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N
Nibelungen
Origin : Germany, Norway, and Denmark
Element : Earth.
Appearance : dwarf faeries
Function : Theyhaveamassed a huge treasure over the millenarieswhichis guarded when they are not around by a dragon named Fafnir. They are mainly goldsmiths who make golden rings with magickal properties.
Friends/Foes : They are tricksters and quite capricious
Lore : a crystal palace underground
Source :Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Nicker
See Kelpies.
Nis
See Brownie.
Nixen
Aka : Urchins, Nis
Race : River and water sprites
Origin : Germany and Switzerland.
Element : Water
Appearance : beautiful human form. Men have green teeth.
Friends/Foes : mischievous and dangerous. Used to lure swimmers and sailors to their deaths on rocks and invoke storms in the rivers they inhabit.
Lore : in a palace underwater the Rhine River
Noggles
Origin : Italy
Element : Water.
Appearance : small gray horse with miniature tack
Function : guardian of streams and rivers
Friends/Foes : he does not appreciate humans building on his waterways. His two favorite pranks are jamming mill wheels and chasing people into the water.
Lore : near the edge of inland streams
Nucklelavees
Aka : Nuchlavis.
Origin : Scotland.
Element : Water.
Appearance : A monstrous horse with legs that are part flipper, a huge mouth and one fiery eye and, rising from its back joined to it at the waist, a hideous torso with arms that nearly reach the ground, topped by a massive head that rolls from side to side as though its neck was too weak to hold it upright. Worse than this tho is the horrible appearance of the creatures flesh, for it has no skin. Black blood coursing through yellow veins, white sinews and powerful red muscles are exposed. Their odor is very strong and can be easily smelled before he show up
Friends/Foes : ill-tempered and hostile to humans but also very clumsy
Lore : At seashores.
O
Ogres
Aka : Orculli, Norrgens,
Race : Giants
Origin : They are born from a confusion between Orcus, the roman god of death and darkness, and Saturn who eats his own children and the Oïgours, hungarian tribes which made havoc in northern Europe in the IX and Xth centuries.
Element : Earth
Appearance : Ogres look like humans but are much larger sometimes with deformed faces, excessive body hair and sometimes a hump in their backs. One can always tell when an ogre is around because of the smell they produce, said to be like that of a rotting carcass. Despite their size they are slow and clumsy, and humans can easily get away from them.
Friends/Foes : Perhaps because of their size and unappealing appearance ogres have been regarded as unfriendly, but some folklore exists which tells us this is not so. Ogres enjoy eating human children and young faeries. Ogres are pretty ferless, but Giants are terrified of cats.
Powers : They have a very good hear and smell, thanks to their enchanted boots some are able to walk at great speed.
Lore : Ogres usually live on clouds just like the Giant in the fable "Jack and the Beanstalk" and descend to earth only to obtain food. They prefer to eat their own kind, but will settle for beef and human meat if they must. Their touch alone can sicken cattle to death, and they are adept thieves.
Famous : Giants and Ogres both figure largely in children's faery tales. The best known Giant is probably the one from the tale "Jack and the Beanstalk" where he is portrayed as evil, though in fact he is the victim of the story even though we are taught to identify Jack as the protagonist. Other popular faery tales from Yorkshire about giants are "The Brave Little Tailor" and "Jack the Giant Killer."
Other famous ogres include : Pacolet, Allewyn, Orlo, Orch, Saalah, Balardeu, Galaffre, Fine Oreille, Dents Rouge, Grand Colin, Raminagrobis, L’Homme Rouge, Babau, Babou, Pier Jan Claes, Pere Fouettard, Pere Lustucru, Croque-mitaine and Tartaro
P
Painajainen
Race : Shopiltees, Linchettos
Origin : Western Europe
Appearance : small white horses
Friends/Foes : Painajainen like to tease and sometimes harm children. An effective Alpine remedy against them is to place a broom or some iron under a child's pillow.
Lore : in the Alps where they can live as long as 4000 years
Phookas
Aka : Kornbockes, Bookhas, Bwcas, Pouke
Race : goblins
Origin : Ireland,Wales and Scandinavia
Element : Air.
Appearance : They have heads resebling human males, but the bodies of horses, pigs or goats. They can fly for limited distance and run in destructive packs when on war.
Function : The Phookas lay claim to any crop which is not harvested by Samhain night, and to cut a plant after this time risks provoking these dangerous faeries and their malevolence. Phookas love potatoes, and at night they come to harvest them from the untended fields. In Ireland, a folk legend says that potatoes dug after sunset are the tastiest and they never rot, but to get at them one risks encountering a Phooka.
Friends/Foes : As seemingly friendly, shaggy, sway-backed pony Phooka offers the unwary traveller a welcome lift; but once astride he is taken for a wild and terrifying gallop across the wettest and most thorny country, eventually to be dumped headlong into the mire or deposited in a ditch. Wreaking havoc is their favorite pastime, and they will go out of their way to harm children and crops. They also readily steal with a preference for babies, cattle and gold.
Phynnodderees
Aka : Bugganes, Fenoderee
Origin : The Isle of Man, Wales.
Element : Water
Appearance : ugly little creatures who go completely naked, revealing wizened, emaciated male bodies. Their skin is leathery, and they have small patches of silver hair tucked here and there all over themselves.
Friends/Foes : cursed to haunttheir watery realm by some Faery King
Lore : in the shallow edges of the water on the Manx coast
Pillywiggins
Aka : Flower Faeries, Spring Faeries.
Race : Flower Faeries
Origin : England and Wales.
Element : Air
Time : Spring and early summer
Appearance: small winged creatures who also ride bees from flower to flower.
Friends/Foes : playful but mostly indifferent to humans
Lore : among wildflowers which grow at the foot of large oaks.
Famous : Ariel the Pillywiggin Queen
Pixies
Aka : Urchins, Pisgies, Piskies, Pigseys, Pechts, Pechs, Pickers, Grigs or Dusters
Origin : Scotland,Cornwall
Element : Air
Appearance : small, winged creatures with pointed ears, noses and arched eyebrows. Their wings are shiny and translucent, and they are usually seen wearing seasonal colors and flora. The little caps they wear are the tops of foxglove or toadstool, plants they hold sacred. Their bells are often heard on the moor. They like to steal horses and torture them to get them to run faster.
Friends/Foes : friendly but capricious. Beware of doing pixies favors, for they have a tendency to backfire. Excessive contact with iron can kill Pixies.
Lore : In flower gardens. Pixies are trooping faeries who love playing, dancing, and music especially during large gatherings known in northern England as Pixie Fairs.
Portunes
Aka : Wish Makers.
Race : Leprechauns.
Origin : England.
Appearance : Portunes look like old men and are among the smallest of all faeries, less than an inch tall.
Function : They are superb horsemen, grant wishes if captured, and guard a treasure.
Friends/Foes : . It was their habit to labor on farms, and at night when the doors were shut they would blow up the fire, and, taking frogs from their bosoms, they would roast them on the coals and eat them.
Lore : In burghs and woodlands.
Puck
See Robin Goodfellow.
QR
The Red Cap
Aka : Fir Larrig, Dunters
Race : Border Goblins
Origin : Scotland, Ireland
Element : Fire.
Appearance : an emanciated man with a leathery body and little or no hair, carries a sharp wooden scythe to strike down all who invade the area he has decided to guard for the time being. The Red Cap he wears, and for which he was named, is said to be made of dried human blood.
Friends/Foes : Solitary and hateful in nature
Lore : The Red Cap moves from place to place on a whim throughout the extreme lowlands of Scotland along the English border. He haunts the ruins of old castles and cairns which he guards with his life.
Roanes
See Selkies.
Robin Goodfellow
Aka : Puck,Pwca, Phouka, Pooka, Puca, Pan, Jack Robinson ("Before you can say..."), Green Man, Owen
Race : satyr
Origin : Greece, Celtic Lands, and Germany.
Element : Earth
Appearance : the son of a faery father and a mortal mother, he has the head of a young male and the body of a goat. He has small horns on his head, and he carries with him pan pipes which he loves to play while he dances.As a shape-shifter, he can also transform into several shapes such as a horse, eagle or ass.
Friends/Foes : He has a playful, lusty nature, and loves to play pranks on humans.Puck used his shape-shifting to make mischief. For example, the Phouka would turn into a horse and lead people on a wild ride, sometimes dumping them in water. The Welsh Pwca would lead travels with a lantern and then blow it out when they were at the edge of a cliff. Being misled by a Puck (sometimes the legends speak of Pucks, Pookas and Robin Goodfellows in the plural) was known in the Midlands as being "pouk-ledden." He is also a helpful domestic sprite much like the brownies. He would clean houses and such in exchange for some cream or milk
Famous : . In Shakespeare's play A Midsummers Night's Dream, Robin becomes Puck and again displays the frolicking nature of Pan. In Kipling’s Puck of Pook's Hill (1906) and Rewards and Fairies(1910), Puck delighted Dan and Una with tales, and visitors, from England's past.
Quote :
FAIRY
Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Called Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he
That frights the maidens of the villagery,
Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern,
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn,
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm,
Mislead night-wanders, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck.
Are you not he?
PUCK
Thou speakest aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon, and make him smile
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl
In very likeness of a roasted crab,
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob
And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough;
And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, scene i
Rubezahl
Aka : Hey-Hey Men, Hoioimann, He-Manner, Ropenkerl, Huamann, Schlocherl, Rubheyzahl.
Origin : Germany, Eastern Europe.
Element : Air.
Appearance : male dwarf faeries in large black cloaks who carry a thin, spiky walking stick
Function : command to the wind and the rain
Friends/Foes : hostile to humans especially travelers, climbers and tourists
Lore : In the German and Eastern European mountains
S
Saleerandees
Origin : Wales.
Element : Fire.
Appearance : scaled faeries resembling bipedal lizards who enjoy warmth
Lore : Near fireplaces.
Santa Claus
Aka : St. Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, Sinter Klass, The Holly King, King of the Waning Year, Sinter Klass
Origin : Durope, Turkey, Western Asia.
Appearance : portly old man with a red or green winter suit and a sprig of holly in his hat.
Function : Watch over children and bring them sweets and presents once in a year.
Friends/Foes : Deer are sacred to him, which may have been reason for the inclusion in the Santa Claus myth. Elves are said to be in his service, and this may have been the source of those famous little workhorses known as Santa's Elves.
Santa Claus has an evil double who follows him and punishes those who have not been good children during the year. His names are Hans Trapp, Pierre Le Noir, Krampus, Zwarte Piet, Ruppels or Père Fouettard.
Lore : in a huge palace above the sky or at the north pole
Satyrs
See Robin Goodfellow.
Sea Sprites
See Undines.
Selkies
Aka : Roanes
Origin : Scotland and the Orkney Islands.
Element : Water.
Appearance : They appear as seals with some human characteristics, but legend says that they can shed their sealskin and appear with perfect male or female forms which are very alluring to young men and women.
Function : It was once believed they could control the coastal storms, and they may have aided the magick which brought about the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Friends/Foes : They cannot steal human mates as some sea faeries do, but must incude them to come willingly.A female Selkie is able to discard her seal-skin and come ashore as a beautiful maiden. If a human can capture this skin, the Selkie can be forced to become a fine, if wistful, wife. However, should she ever find her skin she immediately returns to the sea, leaving the husband to pine and die. The males raise storms and upturn boats to avenge the indiscriminate slaughter of seals.
Lore : In the ocean and lochs of northern and western Scotland, and along the coast of the Hebrides Islands.
Shellycoats
Origin : Scotland.
Element : Water.
Appearance : fish-like in appearance but with huge mouths and huge eyes which enable them to see very well at night. They have very round bodies covered with shells which clink together when he moves and are usually dark red or purple in color. They bob near the surface like large beach balls, usually with only their big eyes showing.
Friends/Foes : take pleasure in tricking and bewildering travelers and leading them astray.
Lore : in pools of shallow fresh water and in woodland lakes.
Spriggans
Element : Earth
Appearance : Although quite small, they have the ability to inflate themselves into monstrous forms which has led humans to believe them to be the ghosts of old giants.
Function : guardians of hill treasure
Friends/Foes : They are destructive, dangerous, skilled thieves. They have been known to kidnap babies and leave baby Spriggans instead, which are quite repulsive. They also have robbed houses and destroyed crops, causing whirlwinds to destroy fields of corn, blighting crops and all manner of other unpleasant mischief.
T
Thussers
Aka : Vardogls
Origin : Norway.
Element : Earth.
Appearance : small human-like faeries who live in family communes headed by the eldest member of that family, whether that is a male or female.
Friends/Foes : peaceful and secretive
Lore : in earthen mounds near the fjords of Norway
Trows
Aka : Night Stealers, Creepers
Origin : The Shetland and Orkney Islands, Scandinavia.
Element : Air.
Time : nocturnal
Appearance : squat, round, and misshapen faeries who have no legs. They are frequently observed performing a curious lop-sided dance called 'Henking'
Function : sneak around at night moving things around just for the fun of aggravating humans. A Shetland proverb says, "If it be moved by morrow, blame not hand but Trow."
Twlwwyth Tegs
Aka : The Fair Family, Daoine Sidhe
Origin : Wales
Element : Earth.
Appearance : beautiful humanoids with long golden hairs
Friends/Foes : The fairy maidens are easily won as wives and will live with human husbands for a time.Twlwwyth Tegs have intermarried with other Welsh faeries, and their offspring are known as the Bendith y Mauman, the native elves of Wales. At one time the Twlwwyth Tegs were accused of stealing children, especially the fair-haired, fair-skinned ones, but this does not seem to be something which interests them anymore.
Lore : When the Milesians, ancestor cousins of the Celts, arrived to conquer the island somewhere between 3000 and 1000 BCE, the Tuatha were driven underground into the faery burghs which they still inhabit. The Tegs live off the Welsh coast on faery islands which are connected to the mainland by deep tunnels. On the mainland they have burghs which they stay in, rather like faery hotels, until they are ready to return to their islands.
Source : Legends about the Tuatha are recorded in many other early books of Ireland, and most books on Irish mythology and folklore give a great deal of space to the exploits of these faery creatures. The Bookd of Leinster, a seventh-century collection of Irish myths, records that the Tuatha de Danann were "faery" peoples, while The Book of the Dun Cow describes them as being "gods, but not gods." The early Celtic illuminated manuscript known as The Book of Invasions recounts their conquering and dividing of the island.
The Tuatha were the first to divide Ireland into four provinces and set up governments for each. The Tuatha then subdivided themselves into four groups, which were once the names of these cities. Each city corresponds to a different direction. The two principal groups of these subclassification are the Gorias and the Finias. A number of the Tuatha's rulers have become pagan deities, including Etain, Midhir, Finvarra, and Daniel O'Donoghue of Connacht. Hurling, the national game of Ireland, is a popular sport among them, one which was said to need human participation to be successful. Finvarra, a Tuatha King, was very fond of it and chess and he had his favorite human opponents. Much folk music of the island was said to be composed by them.
Magic : The construction of the ancient stone megaliths of Ireland is sometimes credited to them, since their origins remain a mystery. Another stone in their possession was the Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny, on which the High Kings of Ireland stood as they took the crown. The stone was said to cry out in agony if a wrongful ruler stood upon it, while it roared with leonine pride when the rightful one stepped up. The current royal family of Britain is believed by many English to be descended from the Milesian kings who once stood on this stone.
The Tuatha also possessed the invincible sword of the Sun God Lugh and the cauldron of the God Dagda, which was taken from the Land of the Dead.
U
Uisge
See Kelpies.
Urchins
See Nix.
Urisks
Origin : Scotland
Element : Earth
Appearance : They are wrinkled, hairy in patches, and emaciated with duck feathers on their backs and necks and are topped with huge, misshapen heads.
Friends/Foes : Despite their appearance they are quite frinedly and seem to crave human companionship.
Lore : in isolated woodlands
V
Vasily
Origin : Russia
Element : Earth.
Appearance : dwarf faeries
Function : care for horses. Hearing sleigh bells when there is no sleigh means they are looking after your horses.
Friends/Foes : love horses
Lore : In barns where horses live
Vily
Aka : Vilas, Vilishkis.
Race : mountain nymphs
Origin : European Alps and Poland.
Element : Earth.
Appearance : female faeries, beautiful mistresses of the forest
Friends/Foes : They do not like to get involved with humans, but they have rescued them from Alpine disasters by guiding rescue teams and dogs. Vilys love animals, especially dogs, and they are thought to watch over the famous rescue dogs of the St. Bernard Monastery. They speak every known animal language.
Lore : in the Alps mountains
W
Well Spirits
Aka : Well Guardians
Race : water sprites
Origin : Throughout Europe
Element : Water
Appearance : shape-shifter, can appear as seductive
Function : well guardians
Friends/Foes : dangerous, can shapeshift and drag the curious in his watery cove
Lore : At the side of sacred wells or wishing wells, or at hot springs.
Water Leaper
Origin : Wales.
Element : Water
Appearance : a small bat
Friends/Foes : They are quite vicious and have been credited with killing humans. The Water Leaper mostly preys on fishermen, whom they lure into rocks and coerce overboard to drown.
Lore : In the sea off Wales.
Wichleins
See Knockers.
Wights
Aka : Vattaren,Wichtln
Origin : Throughout Europe
Element : Earth.
Appearance : tiny elves with long arms and legs all dressed in brown fur coats.
Friends/Foes : Like the Scottish Brownie they adopt a human home and can do many of the household tasks. However, they can quickly become a malediction as they never sleep and cannot resist playing tricks. Some of their favorite pranks are pinching, tripping, letting livestock loose, causing spills, and moving things about.
XYZ
Yan-An-Od
Origin : Brittany
Element : Fire.
Appearance : Kindly old shepherd with a long robe, a white bear and the shepherd's staff.
Function : Tend and guard flocks of sheep
Friends/Foes : a king that has lost his army
Lore : Among sheep herds
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