The Fairies in Tradition and LiteratureFairies fascinate young and old alike. To some they offer tantalizing glimpses of other worlds, to others a subversive counterpoint to human arrogance and weakness. Like no other author, Katharine Briggs throughout her work communicated the thrill and delight of the world of fairies, and in this book she articulated for the first time the history of that world in tradition and literature. From every period and every country, poets and storytellers have described a magical world inhabited by elfin spirits. Capricious and vengeful, or beautiful and generous, they've held us in thrall for generations. And on a summer's morn, as the dew dries softly on the grass, if you kneel and look under a toadstool, well ... |
Contents
7 | 62 |
Fairy Beasts | 84 |
9 | 96 |
10 | 102 |
The Fairy Dependence | 113 |
The Double Strain | 127 |
Fairy Wives and Fairy Lovers | 146 |
Human Opinions | 168 |
The Eighteenth Century | 183 |
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Common terms and phrases
beautiful Blake Border Brownie Cailleach Bheur Celtic century changeling child Cornish Cornwall County Folk-Lore creatures dancing dangerous dead Denham Tracts devils Edain edited elves England Evans Wentz evil eyes F. S. Wilde fairy beliefs Fairy Queen fairy stories Fairy Tales fairy tradition Fairyland folk-tales Fuath Gervase of Tilbury ghost Giant Gill girl goblin green haunted heard Henderson Highland hill hobgoblin horse human Hunt Ibid Ireland Irish Fairy Isle J. F. Campbell Jack kelpie kind King Lady Wilde Legends Lincolnshire lived London Mackenzie Manx mermaid mortal mother never night Oberon old woman Orkney pixies poem Popular Puck R. L. Tongue Ralph of Coggeshall Rhys Robin Goodfellow Romances round Scotland Scottish Second Manx Scrapbook seems seen Shakespeare Shellycoat Shetland Sikes Somerset sometimes sylphs tale thing Thomas told Tuatha De Danann Tylwyth Teg Welsh William witches Wright Yorkshire young