When you think of a fairy, what image do you hold in your head? Most of us think to Disney movies (where we first get most of our fairy tales from) and imagine a very small, delicate little person. Someone light enough to stand on the tip of your finger without you having to put much effort into holding him or her up. They fly, with wings similar to an insect or butterfly and are usually accompanied by glitter of some sort. They are cute, kind little beings, right? Well that may be how they are seen today, but their origins were very very different.

fairy

The original folklore surrounding fairies described them as being either short and troll-like, or tall and beautiful like an angel. Their origins are unknown, and speculation ranges from them being types of angels, to demons, to otherworldly dead things, to an unknown species. It is also unclear as to whether or not the idea of fairies came about due to a lost old religion, or were a portrayal of a conquered people. The lists of traits they had is even more impressive and confusing than where they may or may not have come from.

Unlike fairies today, they had no wings and flew with the use of magic’s. They could shape shift as well. It was thought that their size was not a fixed state, but something that they could change at will to suit their needs. It was the same with their appearance and overall form. The people of the times mainly wrote stories about fairies as guides for protection against them. What charms and herbs to wear in order to keep them away. Apparently, fairies would readily steal your children, and sometimes leave a replacement creature disguised as what they had taken; changelings. One can’t help but wonder how many babies had to go missing in that time before the explanation of fairies as the culprits came about. One can’t help but wonder if little people infairy costumes were really responsible.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow

Fairy tales happen ‘once upon a time’ and always non-human characters such as trolls, gnomes, elves, fairies, talking wildlife, dragons, unicorns and others. As children they are easy to understand, and there are generally lessons behind them. But the tales that we hear as children nowadays are softened versions of the ones told to children a hundred years ago. Original fairy tales were not only means to help children learn a lesson, but to put an idea in their head that if they didn’t do as they were told, or wandered off somewhere, something terrible could happen to them. To be fair, the further back one looks in time, the more dangers there were for children and adults alike. But if we told these stories to our children, they might wind up in tears or with some strange phobia that would follow them into adulthood.

Fairy Tale Lessons

A book was given to my sister and I when we were a little older. It was a book that had belonged to my grandfather, so our mother had kept it for us until we were old enough to enjoy it without damaging it’s old pages. I believe the copy write on the inside cover was somewhere around 1903, but I don‘t remember what it was called. I‘m sure my sister still has it though.

In this book, was the story of a little boy. He loved sweets you see, and every chance he got he would sneak some behind his mother’s back. He kept finding ways to eat more and more sweets, and gradually his skin began to change. It became a different texture, and less firm around his face and chest. He didn’t stop though, because he simply loved sweets too much to stop. Eventually, he became like molasses and began to melt in the heat of the noon sun. He cried out for help, but his mother was not around (he had snuck out for what else but sweets) and no other seemed to notice enough to come to his aid. So when he could no longer move, the stray dogs of the area came and gobbled him up.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow