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eosoco · 5 hours ago

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Fairy Folklore: On the Contradictory Nature of Fairies

If there's one thing anyone quickly realizes when studying fairy lore, it's this: fairies are contradictory. Maddeningly so. Just when you think you've found a consistent rule about their world, another tale comes along to unmake it entirely.

In fact, the only general rule that seems to hold is this: you can't make generalizations about fairies.

Inconsistencies in Appearance & Form

The stories vary wildly. Some describe fairies as tiny, winged and glowing. Others see them as tall, ethereal, human-like beings — or as wizened little folk with sharp teeth and a taste for mischief. Some wear elaborate gowns spun from moonlight; others wear moss and bark and bone.

Of course, a non-human observer might say the same of humans. Show them a crowd spanning age, gender, and culture, and they might also struggle to define what “typical” looks like. The diversity in fairy accounts may not be inconsistency — it might be accuracy.

Skeptics chalk the contradictions up to imagination, but believers often argue otherwise. Some say the fairies can shift form at will. Others point to glamour, the magical illusion fairies are known to use, as a way to explain the range in how they're seen. Janet Bord, in her book Fairies, suggests that differing reports about fairy height, for example, might all stem from this very ability.

The Midwife Paradox

A particularly strange contradiction appears in fairy birth lore. Human midwives are often taken into Fairyland to assist with births — stories about this are surprisingly common. Why this need, if fairies have their own skilled midwives?

Yet we also have tales of figures like Queen Mab, described as a fairy midwife in her own right. In Derbyshire, there's even a tradition of fairies dancing around a blindfolded woman called “the midwife.” When a local woman is due to give birth, these fairies supposedly bring this hooded figure into the home to assist.

So which is it? Are fairies incapable of managing childbirth without humans — or do they have midwives of their own?

Apparently... both.

Morality and Mischief

Fairies have their own strong code of behavior. They value cleanliness, kindness, justice, chastity, and they hate greed. In Fife, it's said they once pulled down a house simply because a murder had occurred inside it — suggesting an intense distaste for violence and disorder.

There are even old charms that involve turning your clothing inside-out to break fairy enchantment, because they can't abide disheveled attire.

But here's the catch: fairies are perfectly capable of behaving badly. They'll steal, trick, and torment humans for seemingly minor offenses. A Cornish tale tells of a pixy teaching a greedy farmer a harsh lesson — leading him in a never-ending chase after a church tower that remained always just ahead, until exhaustion broke his will.

So yes, they may teach us lessons about morality... while breaking their own rules with impunity.

Secretive, Yet Intrusive

Fairies are notoriously secretive. Their names are hidden. Their lands are concealed. Yet they have no qualms about invading human homes, borrowing items, or relying on us to fix their problems.

Some tales say fairies ask humans to repair broken tools or pails, while in other regions, it's reversed — humans leave broken objects on fairy mounds to be fixed overnight. A baking peel left in a fairy cave in Osebury, for instance, would supposedly be mended by morning. In the Northern Isles, spinning wheels were left on fairy hills for repairs.

They're fiercely independent, but also sometimes curiously dependent. They hate to owe humans, but they borrow freely. Another contradiction.

Iron: A Rule with Exceptions?

We're told that worked iron repels fairies. And indeed, much lore supports this. Scissors over a cradle, shears in a chimney, or a pin in one's pocket are all traditional protections. In tales of rescuing loved ones from fairy hills, placing a knife or nail in the doorway is what keeps the entrance from sealing shut behind them.

But then… how do we explain the stories of fairies using metal tools?

There are many such tales. In Shetland, a boy abducted by the fairies returns as an expert scythe-maker — having learned his trade from them. Fairies are also described as expert blacksmiths, smithing tools and weapons with skill. Somehow, the beings supposedly repelled by iron are also master metalworkers.

Again, a contradiction. But perhaps that's the point.

Familiarity Does Not Mean Understanding

Even long acquaintance with fairy lore doesn't make them more predictable. Fairies thrive in ambiguity. They are, as many say, creatures of the “betwixt and between.” Neither wholly good nor wholly evil. Neither of this world, nor entirely outside it. It makes sense that our understanding of them would reflect that same uncertain, flickering nature.

They withhold things from us — names, truths, forms — and what we are left with is a some incomprehensible mess made of half-truths and paradoxes.

And that, perhaps, is my first true lesson about fairies: none of it is exactly right. None of it is exactly wrong.

And that says a lot about the nature of fairies.

—from the hollow hill

#fairy stuff is rly interesting...

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eosoco · 1 day ago

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your father fount gives me life it is perfect

AHHHH THANK YOU,,, thats so sweet hehe, i love them

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eosoco · 2 days ago