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{{Short description|Mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Fay}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Infobox mythical creature
|name           = Fairy
|image          = Falero Luis Ricardo Lily Fairy 1888.jpg
|image_size     =
|caption        = 1888 illustration by [[Luis Ricardo Falero]] of common modern depiction of a fairy with butterfly wings
|Grouping       = [[Legendary creature]]{{Clear}}[[Pixie]]{{Clear}}[[Sprite (creature)|Sprite]]{{Clear}}[[Tuatha Dé Danann]]
|Country        =
|Region         = [[Europe]]
|First_Attested = In folklore
}}

A '''fairy''' (also called '''fay''', '''fae''', '''fae folk''', '''fey''', '''fair folk''', or '''faerie''') is a type of [[mythical]] being or [[legendary creature]], generally described as [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]], found in the [[folklore]] of multiple [[Europe]]an cultures (including [[Celtic mythology|Celtic]], [[Slavic paganism|Slavic]], [[Germanic folklore|Germanic]], and [[French folklore|French]] folklore), a form of [[Supernatural#Spirit|spirit]], often with [[Magic (supernatural)|magical]], [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]], [[supernatural]], or [[preternatural]] qualities.

Myths and stories about fairies do not have a single origin but are rather a collection of [[folk belief]]s from disparate sources. Various folk theories about the origins of fairies include casting them as either demoted [[angel]]s or [[demon]]s in a [[Christian mythology|Christian]] tradition, as deities in [[Paganism|pagan]] belief systems, as [[Spirit (supernatural entity)|spirits]] of the dead, as [[Prehistory|prehistoric]] precursors to [[human]]s, or as spirits of nature.

The label of ''fairy'' has at times applied only to specific [[Magic (supernatural)|magical]] creatures with human appearance, magical powers, and a penchant for trickery. At other times, it has been used to describe any magical creature, such as [[goblin]]s and [[gnome]]s. ''Fairy'' has at times been used as an adjective, with a meaning equivalent to "enchanted" or "magical". It was also used as a name for the place these beings come from: [[Fairyland]].

A recurring [[Motif-Index of Folk-Literature|motif]] of legends about fairies is the need to ward off fairies using protective charms. Common examples of such charms include church bells, wearing clothing inside out, [[four-leaf clover]], and food. Fairies were also sometimes thought to haunt specific locations and to lead travelers astray using [[will-o'-the-wisp]]s. Before the advent of [[Medicine|modern medicine]], fairies were often blamed for sickness, particularly [[tuberculosis]] and birth deformities.

In addition to their folkloric origins, fairies were a common feature of [[Renaissance literature]] and [[Romantic art]] and were especially popular in the [[United Kingdom]] during the [[Victorian era|Victorian]] and [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] eras. The [[Celtic Revival]] also saw fairies established as a canonical part of Celtic cultural heritage.

== Etymology ==
The English ''fairy'' derives from the Early Modern English ''faerie'', meaning '[[fairyland|realm of the ''fays'']]'. ''Faerie'', in turn, derives from the [[Old French]] form {{lang|fro|faierie}}, a derivation from {{lang|fro|faie}} (from [[Vulgar Latin]] {{lang|la|fata}}, '[[Parcae|the fates]]'), with the [[abstract noun]] suffix {{wikt-lang|fro|-erie}}.

In Old French romance, a {{lang|fro|faie}} or {{lang|fro|fee}} was a woman skilled in magic, and who knew the power and virtue of words, of stones, and of herbs.<ref name="Kready">{{cite book |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/sft/sft07.htm |last=Kready |first=Laura |title=A Study of Fairy Tales |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |location=Boston |year=1916 }}</ref>

''Fairy'' was used to represent: an illusion or enchantment; the land of the Faes; collectively the inhabitants thereof; an individual such as a fairy knight.<ref name="Kready"/> {{lang|fro|Faie}} became Modern English ''[[:wikt:fay|fay]]'', while {{lang|fro|faierie}} became ''fairy'', but this spelling almost exclusively refers to one individual (the same meaning as ''fay''). In the sense of 'land where fairies dwell', archaic spellings ''faery'' and ''faerie'' are still in use.

[[Romance languages|Latinate]] {{lang|roa|fae}}, from which ''fairy'' derives, is distinct from English {{wikt-lang|gem|fey}} (from Old English {{lang|ang|fǣġe}}), which means 'fated to die'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fey |title=fey |work=Online Etymology Dictionary }}</ref> However, this unrelated Germanic word {{lang|gem|fey}} may have been influenced by Old French {{lang|fro|fae}} (fay or fairy) as the meaning had shifted slightly to 'fated' from the earlier 'doomed' or 'accursed'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/fey?term=fey |title=Definition of "fey" |work=Dictionary.com }}</ref>

Various folklore traditions refer to fairies [[euphemism|euphemistically]] as ''[[little people (mythology)|wee folk]]'', ''good folk'', ''people of peace'', ''fair folk'' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]]: {{lang|wlm|[[Tylwyth Teg]]}}), etc.<ref name="Briggs1">{{cite book |author-link=Katharine Mary Briggs |last=Briggs |first=Katharine Mary |year=1976 |title=An Encyclopedia of Fairies |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaoffa00brig |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Pantheon Books |chapter=Euphemistic names for fairies |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaoffa00brig/page/127 127] |isbn=0-394-73467-X }}</ref>

== Historical development ==
The term ''fairy'' is sometimes used to describe any [[Magic (supernatural)|magical]] creature, including [[goblin]]s and [[gnome]]s, while at other times, the term describes only a specific type of [[Incorporeality|ethereal]] creature or [[Sprite (folklore)|sprite]].<ref name="Briggs2">Briggs (1976) – ''The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature'' p. xi.</ref>

Explanations for the origins of fairies range from [[Persian mythology]]<ref name="Keightley 1828">{{Cite book|last=Keightley|first=Thomas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=atoUZqxPZYIC|title=The Fairy Mythology|date=1828|publisher=W. H. Ainsworth|isbn=978-0-384-29010-5|language=en}}</ref> to the folklore of the [[Celtic Britons|Brythonic]] ([[Bretons]], [[Welsh people|Welsh]], [[Cornish people|Cornish]]), [[Gaels|Gaelic]] ([[Irish people|Irish]], [[Scottish people|Scots]], [[Manx people|Manx]]), and [[Germanic peoples]], and from the pages of [[Middle French]] [[Chivalric romance|medieval romances]].

According to some historians, such as [[Barthélemy d'Herbelot]], fairies were adopted from and influenced by the {{lang|und|peris}} of Persian mythology.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Warton|first=Thomas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VzvvoBnP_QAC&dq=en&pg=PA63|title=Spenser's Faerie Queene: Observations on the Fairy queen of Spenser. pt. 1|date=2001|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-21958-7|language=en}}</ref> [[Peri]]s were angelic beings that were mentioned in antiquity in pre-Islamic Persia as early as the [[Achaemenid Empire]]. Peris were later described in various Persian works in great detail such as the [[Shahnameh]] by [[Ferdowsi]]. A peri was illustrated to be fair, beautiful, and extravagant nature spirits that were supported by wings. This may have influenced migratory Germanic and Eurasian settlers into Europe, or been transmitted during early exchanges.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Warton|first=Thomas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VzvvoBnP_QAC&dq=2ahUKEwip57-K7rXyAhVtElkFHUp5CwY4FBDoAXoECAMQAw&pg=PA62|title=Spenser's Faerie Queene: Observations on the Fairy queen of Spenser. pt. 1|date=2001|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-21958-7|language=en}}</ref> The similarities could also be attributed to a shared Proto-Indo-European mythology.<ref name="Keightley 1828"/>

In the [[Middle Ages]], ''fairie'' was used adjectivally, meaning "enchanted" (as in ''fairie knight'', ''fairie queene''), but also became a generic term for various "enchanted" creatures during the [[Late Middle English]] period. Literature of the [[Elizabethan era]] conflated elves with the fairies of Romance culture, rendering these terms somewhat interchangeable. The modern concept of "fairy" in the narrower sense is unique to [[English folklore]], later made diminutive in accordance with prevailing tastes of the [[Victorian era]], as in "[[fairy tale]]s" for children.

The [[Victorian era]] and [[Edwardian era]] saw a heightened increase of interest in fairies. The [[Celtic Revival]] cast fairies as part of Ireland's cultural heritage. Carole Silver and others suggested this fascination of English antiquarians arose from a reaction to greater industrialization and loss of older folk ways.<ref name="Silver-hiding">Silver, Carole B. (1999) ''Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness''. Oxford University Press. p. 47 {{ISBN|0-19-512199-6}}.</ref>

== Descriptions ==
Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having [[Magic (supernatural)|magical]] powers. Diminutive fairies of various kinds have been reported through centuries, ranging from quite tiny to the size of a human.<ref name="Briggs3">Briggs (1976) p. 98.</ref> These small sizes could be magically assumed, rather than constant.<ref name="Yeats1">Yeats (1988) p. 2.</ref> Some smaller fairies could expand their figures to imitate humans.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/livesnecromance04godwgoog|title=Lives of the Necromancers|author=William Godwin|year=1876|page=20}}</ref> On [[Orkney]], fairies were described as short in stature, dressed in dark grey, and sometimes seen in [[armour]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/fairicks/f3.htm|title=Orkneyjar – Descriptions of the Fairy Folk|access-date=2015-09-17|archive-date=2020-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224084907/http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/fairicks/f3.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In some folklore, fairies have green eyes. Some depictions of fairies show them with footwear, others as [[barefoot]]. Wings, while common in Victorian and later artworks, are rare in folklore; fairies flew by means of magic, sometimes perched on [[Senecio|ragwort]] stems or the backs of birds.<ref name="Briggs4">Briggs (1976) p. 148.</ref> Modern illustrations often include [[dragonfly]] or [[butterfly]] wings.<ref>Briggs (1976), The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature, p. 249.</ref>

== Origins ==
Early modern ''fairies'' does not derive from a single origin; the term is a conflation of disparate elements from [[folk belief]] sources, influenced by literature and speculation. In the folklore of Ireland, the mythic {{lang|ga|aes sídhe}}, or 'people of the [[fairy hills]]', have come to a modern meaning somewhat inclusive of fairies. The Scandinavian elves also served as an influence. Folklorists and mythologists have variously depicted fairies as the unworthy dead, the children of [[Eve]], a kind of [[demon]], a species independent of humans, an older race of humans, and fallen [[angel]]s.<ref name="Lewis1">{{cite book |author-link=C. S. Lewis |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |year=1994 |title=The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=122 |isbn=0-521-47735-2 }}</ref> The folkloristic or mythological elements combine [[Celtic mythology|Celtic]], [[Germanic mythology|Germanic]] and [[Classical mythology|Greco-Roman]] elements. Folklorists have suggested that 'fairies' arose from various earlier beliefs, which lost currency with the advent of Christianity.<ref name="Yeats-gods">{{cite book |author-link=William Butler Yeats |last=Yeats |first=W. B. |year=1988 |chapter=Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry |title=A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore |publisher=Gramercy |page=1 |isbn=0-517-48904-X }}</ref> These disparate explanations are not necessarily incompatible, as 'fairies' may be traced to multiple sources.

=== Demoted angels ===
A Christian tenet held that fairies were a class of "demoted" [[angel]]s.<ref>Lewis (1994) pp. 135–36.</ref> One story described a group of angels revolting, and God ordered the gates of heaven shut; those still in heaven remained angels, those in hell became demons, and those caught in between became fairies.<ref>Briggs (1976) p. 319.</ref> Others wrote that some angels, not being godly enough, yet not evil enough for hell, were thrown out of heaven.<ref>Yeats (1988) pp. 9–10.</ref> This concept may explain the tradition of paying a "teind" or [[tithe]] to hell; as fallen angels, although not quite devils, they could be viewed as subjects of Satan.<ref>Briggs (1967) p. 9.</ref>

[[File:James I; Daemonologie, in forme of a dialogue. Title page. Wellcome M0014280.jpg|thumb|right|Title page of a 1603 reprinting of ''[[Daemonologie]]'']]

[[James VI and I|King James I]], in his dissertation ''[[Daemonologie]]'', stated the term "faries" referred to illusory spirits (demonic entities) that prophesied to, consorted with, and transported the individuals they served; in medieval times, a witch or sorcerer who had a pact with a [[familiar spirit]] might receive these services.<ref>{{cite book |author=King James |title=Daemonologie |date=1597}}</ref>

In England's [[Christian theosophy|Theosophist]] circles of the 19th century, a belief in the "angelic" nature of fairies was reported.<ref name="Evans-Wentz">{{cite book |author-link=W. Y. Evans-Wentz |last=Evans-Wentz |first=W. Y. |orig-year=1966 |year=1990 |title=The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries |location=New York |publisher=Citadel |pages=167, 243, 457 |isbn=0-8065-1160-5 }}</ref> Entities referred to as [[Deva (New Age)|Devas]] were said to guide many processes of [[nature]], such as [[evolution]] of organisms, growth of [[plant]]s, etc., many of which resided inside the Sun (Solar [[Angel#Theosophy|Angels]]). The more Earthbound Devas included ''nature spirits'', ''[[elemental]]s'', and ''fairies'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Hodson |first=Geoffrey |title=Kingdom of the Gods |year= 2003 |publisher=Kessinger |isbn=0-7661-8134-0 }}</ref> which were described as appearing in the form of colored flames, roughly the size of a human.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/athens/Olympus/3987/devas2.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040820064159/http://www.geocities.com/athens/Olympus/3987/devas2.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 20, 2004|title=Hodson's Pictures|date=August 20, 2004}}</ref>

[[Arthur Conan Doyle]], in his 1922 book ''The Coming of the Fairies''; ''The Theosophic View of Fairies'', reported that eminent theosophist [[E. L. Gardner]] had likened fairies to butterflies, whose function was to provide an essential link between the energy of the sun and the plants of Earth, describing them as having no clean-cut shape ... small, hazy, and somewhat luminous clouds of colour with a brighter sparkish nucleus.{{Request quotation span|date=March 2025|text= describing them as having no clean-cut shape ... small, hazy, and somewhat luminous clouds of colour with a brighter sparkish nucleus.}} "That growth of a plant which we regard as the customary and inevitable result of associating the three factors of sun, seed, and soil would never take place if the fairy builders were absent."<ref name="Doyle">{{cite book |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/cof/cof11.htm |author-link=Arthur Conan Doyle |last=Doyle |first=Arthur Conan |title=The Coming of the Fairies |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |year=1922 }}</ref>

For a similar concept in Persian mythology, see [[Peri]].

=== Demoted pagan deities ===
At one time it was thought that fairies were initially worshiped as deities, such as [[nymph]]s and tree spirits,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Tr-Wa/Trees-in-Mythology.html#b |title=Trees in Mythology |publisher=Mythencyclopedia.com |date=2007-02-19 |access-date=2014-05-11}}</ref> and with the burgeoning predominance of the [[Christian Church]], reverence for these deities carried on, but in a dwindling state of perceived power. Many deprecated deities of older folklore and myth were repurposed as fairies in Victorian fiction (See the works of [[W. B. Yeats]] for examples).

=== Fairies as demons ===
A recorded Christian belief of the 17th century cast all fairies as demons.<ref>Lewis (1994) p. 137.</ref> This perspective grew more popular with the rise of [[Puritanism]] among the [[Reformed Church]] of England (See: [[Anglicanism]]).<ref>Briggs (1976) "Origins of fairies" p. 320.</ref> The [[hobgoblin]], once a friendly household spirit, became classed as a wicked goblin.<ref>Briggs (1976) p. 223.</ref> Dealing with fairies was considered a form of witchcraft and punished as such.<ref name="Briggs409-12">Briggs (1976) "Traffic with fairies" and "Trooping fairies" pp. 409–12.</ref> In [[William Shakespeare's]] ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', [[Oberon]], king of the faeries, states that neither he nor his court fears the church bells, which the author and Christian apologist [[C. S. Lewis]] cast as a politic disassociation from faeries<ref>Lewis (1994) p. 138.</ref> although Lewis makes it clear that he himself does not consider fairies to be demons in his chapter on the topic ("The Longaevi" or "long-livers") from ''The Discarded Image''. In an era of intellectual and religious upheaval, some Victorian reappraisals of mythology cast deities in general as metaphors for natural events,<ref>Silver (1999) p. 44.</ref> which was later refuted by other authors (See: ''[[The Triumph of the Moon]]'', by [[Ronald Hutton]]). This contentious thought environment contributed to the modern meaning of 'fairies'.

=== Spirits of the dead ===
One belief held that fairies were spirits of the dead.<ref name="Lewis2">Lewis (1994) p. 136.</ref> This derived from many factors common in various folklore and myths: same or similar tales of both ghosts and fairies; the Irish {{lang|ga|sídhe}}, origin of their term for fairies, were ancient burial mounds; deemed dangerous to eat food in [[Fairyland]] and [[Hades]]; the dead and fairies depicted as living underground.<ref>Silver (1999) pp. 40–41.</ref> [[Diane Purkiss]] observed an equating of fairies with the untimely dead who left "unfinished lives".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hortulus-journal.com/journal/volume-4-number-1-2008/priest/|title='The king o fairy with his rout': Fairy Magic in the Literature of Late Medieval Britain–By Hannah Priest|date=September 8, 2011}}</ref> One tale recounted a man caught by the fairies, who found that whenever he looked steadily at a fairy, it appeared as a dead neighbor of his.<ref name="Briggs67-1">Briggs (1967) p. 15.</ref> This theory was among the more common traditions related, although many informants also expressed doubts.<ref name="Briggs67-2">Briggs (1967) p. 141.</ref>

=== Hidden people ===
[[File:Brock Fairy.jpg|thumb|Illustration of a fairy by [[C. E. Brock]]]]

There is an outdated theory that fairy folklore evolved from folk memories of a prehistoric race: newcomers superseded a body of earlier human or humanoid peoples, and the memories of this defeated race developed into modern conceptions of fairies. Proponents find support in the [[Iron in folklore|tradition of cold iron]] as a charm against fairies, viewed as a cultural memory of invaders with iron weapons displacing peoples who had just stone, bone, wood, etc., at their disposal, and were easily defeated. 19th-century archaeologists uncovered underground rooms in the [[Orkney|Orkney islands]] that resembled the Elfland described in [[Childe Rowland]],<ref>Yolen, Jane (2000) ''Touch Magic''. p. 49 {{ISBN|0-87483-591-7}}.</ref> which lent additional support. In folklore, flint arrowheads from the [[Stone Age]] were attributed to the fairies as "[[elfshot]]",<ref name="Froud">Froud, Brian and Lee, Alan (1978) ''Faeries''. New York, Peacock Press {{ISBN|0-553-01159-6}}.</ref> while their green clothing and underground homes spoke to a need for camouflage and covert shelter from hostile humans, their magic a necessary skill for combating those with superior weaponry. In a Victorian tenet of evolution, mythic cannibalism among [[ogre]]s was attributed to memories of more savage races practicing alongside "superior" races of more refined sensibilities.<ref>Silver (1999) p. 45.</ref> The most important modern proponent of the 'hidden people' theory was the Scottish folklorist and antiquarian [[David MacRitchie]].<ref>''Fians, Fairies and Picts'' (London: Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co 1893)</ref>

=== Elementals ===
A theory that fairies were an intelligent species, distinct from humans and angels.<ref name="Lewis3">Lewis (1994) p. 134.</ref> An alchemist, [[Paracelsus]], classed [[gnome]]s and [[sylph]]s as [[elemental]]s, meaning magical entities who personify a particular force of nature and exert powers over these forces.<ref name="Silver1">Silver (1999) p. 38.</ref> Folklore accounts have described fairies as "spirits of the air".<ref>Briggs (1967) p. 146.</ref>

== Characteristics ==
Much folklore of fairies involves methods of protecting oneself from their malice, by means such as cold iron, charms (see [[amulet]], [[talisman]]) of [[rowan]] trees or various [[herb]]s, or simply shunning locations "known" to be theirs, ergo avoiding offending any fairies.<ref>Briggs1 (1976) pp. 335,36.</ref> Less harmful pranks ascribed to fairies include: tangling the hair of sleepers into [[fairy-lock]]s (aka elf-locks), stealing small items, and leading a traveler astray. More dangerous behaviors were also attributed to fairies; any form of sudden death might have stemmed from a fairy kidnapping, the evident corpse a magical replica of wood.<ref>Briggs1 (1976) p. 25.</ref> Consumption ([[tuberculosis]]) was sometimes blamed on fairies who forced young men and women to dance at [[wikt:revel#Etymology|revels]] every night, causing them to waste away from lack of rest.<ref>Briggs1 (1976) p. 80.</ref> [[Rowan]] trees were considered sacred to fairies,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/kis/kis55.htm|title=The King of Ireland's Son |publisher=Internet Sacred Text Archive |website=The House of Crom Duv: The Story of the Fairy Rowan Tree |first1=Padraic |last1=Colum |date=1916 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407175359/https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/kis/kis55.htm |archive-date= Apr 7, 2023 }}</ref> and a charm tree to protect one's home.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 November 2003 |title=Mythology and Folklore of the Rowan |url=http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.mythrowan.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031204015629/http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.mythrowan.html |archive-date=Dec 4, 2003 |website=Trees for Life}}</ref>

== Classifications ==
{{Main|Classifications of fairies}}
Various folklorists have proposed classification systems for fairies. Using terms popularized by W. B. Yeats, ''trooping fairies'' are those who appear in groups and might form settlements, as opposed to ''solitary fairies,'' who do not live or associate with others of their kind. In this context, the term ''fairy'' is usually held in a wider sense, including various similar beings, such as [[Dwarf (mythology)|dwarves]] and [[Elf|elves]] of [[German folklore|Germanic folklore]].<ref name="Briggs409-12"/>

In [[Scottish folklore]], fairies are divided into the ''[[Seelie|Seelie Court]]'' (more beneficently inclined, but still dangerous), and the ''Unseelie Court'' (more malicious). While fairies of the Seelie Court enjoyed playing generally harmless pranks on humans, those of the Unseelie Court often brought harm to humans for entertainment.<ref name="Froud" /> Both could be dangerous to humans if offended.

Some scholars have cautioned against the overuse of dividing fairies into types.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sikes |first=Wirt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yq5ZAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22fairies+being+creatures+of+the+imagination%2C+it+is+not+possible+to+classify+them+by+fixed+and+immutable+rules.%22&pg=PA11 |title=British Goblins: Welsh Folk-Lore, Fairy Mythology. Legends and Traditions |publisher=J.R. Osgood and Company |year=1880 |pages=11}}</ref> British folklore historian Simon Young noted that classification varies widely from researcher to researcher, and pointed out that it does not necessarily reflect old beliefs, since "those people living hundreds of years ago did not structure their experience as we do."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Young |first=Simon |date=May 2013 |title=Against Taxonomy: The Fairy Families of Cornwall |journal=Cornish Studies |volume=21 |issue=3|pages=223–237 |doi=10.1386/corn.21.1.223_1 |doi-broken-date=1 July 2025 }}</ref>

== Changelings ==
{{Main|Changeling}}
A considerable amount of lore about fairies revolves around [[changeling]]s, fairies left in the place of stolen humans.<ref name="Silver-hiding" /> In particular, folklore describes how to prevent the fairies from stealing babies and substituting changelings, and abducting older people as well.<ref name="Briggs 1976 p.25">Briggs (1976) p. 25.</ref> The theme of the swapped child is common in medieval literature and reflects concern over infants thought to be afflicted with unexplained diseases, disorders, or developmental disabilities. In pre-industrial Europe, a peasant family's subsistence frequently depended upon the productive labor of each member, and a person who was a permanent drain on the family's scarce resources could pose a threat to the survival of the entire family.<ref name=Ashliman>{{cite web|url=http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/changeling.html|title=Changelings|publisher=[[University of Pittsburgh]]|last=Ashliman|first=D.L.|author-link=D. L. Ashliman}}</ref>

== Protective charms ==
In terms of protective charms, wearing clothing inside out,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/ACalend/Parshell.html|title=Protect your property and yourself – make a Parshell – World Cultures European}}</ref> church bells, [[St. John's wort]], and [[four-leaf clover]]s are regarded as effective. In [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]] folklore, the most popular type of fairy protection is bread, varying from stale bread to [[hard tack]] or a slice of fresh homemade bread. Bread is associated with the home and the hearth, as well as with industry and the taming of nature, and as such, seems to be disliked by some types of fairies. On the other hand, in much of the [[Welsh mythology|Celtic folklore]], baked goods are a traditional offering to the folk, as are cream and butter.<ref name="Evans-Wentz" /> "The prototype of food, and therefore a symbol of life, bread was one of the commonest protections against fairies. Before going out into a fairy-haunted place, it was customary to put a piece of dry bread in one's pocket."<ref>Briggs (1976) p. 41.</ref> In [[County Wexford]], [[Ireland]], in 1882, it was reported that: "if an infant is carried out after dark a piece of bread is wrapped in its bib or dress, and this protects it from any witchcraft or evil."<ref>[[Iona and Peter Opie|Opie, Iona]] and Tatem, Moira (eds) (1989) ''A Dictionary of Superstitions'' [[Oxford University Press]]. p. 38.</ref>

Bells also have an ambiguous role; while they protect against fairies, the fairies riding on horseback&nbsp;— such as the fairy queen&nbsp;— often have bells on their harness. This may be a distinguishing trait between the [[Classifications of fairies|Seelie Court]] from the Unseelie Court, such that fairies use them to protect themselves from more wicked members of their race.<ref>Briggs (1976) "Bells" p. 20.</ref> Another ambiguous piece of folklore revolves about poultry: a cock's crow drove away fairies, but other tales recount fairies keeping poultry.<ref>Briggs (1967) p. 74.</ref>

While many fairies will confuse travelers on the path, the [[will-o'-the-wisp]] can be avoided by not following it. Certain locations, known to be haunts of fairies, are to be avoided; [[C. S. Lewis]] reported hearing of a cottage more feared for its reported fairies than its reported ghost.<ref>Lewis (1994) p. 125.</ref> In particular, digging in fairy hills was unwise. [[Fairy path|Paths that the fairies travel]] are also wise to avoid. Home-owners have knocked corners from houses because the corner blocked the fairy path,<ref>Silver (1999) p. 155.</ref> and cottages have been built with the front and back doors in line, so that the owners could, in need, leave them both open and let the fairies troop through all night.<ref>Lenihan, Eddie and Green, Carolyn Eve (2004) ''Meeting The Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland''. pp. 146–47 {{ISBN|1-58542-206-1}}.</ref> Locations such as [[fairy fort]]s were left undisturbed; even cutting brush on fairy forts was reputed to be the death of those who performed the act.<ref>Lenihan (2004) p. 125.</ref> Fairy trees, such as [[Crataegus monogyna|thorn trees]], were dangerous to chop down; one such tree was left alone in Scotland, though it prevented a road from being widened for seventy years.<ref>Silver (1999) p. 152.</ref>

[[File:Fairychapeltoun.JPG|thumb|A resin statue of a fairy]]

Other actions were believed to offend fairies. [[Brownie (folklore)|Brownies]] were known to be driven off by being given clothing, though some folktales recounted that they were offended by the inferior quality of the garments given, and others merely stated it, some even recounting that the brownie was delighted with the gift and left with it.<ref>Briggs (1976) "Brownies" p. 46.</ref> Other brownies left households or farms because they heard a complaint, or a compliment.<ref>Briggs (1967) p. 34.</ref> People who saw the fairies were advised not to look closely, because they resented infringements on their privacy.<ref>Briggs (1976) "Infringement of fairy privacy" p. 233.</ref> The need to not offend them could lead to problems: one farmer found that fairies threshed his corn, but the threshing continued after all his corn was gone, and he concluded that they were stealing from his neighbors, leaving him the choice between offending them, dangerous in itself, and profiting by the theft.<ref>Briggs (1976) "Fairy morality" p. 115.</ref>

Millers were thought by the Scots to be "no canny", owing to their ability to control the forces of nature, such as fire in the kiln, water in the burn, and for being able to set machinery a-whirring. Superstitious communities sometimes believed that the miller must be in league with the fairies. In Scotland, fairies were often mischievous and to be feared. No one dared to set foot in the mill or kiln at night, as it was known that the fairies brought their corn to be milled after dark. So long as the locals believed this, the miller could sleep secure in the knowledge that his stores were not being robbed. John Fraser, the miller of Whitehill, claimed to have hidden and watched the fairies trying unsuccessfully to work the mill. He said he decided to come out of hiding and help them, upon which one of the fairy women gave him a ''gowpen'' (double handful of meal) and told him to put it in his empty ''girnal'' (store), saying that the store would remain full for a long time, no matter how much he took out.<ref name="Gauldie">Gauldie, E. (1981) ''The Scottish Miller 1700–1900''. Edinburgh, John McDonald. p. 187.</ref>

It is also believed that to know the name of a particular fairy, a person could summon it and force it to do their bidding. The name could be used as an insult towards the fairy in question, but it could also rather contradictorily be used to grant powers and gifts to the user.{{citation needed|date=March 2017|reason=interesting but source needed for whole paragraph; "What are ye, little mannie?": The Persistence of Fairy Culture in Scotland, 1572–1703 and 1811–1927, Alison Marie Hight, 2014, p. 7 talks of name types but not summoning}}

Before the advent of modern medicine, many physiological conditions were untreatable and when children were born with abnormalities, it was common to blame the fairies.<ref name="Eason">{{cite book|last=Eason|first=Cassandra|title=Fabulous creatures, mythical monsters, and animal power symbols: a handbook|pages=147, 148|chapter=Fabulous creatures, mythical monsters and animal power symbols|year=2008|publisher=Greenwood Publishing |isbn=9780275994259|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s4AP30k4IFwC&q=selkie+myth&pg=PA148|access-date=11 May 2013}}</ref>

== Legends ==
Sometimes fairies are described as assuming the guise of an animal.<ref>Briggs, K. M. (1967) ''The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature''. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. p. 71.</ref> In Scotland, it was peculiar to the fairy women to assume the shape of deer; while witches became mice, hares, cats, gulls, or black sheep. In "The Legend of [[Knockshigowna]]", in order to frighten a farmer who pastured his herd on fairy ground, a fairy queen took on the appearance of a great horse, with the wings of an eagle, and a tail like a dragon, hissing loud and spitting fire. Then she would change into a little man lame of a leg, with a bull's head, and a lambent flame playing round it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/flat/flat01.htm|title= The Legend of Knocksheogowna|publisher=Internet Sacred Text Archive |work=Fairy Legends and Traditions |first1=Thomas |last1=Crofton Croker |date=1825 }}</ref>

In the 19th-century [[Child ballad]] "[[Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight]]", the elf-knight is a [[Bluebeard]] figure, and Isabel must trick and kill him to preserve her life.<ref name="ChildBallads">Child, Francis ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads''.</ref> The child ballad "[[Tam Lin]]" reveals that the title character, though living among the fairies and having fairy powers, was, in fact, an "earthly knight" and though his life was pleasant ''now'', he feared that the fairies would pay him as their [[tithe|teind]] (tithe) to hell.<ref name="ChildBallads" />

"[[Sir Orfeo]]" tells how Sir Orfeo's wife was kidnapped by the King of Faerie and only by trickery and an excellent harping ability was he able to win her back. "Sir Degare" narrates the tale of a woman overcome by her fairy lover, who in later versions of the story is unmasked as a mortal. "[[Thomas the Rhymer]]" shows Thomas escaping with less difficulty, but he spends seven years in Elfland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch037.htm |title=The Child Ballads: 37. Thomas Rymer |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2012-08-15}}</ref> [[Oisín]] is harmed not by his stay in Faerie but by his return; when he dismounts, the three centuries that have passed catch up with him, reducing him to an aged man.<ref>Briggs (1967) p. 104.</ref> King Herla (O.E. ''"Herla cyning"''), originally a guise of Woden but later Christianised as a king in a tale by [[Walter Map]], was said, by Map, to have visited a [[Dwarf (mythology)|dwarf]]'s underground mansion and returned three centuries later; although only some of his men crumbled to dust on dismounting, Herla and his men who did not dismount were trapped on horseback, this being one account of the origin of the [[Wild Hunt]] of [[European folklore]].<ref>Briggs (1967) pp. 50–51.</ref><ref>De Nugis Curiallium by Walter Map, Edited by F. Tupper & M.B Ogle (Chatto & Windus, London 1924)</ref>

A common feature of the fairies is the use of magic to disguise their appearance. ''Fairy gold'' is notoriously unreliable, appearing as [[gold]] when paid but soon thereafter revealing itself to be leaves, [[gorse]] blossoms, [[gingerbread]] cakes, or a variety of other comparatively worthless things.<ref>Lenihan (2004) pp. 109–10.</ref>

These illusions are also implicit in the tales of ''[[fairy ointment]]''. Many tales from [[Northern Europe]]<ref name="kerven">''Northumberland Folk Tales'', by Rosalind Kerven (2005) Antony Rowe Ltd, p. 532.</ref><ref>Narváez, Peter (1997) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=DLmoKKkxAX0C The Good People: New Fairylore Essays]''. University Press of Kentucky. p. 126</ref> tell of a mortal woman summoned to attend a fairy birth — sometimes attending a mortal, kidnapped woman's childbed. Invariably, the woman is given something for the child's eyes, usually an ointment; through mischance, or sometimes curiosity, she uses it on one or both of her own eyes. At that point, she sees where she is; one midwife realizes that she was not attending a great lady in a fine house but her own runaway maid-servant in a wretched cave. She escapes without making her ability known but sooner or later betrays that she can see the fairies. She is invariably blinded in that eye or in both if she used the ointment on both.<ref>Briggs (1976) "Fairy ointment" p. 156.</ref>

There have been claims by people in the past, like [[William Blake]], to have seen fairy funerals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Woodyard |first=Chris |date=2022 |title=Poets, Pipes, and Petals: Some Accounts of Fairy Funerals |url=https://www.academia.edu/81837759 |journal=Fairy Investigation Society Newsletter |volume=16 |pages=17–25}}</ref> [[Allan Cunningham (author)|Allan Cunningham]] in his ''Lives of Eminent British Painters'' records that William Blake claimed to have seen a fairy funeral:
<blockquote>
'Did you ever see a fairy's funeral, madam?' said Blake to a lady who happened to sit next to him. 'Never, sir!' said the lady. 'I have,' said Blake, 'but not before last night.' And he went on to tell how, in his garden, he had seen 'a procession of creatures of the size and colour of green and grey grasshoppers, bearing a body laid out on a rose-leaf, which they buried with songs, and then disappeared.' They are believed to be an omen of death.
</blockquote>

=== {{lang|ga|Tuatha Dé Danann}} ===
{{Main|Tuatha Dé Danann|l1={{lang|ga|Tuatha Dé Danann|nocat=y}}}}
The {{lang|ga|Tuatha Dé Danann}} are a race of supernaturally-gifted people in [[Irish mythology]]. They are thought to represent the main deities of pre-Christian Ireland. Many of the Irish modern tales of the {{lang|ga|Tuatha Dé Danann}} refer to these beings as fairies, though in more ancient times they were regarded as [[goddess]]es and [[god]]s. The {{lang|ga|Tuatha Dé Danann}} were spoken of as having come from islands in the north of the world or, in other sources, from the sky. After being victorious in a series of battles with other otherworldly beings, and then being defeated by the ancestors of the current [[Irish people]], they were said to have withdrawn to the {{lang|ga|sídhe}} (fairy mounds), where they lived on in popular imagination as "fairies".{{citation needed|date=March 2012}}

They are associated with several Otherworld realms including {{lang|ga|[[Mag Mell]]}} ('the Pleasant Plain'), {{lang|ga|[[Emain Ablach]]}} ('the place of apples'), and {{lang|ga|[[Tir na nÓg]]}} ('the Land of Youth').

=== {{lang|ga|Aos Sí}} ===
{{Main|Aos Sí|l1={{lang|ga|Aos Sí|nocat=y}}}}
The '''{{lang|ga|aos sí}}''' is the Irish term for a supernatural race in [[Irish mythology|Irish]], comparable to the fairies or elves. They are variously said to be ancestors, the spirits of nature, or goddesses and gods.<ref name=Wentz>[[Walter Evans-Wentz|Evans Wentz, W. Y.]] (1966, 1990) [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/ffcc/ The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries]. Gerrards Cross, Colin Smythe Humanities Press {{ISBN|0-901072-51-6}}</ref> A common theme found among the Celtic nations describes a race of people who had been driven out by invading humans. In old Celtic fairy lore the {{lang|ga|Aos Sí}} ('people of the fairy mounds') are immortals living in the ancient barrows and cairns. The Irish [[banshee]] ([[Irish language|Irish Gaelic]] {{lang|ga|bean sí}}, previously {{lang|ga|bean sídhe}}, 'woman of the fairy mound') is sometimes described as a ghost.<ref name="Briggs5">Briggs (1976) p. 15.</ref>

=== Scottish {{lang|gd|Sìthe}} ===
{{Main|Aos Sí|l1 = {{lang|ga|Aos Sí|nocat=y}}}}
In the 1691 ''The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies'', Reverend [[Robert Kirk (folklorist)|Robert Kirk]], minister of the Parish of [[Aberfoyle, Stirling]], Scotland, wrote:

<blockquote>
These Siths or Fairies they call {{lang|gd|Sleagh Maith}} or the Good People...are said to be of middle nature between Man and Angel, as were Daemons thought to be of old; of intelligent fluidous Spirits, and light changeable bodies (lyke those called Astral) somewhat of the nature of a condensed cloud, and best seen in twilight. These bodies be so pliable through the sublety of Spirits that agitate them, that they can make them appear or disappear at pleasure<ref name="Kirk">{{cite book|last=Kirk|first=Robert|author2=Lang, Andrew|title=The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies|publisher=Forgotten Books|location=Aberfoyle, Scotland|date=28 December 2007|series=Easy Reading Series|page=39|chapter=1. Of the subterranean inhabitants|isbn=978-1-60506-185-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LjVWCbtiTbEC&q=clouds|access-date=30 April 2010}}</ref>
</blockquote>

== In literature ==
[[File:Johann Heinrich Füssli 058.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.3|''Prince Arthur and the [[The Faerie Queene|Faerie Queene]]'' by [[Johann Heinrich Füssli]] ({{c.|1788}}); scene from ''The Faerie Queene'']]

The word ''fairy'' was used to describe an individual inhabitant of Faerie before the time of [[Chaucer]].<ref name=Kready />

Fairies appeared in [[Chivalric romance|medieval romances]] as one of the beings that a [[knight errant]] might encounter. A fairy lady appeared to [[Sir Launfal]] and demanded his love; like the fairy bride of ordinary folklore, she imposed a prohibition on him that in time he violated. [[Sir Orfeo]]'s wife was carried off by the King of Faerie. [[Huon of Bordeaux]] is aided by King [[Oberon]].<ref name="Lewis129-30">Lewis (1994) pp. 129–30.</ref> These fairy characters dwindled in number as the medieval era progressed; the figures became wizards and enchantresses.<ref name="Briggs132">Briggs (1976). "Fairies in medieval romances". p. 132.</ref>

The oldest fairies on record in England were first described by the historian Gervase of Tilbury in the 13th century.<ref name=Castelow>{{cite web|url=http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Origins-of-Fairies/|title=The Origins and History of Fairies}}</ref>

In the 1485 book {{lang|fr|[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]}}, [[Morgan le Fay]], whose connection to the realm of Faerie is implied in her name, is a woman whose magic powers stem from study.<ref>Briggs (1976) ''Morgan Le Fay'' p. 303.</ref> While somewhat diminished with time, fairies never completely vanished from the tradition. [[Edmund Spenser]] featured fairies in his 1590 book ''[[The Faerie Queene]]''.<ref>Briggs (1976) ''Faerie Queen'', p. 130.</ref> In many works of fiction, fairies are freely mixed with the [[nymph]]s and [[satyr]]s of classical tradition,<ref>Briggs (1967) p. 174.</ref> while in others (e.g., [[Lamia (poem)|Lamia]]), they were seen as displacing the Classical beings. 15th-century poet and monk [[John Lydgate]] wrote that [[King Arthur]] was crowned in "the land of the fairy" and taken in his death by four fairy queens, to [[Avalon]], where he lies under a "fairy hill" until he is needed again.<ref>''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies'', Anna Franklin, Sterling Publishing Company, 2004, p. 18.</ref>

[[File:Sir Joseph Noel Paton - The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania - Google Art Project 2.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.3|''The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania'' by [[Joseph Noel Paton]] (1849): fairies in [[Shakespeare]]]]

Fairies appear as significant characters in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', which is set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the Moon<ref>{{cite book|title=The Arden Shakespeare "A Midsummer Night's Dream"|last=Shakespeare |first=William| editor=Harold F. Brooks| publisher=Methuen & Co. Ltd.|year=1979|page=cxxv |isbn=0-415-02699-7|no-pp=true}}</ref> and in which a disturbance of nature caused by a fairy dispute creates tension underlying the plot and informing the actions of the characters. According to Maurice Hunt, Chair of the English Department at Baylor University, the blurring of the identities of fantasy and reality makes possible "that pleasing, narcotic dreaminess associated with the fairies of the play".<ref>Hunt, Maurice. "Individuation in A Midsummer Night's Dream". ''South Central Review'' 3.2 (Summer 1986): 1–13.</ref>

Shakespeare's contemporary [[Michael Drayton]] features fairies in his ''Nimphidia'', and from these stem [[Alexander Pope]]'s sylphs of the 1712 poem ''[[The Rape of the Lock]]''. In the mid-17th century the French literary style {{lang|fr|[[précieuses]]}} took up the oral tradition of such tales to write [[fairy tale]]s, and [[Madame d'Aulnoy]] invented the term {{lang|fr|contes de fée}} ('fairy tale').<ref>Zipes, Jack (2000) ''The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm''. W.W. Norton. p. 858 {{ISBN|0-393-97636-X}}.</ref> While the tales told by the {{lang|fr|précieuses}} included many fairies, they were less common in other countries' tales; indeed, the [[Brothers Grimm]] included fairies in their first edition but decided this was not authentically German and altered the language in later editions, changing each {{lang|de|Fee}} ("fairy") to an enchantress or wise woman.<ref>Tatar, Maria (2003) ''The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales''. Princeton University Press. p. 31 {{ISBN|0-691-06722-8}}.</ref> [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] described these tales as taking place in the land of Faerie.<ref>Tolkien, J. R. R. "On Fairy-Stories", ''The Tolkien Reader'', pp. 10–11.</ref> Additionally, not all folktales that feature fairies are generally categorized as fairy tales.

The modern depiction of fairies was shaped in the literature of [[Romanticism]] during the [[Victorian era]]. Writers such as [[Walter Scott]] and [[James Hogg]] were inspired by folklore which featured fairies, such as the ''[[Border ballad]]s''. This era saw an increase in the popularity of collecting fairy folklore and an increase in the creation of original works with fairy characters.<ref>Briggs, (1967) pp. 165–67.</ref> In [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s 1906 book of short stories and poems, ''[[Puck of Pook's Hill]]'', [[Puck (folklore)|Puck]] holds to scorn the moralizing fairies of other Victorian works.<ref>Briggs (1967) p. 203.</ref> The period also saw a revival of older themes in [[fantasy]] literature, such as C.S. Lewis's [[Narnia]] books, which, while featuring many such classical beings as [[faun]]s and [[dryad]]s, mingles them freely with [[hag]]s, [[giant]]s, and other creatures of the folkloric fairy tradition.<ref>Briggs (1967) p. 209.</ref> Victorian [[flower fairies]] were popularized in part by [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]]'s keen interest in fairy art and by British illustrator and poet [[Cicely Mary Barker]]'s series of eight books published in 1923 through 1948. Imagery of fairies in literature became prettier and smaller as time progressed.<ref>"Lewis pp. 129–30".</ref> [[Andrew Lang]], complaining of "the fairies of polyanthuses and gardenias and apple blossoms" in the introduction to ''[[The Lilac Fairy Book]]'' (1910), observed that: "These fairies try to be funny, and fail; or they try to preach, and succeed."<ref>Lang, Andrew [http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/lilac.htm Preface ''The Lilac Fairy Book''].</ref>

A story of the origin of fairies appears in a chapter about [[Peter Pan (character)|Peter Pan]] in [[J. M. Barrie]]'s 1902 novel ''[[The Little White Bird]]'', and was incorporated into his later works about the character. Barrie wrote: "When the first baby laughed for the first time, his laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping about. That was the beginning of fairies."<ref>J. M. Barrie, ''Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens'' and ''Peter and Wendy'', Oxford Press, 1999, p. 32.</ref> Fairies are seen in [[Neverland]], in ''[[Peter and Wendy]]'', the 1911 novel version of [[J. M. Barrie]]'s famous [[Peter Pan (character)|Peter Pan]] stories, and its character [[Tinker Bell]] has become a pop culture icon. When Peter Pan is guarding Wendy from pirates, the story says: "After a time he fell asleep, and some unsteady fairies had to climb over him on their way home from an orgy. Any of the other boys obstructing the fairy path at night they would have mischiefed, but they just tweaked Peter's nose and passed on."<ref>J. M. Barrie, ''Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens as well Peter and Wendy'', Oxford Press, 1999, p. 132.</ref>

== In visual art ==
{{See also|Fairy painting}}
[[File:CottingleyFairies2.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|One of the five [[Cottingley Fairies]] photographs]]
Images of fairies have appeared as illustrations, often in books of [[fairy tale]]s, as well as in photographic media and [[sculpture]]. Some artists known for their depictions of fairies include [[Cicely Mary Barker]], Amy Brown, David Delamare, [[Meredith Dillman]], [[Gustave Doré]], [[Brian Froud]], [[Warwick Goble]], [[Jasmine Becket-Griffith]], [[Rebecca Guay]], [[Florence Harrison]], [[Alan Lee (illustrator)|Alan Lee]], [[Ida Rentoul Outhwaite]], Myrea Pettit, [[Arthur Rackham]], [[Suza Scalora]], and [[Nene Thomas]].<ref name=tws08>{{cite magazine| author = Gates, David | title = Nothing Here But Kid Stuff| magazine = Newsweek| date = November 29, 1999| url = http://www.newsweek.com/id/90381| access-date = 2009-08-19}}</ref>

The [[Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor, MI]] are small doors installed into local buildings. Local children believe these are the front doors of [[fairy houses]], and in some cases, small furniture, dishes, and various other things can be seen beyond the doors.

The [[Victorian era]] was particularly noted for fairy paintings. The Victorian painter [[Richard Dadd]] created paintings of fairy-folk with a sinister and malign tone. Other Victorian artists who depicted fairies include [[John Anster Fitzgerald]], [[John Atkinson Grimshaw]], [[Daniel Maclise]], and [[Joseph Noel Paton]].<ref>{{cite web|author-link=Terri Windling|last=Windling|first= Terri|url=http://www.endicott-studio.com/gal/galvctf.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061111095722/http://www.endicott-studio.com/gal/galvctf.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2006-11-11|title= Victorian Fairy Paintings|website=endicott-studio.com |date=2006-11-11 }}</ref> Interest in fairy-themed art enjoyed a brief renaissance following the publication of the [[Cottingley Fairies]] photographs in 1920, and a number of artists turned to painting fairy themes.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

==Christian belief in fairies==
Most Christians have been negative or skeptical regarding creatures such as fairies or nature spirits, but a minority of Christian thinkers have advocated for the reality of fairies in positive terms. One early example is [[Origen of Alexandria]] in ''[[Contra Celsum]]'' (8.31) from about the year 248:

{{Blockquote
|text=We indeed also maintain with regard not only to the fruits of the earth, but to every flowing stream and every breath of air that the ground brings forth those things which are said to grow up naturally — that the water springs in fountains, and refreshes the earth with running streams — that the air is kept pure, and supports the life of those who breathe it, only in consequence of the agency and control of certain beings whom we may call invisible husbandmen and guardians; but we deny that those invisible agents are demons.
}}

About a century later ({{circa|335}}), [[Athanasius of Alexandria]] gives an exclusively negative assessment of these same creatures (''On the Incarnation'' 8.47) as simply "demons ...taking up their abode in springs or rivers or trees or stones and imposing upon simple people by their frauds." While such negative or skeptical ideas remained the majority positions for Christians, some exceptions can be found such as the Scottish minister [[Robert Kirk (folklorist)|Robert Kirk]] who wrote ''The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies'' in the later seventeenth century (1893).

In the modern era, [[C. S. Lewis]] writes about the possibility of fairies being real in "The Longaevi" (the "Long-livers" or "Long Lived Ones") in his book ''[[The Discarded Image]]''. Lewis also shared this account of comments by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] within a letter to Arthur Greeves (22 June 1930):

{{Blockquote
|text=Tolkien once remarked to me that the feeling about home must have been quite different in the days when a family had [[local food|fed on the produce of the same few miles]] of country for six generations, and that perhaps this was why they saw nymphs in the fountains and dryads in the woods – they were not mistaken for there was in a sense a real (not metaphorical) connection between them and the countryside. What had been earth and air and later corn, and later still bread, really was in them. We of course who live on a standardised international diet (you may have had Canadian flour, English meat, Scotch oatmeal, African oranges, & [[Australian wine]] to day) are really artificial beings and have no connection (save in sentiment) with any place on earth. We are synthetic men, uprooted. The strength of the hills is not ours.
}}

Tolkien shares more about the possible reality of fairies in a manuscript published posthumously:

{{Blockquote
|text=If Fairies really exist—independently of Men—then very few of our 'Fairy-stories' have any relation to them... They are a quite separate creation living in another mode. They appear to us in human form (with hands, faces, voices and language similar to our own): this may be their real form and their difference reside in something other than form, or it may be (probably is) only the way in which their presence affects us. Rabbits and eagles may be aware of them quite otherwise. For lack of a better word they may be called spirits, daemons: inherent powers of the created world, deriving more directly and 'earlier' (in terrestrial history) from the creating will of God, but nonetheless created.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tolkien |first1=J. R. R. |editor-last1=Flieger |editor-first1=Verlyn |chapter=Manuscript B |title=Tolkien on Fairy-stories |date=2008 |publication-place=London, UK |publisher=Douglas A. Anderson |publication-date=2008 |pages=254–255 |isbn=978-0007244669 |quote=If Fairies really exist—independently of Men—then very few of our 'Fairy-stories' have any relation to them: as little, or less than our ghost-stories have to the real events that may befall human personality (or form) after death. If Fairies exist they are bound by the Moral Law as is all the created Universe; but their duties and functions are not ours. They are not spirits of the dead, nor a branch of the human race, nor devils in fair shapes whose chief object is our deception and ruin... They are a quite separate creation living in another mode. They appear to us in human form (with hands, faces, voices and language similar to our own): this may be their real form and their difference reside in something other than form, or it may be (probably is) only the way in which their presence affects us. Rabbits and eagles may be aware of them quite otherwise. For lack of a better word they may be called spirits, daemons: inherent powers of the created world, deriving more directly and 'earlier' (in terrestrial history) from the creating will of God, but nonetheless created, subject to Moral Law, capable of good and evil, and possibly (in this fallen world) actually sometimes evil. They are in fact non-incarnate minds (or souls) of a stature and even nature more near to that of Man (in some cases possibly less, in many maybe greater) than any other rational creatures, known or guessed by us. They can take form at will, or they could do so: they have or had a choice. Thus a tree-fairy (or a dryad) is, or was, a minor spirit in the process of creation who aided as 'agent' in the making effective of the divine Tree-idea or some part of it, or of even of some one particular example: some tree. He is therefore now bound by use and love to Trees (or a tree), immortal while the world (and trees) last—never to escape, until the End. It is a dreadful Doom (to human minds if they are wise) in exchange for a splendid power. What fate awaits him beyond the Confines of the World, we cannot know. It is likely that the Fairy does not know himself. It is possible that nothing awaits him—outside the World and the Cycle of Story and of Time.}}</ref>
}}

[[File:David Bentley Hart 3 Nov 2022 Interview cropped.png|thumb|upright|American theologian [[David Bentley Hart]]]]
Christian theologians [[John Milbank]] and [[David Bentley Hart]] have spoken and written about the real existence of fairies<ref>{{cite web|author=David Bentley Hart|author-link=David Bentley Hart|title=Saving Scholé with David Bentley Hart|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezqs2qxGyeY&t=17s|date=30 December 2022|publisher=Classical Academic Press|quote=At the 2:42 mark: Remind them, and this is absolutely vital, that fairies are real.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=David Bentley Hart|author-link=David Bentley Hart|title=The Armstrong Archives: Otherworlds with David Bentley Hart|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA8TLn38dRw&t=4s|date=22 February 2023|publisher=Leaves in the Wind|quote=At the 1:54 mark: Believing in fairies, ...right now, that's got to be part of orthodoxy, that's got to go right into the creed.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=John Milbank|author-link=John Milbank|title=Stanton Lecture 8: The Surprise of the Imagined|url=http://theologyphilosophycentre.co.uk/papers/Milbank_StantonLecture8.pdf|date=3 March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=David Bentley Hart|author-link=David Bentley Hart|title=The Secret Commonwealth|url=https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2009/10/the-secret-commonwealth|date=20 October 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=David Bentley Hart|author-link=David Bentley Hart|title=God, Gods and Fairies|url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2013/06/god-gods-and-fairies|date=June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=David Bentley Hart|author-link=David Bentley Hart|title=Therapeutic Superstition|url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2012/11/therapeutic-superstition|date=November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=David Bentley Hart|author-link=David Bentley Hart|title=...Of Hills, Brooks, Standing Lakes and Groves...|url=https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2010/10/hellipof-hills-brooks-standing-lakes-and-groveshellip|date=29 October 2010}}</ref> as has the Christian philosopher [[Stephen R. L. Clark]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Stephen R. L. Clark|author-link=Stephen R. L. Clark|title=Why We Believe in Fairies|url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/03/why-we-believe-in-fairies|date=March 2017}}</ref><ref>Clark, Stephen R.L. (1987). "How to Believe in Fairies." ''Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy.'' 30 (4):337-355.</ref> Hart was a 2015 Templeton Fellow at the University of Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study and has published the most on this topic including references in multiple interviews and books, especially ''[[Roland in Moonlight]]''. For example, Hart has written:

{{Blockquote
|text=Of course mermaids exist. Or, to be more precise, of course water spirits and magical marine beings of every kind are real and numerous and, in certain circumstances, somewhat dangerous. ...The modern reports of real encounters with [[mermaids]] or other water-spirits, such as two from Zimbabwe, one from South Africa, three from northeastern India, and so on ...are so ingenuous, well-attested, and credible that only a brute would refuse to believe them [and] there is a real moral imperative in not dismissing such tales as lies or delusions.<ref>[[David Bentley Hart]] (2020). "Selkies and Nixies: The Penguin Book of Mermaids." ''The Lamp: A Catholic Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Etc.'' Issue 2. Assumption 2020. pp. 49-50.</ref>
}}


== Fairies in Non-European culture ==

[[Anito and Diwata|Diwata]] in Philippine mythology are nature spirits or minor deities, often seen as fairies in modern times. The term comes from the Sanskrit "devata" (deity), and they are sometimes linked with fairies called lambana. In modern [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]], "diwata" means fairy or nymph.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrews |first=Roy Chapman |url=https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.147302 |title=[Mammal field catalog] |date=1916 |publisher=[s.n.]|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.147302 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Afanasyeva |first=N. D. |date=2022-03-28 |title=The Third Skvortsov Readings |journal=Concept: Philosophy, Religion, Culture |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=170–172 |doi=10.24833/2541-8831-2022-1-21-170-172 |issn=2619-0540|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Daniélou |first=Alain |title=The Myths and Gods of India: The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism from the Princeton Bollingen Series |date=1991 |publisher=Inner Traditions International, Limited |isbn=978-0-89281-354-4 |location=Rochester}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2019-10-05 |title=Entering Lambana's mythical realm |url=https://peopleasia.ph/entering-lambanas-mythical-realm/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=PeopleAsia |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Clark |first=Jordan |date=2016-03-03 |title=The DIWATA of Philippine Mythology {{!}} Ancestors, Spirits, & Deities • THE ASWANG PROJECT |url=https://www.aswangproject.com/diwata/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=THE ASWANG PROJECT |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=1970-01-01 |title=Lambana: Significance and symbolism |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/concept/lambana |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref> The word is thought to originate from the Sanskrit word [[devata]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Macdonell |first=Arthur Anthony |title=The Brhad-devata, attributed to Saunaka |publisher=Harvard University |year=1904 |isbn=9788188808236}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Basu |first=B. D. |title=Devata: Gods and Goddesses of the Hindus |publisher=AMS Press |year=1974 |orig-year=1917 |isbn=0404578195}}</ref> It refers particularly to nature spirits of extraordinary beauty, like [[Maria Makiling]].<ref>Perdon, Renato (2012). Pocket Tagalog Dictionary: Tagalog-English English-Tagalog. Tuttle Publishing, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-4629-0983-4}}</ref>

== In chess ==
[[Fairy chess piece]]s are a generic term for pieces not found in standard chess, yet which do exist in one or more similar games known as [[chess variant]]s.

==See also==
===General===
{{div col|colwidth=16em}}
* [[Apsaras]]
* [[Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar]]
* [[Anito|Diwata]]
* [[Fairy godmother]]
* [[Fairy Investigation Society]]
* [[Fairy ring#Cultural references|Fairy ring § Cultural references]]
* [[Gnome]]
* [[Goblin]]
* [[Houri]]
* [[Jinn]]
* [[Kami]]
* [[Leprechaun]]
* [[Mimi (folklore)|Mimi]]
* [[Nereid]]
* [[Nûñnë'hï]]
* [[Nymph]]
* [[Peri]]
* [[Paristan]]
* [[Rå]]
* [[Shedim]]
* [[Sylph]]
* [[Tooth fairy]]
* [[Xian (Taoism)|Xian]]
* [[Vila (fairy)|Vila]]
* [[Will-o'-the-wisp]]
* [[Yakshini]]
{{div col end}}

===Popular culture===
{{div col |colwidth=16em }}
* {{lang|es|[[Donas de fuera]]}} – Sicilian fairy-like folklore and witch trials
* [[List of fairy and sprite characters]]
* ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'', book series
* ''[[Carnival Row]]'', TV series
* ''[[The Chronicles of Prydain]]'', book series
* ''[[Disney Fairies]]'', multimedia franchise
* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', book series
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', tabletop role-playing game
* ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'', animated TV series
* ''[[Lost Girl]]'', TV series
* ''[[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game|Pathfinder]]'', tabletop role-playing game
* ''[[Rainbow Magic]]'', book series
* ''[[Smile PreCure!]]'', anime
* ''[[The Spiderwick Chronicles]]'', book series
* ''[[Supernatural (American TV series)|Supernatural]]'', TV series
* ''[[True Blood]]'', TV series
* ''[[Winx Club]]'', animated TV series
{{div col end}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography ===
* [[D. L. Ashliman|Ashliman, D. L]]. ''Fairy Lore: A Handbook'' (Greenwood, 2006)
* Bown, Nicola ''Fairies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Art'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001)
* [[Katharine Mary Briggs|Briggs, Katharine]] ''A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblings, Brownies, Bogies, and other Supernatural Creatures'' (Bungay: Penguin, 1977)
* [[Katharine Mary Briggs|Briggs, Katharine]] ''The Fairies in Tradition and Literature'', 2nd edition (London: Routledge, 2020)
* Coghlan, Ronan ''Handbook of Fairies'' (Capall Bann, 2002)
* Daimler, Morgan ''A New Dictionary of Fairies'' (Winchester, UK: Moon Books, 2020)
* [[Brian Froud|Froud, Brian]] and [[Alan Lee (illustrator)|Alan Lee]], ''[[Faeries (book)|Faeries]]'' (New York: Peacock Press/Bantam, 1978)
* Green, Richard Firth ''Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016)
* [[Lizanne Henderson|Henderson, Lizanne]] and Edward J. Cowan, ''[[Scottish Fairy Belief: A History]]'' (Edinburgh, 2001; 2007)
* Hutton, Ronald 'The Making of the Early Modern British Fairy Tradition', ''Historical Journal'' 57(4), 1135–57
* [[C. S. Lewis|Lewis, C.S.]]''[[The Discarded Image]]: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature'' (1964)
* Lysaght, Patricia ''The Banshee: the Irish Supernatural Death Messenger'' (Dublin, Glendale Press:1986)
* [[Peter Narvaez|Narvaez]], [[Peter Narvaez|Peter]] ''The Good People, New Fairylore Essays'' (New York, Garland: 1991)
* [[Éva Pócs|Pócs, Éva]] ''Fairies and Witches at the boundary of south-eastern and central Europe'' FFC no 243 (Helsinki, 1989)
* [[Joseph Ritson|Ritson, Joseph]] ''Fairy Tales, Now First Collected: To which are prefixed two dissertations: 1. On Pygmies. 2. On Fairies'', London, 1831
* [[Diane Purkiss|Purkiss, Diane]] ''Troublesome Things: A History of Fairies and Fairy Stories'' (London: Allen Lane, 2000)
* Silver, Carole G. ''Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999)
* Tomkinson, John L. [http://www.anagnosis.gr/index.php?pageID=74&la=eng ''Haunted Greece: Nymphs, Vampires and other Exotika,''] (Anagnosis, 2004) {{ISBN|960-88087-0-7}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikiquote|Fairies}}
{{Wiktionary|fairy}}
* {{In Our Time|Fairies|p003c1b3|Fairies}}
* [https://archive.org/details/DaleGilbertJarvisOriginofFairies Audio recording of a Scandinavian folktale explaining fairy origins] (streaming and downloadable formats)
* [https://archive.org/details/DaleJarvisTheHouseOnTheFairyPath Audio recording of a traditional fairy story from Newfoundland, Canada] (streaming and downloadable formats)

{{Fairies|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fairies| ]]
[[Category:European legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Fairy tale stock characters]]

[[tt:Дию пәрие]]