity (i.e. enchantment) of the legendary people of folklore and romance called (in Old French) faie or fee (Modern French fée). This derived ultimately from Late Latin fata (one of the personified Fates, hence a guardian or tutelary spirit, hence a spirit in general); cf. Italian fata, Portuguese fada, Spanish hada of the same origin.

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Fata, although it became a feminine noun in the Romance languages, was originally the neuter plural ("the Fates") of fatum, past participle of the verb fari to speak, hence "thing spoken, decision, decree" or "prophetic declaration, prediction", hence "destiny, fate". It was used as the equivalent of the Greek Μοῖραι Moirai, the personified Fates who determined the course and ending of human life. To the word faie was added the suffix -erie (Modern English -(e)ry), used to express either a place where something is found (fishery, heronry, nunnery) or a trade or typical activity engaged in by a person (cookery, midwifery, thievery). In later usage it generally applied to any kind of quality or activity associated with a particular sort of person, as in English knavery, roguery, witchery, wizardry. Faie became Modern English fay "a fairy"; the word is, however, rarely used, although it is well known as part of the name of the legendary sorceress Morgan le Fay of Arthurian legend. Faierie became fairy, but with that spelling now almost exclusively referring to one of the legendary people, with the same meaning as fay. In the sense "land where fairies dwell", the distinctive and archaic spellings Faery and Faerie are often used. Faery is also used in the sense of "a fairy", and the back-formation fae, as an equivalent or substitute for fay is now sometimes seen. The latinate fay is not to be confused with the unrelated (Germanic) fey, meaning "fated to die".

Characteristics Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers. Their origins are less clear in the folklore, being variously dead, or some form of demon, or a species completely independent of humans or angels. Folklorists have suggested that their actual origin lies in a conquered race living in hiding, or in religious beliefs that lost currency with the advent of Christianity. These explanations are not necessarily incompatible, and they may be traceable to multiple sources. Much of the folklore about fairies revolves around protection from their malice, by such means as cold iron (iron is like poison to fairies, and they will not go near it) or charms of rowan and herbs, or avoiding offense by shunning locations known to be theirs.[6] In particular, folklore describes how to prevent the fairies from stealing babies and substituting changelings, and abducting older people as well.[7] Many folktales are told of fairies, and they appear as characters in stories from medieval tales of chivalry, to Victorian fairy tales, and up to the present day in modern literature. In his manuscript, The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies, Reverend Robert Kirk, minister of the Parish of Aberfoyle, Stirling, Scotland, wrote in 1691: These Siths or Fairies they call Sleagh Maith or the Good People...are said to be of middle nature between Man and Angel, as were Daemons thought to be of old; of intelligent fluidous Spirits, and light changeable bodies (lyke those called Astral) somewhat of the nature of a condensed cloud, and best seen in twilight. These bodies be so pliable through the sublety of Spirits that agitate them, that they can make them appear or disappear at pleasure Although in modern culture they are often depicted as young, sometimes winged, humanoids of small stature, they originally were depicted quite differently: tall, radiant, angelic beings or short, wizened trolls being two of the commonly mentioned forms. Diminutive fairies of one kind or another have been recorded for centuries, but occur alongside the human-sized beings; these have been depicted as ranging in size from very tiny up to the size of a human child.[8] Even with these small fairies, however, their small size may be magically assumed rather than constant.[9] Wings, while common in Victorian and later artwork of fairies, are very rare in the folklore; even very small fairies flew with magic, sometimes flying on ragwort stems or the backs of birds.[10] Nowadays, fairies are often depicted with ordinary insect wings or butterfly wings. Various animals have also been described as fairies. Sometimes this is the result of shape shifting on part of the fairy, as in the case of the selkie (seal people); others, like the kelpie and various black dogs, appear to stay more

Fairy constant in form.[11] In some folklore fairies have green eyes and often bite. Though they can confuse one with their words, fairies cannot lie. They hate being told 'thank you', as they see it as a sign of one forgetting the good deed done, and, instead, want something that will guarantee remembrance. [citation needed]

Origin The early modern fairies do not have any single origin, representing a conflation of disparate elements of folk belief, influenced by literature and by learned speculation (e.g. alchemy). In folklore, they are variously regarded as a "natural" but hidden species, as spirits of the dead, or as descendants of either fallen angels or demons. Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers. Their origins are less clear in the folklore, being variously dead, or some form of demon, or a species completely independent of humans or angels. The folkloristic or mythological elements combine Celtic, Germanic and Greco-Roman elements.

Demoted pagan deities Another theory is that the fairies were originally worshiped as minor goddesses, such as nymphs or tree spirits,[12] but with the coming of Christianity, they lived on, in a dwindled state of power, in folk belief. In this particular time, fairies were reputed by the church as being 'evil' beings. Many beings who are described as deities in older tales are described as "fairies" in more recent writings. Victorian explanations of mythology, which ed for all gods as metaphors for natural events that had come to be taken literally, explained them as metaphors for the night sky and stars.[13] According to this theory, fairies are personified aspects of nature and deified abstract concepts such as ‘love’ and ‘victory’ in the pantheon of the particular form of animistic nature worship reconstructed as the religion of Ancient Western Europe.[14] Many of the Irish tales of the Tuatha Dé Danann refer to these beings as fairies, though in more ancient times they were regarded as goddesses and gods. The Tuatha Dé Danann were spoken of as having come from islands in the north of the world or, in other sources, from the sky. After being defeated in a series of battles with other otherworldly beings, and then by the ancestors of the current Irish people, they were said to have withdrawn to the sídhe (fairy mounds), where they lived on in popular imagination as "fairies." [citation needed]

Spirits of the dead A third theory was that the fairies were a folkloric belief concerning the dead. This noted many common points of belief, such as the same legends being told of ghosts and fairies, the sídhe in actuality being burial mounds, it being dangerous to eat food in both Fairyland and Hades, and both the dead and fairies living underground.[15] One popular belief was that they were the dead, or some subclass of the dead.[16] The Irish banshee (Irish Gaelic bean sí or Scottish Gaelic bean shìth, which both mean "fairy woman") is sometimes described as a ghost.[17] The northern English Cauld Lad of Hylton, though described as a murdered boy, is also described as a household sprite like a brownie,[18] much of the time a Barghest or Elf.[19] One tale recounted a man caught by the fairies, who found that whenever he looked steadily at one, the fairy was a dead neighbor of his.[20] This was among the most common views expressed by those who believed in fairies, although many of the informants would express the view with some doubts.[21]

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Christian mythology A belief held that they were a class of "demoted" angels.[22] One popular story held that when the angels revolted, God ordered the gates shut; those still in heaven remained angels, those in hell became devils, and those caught in between became fairies.[23] Others held that they had been thrown out of heaven, not being good enough, but they were not evil enough for hell.[24] This may explain the tradition that they had to pay a "teind" or tithe to Hell. As fallen angels, though not quite devils, they could be seen as subject of the Devil.[25] For a similar concept in Persian mythology, see Peri. Another, related belief was the fairies were demons entirely.[26] This belief became much more popular with the growth of Puritanism.[27] The hobgoblin, once a friendly household spirit, became a wicked goblin.[28] Dealing with fairies was in some cases considered a form of witchcraft and punished as such in this era.[29] Disassociating himself from such evils may be why Oberon, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, carefully observed that neither he nor his court feared the church bells.[30] The belief in their angelic nature was less common than that they were the dead, but still found popularity, especially in Theosophist circles.[31][32] Informants who described their nature sometimes held aspects of both the third and the fourth view, or observed that the matter was disputed.

Elementals Another view held that the fairies were an intelligent species, distinct from humans and angels.[33] In alchemy in particular they were regarded as elementals, such as gnomes and sylphs, as described by Paracelsus.[34] This is uncommon in folklore, but s describing the fairies as "spirits of the air" have been found popularly.[35]

A hidden people One common theme found among the Celtic nations describes a race of diminutive people who had been driven into hiding by invading humans. They came to be seen as another race, or possibly spirits, and were believed to live in an Otherworld that was variously described as existing underground, in hidden hills (many of which were ancient burial mounds), or across the Western Sea. A less-common belief was that the fairies were actually humans; one folktale recounts how a woman had hidden some of her children from God, and then looked for them in vain, because they had become the hidden people, the fairies. This is parallel to a more developed tale, of the origin of the Scandinavian huldra. In old Celtic fairy lore the sidhe (fairy folk) are immortals living in the ancient barrows and cairns. The Tuatha de Danaan are associated with several Otherworld realms including Mag Mell (the Pleasant Plain), Emain Ablach (the Fortress of Apples or the Land of Promise or the Isle of Women), and the Tir na nÓg (the Land of Youth).[36]

1896 illustration of a fairy from Ernest Vincent Wright's The Wonderful Fairies of the Sun

The concept of the Otherworld is also associated with the Isle of Apples, known as Avalon in the Arthurian mythos (often equated with Ablach Emain). Here we find the Silver Bough that allowed a living mortal to enter and withdraw from the Otherworld or Land of the Gods. According to legend, the Fairy Queen sometimes offered the branch to worthy mortals, granting them safe age and food during their stay.

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Some 19th-century archaeologists thought they had found underground rooms in the Orkney islands resembling the Elfland in Childe Rowland.[37] In popular folklore, flint arrowheads from the Stone Age were attributed to the fairies as "elf-shot".[38] The fairies' fear of iron was attributed to the invaders having iron weapons, whereas the inhabitants had only flint and were therefore easily defeated in physical battle. Their green clothing and underground homes were credited to their need to hide and camouflage themselves from hostile humans, and their use of magic a necessary skill for combating those with superior weaponry. In Victorian beliefs of evolution, cannibalism among "ogres" was attributed to memories of more savage races, still practicing it alongside "superior" races that had abandoned it.[39] Selkies, described in fairy tales as shapeshifting seal people, were attributed to memories of skin-clad "primitive" people traveling in kayaks. African pygmies were put forth as an example of a race that had previously existed over larger stretches of territory, but come to be scarce and semi-mythical with the age of time and prominence of other tribes and races.[40]

In literature and legend The question as to the essential nature of fairies has been the topic of myths, stories, and scholarly papers for a very long time.[41]

Practical beliefs and protection When considered as beings that a person might actually encounter, fairies were noted for their mischief and malice. Some pranks ascribed to them, such as tangling the hair of sleepers into "Elf-locks", stealing small items or leading a traveler astray, are generally harmless. But far more dangerous behaviors were also attributed to fairies. Any form of Meadowelves by Nils Blommér sudden death might stem from a fairy kidnapping, with the apparent corpse being a wooden stand-in with the appearance of the kidnapped person. Consumption (tuberculosis) was sometimes blamed on the fairies forcing young men and women to dance at revels every night, causing them to waste away from lack of rest.[42] Fairies riding domestic animals, such as cows or pigs or ducks, could cause paralysis or mysterious illnesses.

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As a consequence, practical considerations of fairies have normally been advice on averting them. In of protective charms, cold iron is the most familiar, but other things are regarded as detrimental to the fairies: wearing clothing inside out, running water, bells (especially church bells), St. John's wort, and four-leaf clovers, among others. Some lore is contradictory, such as rowan trees in some tales being sacred to the fairies, and in other tales being protection against them. In Newfoundland folklore, the most popular type of fairy protection is bread, varying from stale bread to hard tack or a slice of fresh home-made bread. The belief that bread has some sort of special power is an ancient one. Bread is associated with the home and the hearth, as well as with industry and the taming of nature, and as such, seems to be disliked by some types of fairies. On the other hand, in much of the Celtic folklore, baked goods are a traditional offering to the folk, as are cream and butter.[32] “The prototype of food, and therefore a symbol of life, bread was one of the commonest protections against fairies. Before going out into a fairy-haunted place, it was customary to put a piece of dry bread in one’s pocket.”[43] Classic representation of a small fairy

Bells also have an ambiguous role; while they protect against fairies, the fairies with butterfly wings commonly used in riding on horseback — such as the fairy queen — often have bells on their modern times. Luis Ricardo Falero, harness. This may be a distinguishing trait between the Seelie Court from the 1888. Unseelie Court, such that fairies use them to protect themselves from more wicked of their race.[44] Another ambiguous piece of folklore revolves about poultry: a cock's crow drove away fairies, but other tales recount fairies keeping poultry.[45] In County Wexford, Ireland, in 1882, it was reported that “if an infant is carried out after dark a piece of bread is wrapped in its bib or dress, and this protects it from any witchcraft or evil.”[46] While many fairies will confuse travelers on the path, the will o' the wisp can be avoided by not following it. Certain locations, known to be haunts of fairies, are to be avoided; C. S. Lewis reported hearing of a cottage more feared for its reported fairies than its reported ghost.[47] In particular, digging in fairy hills was unwise. Paths that the fairies travel are also wise to avoid. Home-owners have knocked corners from houses because the corner blocked the fairy path,[48] and cottages have been built with the front and back doors in line, so that the owners could, in need, leave them both open and let the fairies troop through all night.[49] Locations such as fairy forts were left undisturbed; even cutting brush on fairy forts was reputed to be the death of those who performed the act.[50] Fairy trees, such as thorn trees, were dangerous to chop down; one such tree was left alone in Scotland, though it prevented a road being widened for seventy years.[51] Good house-keeping could keep brownies from spiteful actions, because if they did not think the house is clean enough, they pinched people in their sleep. Such water hags as Peg Powler and Jenny Greenteeth, prone to drowning people, could be avoided by avoiding the bodies of water they inhabit.

Fairy

41 Other actions were believed to offend fairies. Brownies were known to be driven off by being given clothing, though some folktales recounted that they were offended by inferior quality of the garments given, and others merely stated it, some even recounting that the brownie was delighted with the gift and left with it.[52] Other brownies left households or farms because they heard a complaint, or a compliment.[53] People who saw the fairies were advised not to look closely, because they resented infringements on their privacy.[54] The need to not offend them could lead to problems: one farmer found that fairies threshed his corn, but the threshing continued after all his corn was gone, and he concluded that they were stealing from his neighbors, leaving him the choice between offending them, dangerous in itself, and profiting by the theft.[55]

Millers were thought by the Scots to be "no canny", owing to their ability to control the forces of nature, such as fire in the kiln, water in the burn, and for being able to set machinery a-whirring. Superstitious communities sometimes believed that the miller must be in league with the fairies. In Scotland fairies were often mischievous and to be feared. No one dared to set foot in the mill or kiln at night as it was known that the fairies brought their corn to be milled after dark. So long as the locals believed this then the miller could sleep secure in the knowledge that his stores were not being robbed. John Fraser, the miller of Whitehill claimed to have hidden and watched the fairies trying unsuccessfully to work the mill. He said he decided to come out of hiding and help them, upon which one of the fairy women gave him a gowpen (double handful of meal) and told him to put it in his empty girnal (store), saying that the store would remain full for a long time, no matter how much he took out.[56] A resin statue of a fairy

It is also believed that to know the name of a particular fairy could summon it to you and force it to do your bidding. The name could be used as an insult towards the fairy in question, but it could also rather contradictorily be used to grant powers and gifts to the . Changelings A considerable amount of lore about fairies revolves around changelings, fairy children left in the place of stolen human babies. Older people could also be abducted; a woman who had just given birth and had yet to be churched was considered to be in particular danger.[57] A common thread in folklore is that eating the fairy food would trap the captive, as Persephone in Hades; this warning is often given to captives who escape by other people in the fairies' power, who are often described as captives who had eaten and so could not be freed.[58] Folklore differed about the state of the captives: some held that they lived a merry life, others that they always pined for their old friends.[59] Classifications In Scottish folklore, fairies are divided into the Seelie Court, the more beneficently inclined (but still dangerous) fairies, and the Unseelie Court, the malicious fairies. While the fairies from the Seelie court enjoyed playing pranks on humans they were usually harmless affairs, compared to the Unseelie court that enjoyed bringing harm to humans as entertainment. Trooping fairies refer to fairies who appear in groups and might form settlements. In this definition, fairy is usually understood in a wider sense, as the term can also include various kinds of mythical creatures mainly of Celtic origin[citation needed]; however, the term might also be used for similar beings such as dwarves or elves from Germanic folklore. These are opposed to solitary fairies, who do not live or associate with others of their kind.[60]

Fairy

Legends In many legends, the fairies are prone to kidnapping humans, either as babies, leaving changelings in their place, or as young men and women. This can be for a time or forever and may be more or less dangerous to the kidnapped. In the 19th-century child ballad "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight", the elf-knight is a Bluebeard figure, and Isabel must trick and kill him to preserve her life.[61] Child ballad "Tam Lin" reveals that the title character, though living among the fairies and having fairy powers, was in fact an "earthly knight" and though his life was pleasant now, he feared that the fairies would pay him as their teind (tithe) to hell. "Sir Orfeo" tells how Sir Orfeo's wife was kidnapped by the King of Faerie and only by trickery and excellent harping ability was he able to win her back. "Sir Degare" narrates the tale of a woman overcome by her fairy lover, who in later versions of the story is unmasked as a mortal. "Thomas the Rhymer" shows Thomas escaping with less difficulty, but he spends seven years in Elfland. Oisín is harmed not by his stay in Faerie but by his return; when he dismounts, the three centuries that have ed catch up with him, reducing him to an aged man.[62] King Herla (O.E. "Herla cyning"), originally a guise of Woden but later Christianised as a king in a tale by Walter Map, was said, by Map, to have visited a dwarf's underground mansion and returned three centuries later; although only some of his men crumbled to dust on dismounting, Herla and his men who did not dismount were trapped on horseback, this being one of the origin of the Wild Hunt of European folklore.[63][64] A common feature of the fairies is the use of magic to disguise appearance. Fairy gold is notoriously unreliable, appearing as gold when paid but soon thereafter revealing itself to be leaves, gorse blossoms, gingerbread cakes, or a variety of other comparatively worthless things.[65] These illusions are also implicit in the tales of fairy ointment. Many tales from Northern Europe[66][67] tell of a mortal woman summoned to attend a fairy birth — sometimes attending a mortal, kidnapped woman's childbed. Invariably, the woman is given something for the child's eyes, usually an ointment; through mischance, or sometimes curiosity, she uses it on one or both of her own eyes. At that point, she sees where she is; one midwife realizes that she was not attending a great lady in a fine house but her own runaway maid-servant in a wretched cave. She escapes without making her ability known but sooner or later betrays that she can see the fairies. She is invariably blinded in that eye or in both if she used the ointment on both.[68] There have been claims by people in the past, like William Blake, to have seen fairy funerals. Allan Cunningham in his Lives of Eminent British Painters records that William Blake claimed to have seen a fairy funeral. "'Did you ever see a fairy's funeral, madam?' said Blake to a lady who happened to sit next to him. 'Never, sir!' said the lady. 'I have,' said Blake, 'but not before last night.' And he went on to tell how, in his garden, he had seen 'a procession of creatures of the size and colour of green and grey grasshoppers, bearing a body laid out on a rose-leaf, which they buried with songs, and then disappeared." They are believed to be an omen of death.

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Fairy

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Literature Fairies appeared in medieval romances as one of the beings that a knight errant might encounter. A fairy lady appeared to Sir Launfal and demanded his love; like the fairy bride of ordinary folklore, she imposed a prohibition on him that in time he violated. Sir Orfeo's wife was carried off by the King of Faerie. Huon of Bordeaux is aided by King Oberon.[69] These fairy characters dwindled in number as the medieval era progressed; the figures became wizards and enchantresses.[70] Morgan le Fay, whose connection to the realm of Faerie is implied in her name, in Le Morte d'Arthur is a woman whose magic powers stem from study.[71] While somewhat diminished with time, fairies never "Prince Arthur and the Fairy Queen" by Johann completely vanished from the tradition. Sir Gawain and the Green Heinrich Füssli; scene from The Faerie Queene Knight is a late tale, but the Green Knight himself is an otherworldly being. Edmund Spenser featured fairies in The Faerie Queene.[72] In many works of fiction, fairies are freely mixed with the nymphs and satyrs of classical tradition,[73] while in others (e.g., Lamia), they were seen as displacing the Classical beings. 15th-century poet and monk John Lydgate wrote that King Arthur was crowned in "the land of the fairy" and taken in his death by four fairy queens, to Avalon, where he lies under a "fairy hill", until he is needed again.[74]

Study for The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania by Noel Paton: fairies in Shakespeare

Fairies appear as significant characters in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream, which is set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon and in which a disturbance of nature caused by a fairy dispute creates tension underlying the plot and informing the actions of the characters. According to Maurice Hunt, Chair of the English Department at Baylor University, the blurring of the identities of fantasy and reality makes possible “that pleasing, narcotic dreaminess associated with the fairies of the play”.[75]

Shakespeare's contemporary, Michael Drayton, features fairies in his Nimphidia; from these stem Alexander Pope's sylphs of The Rape of the Lock, and in the mid-17th century, précieuses took up the oral tradition of such tales to write fairy tales; Madame d'Aulnoy invented the term contes de fée ("fairy tale").[76] While the tales told by the précieuses included many fairies, they were less common in other countries' tales; indeed, the Brothers Grimm included fairies in their first edition but decided this was not authentically German and altered the language in later editions, changing each Fee ("fairy") to an enchantress or wise woman.[77] J. R. R. Tolkien described these tales as taking place in the land of Faerie.[78] Additionally, not all folktales that feature fairies are generally categorized as fairy tales. Fairies in literature took on new life with Romanticism. Writers such as Sir Walter Scott and James Hogg were inspired by folklore that featured fairies, such as the Border ballads. This era saw an increase in the popularity of collecting of fairy folklore and an increase in the creation of original works with fairy characters.[79] In Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill, Puck holds to scorn the moralizing fairies of other Victorian works.[80] The period also saw a revival of older themes in fantasy literature, such as C.S. Lewis's Narnia books, which, while featuring many such classical beings as fauns and dryads, mingles them freely with hags, giants, and other creatures of the folkloric

Fairy fairy tradition.[81] Victorian flower fairies were popularized in part by Queen Mary’s keen interest in fairy art and by British illustrator and poet Cicely Mary Barker's series of eight books published in 1923 through 1948. Imagery of fairies in literature became prettier and smaller as time progressed.[82] Andrew Lang, complaining of "the fairies of polyanthuses and gardenias and apple blossoms" in the introduction to The Lilac Fairy Book, observed that "These fairies try to be funny, and fail; or they try to preach, and succeed."[83] Fairies are seen in Neverland, in Peter and Wendy, the novel version of J. M. Barrie's famous Peter Pan stories, published in 1911, and its character Tinker Bell has become a pop culture icon. When Peter Pan is guarding Wendy from pirates, the story says, "After a time he fell asleep, and some unsteady fairies had to climb over him on their way home from an orgy. Any of the other boys obstructing the fairy path at night they would have mischiefed, but they just tweaked Peter's nose and ed on."[84]

In art Images of fairies have appeared as illustrations, often in books of fairy tales, as well as in photographic-based media and sculpture. Some artists known for their depictions of fairies include Cicely Mary Barker, Arthur Rackham, Brian Froud, Alan Lee, Amy Brown, David Delamare, Meredith Dillman, Jasmine Becket-Griffith, Warwick Goble, Kylie InGold, Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Myrea Pettit, Florence Harrison, Suza Scalora, Nene Thomas, Gustave Doré, Rebecca Guay and Greta James. The Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor, MI are small doors installed into local buildings. Local children believe these are the front doors of fairy houses, and in some cases, small furniture, dishes, and various other things can be seen beyond the doors. The Victorian era was particularly noted for fairy paintings. The At that moment she was changed by magic to a Victorian painter Richard Dadd created paintings of fairy-folk with a wonderful little elf by John Bauer. sinister and malign tone. Other Victorian artists who depicted fairies include John Atkinson Grimshaw, Joseph Noel Paton, John Anster Fitzgerald and Daniel Maclise.[85] Interest in fairy-themed art enjoyed a brief renaissance following the publication of the Cottingley Fairies photographs in 1917 and a number of artists turned to painting fairy themes.

In Theosophy In the teachings of Theosophy, Devas, the equivalent of angels, are regarded as living either in the atmospheres of the planets of the solar system (Planetary Angels) or inside the Sun (Solar Angels) (presumably other planetary systems and stars have their own angels). They are believed to help to guide the operation of the processes of nature such as the process of evolution and the growth of plants. Their appearance is reputedly like colored flames about the size of a human being. Some (but not most) devas originally incarnated as human beings. Smaller, less important, evolutionarily undeveloped minor angels are called nature spirits, elementals, and fairies.[86] The Cottingley Fairies photographs in 1917 (revealed by the "photographers" in 1981 to have been faked) were originally publicized by Theosophists, many of whom believed them to be real. C.W. Leadbeater and other Theosophists wrote many books on supernatural creatures, emphasizing that any sufficiently enlightened human should be able to see devas, nature spirits, elementals (gnomes, ondines, sylphs, and salamanders), and fairies when the third eye is activated.[87] They are said to have etheric bodies that are composed of etheric matter, a type of matter finer and more pure that is composed of smaller particles than ordinary physical plane matter. Theosophists believe that these less evolutionarily developed beings have never been previously incarnated as human beings; they are regarded as being on a separate line of spiritual evolution called the “deva evolution” or

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Fairy "angel evolution path"; eventually, as their souls advance as they reincarnate, it is believed they will incarnate as devas.[]

Bibliography • • • • • • • • • •

D. L. Ashliman, Fairy Lore: A Handbook (Greenwood, 2006) Brian Froud and Alan Lee, Faeries, (Peacock Press/Bantam, New York, 1978) Ronan Coghlan Handbook of Fairies (Capall Bann, 2002) Lizanne Henderson and Edward J. Cowan, Scottish Fairy Belief: A History (Edinburgh, 2001; 2007) C. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature (1964) Harmonia Saille "Walking the Faery Pathway", (O Books, London, 2010) Patricia Lysaght, The Banshee: the Irish Supernatural Death Messenger (Glendale Press, Dublin, 1986) Peter Narvaez, The Good People, New Fairylore Essays (Garland, New York, 1991) Eva Pocs, Fairies and Witches at the boundary of south-eastern and central Europe FFC no 243 (Helsinki, 1989) Joseph Ritson, Fairy Tales, Now First Collected: To which are prefixed two dissertations: 1. On Pygmies. 2. On Fairies, London, 1831 • Diane Purkiss, Troublesome Things: A History of Fairies and Fairy Stories (Allen Lane, 2000) • Tomkinson, John L. Haunted Greece: Nymphs, Vampires and other Exotika, [88] (Anagnosis, 2004) ISBN 960-88087-0-7

References [1] Briggs (1976) p. xi. [2] Briggs, Katharine Mary (1976) An Encyclopedia of Fairies. New York, Pantheon Books. "Euphemistic names for fairies" p. 127 ISBN 0-394-73467-X. [3] Lewis, C. S. (1994 (reprint)) The Discarded File: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. p. 122 ISBN 0-521-47735-2. [4] Silver, Carole B. (1999) Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness. Oxford University Press. p. 47 ISBN 0-19-512199-6. [5] Yeats, W. B. (1988) "Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry", in A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore. Gramercy. p.1 ISBN 0-517-48904-X [6] Briggs (1976) pp. 335–6. [7] Briggs (1976) p. 25. [8] Briggs (1976) p. 98. [9] Yeats (1988) p. 2. [10] Briggs (1976) p. 148. [11] Briggs, K.M. (1967) The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. p. 71. [12] Trees in Mythology (http:/ / www. mythencyclopedia. com/ Tr-Wa/ Trees-in-Mythology. html#b) [13] Silver (1999) p. 44. [14] The Religion of the Ancient Celts: Chapter XI. Primitive Nature Worship (http:/ / www. sacred-texts. com/ neu/ celt/ rac/ rac14. htm). [15] Silver (1999) pp. 40–1. [16] Lewis (1994) p. 136. [17] Briggs (1976) p. 15. [18] Briggs (1976) pp. 68–9. [19] Henry Tegner, Ghosts of The North Country, 1991 Butler Publishing ISBN 0-946928-40-1. [20] Briggs (1967) p. 15. [21] Briggs (1967) p. 141. [22] Lewis (1994) pp. 135–6. [23] Briggs (1976) p. 319. [24] Yeats (1988) pp. 9–10. [25] Briggs (1967) p. 9. [26] Lewis (1994) p. 137. [27] Briggs (1976) "Origins of fairies" p. 320. [28] Briggs (1976) p. 223. [29] Briggs (1976) "Traffic with fairies" and "Trooping fairies" pp. 409–12.

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Fairy [30] Lewis (1994) p. 138. [31] Briggs (1967) pp. 143–7. [32] Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (1966, 1990) The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. New York, Citadel. pp. 167, 243, 457 ISBN 0-8065-1160-5. [33] Lewis (1994) p. 134. [34] Silver (1999) p. 38. [35] Briggs (1967) p. 146. [36] Witchcraft and the Mystery Tradition (http:/ / books. google. ie/ books?id=qxIptQd-pNkC& pg=PA22& lpg=PA22& dq=spirits+ otherworld+ hidden+ "western+ sea"& source=web& ots=WF7Rp5XLNM& sig=4x29kyvkuVccSHoDuXq8fSPsO7I& hl=en). [37] Yolen, Jane (2000) Touch Magic. p. 49 ISBN 0-87483-591-7. [38] Froud, Brian and Lee, Alan (1978) Faeries. New York, Peacock Press ISBN 0-553-01159-6. [39] Silver (1999) p. 45. [40] Silver (1999) p. 50. [41] Terri Windling, " Fairies in Legend, Lore, and Literature (http:/ / www. endicott-studio. com/ rdrm/ rrfairies. html)". [42] Briggs (1976) p. 80. [43] Briggs (1976) p. 41. [44] Briggs (1976) "Bells" p. 20. [45] Briggs (1967) p. 74. [46] Opie, Iona and Tatem, Moira (eds) (1989) A Dictionary of Superstitions Oxford University Press. p. 38. [47] Lewis (1994) p. 125. [48] Silver (1999) p. 155. [49] Lenihan, Eddie and Green, Carolyn Eve (2004) Meeting The Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland. pp. 146–7 ISBN 1-58542-206-1. [50] Lenihan (2004) p. 125. [51] Silver (1999) p. 152. [52] Briggs (1976) "Brownies" p. 46. [53] Briggs (1967) p. 34. [54] Briggs (1976) "Infringement of fairy privacy" p. 233. [55] Briggs (1976) "Fairy morality" p. 115. [56] Gauldie, E. (1981) The Scottish Miller 1700 – 1900. Edinburgh, John McDonald. p. 187. [57] Silver (1999) p. 167. [58] Briggs (1976) pp. 62–66. [59] Yeats (1988) p. 47. [60] Briggs (1976) "Traffic with fairies" and "Trooping fairies" pp. 409-12. [61] Child, Francis The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. [62] Briggs (1967) p. 104. [63] Briggs (1967) pp. 50–1. [64] De Nugis Curiallium by Walter Map, Edited by F. Tupper & M.B Ogle (Chatto & Windus, London 1924) [65] Lenihan (2004) pp. 109–10. [66] Northumberland Folk Tales, by Rosalind Kerven (2005) Antony Rowe Ltd, p. 532. [67] Narváez, Peter (1997) The Good People: New Fairylore Essays (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=DLmoKKkxAX0C). University Press of Kentucky. pp. 126 [68] Briggs (1976) "Fairy ointment" p. 156. [69] Lewis (1994) pp. 129–30. [70] Briggs (1976) "Fairies in medieval romances" p. 132. [71] Briggs (1976) "Morgan Le Fay" p. 303. [72] Briggs (1976) "Faerie Queen", p. 130. [73] Briggs (1967) p. 174. [74] The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies, Anna Franklin, Sterling Publishing Company, 2004, p. 18. [75] Hunt, Maurice. "Individuation in A Midsummer Night's Dream." South Central Review 3.2 (Summer 1986): 1–13. [76] Zipes, Jack (2000) The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm. W. W. Norton. p. 858 ISBN 0-393-97636-X. [77] Tatar, Maria (2003) The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales. Princeton University Press. p. 31 ISBN 0-691-06722-8. [78] Tolkien, J. R. R. "On Fairy-Stories", The Tolkien Reader, pp. 10–11. [79] Briggs, (1967) pp. 165–7. [80] Briggs (1967) p. 203. [81] Briggs (1967) p. 209. [82] "Lewis pp. 129-130". [83] Lang, Andrew Preface The Lilac Fairy Book (http:/ / www. mythfolklore. net/ andrewlang/ lilac. htm). [84] J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens as well Peter and Wendy, Oxford Press, 1999, p. 132.

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Fairy [85] Windling, Terri, " Victorian Fairy Paintings (http:/ / www. endicott-studio. com/ gal/ galvctf. html)". [86] Hodson, Geoffrey, Kingdom of the Gods ISBN 0-7661-8134-0 — includes color pictures of what Devas supposedly look like when observed by the third eye — their appearance is reputedly like colored flames about the size of a human being. Paintings of some of the devas claimed to have been seen by Hodson from his book "Kingdom of the Gods": (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20040820064159/ http:/ / www. geocities. com/ athens/ Olympus/ 3987/ devas2. html) [87] C.W. Leadbeater, The Astral Plane (http:/ / www. archive. org/ details/ astralplane00leadgoog). Published in 1895. Entire text online at archive.org. Page found 2011-11-01. [88] http:/ / www. anagnosis. gr/ index. php?pageID=74& la=eng

External links • Fairies (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003c1b3) on In Our Time at the BBC. ( listen now (http:// www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p003c1b3/In_Our_Time_Fairies)) • Audio recording of a traditional fairy story from Newfoundland, Canada (http://www.archive.org/details/ DaleJarvisTheHouseOnTheFairyPath) (streaming and able formats) • Audio recording of a Scandinavian folktale explaining fairy origins (http://www.archive.org/details/ DaleGilbertJarvisOriginofFairies) (streaming and able formats)

Classifications of fairies The fairies of English and Scottish folklore have been classified in a variety of ways. Two of the most prominent categories, derived from Scottish folklore, are the division into the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court. These categories may reflect an earlier (medieval) classification of the Germanic elves (Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar), as the corresponding Insular Celtic "fair folk" do not appear to have a comparable division. William Butler Yeats, in Irish Fairy and Folk Tales, further divided them into the Trooping Fairies (appearing in splendid processions) and the Solitary Fairies (mischiveous spirits appearing on their own). Katharine Mary Briggs noted that a third distinction might be needed for "domesticated fairies" who live in human households (see household spirit).

Seelie and Unseelie Etymology The Northern and Middle English word seely (also seily, seelie and sealy), and the Scots form seilie,[1] meaning "happy", "lucky" or "blessed" and unseely meaning "unhappy", "misfortunate" or "unholy" are derived from the Old English sœl and gesœlig. The Modern Standard English word silly is also derived from this root and the term "seely" is recorded in numerous works of Middle English literature such as those by Geoffrey Chaucer. Many ballads and tales tell of "Seilie wichts";.[2] a Lowland Scots term for fairies. In Wales there were said to be two fairies or elves called Silly Frit and Sili go Dwt whose names represent a borrowing of the adjective silly (in this case meaning happy) as applied to fantastical beings from its usage on the English marches bordering Wales rather than the Anglo-Scottish border; the former name being purely English while the latter is a corruption of English fairy names featuring "tot" (such as Tom Tit Tot) as an element.[3]

Seelie and Unseelie Courts The Seelie court are known to seek help from humans, to warn those who had accidentally offended them, and to return human kindness with favors of their own. Still, a fairy belonging to this court will avenge insults and could be prone to mischief.[4] The most common time of day to see them is twilight.[5] Other names for the Seelie court are 'The Shining Thron' or 'The Golden ones' and 'The light Court'. The categorization of fairies based on court is whether or not a fairy is light or dark. Light fairies are known for playing pranks on humans and having a light hearted attitude, forgetting their sorrows quickly and not realizing how they might be affecting the humans they play

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Classifications of fairies pranks on. The Unseelie Court consists of the darkly-inclined fairies. Unlike the Seelie Court, no offense is necessary to bring down their assaults.[6] As a group (or "host"), they appear at night and assault travelers, often carrying them through the air, beating them, and forcing them to commit such acts as shooting at cattle.[7][8] Like the beings of the Seelie Court who are not always benevolent, neither are the fairies of the Unseelie Court always malevolent. Most Unseelies can become fond of a particular human if they are viewed as respectful, and would choose to make them something of a pet. Some of the most common characters in the Unseelie Court are Bogies, Bogles, Boggarts, Abbey Lubbers and Buttery Spirits.[9] The division into "seely" and "unseely" spirits was roughly equivalent to the division of Elves in Norse mythology, into "light" and "dark" distinctions.[10] In the French fairy tales of précieuses, fairies are likewise divided into good and evil, but the effect is clearly literary.[11] Many of these literary fairies seem preoccupied with the character of the humans they encounter.[12] The Welsh fairies, Tylwyth Teg, and the Irish Aos Sí are usually not classified as wholly good or wholly evil.[13]

Trooping and Solitary Fairies Yeats divided fairies into the solitary and trooping fairies, as did James Macdougall in Folk Tales and Fairy Lore. Katharine Mary Briggs noted that a third distinction might be needed for "domesticated fairies" who live in human households, but such fairies might with other fairies for merry-making and fairs.[14] The trooping fairies contain the aristocracy of the fairy world, including the Irish Aos Sí. They are known as trooping faeries because they travel in long processions, such as the one from which Tam Lin was rescued.[15] But the trooping fairies also include other fairies of lesser importance; a trooping fairy can be large or small, friendly or sinister.[16] Unlike the trooping fairies, solitary fairies live alone and are inclined to be wicked and malicious creatures, except for beings such as the brownie who is said to help with household chores.[17]

Changelings A Changeling is said to be a faerie that is exchanged for a human child, although the term can refer to the child who was taken. Usually, children are taken out of curiosity or because they have caught a fairy's eye. Sometimes, they are taken as a prank or an act of vengeance. Fairies are said to make this exchange if the human child's parents have caused the faerie world a serious offence, or if the fae have been attacked in some way by the parents. Rarely are children taken because the faerie is in love with it, though that is a possibility. Children are sometimes taken and sold to other fairies in a sort of slave trade. On some occasions instead of a faerie child being left the faeries will leave a doll made of sticks and grass that is glamoured to look like a human child. These are called fetches and usually have a very short life span, however in some stories, these dolls grow up in human society believing they are human and become the great artists of their time. Faeries will also sometimes take people who are older into their realm. Usually they do this if a specific quality about the person catches their eye. Once in the faerie realm, humans are usually made servants or pets. In some mythology, (Since time es differently in Arcadia) their faerie master determines how quickly they age. As children they usually just play while the faeries watch. When they are older they may be made a handservant (though they are always well loved), an entertainer, a lover if the fae has become especially fond of them, or an ornament. Sometimes faeries keep humans as pets or as their own children, though this is rarer. Changelings almost never wish to leave their fairy masters and are very loyal. The magic of the faerie world changes the nature of the humans taken there so that, even if they do manage to escape, they are no longer fully human. The type of change that happens to them depends on who their master was and what they did while in the faerie realm. They almost always have a weak to intermediate grasp of faerie magic when they leave, with the ability to glamour and do other things.

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Classifications of fairies Methods of supposedly repelling faeries included leaving an open pair of iron scissors on the baby's bed. The symptoms of a changeling includes unpleasant traits in the body, paleness, a green tint, bad temper, and/or a voracious appetite. "Positive" traits include an extensive vocabulary at a young age, which signified the changeling's intelligence. Children suspected to be changelings were persecuted and/or murdered, and those responsible were rarely blamed or punished.

References [1] SND: Seil (http:/ / www. dsl. ac. uk/ getent4. php?plen=5690& startset=35378484& query=SEIL& fhit=seil& dregion=form& dtext=snd#fhit) [2] SND: Wicht (http:/ / www. dsl. ac. uk/ getent4. php?plen=4823& startset=47527212& query=WICHT& fhit=wicht& dregion=form& dtext=snd#fhit) [3] Celtic folklore: Welsh and Manx, Volume 1, John Rhys, Forgotten Books, 1983, ISBN 1-60506-170-0, ISBN 978-1-60506-170-2. pp. 469-470 [4] Briggs, Katharine Mary (1976) 'An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. New York, Pantheon Books. "Seelie Court", p.353. ISBN 0-394-73467-X [5] Froud, Brian and Lee, Alan (1978) Faeries. New York, Peacock Press/Bantam. ISBN 0-553-01159-6 [6] Briggs (1976) p.419 [7] Froud and Lee (1978) [8] Silver, Carole G. (1999) Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness. Oxford University Press. p.174 ISBN 0-19-512199-6 [9] Briggs (1979) [10] Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of literature, Merriam-Webster, 1995,ISBN 0-87779-042-6, ISBN 978-0-87779-042-6. pp.371 [11] Briggs, K.M. (1967) The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. p.108 [12] Briggs (1967) p.177 [13] Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (1966, 1990) The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. New York, Citadel p.167 ISBN 0-8065-1160-5 [14] Briggs (1967) p.412 [15] Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads [16] Briggs (1976) p.412 [17] Briggs (1976) "Solitary Fairies" p.412

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Fairy ring

50

Fairy ring A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle, elf ring[1] or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. The rings may grow to over 10 metres (33 ft) in diameter, and they become stable over time as the fungus grows and seeks food underground. They are found mainly in forested areas, but also appear in grasslands or rangelands. Fairy rings are detectable by sporocarps in rings or arcs, as well as by a necrotic zone (dead grass), or a ring of dark green grass. A fungus, mycelium, is likely to be present in the ring or arc underneath.

Genesis

A fairy ring on a suburban lawn in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

There are two theories regarding the process involved in creating fairy rings. One states that the fairy ring is begun by a spore from the sporocarpus. The underground presence of the fungus can also cause withering or varying colour or growth of the grass above. Mushrooms, the fruiting bodies of fungi that poke their heads up out of the soil after rainstorms, tell only part of the fungi's story. Hidden in the soil is a huge network of thread-like mycelia. Mushrooms are not individual organisms. Rather, they are just one part of the mycelia lurking beneath the ground. The second theory, which is presented in the investigations of Japanese scientists on the Tricholoma matsutake species, shows that fairy rings could be established by connecting neighbouring oval genets of these mushrooms. If they make an arc or a ring, they continuously grow about the centre of this object.

Necrotic or rapid growth zones One of the manifestations of fairy ring growth is a necrotic zone—an area in which grass or other plant life has withered or died. These zones are caused by the mycelia which, during a very dry year, coat the roots of grasses and other herbs in meadows. After some time they are removed by biotic factors from the ground, at which stage a zone on the surface soil becomes visible. Patterns other than the basic ring or arc are also possible: circles, doubled arcs, sickle-shaped arcs, and other complicated formations are also formed by this process. Fungi can deplete the soil of readily available nutrients such as nitrogen, causing plants growing within the circle to be stressed which leads to plant discoloration. Some fungi also produce chemicals which act like hormones called gibberellins, which affect plant growth, causing rapid luxuriant growth.

Two fairy rings (or pixie circles) marked by uneven grass growth (small one in foreground, much bigger one in background). The lush green arcs of grass betray the presence of underground fungal mycelia.

Long-term observations of fairy rings on Shillingstone Hill, England, further suggested that the cycle depended on the continuous presence of rabbits. Chalky soils on higher elevations in the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset (U.K.) used to many meadow-type fairy rings. Rabbits crop grass very short in open areas and produce nitrogen-rich droppings. Mushrooms need more soil nitrogen than

Fairy ring

grass does. A ring can start from a single spore from which the mycelium develops; the fruiting bodies of the mushrooms only appearing later, when sufficient mycelial mass has been generated to them. Subsequent generations of fungi grow only outwards, because the parent generations have depleted their local nitrogen levels. Meanwhile, rabbits keep cropping the grass, but do not eat the fungi, allowing them to grow through their competition to tower, relatively, above the grass. By the time a circle of mushrooms reaches about 6 metres (20 ft) in diameter, rabbit droppings have replenished the nitrogen levels near the centre of the circle, and a secondary ring may start to grow inside the first. [citation needed]

51

Fairy ring on a meadow

Soil analysis of soil containing mycelium from a wood blewit (Clitocybe nuda) fairy ring under Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) in southeast Sweden yielded fourteen halogenated low molecular weight organic compounds, three of which were brominated and the others chlorinated. It is unclear whether these were metabolites or polluntants. Brominated compounds are unknown as metabolites from terrestrial fungi.

Types There are two generally recognised types of fairy ring fungus. Those found in the woods are called tethered, because they are formed by mycorrhizal fungi living in commensalism with trees. Meadow fairy rings are called free, because they are not connected with other organisms. These mushrooms are saprotrophic. The effects on the grass depend on the type of fungus that is growing; when Calvatia cyathiformis is growing in the area grass will grow more abundantly; however, Leucopaxillus giganteus will cause the grass to wither.[2]

Species involved There are about 60 mushroom species which can grow in the fairy ring pattern. The best known is the edible Scotch bonnet (Marasmius oreades), commonly known as the fairy ring champignon. One of the largest rings ever found is near Belfort in . Formed by Infundibulicybe geotropa, it is thought to be about 600 metres (2,000 ft) in diameter and over 700 years old. On the South Downs in southern England, Calocybe gambosa has formed huge fairy rings that also appear to be several hundred years old. Profuse ring of Clitocybe nebularis

List of species • • • •

Agaricus arvensis Agaricus campestris Agaricus praerimosus Amanita muscaria[3]

• • • • • •

Amanita phalloides Amanita rubescens Bovista dermoxantha Calocybe gambosa Calvatia cyathiformis Clitocybe dealbata

Fairy ring • • • • • • • • •

52

Clitocybe nebularis Clitocybe nuda Clitocybe rivulosa Chlorophyllum molybdites Chlorophyllum rhacodes Cyathus stercoreus Disciseda subterranea Entoloma sinuatum Gomphus clavatus

Clitocybe nebularis in part of ring

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Infundibulicybe geotropa[4] Lepista sordida Leucopaxillus giganteus[5] Lycoperdon gemmatum Marasmius oreades Sarcodon imbricatus Tricholoma album Tricholoma orirubens Tricholoma pardinum Tricholoma matsutake Tuber melanosporum Vascellum curtisii

Cultural references Oral tradition and folklore A great deal of folklore surrounds fairy rings.[6] Their names in European languages often allude to supernatural origins; they are known as ronds de sorciers ("sorcerers' rings") in , and Hexenringe ("witches' rings") in German.[7] In German tradition, fairy rings were thought to mark the site of witches' dancing on Walpurgis Night, and Dutch superstition claimed that the circles show where the Devil set his milk churn. In Tyrol, folklore attributed fairy rings to the fiery tails of flying dragons; once a dragon had created such a circle, "Plucked from the Fairy Circle" nothing but toadstools could grow there for seven years. European A man saves his friend from the grip of a fairy ring superstitions routinely warned against entering a fairy ring. French tradition reported that fairy rings were guarded by giant bug-eyed toads that cursed those who violated the circles. In other parts of Europe, entering a fairy ring would result in the loss of an eye. Fairy rings are associated with diminutive spirits in the Philippines.[8]

Fairy ring

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Western European, including English, Scandinavian and Celtic, traditions claimed that fairy rings are the result of elves or fairies dancing. Such ideas dated to at least the mediæval period; The Middle English term elferingewort ("elf-ring"), meaning "a ring of daisies caused by elves' dancing" dates to the 12th century.[9] In his History of the Goths (1628), Olaus Magnus makes this connection, saying that fairy rings are burned into the ground by the dancing of elves. British folklorist Thomas Keightley noted that in Scandinavia in the early 20th century, beliefs persisted that fairy rings (elfdans) arose from the dancing of elves. Keightley warned that while entering an elfdans might allow the interloper to see the elves—although this was not guaranteed—it would also put the intruder in thrall to their illusions.[10][11] The folklores of the British Isles contain a wealth of fairy lore, including the idea from which fairy rings take their name: the phenomena result from the dancing of fairies.[12] In 19th-century Wales, where the rings are known as cylch y Tylwyth Teg, fairies were almost invariably described as dancing in a group when encountered,[13] and in Scotland and Wales in the late 20th century, stories about fairy rings were still common;[14][15] some Welsh even claimed to have ed a fairy dance.[16] Victorian folklorists regarded Fairy rings in moss on Iceland fairies and witches as related, based in part on the idea that both were [17] believed to dance in circles. These revels are particularly associated with moonlit nights, the rings only becoming visible to mortals the following morning.[18][19] Local variants add other details. An early 20th-century Irish tradition says that fairies enjoy dancing around the hawthorn tree so that fairy rings often centre on one.[20] One resident of Balquhidder, Scotland, said that the fairies sit on the mushrooms and use them as dinnertables, and a Welsh woman claimed that fairies used the mushrooms as parasols and umbrellas. Olaus Magnus in Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus wrote that the brightness of the fairy ring comes not from the dancing of the fairies, who harm it with their feet, but from Puck, who refreshes the grass.[21] A Devon legend says that a black hen and chickens sometimes appear at dusk in a large fairy ring on the edge of Dartmoor.[22] A Welsh and Manx variant current in the 1960s removes dancing from the picture and claims that fairy rings spring up over an underground fairy village.[23] These associations have become linked to specific sites. For example, "The Pixies' Church" was a rock formation in Dartmoor surrounded by a fairy ring,[24] and a stone circle tops Cader Idris in northern Wales, believed to be a popular spot for fairy dances.[25] Many folk beliefs generally paint fairy rings as dangerous places, best avoided.[26] Sikes traces these stories of people tresing into forbidden territory and being punished for it to the tale of Psyche and Eros. In it, Psyche is forbidden to view her lover, and when she does so, her palace disappears and she is left alone.[27] Superstition calls fairy circles sacred and warns against violating them lest the interloper (such as a farmer with a plough) anger the fairies and be cursed.[28][29] In an Irish legend recorded by Wilde, a farmer builds a barn on a fairy ring despite the protests of his neighbours. He is struck senseless one night, and a local "fairy doctor" breaks the curse. The farmer says that he dreamed that he must destroy the barn.[30] Even collecting dew from the grass or flowers of a fairy ring can bring bad luck. Destroying a fairy ring is unlucky and fruitless; superstition says it will just grow back. A traditional Scottish rhyme sums up the danger of such places: He wha tills the fairies' green Nae luck again shall hae : And he wha spills the fairies' ring Betide him want and wae. For weirdless days and weary nights Are his till his deein' day. But he wha gaes by the fairy ring,

Fairy ring

54 Nae dule nor pine shall see, And he wha cleans the fairy ring An easy death shall dee.[31]

Numerous legends focus on mortals entering a fairy ring—and the consequences. One superstition is that anyone who steps into an empty fairy ring will die at a young age.[32] A 20th-century tradition from Somerset calls the fairy ring a "galley-trap" and says that a murderer or thief who walks in the ring will be hanged.[33] Most often, someone who violates a fairy perimeter becomes invisible to mortals outside and may find it impossible to leave the circle. Often, the fairies force the mortal to dance to the point of exhaustion, death, or madness.[34] In Welsh tales, fairies actively try to lure mortals into their circles to dance with them. A tale from the Cambrian Mountains of Wales, current in the 19th century, describes a mortal's encounter with a fairy ring: ... he saw the Tylwyth Teg, in appearance like tiny soldiers, dancing in a ring. He set out for the scene of revelry, and soon drew near the ring where, in a gay company of males and females, they were footing it to the music of the harp. Never had he seen such handsome people, nor any so enchantingly cheerful. They beckoned him with laughing faces to them as they leaned backward almost falling, whirling round and round with ed hands. Those who were dancing never swerved from the perfect circle; but some were clambering over the old cromlech, and others chasing each other with surprising swiftness and the greatest glee. Still others rode about on small white horses of the most beautiful form ... All this was in silence, for the shepherd could not hear the harps, though he saw them. But now he drew nearer to the circle, and finally ventured to put his foot in the magic ring. The instant he did this, his ears were charmed with strains of the most melodious music he had ever heard.[35] Entering the ring on May Eve or Halloween night was especially dangerous. One source near Afon fach Blaen y Cae, a tributary of the Dwyfach, tells of a shepherd accidentally disturbing a ring of rushes where fairies are preparing to dance; they capture him and hold him captive, and he even marries one of them.[36] In variants from Scotland recorded by Edwin Sidney Hartland in 1891, the ring is replaced by a cavern or an old mill.[37] Freedom from a fairy ring often requires outside intervention. A tactic from early 20th-century Wales is to cast wild marjoram and thyme into the circle and befuddle the fairies;[38] another asks the rescuer to touch the victim with iron.[39] Other stories require that the enchanted victim simply be plucked out by someone on the outside,[40] although even this can be difficult: A farmer in a tale from the Langollen region has to tie a rope around himself and enlist four men to pull him from the circle as he goes in to save his daughter.[41] Other folk methods rely on Christian faith to break the enchantment: a stick from a rowan tree (thought to be the wood from which the cross of Jesus Christ was built) can break the curse, as can a simple phrase such as "what, in Heaven's name", as in a 19th-century tale from Carmarthenshire.[42] A common element to these recoveries is that the rescuer must wait a year and a day from the point where the victim entered the ring. Mortals who have danced with the fairies are rarely safe after being saved from their enthrallment. Often, they find that what seemed to be but a brief foray into fairyland was indeed much longer in the mortal realm, possibly weeks or years.[43] The person rescued from the fairy ring may have no memory of their encounter with the sprites, as in a story from Anglesea recorded in 1891.[44] In most tales, the saved interlopers face a grim fate. For example, in a legend from Carmarthenshire, recorded by Sikes, a man is rescued from a fairy ring only to crumble to dust. In a tale from Mathavarn, Llanwrin Parish, a fairy-ring survivor moulders away when he eats his first bite of food. Another vulnerability seems to be iron; in a tale from the Aberystwyth region, a touch from the metal causes a rescued woman to disappear. Some legends assert that the only safe way to investigate a fairy ring is to run around it nine times. This affords the ability to hear the fairies dancing and frolicking underground. According to a 20th-century tradition of Northumberland, this must be done under a full moon, and the runner must travel in the direction of the sun; to go widdershins allows the fairies to place the runner under their sway. To circle the ring a tenth time is foolhardy and dangerous. Thomas Keightley recorded a similar tradition from Northumberland in 1905: "The children constantly

Fairy ring

55

run this number [nine times], but nothing will induce them to venture a tenth run."[45] A story from early 20th century England says that a mortal can see the sprites without fear if a friend places a foot on that of the person stepping beyond the circle's perimeter.[46] Another superstition says that wearing a hat backwards can confuse the fairies and prevent them from pulling the wearer into their ring.[47] Although they have strong associations with doom, some legends paint fairy circles as places of fertility and fortune. Welsh folk belief is that mountain sheep that eat the grass of a fairy ring flourish, and that crops sown from such a place will prove more bountiful that those from normal land. A folk belief recorded in the Athenian Oracle claims that a house built on a fairy circle will bring prosperity to its inhabitants.[48] Likewise, a legend from Pont y Wern says that in the 13th or 14th century, the inhabitants of the town of Corwrion watched fairies dancing in a ring around a glow worm every Sunday after church at a place called Pen y Bonc. They even ed the sprites in their revels. The legend survives in a rhyme: "With the fairies nimbly dancing round / The glow-worm on the Rising Ground."[49] A Welsh tale recorded by Rhys in 1901 tells of a man who supposedly lived on the side of the Berwyn, above Cwm Pennant, in the early 19th century. The man destroyed a nest of rooks in a tree surrounded by a fairy ring. In gratitude, the fairies gave him a half crown every day but stopped when he told his friends, "for he had broken the rule of the fair folks by making their liberality known".[50] Nevertheless, fairy boons are not without their curses, and tales often tell of the sprites exacting their revenge.

Literature Fairy rings have featured in the works of European authors, playwrights, and artists since the 13th century. In his Arthurian romance Meraugis de Portlesguez, Raoul de Houdenc describes a scene clearly derived from Celtic fairy-ring lore: The title character visits the Château des Caroles and sees a circle of women and a knight dancing around a pine in the castle courtyard. Meraugis is unable to fight the intense desire to in, thus freeing the previous knight from the spell. Meraugis is helpless to leave the dance until, ten weeks later, another knight s it and frees him.[51] Fairy circles feature in works by several Elizabethan poets and playwrights. William Shakespeare alludes to them in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene I[52] ("And I serve the fairy queen, / To dew her orbs upon the green" and "To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind"),[53] and The Tempest, Act V, Scene I:

The mushroom Gomphus clavatus growing in a fairy ring formation

... you demi-puppets that By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make, Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice To hear the solemn curfew ...[54] Shakespeare's contemporary Thomas Randolph speaks of fairy rings in his Amyntas, or the Impossible Dowry (1638), and Michael Drayton describes one in Nymphidia: The Court of Fairy: And in their courses make that round In meadows and in marshes found, Of them so called the Fairy Ground, Of which they have the keeping.[55]

Come unto These Yellow Sands (1842) by Richard Dadd. Images of nude and semi-nude fairies dancing in rings became popular during the Victorian era.

Fairy ring Fairy imagery became especially popular in the Victorian era. Thomas Hardy uses a fairy ring as a symbol of lost love in The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886); the character Michael Henchard es a fairy ring and re that he last saw his wife Susan there when he sold her to a sailor in a drunken rage.[56] Victorian poets who have referred to fairy rings in their works include Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Eliza Cook, Robert Stephen Hawker, Felicia Hemans, Gerald Massey, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.[57] W. H. Cummings composed the cantata The Fairy Ring, and William Butler Yeats wrote of them in The Land of Heart's Desire (1894).[58]

Art Fairy circles have appeared in European artwork since at least the 18th century. For example, William Blake painted Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing, depicting a scene from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, around 1785,[59] and Daniel Maclise painted Faun and the Fairies around 1834. Images of fairies dancing in circles became a favourite trope of painters in the Victorian period. On the one hand, artists were genuinely interested in the culture such imagery represented, and on the other, fairies could be depicted as titillating nudes and semi-nudes without offending Victorian mores, which made them a popular subject of art collectors. Examples of Victorian fairy-ring paintings include Come unto these Yellow Sands (1842) by Richard Dadd and Reconciliaion of Titania and Oberon (1847) by Joseph Noel Paton.[60]

Modern Modern depictions continue in a similar vein. The online game RuneScape features a magical fairy-ring network used for transportation, Ultima Online includes circles of mushrooms in several locations, and in "Quest for Glory: So You Want to Be a Hero" the Hero must dance in a fairy ring to acquire spell components. The popularity of the garden gnome in England may be the most visible manifestation of the imprint of fairy-ring imagery on popular culture, as it links the fairy-like gnome with imagery of toadstools and mushrooms.[61] Further reference is included in Guillermo Del Toro's Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. The main character, Sally, is venturing through the grounds of her father's new estate when she comes across a fairy ring. She steps carefully into and out of it before continuing on. Mr. Harris, however, a restoration worker, knows of the house's negative history with ancient fae and warns the girl. There is special attention paid to the fact that, as he is forcibly removing her from the area, he crushes many of the mushrooms forming the fairy ring. He is later attacked and hospitalized through the fae's failed attempts to murder him.

Notes [1] 'Chambers's Edinburgh journal, Volume 9 by William Chambers, Robert Chambers, W. Orr, 1841, Page. 55 [2] Böttcher, Helmuth M. Miracle Drugs William Henemann Ltd. London 1963 p. 227 [3] Benjamin, Mushrooms: poisons and panaceas, p. 305. [4] Haas, p. 130 [5] Nilsson S, Persson O, p. 38 [6] Morgan 30. [7] Morgan 13. [8] Morgan 12. [9] Hall 75. [10] Keightley 81. [11] The term for fairy ring in modern Norwegian is alvedans. [12] Ripley and Dana 402. [13] Sikes 70. [14] Gwyndaf 161. [15] Bennett 110. [16] Gwyndaf 163. [17] Silver 175. [18] Keightley 297. [19] Mherson 96.

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Fairy ring [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41]

Wilde 39. Quoted in Hazlitt 230. Coxhead, J. R. W., The Devil in Devon, p. 39-40. Quoted in Briggs 328. Radford and Radford 157. Bray 149. Daniels and Stevens 1300. Cielo 73. Sikes 85-6. Cheviot 398. Bray 150. Wilde 234. Chambers, Popular Rhymes, 324; quoted in Mherson 97. Franklin 87. Briggs and Tongue 51. Sikes 71. Howells, W. (1831). Cambrian Superstitions, p. 148; translated in Sikes 83. Rhys 108. Hartland 165-6. Trevelyan and Hartland 97. Hartland 163. Sikes 75. Rhys 239–240.

[42] Sikes 72. [43] Hartland 166-7. [44] Hartland 164. [45] Keightley 310. [46] Daniels and Stevens 1406. [47] Pickering 186. [48] Hazlitt 231. [49] Rhys 60. [50] Rhys 140-1. [51] Paton 90–92. [52] Hazlitt 230. [53] Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene I. [54] Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act V, Scene I. [55] Drayton. [56] Silver 153. [57] See Browning, "The Deserted Garden"; Cook, "'Don't You ?'"; Hawker, "The Fairy Vision" and "Chorus of Fairies"; Hemans, "Canto III"; Massey, "Love's Fairy-ring"; and Tennyson, "Guinevere". [58] Skelton 181. [59] Silver 26. [60] Silver 230, note 20. [61] Morgan 29.

References • Bennett, Margaret (1991). "Balquhidder Revisited: Fairylore in the Scottish Highlands, 1690–1990", The Good People: New Fairylore Essays. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-0939-6. • Bray, Mrs. (1854). A Peep at the Pixies; or, Legends of the West. London: Grant and Griffith. • Briggs, Katherine M. (2002). British Folk-Tales and Legends. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28602-6. • Briggs, Katherine M., and Ruth L. Tongue, eds. (1965). Folktales of England. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-07493-5. • Cheviot, Andrew (1898). Proverbs, Proverbial Expressions, and Popular Rhymes of Scotland. London: Alexander Gardner. • Cielo, Astra (1918). Signs, Omens and Superstitions. New York City: George Sully & Company.

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Fairy ring • Croker, Thomas Crofton (1838). Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland v. 1–3. London: John Murray. • Daniels, Cora Linn, and C. M. Stevens, eds. (1903). Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, Vol. 3. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: J. H. Yewdale & Sons Co. • Drayton, Michael (2002 [1627]). Nymphidia: The Court of Fairy. Luminarium Editions. Online version (http:// www.luminarium.org/editions/nymphidia.htm) accessed 10 March 2008. • Franklin, Anna (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies. London: Paper Tiger. ISBN 1-84340-240-8. • Gwyndaf, Robin (1991). "Fairylore: Memorates and Legends from Welsh Oral Tradition", The Good People: New Fairylore Essays. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-0939-6. • Hall, Alaric (2007). Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity. Rochester, New York: Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84383-294-2 • Hartland, Edwin Sidney (1891). The Science of Fairy Tales: An Inquiry into Fairy Mythology. London: Walter Scott. • Hazlitt, W. Carew (1905). Faiths and Folklore: A Dictionary of National Beliefs, Superstitions and Popular Customs, Past and Current, with Their Classical and Foreign Analogues, Described and Illustrated, Vol I. London: Reeves and Turner. • Keightley, Thomas (1905). The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries. London: George Bell & Sons. • Mherson, J. M. (2003 [1929]). Primitive Beliefs in the Northeast of Scotland. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-6310-5. • Morgan, Adrian (1995). Toads and Toadstools: The Natural History, Folklore, and Cultural Oddities of a Strange Association. Berkeley, California: Celestial Arts Publishing. ISBN 0-89087-777-7. • Paton, Lucy Allen (1970 [1903]). Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance, 2nd ed. New York City: Burt Franklin. ISBN 0-8337-2683-8. • Pickering, David (1995). Cassell's Dictionary of Superstitions. London: Wellington House. ISBN 0-304-36561-0. • Radford, E., and M. A. Radford (1996 [1961]). The Encyclopedia of Superstitions, revised and enlarged edition. Barnes & Noble, Inc. ISBN 0-7607-0228-4. • Rhys, John (1901). Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx, Vol. I. Oxford at the Clarendon Press. • Ripley, George, and Charles A. Dana, eds. (1864). "Fairy Circle", The New American Cyclopædia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, Vol. VII. New York City: D. Appleton and Company. • Shakespeare, William (1993 [1600]). A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Tech. Online version (http:// shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/full.html) accessed 10 March 2008. • Shakespeare, William (1993 [1623]). The Tempest. The Tech. Online version (http://shakespeare.mit.edu/ tempest/full.html) accessed 10 March 2008. • Sikes, Wirt (1880). British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington. • Silver, Carol G. (1999). Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-512199-6. • Skelton, Robin (1990). "Margaret Blackwood". Earth, Air, Fire, Water. Arkana, Penguin Group. p. 181. ISBN 0-14-019227-1. • Trevelyan, Marie, and E. Sidney Hartland (2002 [1909]). Folk-Lore and Folk-Stories of Wales. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1-4254-9354-8. • Wilde, Lady (1902). Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms & Superstitions of Ireland with Sketches of the Irish Past. London: Chatto & Windus.

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External links • Fairy Ring information (http://herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/FunFacts/ringsfct.htm) • Marasmius oreades from California Fungi (http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Marasmius_oreades. html) • Marasmius oreades as Norwegian fungus of the month, with ring photographs (http://web.archive.org/web/ 20060303100712/http://www.uio.no/conferences/imc7/NFotm99/October99.htm) – from webarchive

Púca The púca (Irish for spirit/ghost), pooka, phouka, phooka, phooca or púka is primarily a creature of Irish folklore.[1] Considered to be bringers both of good and bad fortune, they could either help or hinder rural and marine communities. The creatures were said to be shape changers which could take the appearance of black horses, goats and rabbits. The púca has counterparts throughout the Celtic cultures of Northwest Europe. For instance in Welsh mythology it is named the pwca or pwwka and in Cornish the Bucca.[2] In the Channel Islands, the pouque were said to be fairies who lived near ancient stones; in Guernésiais and Jèrriais a cromlech is referred to as a pouquelée or pouquelay(e), poulpiquet/polpegan are corresponding in Britany.[3]

Etymology The origin of the name may have come from the Old Norse term pook or puki, which refers to a "nature spirit". In Germanic languages, such as Frisian or English, this became pucel, pook or puck.

Malevolent or benevolent nature The pooka may be regarded as being either menacing or beneficent. Fairy mythologist Thomas Keightley said "notions respecting it are very vague," and in a brief description gives an collected by Croker from a boy living near Killarney that "old people used to say that the Pookas were very numerous...long ago..., were wicked-minded, black-looking, bad things...that would come in the form of wild colts, with chains hanging about them." and that did much to harm unwary travellers.[4] Also, children were warned not to eat overripe blackberries, because this was a sign that the pooka has befouled them. In contrast, the phouka is represented as being helpful to farmers by Lady Wilde, who relates the following tale. A farmer's son named Phadraig one day noticed the invisible presence of the phouka brushing by, and called out to him, offering a coat. The phouka appeared in the guise of a young bull, and told him to come to the old mill at night. From that time onward, the phoukas came secretly at night and performed all the work of milling the sacks of corn into flour. Phadraig fell asleep the first time, but later concealed himself in a chest to catch sight of them, and later made a present of a fine silk suit. This unexpectedly caused the phoukas to go off to "see a little of the world" and cease their work. But by then the farmer's wealth allowed him to retire and give his son an education. Later, at Phadraic's wedding, the phouka left a gift of a golden cup filled with drink that evidently ensured their happiness.[5][6] There are stories of some phooka being blood-thirsty and vampire-like creatures. Other stories even say some are man eating beings, hunting down, killing, and eating their victims.

59

Púca

60

Morphology and physiology According to legend, the púca is a deft shapeshifter, capable of assuming a variety of terrifying or pleasing forms, and may appear as a horse, rabbit, goat, goblin, or dog. No matter what shape the púca takes, its fur is almost always dark. It most commonly takes the form of a sleek black horse with a flowing mane and luminescent golden eyes.[7] (The Manx glashtyn also takes on human form, but he usually betrays his horse's ears and is analogous to the each uisce[8]) If a human is enticed onto a púca's back, it has been known to give them a wild ride; however, unlike a kelpie, which will take its rider and dive into the nearest stream or lake to drown and devour him/her, the púca will do its rider no real harm. Pooka are also known as great chefs, but only operate in their own Village. However according to some folklorists the only man ever to ride the púca was Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, by using a special bridle incorporating three hairs of the púca's tail. The púca has the power of human speech, and has been known to give advice and lead people away from harm. Though the púca enjoys confusing and often terrifying humans, it is considered to be benevolent.

Agricultural traditions Certain agricultural traditions surround the púca. It is a creature associated with Samhain, a Goidelic harvest festival, when the last of the crops are brought in. Anything remaining in the fields is considered "puka", or fairy-blasted, and hence inedible. In some locales, reapers leave a small share of the crop, the "púca's share", to placate the hungry creature. Nonetheless, 1 November is the púca's day, and the one day of the year when it can be expected to behave civilly. At the beginning of November, the púca was known—in some locales—to either defecate or to spit on the wild fruits rendering them inedible and unsafe thenceforth.[9]

Regional variations In some regions, the púca is spoken of with considerably more respect than fear; if treated with due deference, it may actually be beneficial to those who encounter it. The púca is a creature of the mountains and hills, and in those regions there are stories of it appearing on November Day and providing prophecies and warnings to those who consult it. In some parts of County Down, the púca is manifested as a short, disfigured goblin who demands a share of the harvest; in County Laois, it appears as a monstrous bogeyman, while in Waterford and Wexford the púca appears as an eagle with a huge wingspan and in Roscommon as a black goat.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Koch, John T.: Encyclopedia of Celtic Culture, page 729. ABC-Clio, 2006 , under pooka , p.23–24 "These cromlechs, or kistvaens,.. are called in Jersey poquelays, and in Brittany policans & poulpiquets, &c." , Fairy Mythology, p.371 , Ancient Tales, p.48 The contrast between Croker's and Wilde's notions are taken from under "pooka", except mention could not be found in Croker's body of works as Mackillop states, but only via Keightley. [7] Yeats, W.B.: "Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry", in A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore, p 94, ISBN 0-517-48904-X. [8] , under glashtin [9] Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí: The Lore of Ireland, page 270. The Boydell Press, 2006.

• Katharine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, "Pwca", p 337. ISBN 0-394-73467-X. • Mary Chase, Harvey (Harvey the Pooka)

Púca

61 • Mackillop, James (1998), Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-280120-1 • Keightley, Thomas (1880), The Fairy Mythology (http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=3cByu3_ZtaAC& pg=PA371) (google), p. 371 • "Chapter: Fairy Help (The Phouka)", Wilde, Jane sca Elgee (Lady) (1887), Ancient legends,mystic charms,and superstitions of Ireland (http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=3cByu3_ZtaAC&pg=PA371) (google), p. 48 (Boston, Ticknor, 1888)

External links • Water Horses and Other Fairy Steeds (http://shadowdrake.com/waterhorse.html)

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Burton, Paul August, Pedant17, PeruAlonso, Pharillon, Phil Boswell, Pinethicket, Polylerus, Power level (Dragon Ball), Prabash.A, Quaeler, R.G., Racerx11, Ramaksoud2000, Redglasses, Redsquirrel118, Riverstepstonegirl, Rotideypoc41352, Rtkat3, SEroto, SaveIt4Later, Schmendrick, Scientific29, Shereth, SkyWalker, Slapperman, SoSaysChappy, Some thing, Spartan117880, Stephenb, T@nn, Takua X, The Mummy, The Rambling Man, Thomas Blomberg, Toimhseachan, Tom harrison, Topbanana, Trey holbrook, VampAnime, Vgranucci, Vza004, Webclient101, WhiteArcticWolf, WiHkibew, Wicklibrarian, Wik, WilliamACopeland, Winnipeghank, Woohookitty, XMackster, XXx Minnie mae xXx, Xitur, Yavanno, Yintan, Yourmotherisanastronaut, Zarroco10, 385 anonymous edits Enchanted forest  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=561699895  Contributors: *Ria777*, Andareed, Chris the speller, Faolin42, Goldenrowley, Goldfritha, Hikui87, KAMiKAZOW, KATANAGOD, Ketiltrout, Kosher Fan, Kr5t, LilHelpa, Looking for ISBNs with errors, R'n'B, Rjwilmsi, SaveTheForests, Severa, ShelfSkewed, Trappist the monk, Valfontis, Woohookitty, YLSS, Yngvadottir, Ynhockey, Yonatan, 17 anonymous edits Fairy  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=586305584  Contributors: ***Ria777, 11ssims, 1blind1, 2D, 2over0, 777yaz777, 9Nak, A little insignificant, ACAlover, Abu badali, Aciram, Acroterion, Adam78, Addshore, Aditya, Afluent Rider, Ahoerstemeier, Alansohn, Ale jrb, Aleenf1, Alessandriana, Alexandradawe, Alexf, AlexiusHoratius, Aljullu, All Is One, Allstarecho, Alphachimp, Altenmann, Andre Engels, Andros 1337, Andy Fairy, Andy M. Wang, Andycjp, Angusmclellan, Animum, Antandrus, Anthony Appleyard, Antonio Lopez, Apeloverage, Argyll Lassie, Ari x, Ariadne55, Arjayay, Arjun01, Arniep, ArtemisPhoenix, Astroguyaz, Atob, Atzatzatz, Anameable, Avant Guard, Azure, Azuris, BD2412, Babbage, Babyjox, Barbara Shack, Bazonka, Be descriptive, Beetstra, Beland, Belovedfreak, Berkunt, Bfairo, Bibblyjord, Bigstar12, Billy12345678987654321, BillyX, BlackheartdeATH, Bloodofox, Bluejay Young, Bluerasberry, Bob247, Bobby-freddy-jones, Bobo192, Bodinagamin, Bongwarrior, BorgQueen, Brendan Moody, Bryan Derksen, Bubbha, Buddhipriya, BumbleCrumbleBee, CIreland, CL, Cadwaladr, Caltas, CalumH93, Camw, CanadianLinux, Candalua, Cantiorix, Cantras, CarolSpears, Carolinec3765, Catgut, Catscratch, Celestra, Cellomaster, Celtic Harper, Cenarium, Centrx, Charivari, Charles Sturm, Chef Clover, Chell and the cake, ChildofMidnight, Chris the speller, Chuckietlover123, Cjkdc, Clancy cougar, Claunia, Clawed, Cometstyles, CommonsDelinker, Conti, Corvus cornix, Costesseyboy, Courcelles, Crabula, Crakkerjakk, Crazilla, Crazyviolinist, Cretog8, Crooow, Cskaterh7, Cuchullain, Cya33085, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, DJ Clayworth, DO'Neil, DOSGuy, DVD R W, Dakart, Dalejarvis, Damian Yerrick, Dave6, David Edgar, David H Braun (1964), DavidOaks, Davidiad, Davidriche, Dawn Bard, Daydreamer500, Dbachmann, Dcljr, DeadEyeArrow, Decltype, Dekisugi, Delirium, Delldot, Demma, Denimadept, Deor, DerHexer, Derek Ross, Dgw, Diablo5647, Diablokrom, Dincee, Dinoceras, DipseyPuddin, Discospinster, Dnvrfantj, Dougweller, Doyley, Dr. Dan, Dreaded Walrus, Dream of Nyx, DreamGuy, Drestros power, Dspradau, Duchess of Bathwick, DukeDoom, Dunkelza, Dustinasby, Dylan4545, E0steven, ESkog, Echeneida, Ecksemmess, Editor2020, Edward321, Eeee, Eeekster, Eep², Ega, Egoinos, El Rutabaga, Elassint, Elcapitane, Enchantedemma, Epbr123, Ephrils, Epotter, Eridani, Errabee, Erren3d, Esseh, Etacar11, Evertype, Eyrian, FF2010, Fabrictramp, Faeryheart, Faithlessthewonderboy, Falcon8765, Fallen angel701, Fang Aili, Farosdaughter, FeldBum, Fenice, Ferkelparade, Fesworks, Fey, Fieldday-sunday, Figaro, Filceolaire, Finavon, Finn-Zoltan, Fire201, Fireholenotsorebum, FisherQueen, Flaming turkey man, Fleiger, Flowerpotman, Fmafra, Fmercury1980, Footballfan190, Forteanajones, Foxonline, Fram, Frecklefoot, FreedomSpeech, Fritz28408, Frivilousity, Fubaz, Furrykef, Fyrael, Gazingstock, Gdarin, Geometry1289, Gerbrant, Ghelae, Gilliam, Gimboid13, Glenn, GlobeGores, Gmad, Gmoose1, Gogo Dodo, Gohomecheese, Goldenrowley, Goldfritha, Goustien, Gregz08, Grey Selkie, Grim23, Gscshoyru, Gtrmp, Gum foil, GumTree, HJ Mitchell, HOgWaRtSxGuRl55, Hadal, Hajenso, Hapa gurl, Haukurth, Heah, Hearingitman, Henry Carrington, Henrydms, Herbieslaw112, Herk1955, HexaChord, Hgarland844, HighKing, HisSpaceResearch, Histrion, Hmains, Hour of Angels, Husond, II MusLiM HyBRiD II, Ibadibam, Ibelieveinfairies, Iggy pop goes the weasel, Igorberger, Iissmm, Iliketimmyturner, Imaglang, Indigo Shai, Intelati, Introductory adverb clause, Invertzoo, Ionesco, Irishguy, Iro, IronGargoyle, IslandHopper973, Istcol, It's Evans-Wentz, Itsmine, Ivansanchez, Ixfd64, J Milburn, J-stan, J.delanoy, J.smith, J04n, JForget, JNW, JSH-alive, JWMiller87, JaGa, Jackollie, Jagged 85, James086, Jampaligor, Jasdevi711, JasonAQuest, Jburgos, Jdaloner, Jeff3000, Jengirl1988, Jguard18, JhanCRUSH, Jholman, Jiffijosh, Jim1138, Jkelly, Jlynchiszzle, Jodie44, Joe0911, John D. Croft, John254, JohnBlackburne, Johndoh75, JonathanDP81, Josh Parris, Joy, Ju66l3r, Juliancolton, Juliebeens, JustAMuggle, KGasso, KIDOONS, Kaarynl, Katalaveno, Katanada, Kathryn NicDhàna, Katzgirl, Kchishol1970, Keilana, Kenrick95, Keraunos, Khajidha, Kikihyrule, Kilyle, Kiwilvr646, Klfhorses, Koveras, Krawi, Krylonblue83, Ksyrie, Kuru, Kwertii, Kyng, Kyrn, L Kensington, LA2, Lachatdelarue, Laddiebuck, Landon1980, LanguageMan, Latka, Ld-gr, Leafyplant, Lectonar, Lee M, Legion fi, Legoktm, Lenoxus, LeoNomis, Lesgles, Leuko, Lexicon, Lights, LilHelpa, Lilac Soul, Linda, Literacola, Liz, Loaster, LogicalDash, guy, Longlivefootie, Looking for ISBNs with errors, Loren.wilton, Lotje, Luna Santin, Lunaverse, Lupo, M.J.W, MER-C, MONGO, MPerel, MTFaye, MacRusgail, Macintosh , Maddie!, Magioladitis, Magister Mathematicae, Major Wood, Malcolm Farmer, Malo, Mani1, Manyalive, Marc omorain, Marek69, Marion Knows Best, MarkWilliam, Markie, Markwiki, Marly100, Marshman, Martyn1987, MaryLynnP, 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SexyEnglishGayLad, Shadowjams, Shadowricky1932, Shandris, Shanes, Sharkface217, Sharpayxxx, Shattered Gnome, ShelfSkewed, Shoy, Siddiqui, Sigurd Dragon Slayer, Sillykitty24, SilverMoonCat, Sinju, Siobhanfay, Sjc, Skarebo, Skittlez7272, Skäpperöd, Slady, Slightsmile, Smallman12q, SnappingTurtle, So.hit188, Sonicuniverse5, Sopoforic, SparrowsWing, Speed and Sleep, Spellcast, Spellspinner777, Spike2oo9, Squeezeweasel, SteveFoerster, Stevertigo, Stoa, Sudosane, Summer Song, SuperSaiyaMan, Supermackie, Surlyduff50, Sven the merciless, Swid, SwiftSwallow, Switchercat, T-sauce man model 2, THEN WHO WAS PHONE?, Tagishsimon, Tardis, Tarquin, Tarvilya, Tassedethe, Tbhotch, Tcham5, Teles, Tempodivalse, Tgeairn, The MoUsY spell-checker, The Thing That Should Not Be, The Yeti, The sock that should not be, TheFeds, TheIntersect, Thedjatclubrock, Thekelleys, Thesmartgirl1990, Thingg, Tictax123, Tide rolls, Tigris9951, TimNelson, Timwebtwopointoh, Tintazul, Tiptoety, Tjoneslo, Tmhc, Tmopkisn, Tnxman307, Toefoil, Tohd8BohaithuGh1, Tomarse, Tomhannen, Tomwsulcer, Topsy turvy, Trilobitealive, TriniMuñoz, TripetLogen87, Troggulus, Tsaag Valren, Tsemii, Tubular, TurabianNights, Uglinessman, Ulric1313, Uramichi, UtherSRG, Uusitunnus, VanBuren, Versus22, Vianello, Viberunner, Victoriaearle, ViolentGreen, Violetriga, Viriditas, Vortexrealm, Vptes1, Vranak, Vrenator, Vsmith, Wack'd, Wadey171, Waggers, Wahabijaz, Wandering Ghost, Wdfarmer, Werdna, Weregerbil, Wetman, Wfgiuliano, Whateley23, Wicklibrarian, Wiglaf, Wiki-uk, Wikialexdx, William Avery, WojciechSwiderski, WoodElf, Woohookitty, Worrdo, Wragge, Wtmitchell, X201, Xineann, Xufanc, Yamamoto Ichiro, Yandman, Yellowtailshark, Yosri, YourEyesOnly, Yuwildie, Zenohockey, Zocky, Zzuuzz, ÀrdRuadh21, Шиманський Василь, 何 邦 维, 1418 anonymous edits Classifications of fairies  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=580537083  Contributors: Aidan Elliott-McCrea, Akatari, AnkhMorpork, Arifairy98, Arthena, BD2412, Bazonka, Bisyork, CarrieVS, Chino, ChrisGualtieri, Citore, Coolalee, Danznsing1387, Dazuro, Dbachmann, Disinclination, Echo cho oo, Elysdir, Entidus, Evanherk, Expligatory, Gazingstock, Goldfritha, Haldrik, Heroville, Iceberg3k, IronicTiming, Ishmayl, It's Evans-Wentz, Jbachtel, John Smythe, JonStrines, Jrobb, Jwy, K kisses, Kathryn NicDhàna, LA2, Ladyliving, LethePr, Malkinson, Mannanan51, Marasmusine, MarkWahl, Meryt, Midnightblueowl, Mike Rosoft, Mintrick, N W, Neifion, New , Ngebendi, Ogress, Olilo, Phoenixdreaming, Pigman, Portillo, Psmith, Regushee, SchreiberBike, Sigurd Dragon Slayer, Snorgle, Switchercat, Tabletop, The misha, TonyV, WikiSlasher, Xtontox, 102 anonymous edits Fairy ring  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=579257293  Contributors: Abd, Actam, Adrian J. Hunter, Alan Liefting, Andy Dingley, Animeronin, Armanalp, Asarelah, AstroMark, Astronautics, Auric, Aviddoghug, BDD, Barbara Shack, Ben DeRoy, Bermicourt, BullRangifer, Casliber, Chmee2, Claus Ableiter, Clem cowsie, CommonsDelinker, Cropcircles, D to the dog, DHR, Dfrg.msc, Dragonmas2514, Dthomsen8, Dulcem, Duncancumming, E23, Editor at Large, Eloy, Formofjane, Glenn, Gold heart, Greenleaf, Grutness, Hardyplants, Hydrogen Iodide, Inthend9, Ironman1104, J04n, Jacobisq, Jamse, Jasonhargenrader, Jeff-maclardy, Jmrowland, Juandev, K kisses, Kelisi, Khazar2, Khelson, Kibi78704, King Óðinn The Aesir, Linda, Lockesdonkey, Lossenelin, Lotje, Malleus Fatuorum, Markntaylor, Max711, Michael Devore, Micknz, Millsdavid, Mondhir, N. Harmonik, Neitherday, Nilirari, Noclador, Nsaa, Ost316, Peter G Werner, Phoric, Pigman, Quasistoic, Random er-by, Reaper Eternal, Rjwilmsi, Rosser1954, Rspf, SKC, Salleman, Sasata, Sidar, Sigurd Dragon Slayer, Sin-man, Sir Call, Snowmanradio, Special Cases, StAnselm, Stemonitis, Strobilomyces, Szabozoltantamas, Tabletop, Tassedethe, Tentinator, The Utahraptor, Thetehror, Timo Honkasalo, Tower, Tree&Leaf, UtherSRG, Vihelik, Wiglaf, Xuenay, ‫ﻣﺎﻧﻲ‬, 98 anonymous edits Púca  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=586638633  Contributors: Ace Diamond, Alba, Andrewpmk, Andytuba, Angr, Anir1uph, Asarlaí, Az1568, Azumanga1, Badger151, Badger8, Barkeep, Bartgenius, Beached Oil Tanker, Ben-w, Bento00, BinaryTed, BlackAndy, Bluecatcinema, BobKawanaka, Brainmouse, Bruno Ishiai, Charlesclifford, Chasrmartin, Colonies Chris, Courcelles, Crivensjings, Cuchullain, Cuprum, Darkwind, Deltabeignet, Denni, DidgeGuy, Dream of Nyx, DuncanHill, Dyfsunctional, Dysprosia, EWHPTIV, Eagleridge, EeepEeep, Elipongo, Epbr123, Flyhighplato, FrancisTyers, Freestyle-69, FriedMilk, Gardar Rurak, Genesis, GoingBatty, Gold heart, Goldfritha, Goodson, Gpvos, GrantBremer, Grey Shadow, Guslarkachic, Gutsii, Hall Monitor, Hapsiainen, Harryboyles, Haymaker, Hbent, Heenan73, Hutcher, Hyju, InfinityDUCK, J.delanoy, JHunterJ, JQF, JarlaxleArtemis, Jeremy Bolwell, Jmshade, K kisses, Kate, Kiyoweap, Kuru, Landon1980, Lanechange, Larry Hastings, Lemnaminor, LethePr, Lilac Soul, Lostirishguy, Lugnad, MJ94, MacRusgail, Magioladitis, Malward2005, Malward2006, Maniadis, Maproom, Materialscientist, Maxwellian, Mechanical man, MelForbes, Melchoir, Melodychick, Metagraph, Midasminus, Mimsy-were, Mintrick, MisledGhost, No Guru, O'Dea, Odedee, Ohconfucius, Onebravemonkey, Ophiuchus12, PJAlama, Pappa, Pennyforth, Peter James, Pigman, Postdlf, Psiphim6, QueenCake, Quiddity, Quuxplusone, R'n'B, RDBury, Red-eyed demon, RedWolf, Reinyday, Renamed01302013, Retired 0001, Riedquat, Rjwilmsi, Rob.bastholm, Robert Guiscard, Rsrikanth05, ST47, Samuel Erau, SchfiftyThree, Scorcha79, Scottandrewhutchins, ShelfSkewed, SidP, Sigurd Dragon Slayer, Solarusdude, Sslaby, Steven J. Anderson, Stubblyhead, Sunny Garcia, TDPM, Tahrlis, Tbk, The Evil Spartan, The stuart, Thomtaro, Tide rolls, TimNelson, Trusilver, TyrS, UberMan5000, Uthican, Verdatum, Versus22, WikiHannibal, Woohookitty, Ww2censor, Xxglennxx, Yamamoto Ichiro, Zeldamaster3, Zepheus, Ὁ οἶστρος, 296 anonymous edits

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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors File:Minoan Master of Animals jewellery.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Minoan_Master_of_Animals_jewellery.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike  Contributors: :Bkwillwm File:Solvogn.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Solvogn.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Glenn, Kairios, Kersti Nebelsiek, Malene, Winterkind File:Egypt.Hathor.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Egypt.Hathor.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Beao, JLCA, JMCC1, Kajk, Neithsabes File:Winged sun sharpe.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Winged_sun_sharpe.png  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Dbachmann, Gryffindor, JMCC1, Kajk, Tedmek, Wst File:TaiYangXingJun.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:TaiYangXingJun.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0  Contributors: Philg88 File:Xi He.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xi_He.JPG  License: Creative Commons Attribution  Contributors: :Shizhao File:Egypt.IsisHorus.01.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Egypt.IsisHorus.01.png  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Chnodomar, JMCC1, Kajk, 1 anonymous edits File:WLANL - 23dingenvoormusea - Suryabeeldje.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:WLANL_-_23dingenvoormusea_-_Suryabeeldje.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0  Contributors: 23 dingen voor musea from Nederland File:Ra Barque.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ra_Barque.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Ausir, Denniss, JMCC1, Masur, Pieter Kuiper, 4 anonymous edits File:GD-EG-KomOmbo016.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:GD-EG-KomOmbo016.JPG  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5  Contributors: ArkinAardvark, BluesyPete, Foroa, Gene.arboit, JMCC1, Leyo, Néfermaât, Semolo75 File:Amaterasu cave edit2.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Amaterasu_cave_edit2.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Hamasaki gion higashi, Kameraad Pjotr, Lx 121, Sagredo, Tatsundo h, 4 anonymous edits File:Reynard-the-fox.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Reynard-the-fox.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Ernest Griset File:How loki wrought mischief in Asgard by Willy Pogany.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:How_loki_wrought_mischief_in_Asgard_by_Willy_Pogany.png  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Willy Pogany File:Coyoteinacanoe.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Coyoteinacanoe.png  License: Public Domain  Contributors: F. 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Tal Image:Jack-frost.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Jack-frost.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Foroa, FruitMonkey, Terraflorin Image:Jack Frost Jan09.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Jack_Frost_Jan09.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0  Contributors: John Bradley File:Adrian Ludwig Richter 013.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Adrian_Ludwig_Richter_013.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: AndreasPraefcke, Boo-Boo Baroo, Bukk, DO11.10, Emijrp, Goldfritha, Mattes, Wst, 1 anonymous edits File:Wiktor Michajlowitsch Wassnezow 004.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wiktor_Michajlowitsch_Wassnezow_004.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Alex Bakharev, Butko, Denniss, Goldfritha, Jaranda, Pitke, Shakko, 2 anonymous edits File:Orlando Furioso 60.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Orlando_Furioso_60.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Goustien, Holger Thölking, Shakko, 1 anonymous edits File:SophieAndersonTakethefairfaceofWoman.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:SophieAndersonTakethefairfaceofWoman.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Austriacus, Fadookie, Hsarrazin, Irish Pearl, Jean-Frédéric, Kilom691, Medea, Magnus Manske, Mattes, Mechamind90, Okki, Schmackes, Tseno Maximov File:Wonderful Fairies - 45 - Fairy Girl.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wonderful_Fairies_-_45_-_Fairy_Girl.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Cathy Richards, Slgrandson File:Ängsälvor - Nils Blommér 1850.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ängsälvor_-_Nils_Blommér_1850.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Cathy Richards, Dulcem, Ies, Maire, Mattes, P. S. Burton, Prosfilaes, Thuresson, Trycatch, Лобачев Владимир, 2 anonymous edits File:Falero Luis Ricardo Lily Fairy 1888.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Falero_Luis_Ricardo_Lily_Fairy_1888.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Austriacus, Better than Hustler, Hsarrazin, Jan Arkesteijn, Kilom691, Mattes, Michael Barera, Staszek99, TFCforever, 1 anonymous edits File:Fairychapeltoun.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Fairychapeltoun.JPG  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Original er was Rosser1954 at en.wikipedia File:Johann Heinrich Füssli 058.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Johann_Heinrich_Füssli_058.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Bukk, Deerstop, Goldfritha, Mattes, Razr, Vsop.de, 1 anonymous edits File:Study for The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Study_for_The_Quarrel_of_Oberon_and_Titania.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Andreagrossmann, Bensin, Bibi Saint-Pol, Cathy Richards, Chartrek, CommonsDelinker, Fæ, Kilom691, Lotsofissues, Mattes, Shakko, Tiyoringo, 1 anonymous edits File:I samma ögonblick var hon förvandlad till en underskön liten älva.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:I_samma_ögonblick_var_hon_förvandlad_till_en_underskön_liten_älva.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Bloodofox, Thuresson, W!B:, 1 anonymous edits Image:Fairy ring on a suburban lawn 100 1851.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Fairy_ring_on_a_suburban_lawn_100_1851.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: :Mrs skippy Image:FairyRingSchoolField.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:FairyRingSchoolField.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Kelisi File:Hexenring auf einer Wiese, Sperrberg, Niedergailbach.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hexenring_auf_einer_Wiese,_Sperrberg,_Niedergailbach.JPG  License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  Contributors: Claus Ableiter Image:Hexenring Nebelgrauer Trichterling.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hexenring_Nebelgrauer_Trichterling.JPG  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0  Contributors: Josimda Image:Clitocybe nebularis group.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Clitocybe_nebularis_group.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported  Contributors: Daniel Ullrich, Threedots

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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors Image:Plucked from the Fairy Circle.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Plucked_from_the_Fairy_Circle.png  License: Public Domain  Contributors: T. H. Thomas File:Fairy ring on Iceland.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Fairy_ring_on_Iceland.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  Contributors: Chmee2/Valtameri Image:Gomphus clavatus Fairy ring.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gomphus_clavatus_Fairy_ring.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Ben DeRoy Image:Richard Dadd - Come unto These Yellow Sands.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Richard_Dadd_-_Come_unto_These_Yellow_Sands.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Dulcem, Mattes

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License

License Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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