Fairy Types

Tradition suggests that if the Faeries could be put into categories, they would fall into three broad groups –

The ‘High Faeries’, who were well known in the Middle Ages. They dress in velvet and gold, wear glittering jewellery and live in fabulous castles, complete with knights on white steeds and armies with trumpets and banners.

The ‘Little People’, who are the imps, pixies, brownies, sprites, fauns, dwarves and leprechauns who inhabit woodland and dale and are most often met by those who work on the land. Some may be helpful while others are known for their mischief-making.

Fairy Types

Tradition suggests that if the Faeries could be put into categories, they would fall into three broad groups –

The ‘High Faeries’, who were well known in the Middle Ages. They dress in velvet and gold, wear glittering jewellery and live in fabulous castles, complete with knights on white steeds and armies with trumpets and banners.

The ‘Little People’, who are the imps, pixies, brownies, sprites, fauns, dwarves and leprechauns who inhabit woodland and dale and are most often met by those who work on the land. Some may be helpful while others are known for their mischief-making.

The ‘Bugbears’, who are best avoided. They include kelpies who lure travellers into lakes where they drown; hags who linger where death is imminent; banshees whose terrible screams foretell doom; and a host of spirits who inhabit stagnant pools and bog land and encourage passers-by to lose their way.

Dos and Don’ts

Don’t ever ask a nature spirit’s name. This is bad manners and, besides, they won’t tell you. It is said that knowledge of a faery name by another confers power over the faery on that person.

Never eat their food, even when offered, because something may be asked for in return. Accepting the faery cake may put you under an obligation to them.

Some nature spirits dislike being disturbed by humans or even being seen by them. Never intrude. If they run from you, don’t give chase and if they ask you to leave, go.

Never put a faery down or make comparisons that put them in a bad light. Claiming, for instance, that a child is fairer than a faery is certain to provoke their anger.

Some traditions warn of even speaking of the faeries.

Above all, tread lightly.

Or stay away. An Irish lady was asked if she believed in the little people. Her reply was that she didn’t believe in them but that she knew they were there. Maybe she had the best idea.

Iceland: where elves are citizens

According to Iceland’s Tourist Board, 80 per cent of Icelanders believe in elves. This is more than an attempt to attract tourists to the land of fire and ice, since 25 per cent of the population of Hafnarfjordur, Iceland’s second largest port, actually claim to have seen them

The local authority in Hafnarfjordur has a set-aside policy for elves, the largest clan of the ‘Huldufolk’ or ‘hidden people’. Land is designated in the town as being of special importance to elves and cannot be built on.

Throughout Iceland, whenever a building or underground cable-laying project is suffering disturbances which indicate that the elves are upset, an elf medium is called in to negotiate. Pipelines have had to be re-routed and buildings re-sited as a result.

Fairy forests

The Forestry Commission has 794,000 hectares of plantation forest in the UK. Currently, timber prices are at rock bottom and likely to stay there for the foreseeable future. Yet harvesting of timber is set to increase, because the plantations are now mature.

Most forestry projects involve replanting native woodland to benefit wildlife and for recreational purposes. Planted forests have only commercial value, and a low one at present.

But the Forestry Commission has created something wonderful without realising it. Deep within its plantations lie secret wonderlands where nature spirits have been given a free hand since the trees were planted some thirty years ago.

Because no-one goes there and the plantations are largely left alone, trees rot where they fall; moss grows several feet thick without being trampled by human feet; and vegetation creeps into clearings at its own pace. In these places the presence of the elves is almost tangible and the air vibrates with their intensity

Would it cost anything to set these areas aside and leave them alone, to allow the work to continue without human interference?

The elves would probably not thank us for this gesture. Why should they, and would it matter? It is enough, surely, to know that they are there.