The Fool

In Irish and Scottish folklore the Fool or Amandán is a social fairy, a fairy that lives in  large company. Social fairies can be kind or malicious toward humans. The Fool is a malicious social fairy. Despite its name the Fool might have been the wisest in all the fairy palace. The Fool is similiar to the character Feste in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In The Celtic Twilight,  a household consisted of "a queen and a fool and that if your are touched by either you never recover" (Yeats, 186). It was best to avoid the touch of the Fool and the queen because their touch could result in a paralytic seizure or death to a mortal (Joe). A person could recover from the touch of a different fairy. The month of June is the month it was best to avoid the Fool's touch. The touch of the fool is also called the poc sidhe or the "fairy stroke". A stroke in medical terminology is cerebral hemorrhage.

Joe, Jim. "Faeries." Timeless Myths. 1999. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. 

         <http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html>.

Yeats, W. B. Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1998. Fairy and 
          Folk Tales of Ireland- Google Books. Simon & Schuster. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. 
         <http://books.google.com/books?id=pp_SVHuVsFoC&pg=PA48&dq=William+Yeats+butler&
         source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false>.

Changeling

A changeling is a fairy baby found in Irish folklore. Some fairies took a liking to mortals and would secretly exchange a mortal baby with that of a sickly fairy child (Jim). According to Lady Wilde, one way to tell if a child was a changeling was to lay it on the fire with this formula, "Burn, burn, burn- if of the devil, burn: but if of God and the saints, be safe from the harm." If the child was a changeling it would leave and climb up the chimney. In The Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland by William Yeats, he recorded a story about a mother that was leaning over a wrinkled changeling when the latch was lifted. The fairy came in to carry home the stolen baby. Some people believe that those who were carried away had "plenty of good living and music and mirth" (Yeats, 48). Other people believe the ones that are carried away lived a sad life yearning for their earthly friends. 

Joe, Jim. "Faeries." Timeless Myths. 1999. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. 

         <http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html>.

Yeats, W. B. Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1998. Fairy  

         and Folk Tales of Ireland- Google Books. Simon & Schuster. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. 

         <http://books.google.com/books?id=pp_SVHuVsFoC&pg=PA48&dq=William+Yeats                                            

+butler&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false>.

Banshee

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The banshee is featured in Irish, Scottish, and Manx folklore. The word banshee comes from ban or bean, a woman and shee or sidhe a fairy. The word banshee is spelt in many different ways. In Irish it is spelt banshie, bean sidhe, and ben side. In Scottish it is spelt ban-sith, bean-shith, and bean sith. In Manx it is spelt ben shee.  According to Jim Joe of Timeless Myths, the Banshee of Irish folklore and Scottish folklore "was tied to a person of family, sort of like an attendant fairy." This Banshee was a female spirit that foretold the death of a person in a household. In Irish folklore the banshee was a young, fair woman. In Scottish folklore the banshee was an old hag. In both traditions the banshee had long, unbound hair and dressed in white. The banshee was also heard crying because of this her eyes were always red. William Butler Yeats tells about an omen where the  banshee is accompanied by the coach-a-bower, a black coach, mounted by a coffin and drawn by headless horses driven by a Dullahan.

Joe, Jim. "Faeries." Timeless Myths. 1999. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. 

         <http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html>.

Yeats, William B. The Solitary Fairies. Irish Fairy and Folk Tales. Digireads.com, 2010. 73. Web.   
         14 Nov. 2010. <http://books.google.com/books?id=mNNi4dzumgC&dq=Irish+poet+Yeats
         ,+banshee&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.

Korrigan of the Spring

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A Korrigan is a female fairy from Breton folklore. According to Thomas Keightley, Korrigans were princesses who rejected the preachings of the Apostles and in turn were cursed by God. Korrigans possess a great hate for anything religious like garments worn by Roman Catholic priest, the sound of bells, and the Virgin Mary. Korrigan can predict the future, change forms, and cure diseases or ailments with the help of charms. Korrigan seek handsome mortal lover to renew their race. If a  man refuses her, she will cause his demise. Korrigan live near a stream in the forest of Broceliande (Joe) awaiting a man while combing their long hair. Korrigans are beautiful at night or at dusk. They are rarely seen in the day because their beauty fades, their eyes turn red, their hair turns white, and their faces appear aged (Keightley). In the ballad, Lord Nann and The Korrigan, Lord Nann's wife asked him for a roebuck's flesh. During his ride into the forest he comes upon a deer and begins to chase the deer. Lord Nann becomes thirsty and stops to drink from a spring. At the spring Lord Nann encounters a Korrigan combing her long hair. The Korrigan requested that Seigneur of Nan sleep with her. Lord Nann refused her advances, choosing to stay faithful to his wife despite his fate of dying in three days. Lord Nann rode to the church and told his mother not to tell his wife. Lord Nann died three days later. His mother finally disclosed what caused his death to his wife. His wife died after hearing the news and was buried next to her husband (Keightley). Jim Joe author of the website Timeless Myths, compares figures in legend, like the Lady of the Lake in Arthurian legend as antecedents to Korrigan. It was thought that the Korrigan fairies stole babies to raise them becoming foster mothers. Jim Joe thought "The Lady of the Lake exhibited the closest characteristics to the korrigan," since she abducted Lancelot from his mother and raised him. 

Joe, Jimmy. "Faeries." Timeless Myths. 27 Sept. 2000. Web. 07 Nov. 2010.

      <http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html>.

Keightley, Thomas. "Brittany." The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of ... London: G. 
      Bells and Sons, 1850. 431-36. Google Books. 15 Jan. 2010. Web. 07 Nov. 2010.  
     <http://books.google.com/books?id=mUVLAAAAYAAJ&dq=the+fairy+mythology,+lord+nann&

      source=gbs_navlinks_s>.
             
   

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The word fairy brings to mind an image of Disney's Tinker Bell, a tiny, glowing supernatural being, who zips through the air with tiny wings. I chose to do my blog over fairies because the origins of fairies are interesting, making them more complex than what Disney allows them to be. My interest in fairies comes from a famous Romantic Era ballet entitled Giselle. Giselle is a story of a peasant girl who fell in love with a noble boy. The noble boy cheated on the peasant girl. The peasant girl found out and died a virgin. The peasant girl turned into a willy, a dancing fairy that dances men to death. Giselle served as a contrast for me, showing the differences between how fairies were depicted in the past in different cultures and how fairies are depicted in our culture.