FAIRY, an imaginary being or spirit of diminutive size, supposed generally to assume a human form, but appearing also in others and represented as both beneficent and malevolent toward mankind. In the latter case diseases of cattle were frequently attributed to their mis chievous operations; and cattle that died sud denly without any apparent cause were com monly said to be elf-shot. Among the Irish peasantry they are termed "the good people" by way of placation. In Poole's 'Parnassus' are given the. names of the fairy court : "Oberon, the emperor; Mab, the empress; Perriwiggin, Perriwinkle, Puck, Hobgoblin, Tomalin, Tom Thumb, courtiers; Hop Mop, Drop, Pip, Drip, Skip, Tub, Tib, Tick, Pink, Pin, Quick, Gill, Ion, Tit, Wap, Wim, Nit, the maids of honor ; Nymphidia, the mother of the maids.° Croker, in his 'Fairy Legends and Traditions of the south of Ireland,' describes them as beings "a few inches high, airy and almost transparent in body; so delicate in their form that a dewdrop, when they chance to dance on it, trembles, in deed, but never breaks." They are supposed to live in a distinct domain known as Fairyland, and their character and habits as represented in literature may best be learned from the Irish lore and such works as the 'Marchen of the Grimms) ; Spenser's 'Faerie Queene,' and Shakespeare's 'Mid-summer Night's Dream.' The term is used somewhat loosely to include other beings of a similar nature, such as elf, fay, gnome, banshee, goblin, nymph, sprite, sylph, etc. Belief in fairies has existed from
earliest times and formed part of the super stition of nearly all peoples. A study of fairy stories is instructive in this connection. Studies of the folklore of many peoples have been made by scholars and have shown valuable results in this field. See FOLKLORE; MYTHOLOGY; PARAC,ELSUS ; also such titles as ELVES, KOBOLD and the like.
Bibliography.—Aarne, Wergleichende Mar chenforschungen> (Helsingfors 1908) ; Benz, (Marchen-Dichtung der Romantiker, mit einer Vorgeschichte' (Gotha 1908) ; Chodzko, 'Fairy Tales of the Slav Peasants and Herdsmen' (London 1896) ; Delattre, 'English Fairy Po etry> (ib. 1912) ; Grimm, 'Deutsche Mythol ogie> (Berlin 1879-98) ; Friedrichs, 'Grundlage, Entstehung und genaue Einzeldeutung der bekantesten germanischen Marchen, Mythcn, und Sagen> (Leipzig 1909) ; Hartland, 'The Science of Fairy Tales) (London 1891) ; Jacobs, 'English Fairy Tales' (3d ed., ib. 1910) ; id., 'Celtic Fairy Tales) (New York 1910) ; id., 'Indian Fairy Tales) (London 1892) ; Keight ley, 'Fairy Mythology) (ib. 1850) ; Ludwig, 'Sibirische Marchen) (Glogau 1890) ; Mac Ritchie, 'Testimony of Tradition' (London 1891) ; Riklin, 'Wunscherfullung und Symbolik im Marchen' (Vienna 1908) ; Weber, qtalien ische Marche& (1900).