The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries: The Classic Study of Leprechauns, Pixies, and Other Fairy Spirits

Description

First published in 1911, the classic book on the luminous reality of leprechauns, pixies, and other fairy spirits What are fairies, those romantic and sometimes mischievous little people--pixies, nixies, elves, fauns, brownies, dwarfs, leprechauns, and all other forms of the daoine sidhe (fairy people)? Are they real? Folklorists say they are fragments of ancient religious beliefs; occultists call them nature spirits; the peasant tradition says they are fallen angels who were not good enough to be saved or bad enough to be lost. In his definitive study, W.Y. Evans-Wentz, the renowned translator of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, unveils the mystic and mysterious folklore of all the Celtic nations. This book presents a body of tradition of and testimony about an elusive order of life that survives in the natural setting of wild and lonely places. Not satisfied with merely formal study, Evans-Wentz collected firsthand reports of fairies in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Brittany and sought to answer the key questions avoided by other folklorists. A classic in the field of Celtic studies, The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries presents evidence for living fairy faith that Dr. Wentz gathered in his travels; examines the recorded stories of fairies in classic works like the Welsh Mabinogion, and the Irish Tuatha de Danann, as well as Arthurian legends; explores belief in fairies; and studies the fairy faith in light of science. A compassionate, lively, and seminal exploration of a rich and luminous world, this is an unparalleled addition to the field of Celtic studies.