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38 Comments
- WriterSD, on 10/27/2009, -1/+23"Fairies were known to abduct people, in particular babies. When a fairy stole a baby, he left a fairy baby in place of the human baby – the changeling child..."
Wow. Completely different from the way fairies are portrayed today! - pinkpackrat, on 10/27/2009, -0/+21The original English fairies remind me of old Norse trolls or the Icelandic Hidden People-- they were not always nice and had to be appeased and carefully watched. I think the ancient world was more connected than we think it was in terms of religion, culture and custom
- Humptydank, on 10/27/2009, -0/+15Hats off to Tinker Bell, the Frederick Douglass of the Fairy Rights Movement.
- mac888, on 10/27/2009, -2/+15"A common idea was that fairies were almost immortal, but less than human. but he did not have a soul, so at the end he just dried up and withered away."
All too human. - jooliver, on 10/27/2009, -0/+12fascinating!
- borez, on 10/27/2009, -1/+11Fairies are evil. People think they aren't... but they are.
- brickwall99, on 10/27/2009, -3/+12I propose that this these fairy folklore tales be taught in our public schools! All alternative theories to evolution should be given the same amount of time to study/learn!
/s - borez, on 10/27/2009, -0/+7They take your teeth, and make them into zombies.
- Roboctopus, on 10/27/2009, -0/+6Interesting. Another example of how influential Shakespeare was--if this article is correct, he initiated the rise of more benevolent fairies.
Having said that, I think I like the idea of ill-intentioned trickster fairies a bit more. - IClavdivs, on 10/27/2009, -0/+5EverTheCynicEverTheCynic, you're vastly over-simplifying the situation. Nobody woke up in pre-Shakespearean England one day and said "Hey! Let's kill the retarded children and blame it on the fairies, just to be *****!" It was a story that likely evolved over the years to assuage the guilt families of little means felt from having to let these special needs children die. Today we test for autism and all kinds of other developmental disorders in the first term and give the parents the option to abort if any of the tests come up positive, but the poor of that time didn't have this option. Having children back then was an investment, you needed them to be able to work at some point to feed the family. Having a child with special needs would have been a major setback that could have meant death for a whole family, so they often chose to kill them or expose them at birth.
Let's face it, whether you're a 14th century peasant or a 21st century lower middle class peon, caring for a child with special needs is rough. Making the decision to kill it is not one that I ever want to have to make, though I'd likely choose life for it, I'm certainly not gonna sit here and pass judgment on anyone who decides to do it in this day and age, much less hundreds of years ago. - RudeTurnip, on 10/27/2009, -0/+5Dugg for not spelling "fairy" as "faerie."
- erkokite, on 10/27/2009, -0/+4Like pate and soft cheese on toast.
- Humptydank, on 10/27/2009, -0/+3True, but have you read Frederick Douglass' autobiography?
- fuzzynyanko, on 10/27/2009, -0/+3Tinkerbell in the original Peter Pan movie wasn't exactly nice, though. Not sure how she was in the novels
- eleraama, on 10/27/2009, -0/+3For people bitching about the spelling, faerie is the original version (see Spenser's "The Faerie Queene"); fairy is the castrated Victorian version (the same people that perpetuated the idea of nice flowery fey who live in gardens and the woods).
- JeniBurns, on 10/27/2009, -1/+4Um, so, studying the fact that folk in the past did stupid things based on assumption and it was a bad thing is....a bad thing? Correct me if I'm wrong, but stories like this, showing how blind and fearful people were because they didn't understand the world around them is a learning tool. To show what kind of atrocities people are capable of because of their ignorance.
But, hey, you know, being negative about everything is awesome, too - leif777, on 10/27/2009, -1/+3I wonder what they tasted like?
- Trav1289, on 10/27/2009, -1/+3"Fairies were known to abduct people, in particular babies. When a fairy stole a baby, he left a fairy baby in place of the human baby – the changeling child..." Now I understand why they wish to abolish same sex marriage.
- EverTheCynic, on 10/28/2009, -0/+2I was a bit unclear in my comment and for that I apologize. I wasn't referring to the author of the blog when I mentioned people romanticizing fairies. I was speaking in broader terms about any number of people who cling to this type of nonsense, not because they lack a modern education, but because they want to believe in supernatural nonsense. Obviously, the blog entry did a good job of showing the kind of atrocities people are capable of because of their ignorance because that is what I reacted to. Sorry for the confusion.
- Telionis, on 10/27/2009, -0/+2Cold iron!!! Haven't heard that in a while... ohhhh D&D... fond memories...
- KelticKal, on 10/27/2009, -0/+2Fairies are actually an aspect of Celtic traditions and were borrowed by the English. Irish fairies are probably the best known and are called "si" in Irish (pronounced "shee"). One well-known type fairies, banshees (English spelling) are supposedly harbingers of death. It might also be noted that "fairy tales" from Germany and other mainland countries are not about fairies but the stories have been corrupted in popular media.
- EverTheCynic, on 10/28/2009, -0/+2As I said in my reply to JeniBurns above, I didn't mean for romanticize to seem to refer to the blog article itself. I'm sorry for the confusion.
- pinkpackrat, on 10/28/2009, -0/+2that would explain why the same stories crop up in different parts of Europe
- elijahyossie, on 10/27/2009, -0/+2Yes - a great mix of religion and polytheistic and pagan overhangs.
- FishThePirate, on 10/27/2009, -0/+2The book "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke is a good tale for anyone who's interested in English mythology. It's about faeries that come and trick you into selling your soul and all that good stuff. A bit of a dry read at first, but good if you get the book on CD (Simon Prebble narrates it in his warm English gentleman's accent).
/shameless plug - OrangeRevel, on 10/28/2009, -0/+2I wonder if our distant ancestors' encounters with other intelligent hominids are responsible for the fairy myths? I imagine interacting with Neanderthals and Archaic humans would have been odd for them due to cultural and physiological differences.
- XTomTomX, on 10/27/2009, -0/+1I understand they were absolutely brilliant at interior design.
- Humptydank, on 10/27/2009, -0/+1In before bigoted comm...
Crap. - elijahyossie, on 10/27/2009, -0/+1I don't think it's quite that simple - Shakespeare used "fairy" 33 times in his collected works. Spelling wasn't standardised then.
- elijahyossie, on 10/27/2009, -0/+1Romantised? It's a description of how people thought at the time, not a justification or exculpation of it, surely?
- elijahyossie, on 10/28/2009, -0/+1Yes, I read your comment above, and I agree with you.
- EverTheCynic, on 10/28/2009, -1/+2I understand the demands placed on a family by a child with a developmental disorder. I also understand that, in many cases, it was necessary to let such a child die in order to preserve the family as a whole. However, regardless of the necessity of the action, a person should always feel guilt when they kill a child. That isn't something society should try to remove from the process through some ***** folklore or religion. Killing a child is a bad thing, even when necessary, and guilt should be a given. It's better than just dehumanizing an entire portion of the population to ease some consciences.
- elijahyossie, on 10/27/2009, -0/+1Chicken?
- elijahyossie, on 10/27/2009, -0/+1Were they borrowed from Celts? There is also a very similar potential Norse / Viking origin.
- EverTheCynic, on 10/27/2009, -3/+3So here we have another example of people making up ***** in order to justify being ***** in general.
"Children who suffered from birth defects, or conditions such as autism, were sometimes suspected of being changeling babies."
"The unfortunate children who were labelled as changeling babies could have a very tough time – Martin Luther believed that changelings were not human babies, but were soul-less and could be killed with impunity."
Worse, we have people romanticizing this garbage now because they want to believe in wicked fairies instead of acknowledging how willfully ignorant these people were. - KelticKal, on 10/28/2009, -0/+0The concept of fairies is generally recognized as coming from Celtic traditions although other cultures may have similar folklore. The Vikings may have also borrowed this from the Celts given that they were all over the British Isles. Dublin was even founded by them. Celts could be found in many parts of Europe and in fact the name comes from a tribe near Greece that the Greeks called Keltoi. There were many opportunities for Vikings to learn about such folklore and it could have arisen independently.
- swantamer, on 10/27/2009, -2/+1Front page for three hours and twenty comments. Hmmm safe to say very few people give a *****.
- inactive, on 10/27/2009, -7/+4No dark elf erotica or etheriomorph anal spreading.
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