The Irish Legend of the Fairy RaceAccording to the Irish legend of the fairy race, fairies are supposed to have once been angels in heaven cast out by divine command as punishment for their excessive pride. In Irish mythology, the Feadh-Ree, or Fairy race, is also known as the Sidhe, pronounced Shee, or Spirit race. Long before man arrived, some of the fairies fell to earth and lived there as the first gods of the earth. Others fell into the sea and built beautiful fairy palaces of crystal and pearl beneath the waves. It is told, that on moonlit nights, they come up on the land, riding their white horses, and hold merry celebrations with their fairy kindred of the earth. The earthbound fairies, who live in the clefts of the hills, join in the merry making by dancing together on the greens below the ancient trees, and by drinking the nectar from the cups of the flowers. However, other fairies were cast out of heaven and fell into hell. These fairies are devilish, evil and malicious to the core. The devil holds them under his rule and sends them at his will upon missions of evil, tempting the souls of men by dazzling them into deeds of sin and pleasure. These spirits dwell below the earth and pass along their knowledge only to evil people chosen by the devil. This gives them the power to brew love potions, make incantations, cast wicked spells and appear in different forms with their knowledge and use of magical herbs. The witches who have been taught by them have become tools of the Evil One and are the terror of the neighborhood. They have all the power of the fairies and all the malice of the devil. He tells them secrets of times and days, secrets of herbs, secrets of evil spells and, whether for good or evil, gives them magical powers to use for their purposes. The fairies of the earth are small and beautiful and they passionately love music and dancing. They live luxuriously in their palaces under hills and in mountain caves. By the strength of their magic power, they can obtain lovely things for their fairy homes. The earthly fairies are able to assume all forms and will never know death until doomsday comes, when they will vanish away forever. They are very jealous of the humans because they are so tall and strong, and to whom have been promised immortality. They are often tempted by the beauty of a mortal woman and would greatly want to have her as a wife. The children of these marriages have a mystic nature and often become famous in music and song, however, they are passionate, vengeful and hard to live with. Everyone knows they are of the spirit race by their beautiful eyes and bold, reckless personalities. The fairy king and princes are garbed in green, with red caps on their heads tied with a golden band. The fairy queen and the great court ladies are robed in glittery silver gauze, spangled with diamonds, and their long golden hair flows on the ground as they dance on the greens. The favorite resting place for the fairies is beneath a hawthorn tree and a human would rather die than to cut down one of the sacred hawthorns, which usually stands in the center of a fairy ring. However, humans never worship these fairy beings because, in their opinion, the fairy race is quite inferior to man. At the same time, they immensely fear the mystical fairy power and would never interfere nor offend them purposely. The Sidhe often try to abduct the handsome human children, who are then raised in beautiful fairy palaces, and married off to fairy mates when they grow up. Humans dread the idea of a fairy changeling being left in a cradle in place of their own child. If a wise little fairy is found there, it is taken out at night and laid in an open grave until morning, when they hope to find their own child returned. Sometimes, it is told, that the Sidhe abduct a mortal child or a beautiful young maiden for sacrifice to the devil in exchange for the power he gives them. Other times, young girls are carried off to be wed to the fairy king. Fairies are generally pure and clean in their habits and they like, above all things, a vessel of water to be left for them at night, if they may wish to bathe. Fairies are truly honest beings, who would repay a donor for the gift of a delightful wine. The great lords of Ireland, in ancient times, would often leave a barrel of the finest Spanish wine out on the window sill at night and, in the morning, it would be gone. Fire will protect humans against fairy magic, for it is the most sacred of all created things, and humans alone have power over it. No animal or other creature has ever obtained the knowledge of how to capture the spirit of fire from where it has found a dwelling place. If a ring of fire is made around cattle, a child's cradle or from under a churn, the fairies have no power to harm the subject. The spirit of fire is certain to destroy all fairy magic, if it indeed exists.
The Fairies' RevengeThe fairies' revenge is the legend of a mortal man who encroached upon the fairies' rath, which they found most objectionable. The rath, or mound, where they meet at night for dancing and merrymaking, is thought of as their own special place. A farmer by the name of Johnstone, who had plenty of money, purchased some land and chose a lovely green spot on which to build a house. The problem was that it was the very spot the fairies loved best. His neighbors all warned him that it was a fairy rath but he laughed and shunned the advice because he believed that the stories were no more than old wives' tales. He proceeded with his plans to build the house and made it a beautiful home. No other people in the country were as well off as the Johnstones, so they all assumed that the farmer must have found a pot of gold while digging in the fairy rath. The fairies were constantly plotting on how to punish the farmer for taking away their dancing green and for cutting down the hawthorn tree, under which they held their celebrations when the moon was full. One day when the cows were milking, an old woman of small stature, wearing a blue cloak, came to the door of Mrs. Johnstone and asked her for a bowl of milk. The mistress of the house told her to go away and that she would give her no milk. She told the farm servants to chase her away and that she would have no tramps coming around to her home. Some time later, the finest of the cows became ill and gave no milk, lost her horns and teeth, then finally died. Then one day, as Mrs. Johnstone was spinning flax in the parlor, the same little woman suddenly stood before her. She asked of the mistress to give her some griddle cakes, as the maids had been baking cakes in the kitchen. Angrily, the farmer's wife told her to get off the property, and called her a wicked old wretch who had poisoned her best cow. She told the farm servants to drive her off with sticks this time. The Johnstones had only one child, and he was a beautiful and bright boy, as strong as he was full of life and merriment. Soon after the second altercation with the old woman, he began to show signs of strange behavior and was disturbed while asleep. He spoke of the fairies who came around him at night, pinching and beating him, and sitting on his chest so he could neither breathe nor move. They told him that they would never leave him in peace unless he promised to give them a supper of a griddle cake and a bowl of milk, to be left beside his bed every night. To soothe her son, the mother laid these things out on a table beside his bed every night and, in the morning, they were gone. Still, the boy pined away and his eyes changed to a strange and wild look, as if there was something far away that troubled him. When his parents asked him what ailed him, he told them that the fairies carried him off to the hills every night where he danced with them until morning, when they returned him to his bed. The farmer and his wife were at their wits' end, for the child was pining away before their eyes and they could do nothing to help him. One night he cried out in great pain and told his mother to send for the priest to take away the fairies, for they were killing him. He said that they were there on his chest, crushing him to death, and he was terrified. The farmer and his wife did not believe in fairies, nor priests, but to soothe the child they did as he asked. The priest came and prayed over him and sprinkled him with holy water. The poor little boy seemed to calm down as the priest prayed, and he said that the fairies were going away, then he fell into a quiet sleep. When he awoke in the morning, he told his parents that he had a beautiful dream about walking in a lovely garden with the angels and he knew that it was heaven. He then told them that he would be in heaven that night, for the angels would come for him. They watched by the sick child throughout the night, for the fever was still on him; and they hoped a change would come before morning, as he slept quite calmly with a smile on his lips. Just as the clock struck midnight, he awoke and sat up in bed. When his mother put her arms around him weeping, he whispered to her that the angels had come, and then he died. After this disaster, the farmer never held up his head again. He let his farm go to ruin, and his crops go to seed, and all the cattle died off. Finally, after a year and a day, he died and was laid to rest in the grave beside his little son. The land passed into other hands and, since no one would live in the house, it was torn down. No one would plant crops on the rath, so the grass grew green and beautiful again. The fairies danced and reveled on the rath once more in the moonlight, as they used to do in the old time. As they were now free and happy, the evil spell was broken for ever more. The neighbors would have nothing to do with the childless mother, so she went back to her own people as a broken-hearted and miserable woman. Let this be a warning to all who would arouse the vengeance of the fairies by interfering with their ancient rights, possessions and privileges.
The Irish Phouka
The Phouka is a legend of Ireland, but Scandinavia and other European Countries have similar legends. The Irish Phouka is a member of the fairy race but there are conflicting opinions about his powers and personality. He is a changeling, whose most favorite form is that of a sleek, black horse but it is also told that he takes the shape of a deformed goblin. He is known to change into the form of a huge, hairy bogeyman, a broad-winged eagle or a black goat with curled horns. The Phouka can also duplicate the human voice to use it as a weapon for tricking mortal men. He is known to be mischievous, capricious and sometimes terrifying. Let's see what we can learn about the Phouka in this ancient tale. The Phouka is a friendly creature of the fairy race who often helps the farmer at his work but only if he is treated kindly. One day, a farmer's son, called Phadrig (Patrick), was tending to the cattle in the field, when something rushed past him like the wind. He was not frightened because he knew it was the Phouka, who was on his way to the old mill where the fairies met every night. He called out to the Phouka and asked him to show him what Phoukas are like, in exchange for a gift of his coat to keep the Phouka warm. When a young bull came up to the Phouka, lashing his tail at him, Phadrig threw the coat over the creature and the bull was as quiet as a lamb. The Phouka told the boy to come to the mill that night, when the moon was up, and he would have good luck. Phadrig went to the mill but saw nothing except sacks of corn lying around on the ground. The farmer's men had fallen asleep and the corn had not been ground. While waiting for the Phouka, he lay down and fell asleep, as he was very tired. When he awoke in the morning, all the corn was ground but the men had not done it because they were still asleep. This happened for three nights, after which Phadrig decided to stay awake and watch. There was an old chest in the mill and Phadrig crept into it to hide while he looked through the keyhole to see what would happen. At exactly midnight, six little fairies came in, each carrying a sack of corn on his back. Afterwards, there came an old man in tattered clothes and he asked the fairies to turn the mill, which they did until all the corn was ground. Phadrig ran to tell his father. The miller decided to watch that night with his son and they both saw the same thing happen. Now the farmer knew that it was the Phouka's work and he let him continue to work as long as it pleased him. His workmen were idle and lazy, so he packed the whole lot off, and left the grinding to this excellent old Phouka. After this, the farmer became very rich and there was no end to his money. After all, there were no men to pay for working and his corn was ground every night without him spending a penny. The neighbors all wondered how he became so rich but, in fear of losing his good luck, he never told them about the Phouka. Phadrig went often to the mill and hid in the chest to watch the fairies at work. He felt pity for the poor old Phouka in his ragged clothes because he sometimes had a difficult task supervising the little fairies. Phadrig, out of love and gratitude, bought a fine suit of clothes and laid it out on the floor of the mill where the old Phouka always stood to give his orders, then he crept into the chest to watch. When the Phouka saw the clothes, he wondered if they were for him, and thought that he would be turned into a fine gentleman. He put them on and began to walk up and down admiring himself. He remembered the corn and went to grind as usual, then he suddenly stopped. He thought to himself that there would be no more work for him to do because fine gentlemen don't grind corn. He kicked his tattered old clothes into a corner and left. No corn was ground that night, nor the next, nor the next. All the little fairies ran away and not a sound was heard in the mill. Phadrig grew very sorry for the loss of his old friend and would go out into the fields calling for the Phouka, asking him to come back. The old Phouka never came back and Phadrig never saw the face of his friend again. However, the farmer had become so rich that he needed no more help and he sold the mill. Phadrig was raised to be a scholar and a gentleman, who had his own house, land and servants. Soon he married a beautiful lady, who was so beautiful that everyone thought she must be the daughter of the king of the fairies. Something odd happened at their wedding. When they all stood up to drink to the bride's health, Phadrig saw a golden cup filled with wine, but no one knew how it had appeared there. Phadrig guessed it was the Phouka's gift and he and his bride drank the wine without fear. Ever after their lives were happy and prosperous; and the golden cup was kept as a family treasure, of which the descendants of Phadrig still have in their possession to this day.
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