A Child's Eye View of Fair Folk

By Alan Leddon

Alan Leddon once again delights and educates readers of all ages in this installment in the "A Child's Eye View" series. It features the artwork of Kidril Telrunya and scholarly research along with some personal experience with the mythological Fairies of cultures from all six inhabited continents. Learn about Fae from Japan, Australia, and Native Americans alongside the many varieties of Ireland and Scotland! Over ninety forms of Fair Folk are detailed, many with regional or cultural variations. An extensive "Fairy" vocabulary list and a list of non-Fairy entities (for comparison purposes) round out the basic information. Six activities help to better understand the world of the Wee People.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spero Publishing
• Release date: Mar 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781311588210

Alan Leddon

Alan is the owner of Spero Publishing, based out of Madison, WI. Alan is originally from Western New York, having arrived in Madison by way of a brief US Navy career and stints in Falls Church, VA and St Petersburg, Fl. Alan is the father of Raven, an incredibly intelligent young girl, and husband of Bekki, who is teaching how to use technology. In addition to operating Spero Publishing, Alan is also a licensed nurse.

Book preview

A Child’s Eye View of The Fair Folk

By Alan Leddon

Cover Photography by Andrea Potts

Cover by Bekki Leddon

Interior art by Kidril Telrunya

With thanks to Morgan Daimler for the use of the photo of her Fairy Altar.

Spero Publishing

Madison, WI

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Spero Publishing

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Alan Leddon

Spero Publishing

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Madison, WI

Discover other A Child’s Eye View titles from Spero Publishing at Smashwords.com:

A Child's Eye View of Heathenry An in-depth look at the modern practice of Heathenry intended for young readers and their parents.

A Child's Eye View of Vodou Designed to make the practice of Haitian Vodou understandable and non-threatening to children and parents.

A Child’s Eye View of Wicca An excellent introductory course for the children of Wiccan parents as well as those adults (like teachers and babysitters) who will have contact with them.

A Child’s Eye View of Astrology Western Tropical Astrology, broken down into easy to understand pieces.

A Child’s Eye View of Magick A definitive introduction to Magick for anyone curious about the Occult.

A Child’s Eye View of Tarot An easy to understand overview of the popular divination tool.

And much more…

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Queen Mother Imakhu of the Khemetic Tradition for sharing her lecture, "African Origins of Fae Traditions" with me. This book would not have been nearly as accurate without this act of generosity.

In writing this book, I have made extensive use of Wikipedia.org, mainly to track down names (and sometimes the spelling of names that I already knew) of different types/species of Fair Folk. Once I had the names, I sought out other sources. My thanks to everyone who has posted on Wikipedia regarding The Fair Folk, and to the creators of Wikipedia.

Parental Advisory

What precisely are The Fair Folk? No one really knows. Many people believe that they don’t exist, while others insistently claim wildly improbable encounters with them. As with most things, the truth probably lies between.

Some of the entities described here behave in inappropriate ways. The ones from Ireland are inordinately fond of rough and tumble fun, and even more fond of strong drink. In South America, virgins in their late teens have a distressing tendency to become pregnant after an encounter with Pembero.

Some have other traits that the modern Western parent would probably not approve of. One of the sources used for the spirit type called "Boraro described these Goblins as alarmingly male." The precise shape and size of the breasts of Yakshini spirits was a matter of some import to those who sculpted their surviving statuary. These details are absent from the main text of this work.

Many of the Fair Folk want offerings. These can take the form of bread crumbs, drops of milk and honey, and so on. Some other spirits, like certain Loas and some South American Goblins, ask for rum and cigars. In a time of desperate poverty, even servitude, this was an ideal way to limit access to these dangerous substances. Today, children should probably not make these offerings; your local boys in blue will take a dim view, and this book was written at a time when fingers were a little too quick on the triggers of pepper spray canisters.

Parents should be aware that, if the Little People do exist, they operate on a morality very different from that of humans. Folklore paints them as capricious, cruel, imaginative, and reckless with the well-being of others. Young or immature children should be supervised in their dealings with the Folk, or, better yet, not permitted to deal with them. Heartfelt apologies and carefully thought out gifts should be presented readily in the event of errors in judgment when dealing with the Good People. If they don’t exist…well, most modern Americans, of all ages, could use a refresher course in good manners.

Above all, never let pass your lips the words Fae, Faerie or Fairy, which I have used here to teach others proper respect, and for the use of which I am deeply sorry. No disrespect was meant. Nor is any disrespect intended in writing these words in the book that follows, where the words must be used in connection with the subject matter. Writing is not the same as speaking.

Note

This work is a part of Spero’s A Child’s Eye View Series. It is also a companion of four other works in that series, A Child’s Eye View of Ghosts and Hauntings, A Child’s Eye View of Vampires, A Child’s Eye View of Aliens and Monsters, and A Child’s Eye View of Totems and Tutelary Spirits. These five works share some entries; some information is duplicated. Many entities from mythology defy easy classification, and some of our unseen neighbors clearly fit into multiple classifications. With the exception of the entry for the word Skepticism, every duplication was made after considerable soul-searching. No piece of information appears in two of these books unless it was deemed important to both books. However, these five books contain mostly unique information, and nothing is wasted by possessing all five books.

Table of contents:

Introduction

Chapter One: The Basics

What are they, really?

How do I know if they are there?

What if they are there?

So, what might they do?

What if I do meet them?

Vocabulary

Chapter Two: The Varieties

The Fair Folk

Gods and Rulers of the Fair Folk

Some Creatures that are not Fae

Chapter Three: What you’re supposed to do

What do other People do?

Appendix: The Qabalistic Cross

Bibliography

Introduction

When I was sixteen, I got to spend a summer working on the staff of a certain Boy Scout camp in Western New York. The camp was far from home, and my parents, being less than wealthy, were unable to make the journey each Saturday to take me home, only to return me to the camp the next morning. I ended up spending my Saturdays alone in the camp on several of the weeks that summer.

The location of the camp was very rural. The nearest town, over three miles away, was a tiny thing of a few hundred souls. The journey to it passed a number of very large farms, and many patches of undeveloped land. It was the way the whole world should be. The only thing of value in that town (to those of us on the camp staff) was an inexpensive supply of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Cherry Garcia ice cream, you see, should be venerated as a Deity in its own right.

In my solitude one Saturday, I heard guitar music. I was deep enough inside the campground that no sound from outside of the camp was likely to reach me. Knowing that there should not be another person on the camp (actually, there weren’t supposed to be any people on the camp, at all), I chose to investigate. I set off cross country, with the camp sites and lakes out of sight to my left, the administration building behind me, and a lonely rural road far to my right. The music continued intermittently; I would hear a few chords ahead of me and slightly to the left, then only the sounds of birds…then a few chords ahead and slightly to the right. I maintained a reasonable clip, careful of tree branches, and making enough noise that I would not come overly close to a bear or a snake. While I hiked, I tried to imagine who I might find with the guitar. As a teen age boy, I certainly hoped for friendly girls, but I also worried a bit that I was being lured away from the administration building so it could be burglarized