Would You Know a Fairy if You Met One?

What does the word ‘fairy’ make you think of? Twee, Disney-style little sprites with cute faces? Well, if you’d lived in Scotland or northern England in the 19th Century or earlier, you might well have taken a different view; for serious belief in these otherworldly creatures was once firmly engrained in popular consciousness. And it wasn’t just children who believed in them, but mature adults too.

They are older than history. They dwell under the ground, inside the hill, through the passage, beneath the water and beyond the mist. They are both male and female, young and old, immortal. They are of the earth yet unearthly. Some are beautiful, angelic and light as gossamer. They dress in caps and feathers, breeches and gowns.

They are passionate, vengeful and cunning, yet neither good nor evil. They are secretive and sly, creators of illusion, shapeshifters. They fly astride twigs and stems, or dizzily on gusts of wind. They can fade, turn invisible and vanish.