FAIRIES

This page covers one half of the spectrum of "little people". Listed here are the beings typified by the elf and fairy: often seen as female, generally benign. A seperate page covering dwarfs, goblins and similar creatures can be found here.

Air Elemental -- Astos -- Elf -- Fairy

FAIRY

Fairies are creatures of European folklore. Their name is a large umbrella term, covering elves and the creatures listed on the dwarfs page, but the type of fairy most often associated with the word is the one shown in FF: a small girl with insect wings. In pre-Christian Europe they were seen as benevolent or mischevious, but seldom evil. After the arrival of Christianity, Fairy lore became spliced into church lore; fairies were now seen as angels who didn't fight against or alongside the devil when he rebelled. As punishment, they were banished to Earth. Around this time the negative aspects of fairies were amplified - they were seen as evil creatures who kidnapped babies, replaced them with their own children (called "changelings") and took them through an entrance in a hillside to "Fairyland". The idea of fairies posing a threat to humans seems laughable today, a sign that fairies are once again benevolent in popular imagination.
Fairy sightings continue into the modern day, and often overlap with reports of alien encounters, as the fairies are seen riding flying saucers or glowing spheres. The most well-known fairy case in the annals of paranormal phenomena is the infamous "Cottingly fairies" hoax. In 1917 England two girls, the 10 year old Frances Griffiths and her cousin, thr 16 year old Elsie Wright claimed that they played with fairies, and took some photos to prove it. The pictures showed the girls side-by-side with fairies. Around 1920 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, took an interest in the photos. The girls took three more fairy pictures for him, and he wrote a book on the subject, titled "The Coming of the Fairies". In 1983, Frances admitted that most of the photos were fakes, the "fairies" being carboard cutouts. She maintained, however, that she did actually play with fairies, and only faked the photos to satisfy adults. She also claimed that the last photo taken, linked to below, is genuine.

IMAGE: 1920 photo of fairies, taken by Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright

ELF

Elves appear in Scandinavian and Celtic mythology. Today the word is often used as a generic name for any kind of fairy or dwarf. However, while fairies are seen as spritely and female, and dwarfs as stocky and male, elves are seen as fitting in somewhere between the two. They are usually depicted as being spritely and male, with no wings, and are associated with forests.
Norse mythology also has dark elves.

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