#WindsdayWonders: 2024/06/05 -- Elvenlore!

 

WINDSDAY WONDERS

Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell (@RHCLambengolmo)

Editorial Associate: S. A. Sonnenschein

Vol. 3, No. 31: June 5, 2024

 

 

Longaeviology 101

Episode #1: Introducing the Fair Folk

 

Editor’s Note

                This week, we begin our annual June series of articles and poems about the Celtic Otherworld and its chief denizens, the Fair Folk. Be sure to watch this blog space over the next four weeks as we present poetry and prose about the Longaevi (Elves), culminating with our annual compendious cornucopia about the Fair Folk around Midsummer Eve (June 23^rd).

 

“The Lost Road to Faerie:

Where Science and Folklore Meet”

By Rob Chappell, Editor

Adapted & Condensed from Cursus Honorum VII: 10 (May 2007)

                From prehistoric times until the rise of modern science, most human beings regarded the world as an enchanted place. Fabulous beasties like dragons and unicorns roamed along the edges of medieval maps; the stars were animated by “intelligences” that guided them in their celestial circuits; and the “Fair Folk” resided in the depths of caves or beneath hollow hills. With the advent of the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, belief in such things waned throughout much of the Western world, to be replaced by a reliance on science and reason. Traditional folk beliefs have often been derided as superstitious nonsense, but every once in a while, scientific research uncovers evidence that the folk beliefs of yesteryear might once have had a basis in reality.

 

Up the airy mountain,

Down the rushy glen,

We dare not go a-hunting

For fear of little men;

Wee folk, good folk

Trooping all together;

Green jacket, red cap,

And a white owl's feather.

-- “The Fairies” by William Allingham (1824-1889)

 

                Such a discovery occurred in 2003, when a team of Australian and Indonesian paleoanthropologists unearthed the fossilized remains of eight prehistoric humans on the Indonesian island of Flores. What is so remarkable about these people is that they stood only three feet tall – yet they were fully-grown adults! They belonged to a newly classified human species – Homo Floresiensis – that lived alongside modern humans (Homo Sapiens) on Flores from 50,000 to perhaps 500 years ago.

                These recently discovered people – hailed as “Hobbits” in the popular press – are apparently an offshoot of previous human populations that had rafted over to the Indonesian archipelago at an even earlier date. According to evidence collected on Flores, these “Hobbits” (named after the halfling heroes in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth legendarium) were fully human in their abilities and behavior. They made sophisticated tools, used fire, hunted, fished, and (based on their anatomy) possessed the power of articulate speech. According to the Flores islanders’ folklore, these prehistoric people might have survived in isolated areas of the island until the arrival of Dutch explorers in the 16th century.

                How do these recent scientific discoveries intersect with ancient folk beliefs? People from all over the world have been telling stories about the “Wee Folk” – faeries, gnomes, leprechauns, etc. – since the beginning of recorded history. These tales tell of small humanlike individuals who dwelt in caves or within hollow hills. These “Fair Folk” or “Good People,” as they were euphemistically called, lived in communities ruled by kings, queens, or chieftains, and they were adept at many crafts (such as mining or shoemaking). Their alleged healing abilities, musical artistry, and ability to “disappear” without fanfare when one of us “Big People” came wandering along may have led our ancestors to regard them as magical creatures instead of fellow human beings. These habits of the “Wee Folk” may also have had the unfortunate effect of making our ancestors fear and shun them.

                The possible extinction of Homo Floresiensis in historical times might be reflected in a recurrent folkloric motif about the disappearance of the “Wee Folk” from everyday experience, as in the opening lines of Geoffrey Chaucer’s (1340-1400) “Wife of Bath’s Tale”:

 

In the old time of King Arthur,

Of whom the Britons speak with great honor,

All this land was filled full of Faerie;

The Elf Queen, with her jolly company,

Danced full oft in many a green mead.

This was the old opinion, as I read;

I speak of many hundred years ago,

But now no one can see the elves, you know.

 

Of course, the identification of the “Wee Folk” from faerie lore with Homo Floresiensis is somewhat speculative at this point. Nonetheless, we should bear in mind that many legends have been found to have a basis in fact, and that some activities and characteristics of our halfling human cousins might have found their way into traditional faerie tales. Perhaps contemporary folklorists will want to collaborate with paleoanthropologists and reexamine the faerie lore of long ago and faraway to see what “data” might be gleaned from worldwide folklore about our clever prehistoric kindred.

                To learn more about how Homo Floresiensis could have been (mis)perceived by our ancestors, you might enjoy visiting the following resources:

 

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 Scottish Highlanders.

·         The Fairy 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.

·         Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888), edited and selected by William Butler Yeats (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/index.htm), is a classic collection of Irish faerie tales from the KeltiK Renaissance of the Victorian Era.

 

Marie de France (fl. late 12^th century CE) wrote many lays in which the Fair Folk featured prominently. (Image Credit: Illuminated Medieval Manuscript – Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

“Elfin”

Madison Julius Cawein (1865-1914)

 

I. When wildflower blue and wildflower white

The wildflowers lay their heads together,

And the moon-moth glimmers along the night,

And the wandering firefly flares its light,

And the full Moon rises broad and bright,

Then, then it is elfin weather.

 

II. And fern and flower on top of the hill

Are a faery wood where the faeries camp;

And there, to the pipe of the cricket shrill,

And the owl's bassoon or the whippoorwill,

They whirl their wildest and trip their fill

By the light of the glowworm's lamp.

 

III. And the green tree-toad and the katydid

Are the henchmen set to guard their dance;

At whose cry they creep 'neath the dewy lid

Of a violet's eye, or close lie hid

In a bluebell's ear, if a mortal 'mid

The moonlit woods should chance.

 

IV. And the forest-fly with its gossamer wings,

And filmy body of rainbow dye,

Is the ouphen steed each elfin brings,

Whereon by the light of the stars he swings,

When the dance is done and the barn-cock sings,

And the dim dawn streaks the sky.

 

“A June Night”

By Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)

 

Ten o'clock: the broken Moon

Hangs not yet a half hour high,

Yellow as a shield of brass,

In the dewy air of June,

Poised between the vaulted sky

And the ocean's liquid glass.

 

Earth lies in the shadow still;

Low black bushes, trees, and lawn

Night's ambrosial dews absorb;

Through the foliage creeps a thrill,

Whispering of yon spectral dawn

And the hidden climbing orb.

 

Higher, higher, gathering light,

Veiling with a golden gauze

All the trembling atmosphere,

See, the rayless disk grows white!

Hark, the glittering billows pause!

 

Faint, far sounds possess the ear.

Elves on such a night as this

Spin their rings upon the grass;

On the beach the water-fay

Greets her lover with a kiss;

Through the air swift spirits pass,

Laugh, caress, and float away.

 

Shut thy lids and thou shalt see

Angel faces wreathed with light,

Mystic forms long vanished hence.

Ah, too fine, too rare, they be

For the grosser mortal sight,

And they foil our waking sense.

 

Yet we feel them floating near,

Know that we are not alone,

Though our open eyes behold

Nothing save the Moon's bright sphere,

In the vacant heavens shown,

And the ocean's path of gold.

 

Weekly Words of Wisdom

By Skylar Sonnenschein, Editorial Associate

"I have spread my dreams under your feet; tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

à William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

 

                This poignant quotation captures the sense of magic and mystery that surrounds the Fair Folk, reminding us that the natural world is full of enchantment and wonder, if only we take the time to look and listen.

 

The 24 Elders, mentioned in Revelation 4-5, are heavenly beings that make up the Heavenly Court of divine beings. They are casting down their crowns before the divine throne in the Empyrean heaven. (Image Credit: William Blake, 1757-1827 – Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

Stoic Proverb of the Week

Contributed by Amy Kendrick, Staff Writer

“The gods are always near us, not distant."

à Epictetus (50-135 CE)

 

Amy’s Commentary:

This quote reminds us that the Stoics believed that the gods, and their divine wisdom, are always close at hand, and that we can draw upon that wisdom whenever we need it. It's a great reminder to stay connected to the divine, and to trust in the benevolence of the Universe.