WINGED WORDS WINDSDAY
Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell
(@RHCLambengolmo)
Vol. 2, No. 39: July 26, 2023
On
the Origins of the Fair Folk
Editorial
Introduction
In response to the enthusiastic reception that my
annual Midsummer Eve feature on the Fair Folk always generates, I’ve decided to
share some not-so-well-known lore about these Otherworldly people who populate
our imagination (and who knows – perhaps a parallel dimension?!). Specifically,
where did they come from, and how did they originate? Many answers have been
proposed to these questions, both by folklorists and philosophers, but in
medieval Europe, some intriguing tales of Fair Folk origins had begun to
circulate among Keltik Christian theologians after the fall of the Western
Roman Empire, and these legends eventually spread to Continental Europe during
the High Middle Ages. Here is what these medieval loremasters had to say about
the origins of the Fair Folk – followed by a trio of faery poems by Madison
Julius Cawein, one of my great-grandparents’ favorite poets!
“The
Longaevi: Rational Nonhuman Beings in the Medieval Worldview”
Adapted
from a Presentation by the Editor at the Lutheran Campus Center in September
2013
Since late antiquity, Christian theologians have been
thinking about how humans might interact with nonhuman sentient beings.
Creatures of this type were believed to exist midway between angels and humans
on the Great Chain of Being; to the Latin-speaking scholars of medieval Europe,
these “midwayers” were known as the Longaevi (the “Long-lived Ones”), and they
came in many shapes and sizes. Some were thought to be human in appearance;
others might be smaller in stature (like the Hobbits of J. R. R. Tolkien’s
Middle Earth legendarium) or taller in stature (like the High Elves of Norse
mythology). There were also non-humanoid Longaevi, such as the centaurs and
satyrs that were said to have interacted with St. Antony (251-356 CE) on his
travels through the Egyptian desert.
According to both oral folklore and written
chronicles, the Longaevi could – and often did – interact with humans, who
struggled to understand their Fair Folk neighbors’ place in the grand scheme of
things. Most sources also were in agreement that the Longaevi were extremely
long-lived (or perhaps even immortal) and that they tended to dwell in
out-of-the-way places where humans couldn’t easily disturb them (such as
beneath hollow hills or in unexplored underground caverns). Like humans, the
Longaevi practiced various arts and crafts, enjoyed music and storytelling, and
formed social groups based on kinship.
The
Origins of the Fair Folk
There were many theories about the origins of the
Longaevi among medieval scholars and theologians. One of the most popular ideas
was that the Longaevi were “neutral angels” who took neither side in the
primeval conflict between the forces of good (order) and evil (chaos). (A
summary of this narrative is depicted in the opening verses of Revelation
12, although it is firmly rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, which contain
numerous references to it that are scattered throughout the sacred books of
poetry and prophecy.)
The
notion of “neutral angels” is expounded in Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Middle High
German epic poem, Parzival, which he composed in the early 13th
century. In Book 9 of the epic poem, Sir Parzival learns about the neutral
angels and their relationship to the Holy Grail from his uncle, the hermit
Trevrizent. In Wolfram’s version, the neutral angels – now dwelling on Earth as
Fair Folk – are assigned to guard the Holy Grail.
The
legend of the neutral angels is also present in the various redactions of the Voyage
of St. Brendan (written in the 9th century) in which the
intrepid Irish saint encountered neutral angels (in birdlike forms) on an
island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. The South English Legendary
(a Middle English compendium of saints’ lives from the 13th century),
under the entry for September 29 (Michaelmas), includes a versified retelling
of the legend, which portrays the Fair Folk (here called “elves”) in a way that
strongly resembles the High Elves of Tolkien’s legendarium.
“The
Trooping Faeries” by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
Excerpted
from Faery and Folk Tales of the Irish
Peasantry (1888)
The Irish word for faery is sheehogue [sidheóg], a
diminutive of "shee" in banshee. Faeries are deenee shee [daoine
sidhe] (faery people).
Who are they? "Fallen angels who were not good enough
to be saved, nor bad enough to be lost," say the peasantry. "The gods
of the earth," says the Book of Armagh. "The gods of pagan
Ireland," say the Irish antiquarians, "the Tuatha De Danān, who, when
no longer worshipped and fed with offerings, dwindled away in the popular
imagination, and now are only a few spans high."
And they will tell you, in proof, that the names of faery
chiefs are the names of old Danān heroes, and the places where they especially
gather together, Danān burying-places, and that the Tuatha De Danān used also
to be called the slooa-shee [sheagh sidhe] (the faery host), or Marcra shee
(the faery cavalcade).
On the other hand, there is much evidence to prove
them fallen angels. Witness the nature of the creatures, their caprice, their
way of being good to the good and evil to the evil, having every charm but
conscience – consistency. Beings so quickly offended that you must not speak
much about them at all, and never call them anything but the
"gentry," or else daoine maithe, which in English means good people,
yet so easily pleased, they will do their best to keep misfortune away from
you, if you leave a little milk for them on the window-sill overnight. On the
whole, the popular belief tells us most about them, telling us how they fell,
and yet were not lost, because their evil was wholly without malice.
Are they "the gods of the earth"? Perhaps!
Many poets, and all mystic and occult writers, in all ages and countries, have
declared that behind the visible are chains on chains of conscious beings, who
are not of heaven but of the earth, who have no inherent form but change
according to their whim, or the mind that sees them. You cannot lift your hand
without influencing and being influenced by hoards. The visible world is merely
their skin. In dreams we go amongst them, and play with them, and combat with
them. They are, perhaps, human souls in the crucible – these creatures of whim.
Do not think the faeries are always little.
Everything is capricious about them, even their size. They seem to take what
size or shape pleases them. Their chief occupations are feasting, fighting, and
making love, and playing the most beautiful music. They have only one
industrious person amongst them, the leprechaun--the shoemaker. Perhaps they
wear their shoes out with dancing. Near the village of Ballisodare is a little
woman who lived amongst them seven years. When she came home she had no toes –
she had danced them off.
They have three great festivals in the year--May Eve,
Midsummer Eve, November Eve. On May Eve, every seventh year, they fight all
round, but mostly on the "Plain-a-Bawn" (wherever that is), for the
harvest, for the best ears of grain belong to them. An old man told me he saw
them fight once; they tore the thatch off a house in the midst of it all. Had
anyone else been near they would merely have seen a great wind whirling
everything into the air as it passed. When the wind makes the straws and leaves
whirl as it passes, that is the faeries, and the peasantry take off their hats
and say, "God bless them."
On Midsummer Eve, when the bonfires are lighted on
every hill in honor of St. John, the faeries are at their gayest, and sometimes
steal away beautiful mortals to be their brides.
On November Eve they are at their gloomiest, for according
to the old Gaelic reckoning, this is the first night of winter. This night they
dance with the ghosts, and the pooka is abroad, and witches make their spells,
and girls set a table with food in the name of the devil, that the fetch of
their future lover may come through the window and eat of the food. After
November Eve the blackberries are no longer wholesome, for the pooka has
spoiled them.
When they are angry they paralyze men and cattle with
their faery darts.
When they are gay they sing. Many a poor girl has
heard them, and pined away and died, for love of that singing. Plenty of the
old beautiful tunes of Ireland are only their music, caught up by
eavesdroppers. No wise peasant would hum "The Pretty Girl Milking the
Cow" near a faery rath, for they are jealous, and do not like to hear
their songs on clumsy mortal lips. Carolan, the last of the Irish bards, slept
on a rath, and ever after the faery tunes ran in his head, and made him the
great man he was.
Do they die? Blake saw a faery's funeral; but in
Ireland we say they are immortal.
Rhiannon,
a queen of the Fair Folk, rides her horse through the Welsh countryside,
sometime during the 1st century BCE. Her story appears in the first
and third branches of the Mabinogion (translated by Lady
Charlotte Guest in 1877). (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
Summary and Speculation
So what do these stories tell us about the Fair Folk,
and how humans related to them? Since they were supposed to be “neutral angels”
who fell from heaven (but not too far!) and resided here on Earth, then they
might be more similar to ourselves than we realize. If humans treat the Fair
Folk well, then mortals can expect good treatment in return from their
Otherworldly neighbors. Perhaps the same could be said of ETIs – because they
share the same Universe with us, we might share more in common with them than
we may at first suppose. The point here is not to prove or disprove the
existence of the Longaevi; rather, by retelling these tales from long ago and
far away, we can better understand how we might relate to other sentient,
nonhuman beings in the future.
A
Trio of Faery Poems by Madison Julius Cawein (1865-1914)
The Editor wishes to dedicate this trio of faery poems to R.L.P., an unforgettable friend from my childhood days:
“Always
together, never apart,
Maybe
in distance, but never at heart.”
“Faeries”
I. On
the tremulous coppice,
From
her plenteous hair,
Large
golden-rayed poppies
Of
moon-litten air
The
Night hath flung there.
II. In
the fern-favored hollow
The
fire-flies fleet
Uncertainly
follow
Pale
phantoms of heat,
Druid
shadows that meet.
III. Hidden
flowers are fragrant;
The
night hazes furl
O'er
the solitudes vagrant
In
purple and pearl,
Sway-swinging
and curl.
IV. From
moss-cushioned valley
Where
the red sunlight fails,
Rocks
where musically
The
hollow spring wails,
And
the limber fern trails,
V. With
a ripple and twinkle
Of
luminous arms,
Of
voices that tinkle,
And
feet that are storms
Of
chaste, naked charms,
VI. Like
echoes that revel
On
hills, where the brier
Vaults
roofs of dishevel
And
green, greedy fire,
They
come as a choir.
VII. At
the root of the mountain
Where
the dim forest lies,
By the
spar-spouting fountain
Where
the low lily dies,
With
their star-stinging eyes.
VIII. They
gather sweet singing
In
voices that seem
Faint
ringing and clinging
In
dreams that we dream,
In
visions that gleam.
IX. Sweet
lisping of kisses,
Dry
rustle of hair;
A
footfall that hisses
Like a
leaf in the air
When
the brown boughs are bare.
X. The
music that scatters
From
love-litten eyes;
The
music that flatters
In
words and low sighs,
In
laughter that dies:
XI. "Come
hither, come hither,
In the
million-eyed night,
Ere
the moon-flowers wither
And
the harvester white,
Morning
reaps them with light.
XII. "Come
hither, where singing
Is
pleasant as tears,
Or
dead kisses, clinging
To the
murdering years,
In
memory's ears.
XIII. "Come
hither where kisses
Are
waiting for you,
For
lips and long tresses,
As for
wildflowers blue
The
moon-heated dew.
XIV. "Come
hither from coppice
And
violet dale,
The
mountain whose top is
In
vapors that sail
With
pearly hail pale.
XV. "Why
tarry? come hither
While
the molten moon beams,
Ere
the golden spark wither
Of the
glow-worm that gleams
Like a
star in still streams!"
“The Faery Rade”
I. Ai
me! why stood I on the bent
When
Summer wept o'er dying June!
I saw
the Faery Folk ride faint
Aneath
the moon.
II. The
haw-trees hedged the russet lea
Where cuckoo-buds
waxed rich with gold;
The
wealthy corn rose yellowly
Endlong
the wold.
III. Betwixt
the haw-trees and the mead
"The
Faery Rade" came glimmering on;
A
creamy cavalcade did speed
O'er
the green lawn.
IV. The
night was ringing with their reins;
Loud
laughed they till the cricket hushed;
The
whistles on their coursers' manes
Shrill
music gushed.
V. The
whistles tagged their horses' manes
All
crystal clear; on these a wind
Forever
played, and waked the plains
Before,
behind.
VI. These
flute-notes and the Faery song
Took
the dim holts with many a qualm,
And
eke their silver bridles rung
A
far-off psalm.
VII. All
rid upon pale ouphen steeds
With
flying tails, uncouthly seen;
Each
wore a scarf athwart his weeds
Of
freshest green.
VIII. And
aye a beam of silver light
Fairer
than moonshine danced aboon,
And
shook their locks--a glimmering white
Not of
the moon.
IX. Small
were they that the hare-bell's blue
Had
helmeted each tiny head;
Save
one damsel, who, tall as two,
The Faeries
led.
X. Long
tresses floated from a tire
Of
diamond sparks, which cast a light,
And
o'er her white sark shook, in fire
Rippling
the night.
XI. I
would have thrown me 'neath her feet,
And
told her all my dole and pain,
There
while her rein was jingling sweet
O'er
all the plain.
XII. Alas!
a black and thwarting cock
Crew
from the thatch with long-necked cry--
The
Elfin queen and her wee flock
In the
night did die.
“The World of Faery”
I.
When in the pansy-purpled stain
Of
sunset one far star is seen,
Like
some bright drop of rain,
Out of
the forest, deep and green,
O'er
me at Spirit seems to lean,
The
fairest of her train.
II.
The Spirit, dowered with fadeless youth,
Of Lay
and Legend, young as when,
Close
to her side, in sooth,
She
led me from the marts of men,
A
child, into her world, which then
To me
was true as truth.
III.
Her hair is like the silken husk
That
holds the corn, and glints and glows;
Her
brow is white as tusk;
Her
body like a wilding rose,
And
through her gossamer raiment shows
Like
starlight closed in musk.
IV.
She smiles at me; she nods at me;
And by
her looks I am beguiled
Into
the mystery
Of
ways I knew when, as a child,
She
led me 'mid her blossoms wild
Of
faery fantasy.
V. The
blossoms that, when night is here,
Become
sweet mouths that sigh soft tales;
Or,
each, a jeweled ear
Leaned
to the elfin dance that trails
Down
moonrayed cirques of haunted vales
To
cricket song and cheer.
VI.
The blossoms that, shut fast all day,
Primrose
and poppy, darkness opes,
Slowly,
to free a fay,
Who,
silken-soft, leaps forth and ropes
With
rain each web that, starlit, slopes
Between
each grassy spray.
VII.
The blossoms from which elves are born,
Sweet
wombs of mingled scent and snow,
Whose
deeps are cool as morn;
Wherein
I oft have heard them blow
Their
pixy trumpets, silvery low
As
some bee's drowsy horn.
VIII.
So was it when my childhood roamed
The
woodland's dim enchanted ground,
Where
every mushroom domed
Its
disc for them to revel 'round;
Each
glow-worm forged its flame, green drowned
In
hollow snow that foamed
IX. Of
lilies, for their lantern light,
To
lamp their dance beneath the moon;
Each
insect of the night,
That
rasped its thin, vibrating tune,
And
owl that raised its sleepy croon,
Made
music for their flight.
X. So
is it still when twilight fills
My
soul with childhood's memories
That
haunt the far-off hills,
And
people with dim things the trees,
With
faery forms that no man sees,
And
dreams that no man kills.
XI.
Then all around me sway and swing
The
Puck-lights of their firefly train,
Their
elfin reveling;
And in
the bursting pods, that rain
Their
seeds around my steps, again
I hear
their footsteps ring;
XII.
Their faery feet that fall once more
Within
my way; and then I see,
As oft
I saw before,
Her Spirit
rise, who shimmeringly
Fills
all my world with poetry,
The
Loveliness of Yore.
Thomas
the Rhymer (a Scottish bard from the 13th century CE) meets the
Queen of Elfland in this illustration by Katherine Cameron from 1908. (Image
Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
Related
Links of Interest
·
The
Secret Commonwealth
(1692) by Robert Kirk (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/sce/index.htm) is a fascinating description of the
“Fair Folk” and their society, based on the then-current folk beliefs of the
Scots-Irish Highlanders.
·
The Faery
Mythology
(1870) by Thomas Keightley (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm/index.htm) contains a vast sampling of faerie
lore from around the world.
·
Faery
and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry
(1888), edited, selected, and translated by William Butler Yeats (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/index.htm), is a classic collection of Irish
faerie tales from the Celtic Renaissance during the Victorian Era.
·
The Discarded Image by C. S. Lewis (1964) contains a
chapter on the Longaevi that has become a classic overview of the subject.
·
The
Green Children of Woolpit
(http://brian-haughton.com/articles/green-children-of-woolpit/) is an English faery tale from the 12th
century about two nonhuman children who were discovered in the village of
Woolpit.
·
Elidyr
and the Little People (http://emryscambrensis.com/2012/03/28/the-tale-of-elidyr-and-the-little-people/) is a medieval Welsh faery tale
recorded by the antiquarian Gerald of Wales around 1200.
·
“Elves” (http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Elves) is an article about the Longaevi as
they appear in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth legendarium.
·
Irish
Monks and the Voyage of St. Brendan
(https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/exploration/st-brendan-voyage.php) summarizes this popular medieval
narrative and speculates on its historical basis.
·
The
Early South English Legendary
(https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/AHA2708.0001.001/1:1?rgn=div1;view=fulltext) is available to read online from the
University of Michigan Library.
·
Wolfram
von Eschenbach’s Parzival (https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/German/Parzivalhome.php) discusses the neutral angels in Book
9.
·
The
Life of St. Anthony of Egypt
by Athanasius of Alexandra (https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=eebo2;idno=A26121.0001.001)
contains descriptions of non-humanoid Longaevi that were highly influential in
later centuries.
