William Allingham (1828 – 1889) wrote a brief poem about faeries. To most people, it’s just a cute and catchy poem for children. However, for those who’ve studied faeries, he’s left many clues about them. The Faeries Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren’t go a-hunting For fear of little men; Wee [...]

Shakespeare’s plays changed almost everything that we think about faeries. Before Shakespeare wrote about them, most people were terrified of faeries.  One of the most frightening was a faerie called Robin Goodfellow.  He was blamed for bad luck, poor harvests, and even death. Then, Shakespeare suggested that faeries might not be evil… just mischievous. During [...]

Those who have touched the fae world have sometimes written poetry about it. Here is a section of “The Lady of the Lake”, part of the Selected poems of Sir Walter Scott. The story Alice Brand and her lover, Richard, are living as outlaws in the woods. Richard thinks he had accidentally killed Alice’s brother, [...]

Those who have touched the faerie world have sometimes written poetry about it. Thomas the Rhymer is one of the most famous faerie / fairy poems. Thomas the Rhymer was a real person, named Sir Thomas Learmount.  He lived during the 13th century, and was known for his prophecies.  Many people thought he was similar [...]

Where do faeries come from? There are many theories. Fortunately, faeries appear in stories dating back to ancient times.  We have tremendous information to work with. The written history of faeries Faeries appear in literature at least as early as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey (approx. 850 BCE), in which he mentions nymphs and dryads. Some [...]