Page 121 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Mysterious Creatures 101

kindly elves as the “seelie court” and the nasty Fairies—magical
spirits as the “unseelie court.” winged beings.
(CORBIS CORPORATION)
Scandinavians also called the elves the
“huldre folk” and envisioned two principle
divisions of the beings. There were the lovely,
charming elves, who easily passed for humans
and who loved to join in folk dances and in vil-
lage parties. These elves, especially the females
of the bunch, could easily seduce any human
male into obeying their will. The male elves,
though appearing handsome and dashing in the
firelight of a village festival, would usually be
exposed as ugly when moonlight struck them in
the forests. The Danes also noticed that even
the attractive elves occasionally betrayed
themselves with a long cowlike tail that popped
out of their dress or trousers.
In contemporary presentations, elves are
usually portrayed as jolly creatures, humanlike
in appearance, but extremely diminutive in
size, who love teasing humans and playing
pranks on them.

M Delving Deeper
Bord, Janet. Fairies: Real Encounters with Little People. of sidhe. Some say that it refers to the mounds
New York: Dell Publishing, 1998. or hills in which the supernatural folk abide.
DuBois, Pierre, with Roland Sabatier and Claudine Others say that it means “the people of
Sabatier, illustrators. The Great Encyclopedia of peace,” and that is how the sidhe generally
Fairies. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. behave toward humans unless the topside
Froud, Brian. Good Faeries, Bad Faeries. New York: dwellers offend them in some way.
Simon & Schuster, 1998.
Traditionally, the fairies are a race of beings
Jones, Alison, ed. Larousse Dictionary of World Lore. who are the counterparts of humankind in
New York: Larousse, 1995. physical appearance but, at the same time, are
Keightley, Thomas. The World Guide to Gnomes, nonphysical or multidimensional. They are
Fairies, Elves, and Other Little People. New York: mortal, but lead longer lives than their human
Random House, 2000. cousins. Fairies have always been considered
Mack, Carol K., and Dinah Mack. A Field Guide to very much akin to humans, but also as some-
Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subver- thing other than mortal.
sive Spirits. New York: Henry Holt, 1999.
The fairies are said to be able to enchant
Rose, Carol. Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins:
humans, to take advantage of them in numer-
An Encyclopedia. New York: W. W. Norton, 1998.
ous ways, and even cast a spell on likely young
Spence, Lewis. The Fairy Tradition in Britain. London:
men or women and marry them. They often
Rider, 1948.
seem intent upon kidnapping children and
adults and whisking them off to their under-
Fairies ground kingdom. Those who return from the
magical kingdom have experienced missing
According to those who speak the Gaelic
tongue of Scotland and Ireland, the wee folk hours, days, weeks—even years.
prefer to be known as “sidhe” (also spelled On the plus side, fairies have also been
sidh, sith, sithche) and pronounced “shee.” reported to help farmers harvest their crops or
There is disagreement as to the exact meaning assist housemaids in cleaning a kitchen. There

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