Small, Everyday Fae: Origin of the Fae, #1

By Ronel Janse van Vuuren

Folklore.

Fae.

Magic.

 

Ten types of fae one can encounter every day. Ten magical short stories featuring these fae. Ten quick, yet thorough, explorations of the folklore of these everyday fae.

 

Scroll up to buy now and learn more about the fae and how they came to be.

 

*This is the first book in the Origin of the Fae series.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ronel Janse van Vuuren
• Release date: Jul 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201978150

Book preview

Sprites

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

Sprites are tiny creatures from European folklore. It can also be spelled as spright or spriggan. They are depicted as faery-like creatures. In some circles, sprites refer to air elementals while in others they refer to water elementals. I’ve already covered elementals and, as we know, sprites aren’t part of that classification of fae.

In other circles, sprites are the size of large insects with dazzling colour and glistening membranous wings. They live in forests, bathe in dew and eat pests that bother the gardens of the fae.

Shakespeare’s Ariel in The Tempest is a sprite.

Irish folklore holds that sprites love water and can be found near lakes and rivers. As long as you don’t threaten them, they won’t be aggressive. Though beautiful and elegant, their feelings towards humans are ambivalent.

In JM Barrie’s Peter Pan, Tinker Bell is everything a sprite is said to be: capricious, mischievous, quick to anger and spite, but also helpful and loyal to friends and loved-ones. And the author claims that because of her small stature, she can only feel one emotion at a time.

Completely green and dressed in foliage or more reminiscent of colourful insects, sprites are everything small and whimsical we were led to believe about the fae.

Origin of the Fae: Sprites

Tiny, green, winged faeries who live in Mag Mell on the same heath as the Galno.

They can change size at will.

They embody the style and mannerisms of the court of Henry the eighth of England.

When they feel hate they turn black, when they feel bloodlust they turn red, when they are happy they turn golden. They struggle to feel more than one emotion at a time.

They have always been solitary Fae.

They are led by their Lady – Juno, the strongest of their kind.

They also have power over the four elements: fire, water, wind and earth.

Short Story

Creeping to Freedom (Originally published in Stories on Scrolls.)

Faerie was changing. Too much to Brody’s taste. Things were shifting, moving in unnatural ways. Despite his impeccable appearance, he was a seething mess inside. Each time a tropical flower bloomed, he recoiled mentally.

It was dangerous.

He knelt to pick up the last heather petals. Flashes of destruction – Faerie’s destruction – made him gasp. The petals turned to ash and drifted to the ground as he flew home.

Brody searched through the Sprites in their multi-coloured outfits of flowers for the lady Juno. She was the strongest of their kind – she had control over all the elements – and was thus their leader. All the Sprites around him were golden in colour, showing how happy they were. He stayed green, he stayed in control of his emotions.

He ignored the tittering of a group of girls as he passed. He wished he could be as carefree as most Sprites, but... The lady Juno was alone on the topmost branch of the juniper tree. He flew up to her, past Sprites merrily eating berries and lounging on spider web hammocks.

‘My lady.’ He bowed, fist to his heart.

‘Brody.’ She frowned. ‘You seem thin. Are you eating enough, baby?’

‘I’m fine, Mother.’ He cleared his throat. ‘We need to talk.’

While Sprites frolicked in the trees around them, he told her about his vision.

‘What do you suggest?’

‘Rumour has it that the Galno and the Faerie Queen have had a disagreement. The feuding idiots are the reason for the rapid change in seasons and foliage.’ He took a deep breath and looked his mother directly in the eye. ‘We must leave.’

She sat back against the rough bark of the tree, her wings folding around the curves of the branch. Her colour had gone from gold to black to green during their conversation. ‘Then that is what we shall do.’

––––––––

Brody knew that no-one was happy – they were black in their anger at having to leave their home – but he wished that they would move faster. A chill had settled over the area between Avalon and the Dark Lands and it made his skin crawl. If it had been up to him, they would have left the moment his mother had agreed. But no, everyone had to whine about their belongings. They all had to have their feelings. So here they were, a fortnight later, and still in the cluster of juniper trees.

‘Everyone has gathered at the roots, Brody,’ his mother said softly behind him.

He turned and saw the ground being ripped up.

‘Dive!’

He tackled her and they dove to the ground to where the other Sprites were gathered.

The world around them moved. Screams rent the air. Brody knew that they had to stay where they were.

‘Wind-users! Create a dome around us!’ he commanded.

‘Do it!’

They snapped to attention when Juno added her voice to his.

‘Earth-users! Keep the ground beneath us steady.’

They obeyed without question.

As fire tore through, the fire-users kept the flames away without being ordered to. As water washed over them, the water-users kept them from being drowned or carried away.

Even over the sound of the wind barrier protecting them, they could hear the destruction of Faerie. The screams of terrified fae tore through Brody.

It felt like it went on forever. And then it stopped. He allowed the exhausted Sprites to stop controlling the elements.

As leaves and dust settled, Brody felt his stomach drop.

They were no longer in Faerie.

––––––––

Brody left it to his mother to calm down the Sprites. They were flickering each colour of the rainbow as a range of emotions came and went. Unlike his brethren who struggled to feel more than one emotion at a time, Brody had control over his mind, body and emotions. Compared to the other perfectly normal Sprites, he was a weirdo. He knew that if they ever found out how different he was, they would do more than make him an outcast.

He fluttered up the massive redwood tree. At the top he was able to see the beautiful land outstretched to the horizon. The mortal realm was beautiful. Horned beasts galloped over the grassland. Various creatures scuttled along the treeline. Huge birds flew overhead.

The huge birds dove down and ate the Sprites frolicking among the treetops.

Brody shook his head. The vision left a metallic taste in his mouth. He went down to the others.

‘Stay hidden. There are predators here that won’t hesitate to eat us.’

‘Outrageous!’

‘Quiet!’ Juno commanded. ‘We shall listen