Mythology
The Fairy Folk
Throughout Irish Mythology one of the most consistant features is the existence and pre -eminence of the Fairy Folk. These are not the coy little Disney -creatures with wings of children's stories. The name derives from a latin word meaning enchant, whichin turn comes from the latin Fatum, Fate or Destiny. Of all the creatures of mythology, the fairies are the most numerous, the most beautiful and the most memorable in lit-erature. They are spread throughout the world, but those in Ireland have a special interest and unlike many nations, the fairies still exist in their midst.
In Greek mythology the fairy was equated with the Nymph , and also the Sirens who lured the sailers to their doom, so that all is not sweetness and light. They are the Nereids, the Oreads, and the Naiads, the spirits of the wells, mountains, and water. In Ireland they dwell in the ancient burial mounds ( sometimes called raths), the remains of fortresses and their earthworks, and in the ruins of buildings erected by the Anglo - Norman invaders in the twelfth century. They are an organised folk, often called " the army " , and thier life corresponds to that of humans. They carry off children, substituting changelings in their wake, transport men and women into the land of the Fairy, and are regarded as the cause of much supernatural phenomena, even today when poltergeist phenomena is put down to fairy mischievousness. In 1907 in Northern Ireland a farmer was troubled with flying stones; his neighbours said that the fairies had caused this because he had swept his chimney with a holly bough, and the holly is a "gentle tree" dear to the fairies. When a house became " infested" with fairies the owners left, and the house remained unoccupied. The fairy marching army raises a cloud of dust, and when neolithic arrow - heads and flints are discovered they are assumed to be fairy weapons, are dipped in water and given to ailing animals and people as a remeedy for diseases. They often produce mysterious music, In Ireland that of the harp. The author of a book on fairies, The Reverend Mr Kirk, who died in 1692, was published by the novelist Sir Walter Scott in 1815. The Scots , too, have a reverence for fairies, second only to their devotion to the phenomenon of second sight.
Although Mr Kirk's tomb is, or was, in existence, it was said that he was carried away by the fairies. A friend who was told to that if he threw a dirk ( dagger ) over his shoulder Mr Kirk would return to earth. This the friend failed to do. The otherworld inhabited by the fairies is equivalent to the Hades of the classical writers. A human in the otherworld may not eat, for otherwise he will be trapped there for ever. There is a beleif that the existence of fairies can be traced back to pre- historic memories of pigmy races who dwelt in underground earth houses, and the early races of Ireland were much smaller than those that arrived later, lending a bare vestage of credence. Certainly no pigmy bones have ever been found in Ireland. Most fairies are of human stature and can not be distinguished from mortals except by their actions. This has led to complications, for throughout Irish mythology there are tales of men failing in love with beautiful women, who turn out to be fairies and disappear. In later years, when myth- ologies of all kinds were systematically suppressed by the church and a rational society, Fairies were turned into something not unlike a tourist attractions. The little people became, in Ireland, Leprechauns, a word first recorded as recently as 1604, in South West England pixies, in other parts of Britain brownies. These were not the fairy folk of the ancients. For those that wew afraid of fairies, the answer was a herb rue, which the fairies hated, and often rue was kept in a house to keep the fairy folk away.In mythology fairies were unpredictable, and could be mischievous, friendly or hostile. King Conary, a great warrior, had been battling and could go on no more until he quenches his thirst. He sends one of his men to find water. The man scours Ireland from the great well of Keiser in Wicklow to the great rivers, but the fairy folk have sealed the sources of water against him. In fact as he approaches the wells , lakes and rivers disappear. Eventually he finds a lake, Lock Gora in Roscommon, which failed to hide itself in time. He fills his cup, returns to the king, but too late, finding two of the enemy in the process of lopping off the king's head. He kills them, and taking up the king's head pours water into the king's mouth. The head thanks him and praises him.
In one story the fairies are indeed " wee folk " . The royal bard of the wee folk announces to his king that there is a giant race overseas in a land called Ulster, one man of which would annihilate a whole battalion of the wee folk. The king sends him to prison for his impudence, and the bard is only released when he promises to prove his claim. In due course he goes to King Fergus, and is borne in upon the hand of the king's dwarf Aeda. After wining and dining the wee bard returns home with Aeda, who is regarded as a fomorian giant, and the wee folk flee. The king, realising he has been wrong, and therefore under a geis, is obliged to go to King Fergus and taste the king's porridge, taking with him his wife.