Myths, FolkLore and Fairy Tales

When looking for inspiration I tried to be loose with how I found it. That being said, I drew a lot of inspiration from Folklore and mythology to create an interesting and built up world within my art that may or may not be seen from the surface. I love the idea of the whimsical and beautiful, as well as these things eventually being peoples downfall.

The Fae

https://faefolk.weebly.com/lesson-1-1.html

The fae folk or faeries or simply Fey, are creatures with magical ability. Now they don't all just spontaneously combust into magic, mind. Some have blatant supernatural powers (changelings, sirens, domovoy). Others are magical solely by their very existence (giants, trolls, ogres). But there is no denying the fact that most faeries are closely linked to the magical powers imbued by nature. That is perhaps why the elemental classifiers exist.

Faeries are referred differently across the world. In Western Europe, they are "faeries," "the good folk," "the hidden people," or "the little people." Scandinavia and Germany mostly know them as "elves" or "nixies" or "kobolds." Persian mythology sometimes attributes the term "peris" to faeries; the peris took the form of beautiful female spirits, evil for the natural troubles they caused (drought, famine, and other natural disasters) and kind for their guidance of souls toward paradise. The "jinn" are the Arabic equivalents to faeries, though they are often just invisible spirits that grant wishes in faery tales. In India, the "bongas" are considered the evil faeries.

The fae folk have been around for millennia. Folklorists have surmised that these creatures stemmed not only from legendary figures, but that they were also based on perspective differences between different cultures. The Persian myths referred to creatures such as "Peris," or "Peri," which are described as creatures that have come from the sky. After seeing the pale-skinned peoples of the north, perhaps the Persians saw the Nordic and the Slavic as Peri. This might also be true for the reverse. The Vikings speak of the "Feen" or the "Feinin," roughly translating to "Fair Ones." Then there is also the Sidhe, the "Hill People." The Sidhe, in some accounts, were also referred to as the Picts. So if you are in any way curious to know where the term "faery" or "pixie" even began to take fruit, you might start there.

Faeries stemmed from legends and mythology. The Welsh--particularly that of the Mabinogion (a collection of Welsh lore mixed with Arthurian-based stories)--speak of the goddess Rhiannon, whose presence can be akin to that of the Faery Queen Morgan le Fay from the Arthurian legends. In Ireland, the mythical people of the Tuatha Dé Danann were thought to be the fae folk because they worshiped the Goddess, or the Faery Queen (technically, the name translates to "peoples of the goddess Danu," but this has since been believed incorrect since Danu isn't the name of the goddess that they worship).

By the Middle Ages, pagan beliefs--and therefore beliefs in the supernatural faery world--were becoming less and less condoned. Gone were the superstitions about the Seven Year King, the strange blood rituals, and the fear of the Wild Hunt. Instead, majority-Christian Europe typified faeries as shameful, not-so-powerful creatures cast out from heaven. Because the faeries did not pick a side between heaven and hell, they were cast down as fallen angels, and were banished to the mortal realms to live out their punishment. The faeries live with the humans, but as fallen angels go, they exist in a parallel plane, in the faery world, hidden from mortal eyes.

Faeries were always believed to be either good or bad. Up until the 15th century, the classification of the fae folk was usually limited to whether they were evil spirits or benevolent ones. It wasn't until the good ole' 15th century where alchemist Paracelsus moved to classify the fae folk into four categories: air (sylphs), earth (gnomes), fire (salamanders), and water (undines).

The depictions of the cute, tiny creatures with wings were mostly created from the Victorian era until the present day. Older accounts would have seen faeries looking like ethereal humans--more beautiful and absolutely more deadly, of course. But Victorian literature and artwork have managed to change that. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has depicted faeries as the small pixies that they are now generally known to be. Artist Arthur Rackham also drew faeries as these small creatures, and subsequently, many other artists took the same path.

Celtic:

https://www.irelandbeforeyoudie.com/the-10-most-famous-myths-and-legends-from-irish-folklore/

Carman – the Celtic witch

Carman is the Celtic goddess of evil magic.

This destructive witch roamed around with her three evil sons: Dub (“darkness” in Irish), Dother (“evil”) and Dain (“violence”), destroying anything or anyone in their path.

Carman put a blight on Ireland’s crops and terrorized the Irish until the Tuatha De Danann, the “peoples of the goddess Danu,” used their magic to fight and defeat her, and drove her sons across the sea.

Leanan Sidhe – the evil Irish fairy-muse

Both a muse and a demon, Leanan Sidhe is another one of Ireland’s mythological vampires.

The fairy was a beautiful woman who was said to give inspiration to poets and musicians – but at the price of their lives.

She would make the artist her lover, sharing with them her intelligence, creativity, and magic, but when she left, the men would be so depressed, they'd die.

Leanan Sidhe would then take her dead lovers back to her lair.

Rather than directly suck the blood of her victims, Leanan Sidhe got creative and collected their blood in a giant red cauldron, which was the source of her beauty and artistic inspiration.

As with Dearg-due, to prevent the undead Leanan Sidhe from rising, one must put a cairn of stones over her resting place.

The fairies

One of the best Irish myths and legends has got to be fairies. Fairies were said to live in “cnocs agus sibhe”. In Irish, this means mounds of earth, where the fairies are ruled by a king or queen.

Maybe you’ve heard of the banshee, written in Irish as “bean sídhe”, known culturally as the “woman of death”. It is said that if you hear her wailing and shrieking that there will soon be a death of someone you know. She cries to warn the family of upcoming death.

European Folklore

Wolpertinger

In Bavaria, people used to buy stuffed Wolpertingers, which were made out of a concoction of different dead animals that do exist, sort of like the German equivalent of a Jackalope. These fantastical flying fanged rabbit/deer hybrids, with a few bird parts thrown in for good measure, purportedly live in the forests of Bavaria. Wolpertingers are attracted to beautiful young women and have been known to come out when the moon is full to meet the right lady, making the creatures vulnerable to capture. Skilled and even not-so-skilled taxidermists have cobbled together Wolpertingers from various animal parts over the years to dupe tourists or to hang on the walls of Bavarian taverns, thus fueling the legend of the Wolpertingers even more.

The Golem

During the 16th century, Prague’s Jewish community was having a rough go of it. Rabbi Judah Loew employed some serious Hebrew magic and created the Golem from the clay of the Vltava River. This giant clay monster, with the Hebrew term “emet” (truth) scrawled across its forehead, defended the inhabitants of Prague’s Jewish Ghetto. The Golem grew in strength, became harder to control, and also became a tad bit murderous. The authorities told Rabbi Loew that if he destroyed the Golem, the Jewish community would no longer be preyed upon. Loew agreed and killed his creation by changing the word “emet” to “met” (death)—although some continue to believe that this muddy giant’s remains can still be brought back to life, which means the Golem just might still be wandering around Prague.

Huldra

The Holder inhabit the forests of Norway and Sweden. And while the males are hideous, the females, called Huldra, are gorgeous siren-esque creatures that like to loiter about naked. Huldra can be differentiated from humans by their cow tails or foxtails. They often entice men wandering through the woods into carnal relations, which a man might think is a pretty nifty deal—but should that man fail to gratify a Huldra sexually, rather than kick him out of her bed, she murders him instead.

Fairy Tales - Grimm's edition

Below is the collection of Grimm fairy tales as they stand with a more accurate translation than what is standardly available in book format. Taken from;

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/

Search This Blog

Meg Campbell 1908015 YR2 Art Blog