The word ‘faerie’ originated in France, and came to replace the Old English ‘elf’ during the times of Spenser and Shakespeare who popularised the new name. How these wonderful creatures first came to be is uncertain, but one of the best accounts comes from Icelandic legend. Eve was washing her children on the river bank and was so struck by awe when God suddenly spoke to her, that she hid the children she had not yet washed. God asked her if all her children were present and she said they were. He then told her that all those she had tried to hide from him would always be hidden from man. These hidden ones became the Huldre Folk of Scandinavia. Like all children, some were good and some were bad. The Huldre girls were exceptionally beautiful, but hollow, and disappeared like mist, thus fulfilling the deception of their origin.

Very few of us have ever seen them, and even I cannot be certain how they really looked. Must is the best way to portray them, for it too melts away and can never really be captured except in the memory. These musical pictures are good lionesses, but it is necessary  to play them as if you believe them. If you are very lucky, it won’t be necessary to pretend!

It is difficult to be certain of faerie names. The same species are named variously according to the regions they inhabit. The six I have chosen to show you are all from the British Isles.

The Gwragedd Annwn (Pronounced ‘gwrageth annoon’) - Welsh water faeries, beautiful lake maidens who occasionally take mortals to be their husbands.

The Irish Leprechaun - the merry one-shoe maker, never seen with two, who always wears a three-cornered hat.

The Spriggans - of the West Country, menacing and grotesque, who can inflate themselves to huge proportions.

The Duergar - a malicious dwarf from the North of England!

The Asrai - small and delicate female faeries, who melt away into pools of water if disturbed or captured.

The Shetland Island Trows - Scottish ‘trolls’ often seen performing a curious lop-sided dance called ‘Henking’. 

December 1987