|
Fairy Power
Ancient Legends,
Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland
by Lady Francesca
Speranza Wilde [1887]
 It is on Fridays that the fairies have the most power to work evil; therefore
Friday is an unlucky day to begin work, or to go on a journey, or to have a
wedding; for the spirits are then present everywhere, and hear and see
everything that is going on, and will mar and spoil all they can, just out of
malice and jealousy of the mortal race.
It is then they strike cattle with their elfin sorrows, lame a horse, steal
the milk, and carry off the handsome children, an ugly changeling in exchange,
who is soon known to fairy sprite by its voracious appetite, without any
natural increase in growth.This superstition makes the peasant-women often very crueI towards weakly
children; and the trial by fire is sometimes resorted to in order to test the
nature of the child who is suspected of being a changeling. For this purpose a
fairy woman is usually sent for, who makes a drink for the little patient of
certain herbs of whose power she alone has the secret knowledge, and a
childless woman is considered the best to make the potion. Should there be no
improvement in the child after the treatment with herbs, then the witch-women
sometimes resorts to terrible measures to test the fairy nature of the
sufferer.
A child who was suspected of being
a change because he was wasted and thin and always restless and fretful was
ordered by the witch-woman to be placed for three nights on a shovel outside
the door from sunset to sunrise, during which he was given foxglove to chew,
and cold water was flung over him to banish the fire-devil. The screams of the
child at night was frightful, calling on his mother to come and take him in;
but the fairy doctor told the mother not to fear; the fairies were certainly
tormenting him, but by the third night their power would cease, and the child,
would be quite restored. However, on the third night the poor little child lay
dead.
Back to Top
The Sidhe Race
THE Sidhe dwell in the Sifra, or fairy palace of gold and crystal, in the
heart of the hill, and they have been given youth, beauty, joy, and the power
over music, yet they are often sad; for they remember that they were once
angels in heaven though now cast down to earth, and though they have power
over all the mysteries of Nature, yet they must die without hope of regaining
heaven, while mortals are certain of immortality. Therefore this one sorrow
darkens their life, a mournful envy of humanity; because, while man is created
immortal, the beautiful fairy race is doomed to annihilation.One day a great fairy chief asked Columb-Kille if there were any hope left to
the Sidhe that one day they would regain heaven and be restored to their
ancient place amongst the angels. But the saint answered that hope there was
none; their doom was fixed, and at the judgment-day they would pass through
death into annihilation; for so had it been decreed by the justice of God.
On hearing this the fairy chief fell into a profound melancholy, and he and
all his court sailed away from Ireland, and went back to their native country
of Armenia, there to await the coming of the terrible judgment-day, which is
fated to bring the fairy race certain death on earth, without any hope of
regaining heaven.The West of Ireland is peculiarly sacred to ancient superstitions of the Sidhe
race. There is a poetry in the scenery that touches the heart of the people;
they love the beautiful glens, the mountains rising like towers from the sea,
the islands sanctified by the memory of a saint, and the green hills where
Finvarra holds his court. Every lake and mountain has its legend of the
spirit-land, some holy traditions of a saint, or some historic memory of a
national hero who flourished in the old great days when Ireland had native
chiefs and native swords to guard her; and amongst the Western Irish,
especially, the old superstitions of their forefathers are reverenced with a
solemn faith and fervour that is almost a religion. Finvarra the king is still
believed to rule over all the fairies of the west, and Onagh is the
fairy queen. Her golden hair sweeps the ground, and she is robed in silver
gossamer all glittering as if with diamonds, but they are dew-drops that
sparkle over it.
The queen is more beautiful than any woman of earth, yet Finvarra loves the
mortal women best, and wiles them down to his fairy palace by the subtle charm
of the fairy music, for no one who has heard it can resist its power, and they
are fated to belong to the fairies ever after. Their friends mourn for them as
dead with much lamentation, but in reality they are leading a joyous life down
in the heart of the bill, in the fairy palace with the silver columns and the
crystal walls.Yet sometimes they are not drawn down beneath the earth, but remain as usual
in the daily life, though the fairy spell is still on them; and the young men
who have once heard the fairy harp become possessed by the spirit of music
which haunts them to their death, and gives them strange power over the souls
of men. This was the case with Carolan, the celebrated bard. He acquired all
the magic melody of his notes by sleeping out on a fairy rath at night, when
the fairy music came to him in his dreams; and on awaking he played the airs
from memory. This it was that he had power to madden men to mirth, or to set
them weeping as if for the dead, and no one ever before or since played the
enchanting fairy music like Carolan, the sweet musician of Ireland.
There was another man also who heard the fairy music when sleeping on a rath,
and ever after he was haunted by the melody day and night, till he grew mad
and had no pleasure in life, for he longed to be with the fairies again that
he might hear them sing. So one day, driven to despair by the madness of
longing, he threw himself from the cliff into the mountain lake near the fairy
rath, and so died and was seen no more.In the Western Islands they believe that the magic of fairy-music is so strong
that whoever hears it cannot choose but follow the sound, and the young girls
are drawn away by the enchantment, and dance all night with Finvarra the king,
though in the morning they are found fast asleep in bed, yet with a memory of
all they had heard and seen; and some say that, while with the fairies, the
young women learn strange secrets of love potions, by which they can work
spells and dangerous charms over those whose love they desire, or upon any one
who has offended and spoken ill of them.
It is a beautiful idea that the Irish airs, so plaintive, mournful, and
tear-compelling, are but the remembered echoes of that spirit music which had
power to draw souls away to the fairy mansions, and hold them captive by the
sweet magic of the melody.
 The
Fairy Dance
THE following story is from the Irish, as told by a native of one of the
Western Isles, where the primitive superstitions have still all the freshness
of young life.
One evening late in November, which is the month when spirits have most power
over all things, as the prettiest girl in all the island was going to the well
for water, her foot slipped and she fell, it was an unlucky omen, and when she
got up and looked round it seemed to her as if she were in a strange place,
and all around her was changed as if by enchantment. But at some distance she
saw a great crowd gathered round a blazing fire, and she was drawn slowly on
towards them, till at last she stood in the very midst of the people; but they
kept silence, looking fixedly at her; and she was afraid, and tried to turn
and leave them, but she could not. Then a beautiful youth, like a prince, with
a red sash, and a golden band on his long yellow hair, came up and asked her
to dance."It is a foolish thing of you, sir, to ask me to dance," she said, "when there
is no music."
Then he lifted his hand and made a sign to the people, and instantly the
sweetest music sounded near her and around her, and the young man took her
hand, and they danced and danced till the moon and the stars went down, but
she seemed like one floating on the air, and she forgot everything in the
world except the dancing, and the sweet low music, and her beautiful partner.At last the dancing ceased, and her partner thanked her, and invited her to
supper with the company. Then she saw an opening in the ground, and a flight
of steps, and the young man, who seemed to be the king amongst them all, led
her down, followed by the whole company. At the end of the stairs they came
upon a large hall, all bright and beautiful with gold and silver and lights;
and the table was covered with everything good to eat, and wine was poured out
in golden cups for them to drink. When she sat down they all pressed her to
eat the food and to drink the wine; and as she was weary after the dancing,
she took the golden cup the prince handed to her, and raised it to her lips to
drink. Just then, a man passed close to her, and whispered--
"Eat no food, and drink no wine, or you will never reach your home again."So she laid down the cup, and refused to drink. On this they were angry, and a
great noise arose, and a fierce, dark man stood up, and said--
"Whoever comes to us must drink with us."And he seized her arm, and held the wine to her lips, so that she almost died
of fright. But at that moment a red-haired man came up, and he took her by the
hand and led her out.
"You are safe for this time," he said. "Take this herb, and hold it in your
hand till you reach home, and no one can harm you." And he gave her a branch
of a plant called the Athair-Luss (the ground ivy). [a]This she took, and fled away along the sward in the dark night; but all the
time she heard footsteps behind her in pursuit. At last she reached home and
barred the door, and went to bed, when a great clamour arose outside, and
voices were heard crying to her--
"The power we had over you is gone through the magic of the herb; but
wait--when you dance again to the music on the hill, you will stay with us for
evermore, and none shall hinder."However, she kept the magic branch safely, and the fairies never troubled her
more; but it was long and long before the sound of the fairy music left her
ears which she had danced to that November night on the hillside with her
fairy lover.
[a] In Ancient Egypt the ivy was sacred to Osiris, and a safeguard against
evil.
Back to Top
The Fairy
Race THE Sidhe, or spirit race, called also the Feadh-Ree,
or
fairies, are supposed to have been once angels in heaven, who were cast out
by Divine command as a punishment for their inordinate pride.Some fell to earth, and dwelt there, long before man was created, as the
first gods of
the earth. Others fell into the sea, and they built themselves beautiful
fairy palaces of crystal and pearl underneath the waves; but on moonlight
nights they often come up on the land, riding their white horses, and they
hold revels with their fairy kindred of the earth, who live in the clefts of
the hills, and they dance together on the greensward under the ancient
trees, and drink nectar from the cups of the flowers, which is the fairy
wine.
Other fairies, however, are demoniacal, and given to evil and malicious
deeds; for when cast out of heaven they fell into hell, and there the devil
holds them under his rule, and sends them forth as he wills upon missions of
evil to tempt the souls of men downward by the false glitter of sin and
pleasure. These spirits dwell under the earth and impart their knowledge
only to certain evil persons chosen of the devil, who gives them power to
make incantations, and brew love potions, and to work wicked spells, and
they can assume different forms by their knowledge and use of certain
magical herbs.The witch women who have been taught by them, and have thus become tools of
the Evil One, are the terror of the neighbourhood; for they have all the
power of the fairies and all the malice of the devil, who reveals to them
secrets of times and days, and secrets of herbs, and secrets of evil spells;
and by the power of magic they can effect all their purposes, whether for
good or ill.
The fairies of the earth are small and beautiful. They passionately love
music and dancing, and live luxuriously in their palaces under the hills and
in the deep mountain caves; and they can obtain all things lovely for their
fairy homes, merely by the strength of their magic power. They can also
assume all forms, and will never know death until the last day comes, when
their doom is to vanish away--to be annihilated for ever. But they are very
jealous of the human race who are so tall and strong, and to whom has been
promised immortality. And they are often tempted by the beauty of a mortal
woman and greatly desire to have her as a wife.The children of such marriages have a strange mystic nature, and generally
become famous in music and song. But they are passionate, revengeful, and
not easy to live with. Every one knows them to be of the Sidhe or spirit
race, by their beautiful eyes and their bold, reckless temperament.
The fairy king and princes dress in green, with red caps bound on the head
with a golden fillet. The fairy queen and the great court lathes are robed
in glittering silver gauze, spangled with diamonds, and their long golden
hair sweeps the ground as they dance on the greensward.Their favorite camp and resting-place is under a hawthorn tree, and a
peasant would die sooner than cut down one of the ancient hawthorns sacred
to the fairies, and which generally stands in the centre of a fairy ring.
But the people never offer worship to these fairy beings, for they look on
the Sidhe as a race quite inferior to man. At the same the they have an
immense dread and fear of the mystic fairy power, and never interfere with
them nor offend them knowingly.
The Sidhe often strive to carry off the handsome children, who are then
reared in the beautiful fairy palaces under the earth, and wedded to fairy
mates when they grow up.The people dread the idea of a fairy changeling being left in the cradle in
place of their own lovely child; and if a wizened little thing is found
there, it is sometimes taken out at night and laid in an open grave till
morning, when they hope to find their own child restored, although more
often nothing is found save the cold corpse of the poor outcast.
Sometimes it is said the fairies carry off the mortal child for a sacrifice,
as they have to offer one every seven years to the devil in return for the
power he gives them. And beautiful young girls are carried off, also, either
for sacrifice or to be wedded to the fairy king.The fairies are pure and cleanly in their habits, and they like above all
things a pail of water to be set for them at night, in case they may wish to
bathe.
They also delight in good wines, and are careful to repay the donor in
blessings, for they are truly upright and honest. The great lords of
Ireland, in ancient times, used to leave a keg of the finest Spanish wine
frequently at night out on the window-sill for the fairies, and in the
morning it was all gone.
 Fire
is a great preventative against fairy magic, for fire is the most sacred of
all created things, and man alone has power over it. No animal has ever yet
attained the knowledge of how to draw out the spirit of fire from the stone
or the wood, where it has found a dwelling-place. If a ring of fire is made
round cattle or a child's cradle, or if fire is placed under the churn, the
fairies have no power to harm. And the spirit of the fire is certain to
destroy all fairy magic, if it exist.
Back to Top
Fairy Wiles
WHEN the fairies steal away a beautiful mortal child they leave an ugly,
wizened little creature in its place. And these fairy changelings grow up
malicious and wicked, and have voracious appetites. The unhappy parents often
try the test of fire for the child, in this wise--placing it in the centre of
the cabin, they light a fire round it, and fully expect to see it changed into
a sod of turf. But if the child survives the ordeal it is accepted as one of
the family, though very grudgingly; and it is generally hated by all the
neighbours for its impish ways. But the children of the Sidhe and a mortal
mother are always clever and beautiful, and specially excel in music and
dancing. They are, however, passionate and willful, and have strange, moody
fits, when they desire solitude above all things, and seem to hold converse
with unseen spiritual beings. Fine young peasant women are often carried off by the fairies to nurse their
little fairy progeny. But the woman is allowed to come back to her own infant
after sunset. however, on entering the house, the husband must at once throw
holy water over her in the name of God, when she will be
restored to her own shape. For sometimes she comes with a hissing noise like a
serpent; then she appears black, and shrouded like one from the dead; and,
lastly, in her own shape, when she takes her old place by the fire and nurses
her baby; and the husband must ask no questions, but give her food in silence.
If she falls asleep the third night, all will be well, for the husband at once
ties a red thread across the door to prevent the fairies coming in to carry
her off, and if the third night passes over safely the fairies have lost their
power over her for evermore.
Back to Top
Fairy Vine Bracelet
Fairy
Spells
St. Patrick
Woodland Moss Fairy
World of Fairies Festival
|
