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Saturday 21 December 2013

Fairies, Elves, and Pixies


Fact behind the Fairies;

       The most controversial story known in West Yorkshire involving fairies was the case of the Cottingley fairies, it was brought about in the north of England called West Yorkshire by two girls who claimed to have seen and taken photos of fairies in the glen of Cottingley. The truth is that they had faked the photos to convince adults that had gone to see if the allegations where true, but they still claimed even though they had done this terrible thing by lying about the pictures, they still wanted people to believe that they had really seen these fairies.

History of Fairies;


      Fairies are small supernatural creatures of human form. Some fairies were good and some were thought to be pretty frightening, whilst being onset of Christianity, these creatures whilst still a Myth and legend, grew less forbidding and less powerful over the centuries.

      Fairies are so prevalent in mythical cultures that its natural to wonder where they came from. Some people believe that fairies are the soul of the dead.. E.g. which are people that wasnt thought to be good enough to enter into Heaven but yet not bad enough forHell.

How to see Fairies;

       Humans rarely see fairies, but Legend says that if you pick a four-leaf clover and lie quietly in a field, you will soon be visited by dancing fairies.

     You can also look for a stone with a naturally hole coursed by running water, just look down the hole and you will see fairies.

     Fairies are said to appear most frequently on high days of the Celtic calendar E.G. (May Eve) when they fight, (Midsummer Eve) when they celebrate and (November Eve) when they dance with ghosts and lament the coming of water.

History behind the Elf;


    As the longest-lived species known in the World, elves hold a special place in the imagination and the land. Though reclusive and notoriously stingy with giving out information about them, it is quite commonly known that elves have some relation to faeries and other magical arboreal creatures, though exactly what the link is remains unknown, even to most elves.

     The long life of an elf makes them cautious, for they have much to lose by making a thoughtless choice, and much time to contemplate things to avoid doing just so. Elves culture is incredibly conservative and well established. The few elves that are seen extant in the World are those that the community has sent out so that their nation might not be caught unawares by events outside the boundaries of their wood.
     
         Elves are known for a natural affinity with magic, but this may be related more to the long years they have to study their chosen art than a true talent. Similar legends about elves prowess with bow, sword, and nearly any other weapon or skill one can think of may have similar sources.

Santas Elves;

       Even Santa as Elves in the North Pole and what they do is help him over the year to sort out all the letters from the children in the world looking for all the good girls and boys that deserve a special present, from the ones that havent been so good, but the good thing is they never leave anyone out, The Elves also look after the reindeers and make the toys for Santa to hand out on Christmas Eve.

A short story about the Elfs;

       Santas Elves always have a tough time keeping up with jolly St. Nicholas on Christmas Eve, since Santas sleigh isnt big enough to carry all the toys to the girls and boys around the world, so what they have to do, is all rally around and make it as fast and easy as possible to help Santa deliver the toys before the end of the night because they wouldnt want to disappoint any of the children and that shows how wonderful they all are :) Santa is one lucky man!!

History behind the Pixie;


        Pixies are tiny magical creatures born into existence, they are whimsical creatures with no real purpose, and their history is one primarily of peace and quiet. Pixies spend most of their time studying magic, although they are wont to take it particularly seriously. They have enjoyed a good life of leisure and comfort in the forests. The darkest hour for pixies came with the evolution of llaiadains, pixies that lost their wings. These were evil pixies that had committed crimes against the pixie kingdom. Their existence forced the pixies to become more vigilant in their own protection, for they now had a mortal enemy. Since then, many pixies devote their lives to protecting forests, as opposed to just living in them. The growth of civilization and its infringement on the pristine, natural land has also forced pixies into more action.

         Pixies also have wings that are iridescent, often casting beautiful colours about, reflecting the light, as they hover. With wings they naturally can fly. They also have the natural ability to turn invisible, which happens to be uncontrollable since it is their natural state. Due to their small size, pixies are incredibly dexterous and can move very quickly. Most pixies do care about their looks, since they can be very beautiful and exotic looking. Some are less interested, and they are not in general, overly obsessed with their looks.

        The more popular view of the pixies' origin is the same as with most fairies: pixies come from the land of Faerie. This place has numerous names, and confused descriptions. Some people claim it is an underground kingdom, some claim it is an distant island, and more recently, some claim it is a separate dimension, linked to this one. It is also said that the pixies have their own realm within the land of Faerie, called Pixy land

      I came across a site on the internet that allows you to look up the name of your magic fairy by just adding your own name and this is the result of my search..


This is my Magic Fairy's Name for... Anne

My fairy is called Gossamer Moonfilter

She is the moon goddess's messenger

She lives in spiderwebbed wonderlands and insect grottos

She is only seen on midsummer's eve.


Friday 20 December 2013



Origin of the Faeries

Fairy comes from the Old French word faerie. The word has been overused to describe a supernatural being. There is a great deal of difference in classifying a being as a fairy from the medieval literature and those from modern literature, especially those belonging to the Celtic tradition.

There are other traditions such as that found in English, German and Slavic folklores.

Today, when we think of fairies, we often visualise them as tiny, supernatural beings with wings and glowing with uncommon light in today's children fairy tales. And they also possessed some sorts of strange magical powers, like Tinklebell in the story of Peter Pan or the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella. The modern fairies, between the 18th and 20th century, comes from oral tradition before they were transmitted into writing.

The fairies are supernatural beings that can be best described by the Greek word - daimon, which means "spirit". They are not divinity, ie. god or goddess, in the usual sense of the word, and yet they are not mere mortal; often, it is easier to classify them as minor divinity.

However, if we look at the idea of fairies, then you would find that have been around a lot longer than everyone expects. Perhaps the earliest form of faeries can be found loosely in the mythical beings in Greek mythology, such as the nymphs, satyrs and sileni. The nymphs from ancient Greek myths can be considered as fairies and they existed as early as the time of Homer writing the Iliad and the Odyssey. Even the river gods in Greek myths can be classified as fairies. These are spirits or minor deities of nature or of the natural phenomena.

And then, there are household or guardian spirits that can be found in Roman religion and mythology, such as the penates, lares and genii.

The Norse versions of the fairies are the wide variety of elves and the dísir that exist in the Teutonic traditions. The Valkyries could also be classified as fairies.

It was during the time of Queen Elizabeth I of England, where William Shakespeare (1564-1616) had popularised fairies in English folklore, in his play Midsummer Night's Dream, with the characters Oberon, Titania and Puck (Robin Goodfellow). Earlier than Shakespeare, Chaucer (1342-1400) mentioned that the land of Britain was filled with fairies before the time of King Arthur.

In the Arthurian legends, the divine or fairy figures also appeared in abundance. Morgan, Arthur's half-sister, seemed to be great sorceress and healer, was often called Morgan le Fay; her nickname Fay, which means "Fairy". And then there is this Lady of the Lake. Arthur's wife, Guinevere, or Gwenhwyfar in the Welsh tradition, also appeared to be a fairy, as well as the sovereignty goddess. Many knights were either born from fairies or they took female fairies as their lovers. Even Merlin was only part mortal.



Then you would discover that that these images of fairies are not the only kind. There were all sorts in fairy tales and folklores. Some are benign, while others are maligned and hostile to mortals. Some were seen as fair, while others were considered ugly and monstrous to look at. They can come in all size and sizes - tall or short, fat or skinny, so there is really no clear definition of fairies may look like. Different types of fairies may also have different types of magical powers.

So, what are these fairies? Where do they come from?

To understand what they are, we should look at some of those found in Celtic mythology and other Celtic traditions. But, then you would discover that fairies are not just confined in Celtic traditions. Many cultures and civilizations have their own versions of fairies.

There are enough kinds of fairies to confuse anyone, because sometimes writers have associated one fairy with a different kind.

In Celtic religion, there was Celtic deities in Gaul (France and Belgium), Hispania (Spain) and Britannia (Britain) during the Roman occupation of these regions or provinces. But the situation changed when Christianity spread to the west and north. These deities that were worshipped before the conversion to Christianity were reduced to the status of fairies in Celtic mythology and folklore.

So in Ireland the gods in the Tuatha De Danann were degenerated to the roles of fairies (eg. Dagda and Lugh), people living under the dune mound or fabled islands, or even within underwater domains. Similar degeneration occurred with old deities in Wales, Scotland and other surviving pockets of Celtic kingdoms (such as Cornwall, Brittany and island of Man).

These earlier Celtic traditions of fairies, the former Irish or Welsh deities were also not fairies in the usual sense. They looked very much like human, in size and shape, except that they have special magical powers and they seemed eternally young, but they don't have wings. The Dananns or their Welsh counterparts were usually seen as race of fair people. They can die just as mortals can, but their lives could last hundreds or even thousands of years.

The problem is that sometimes, the Christian authors have also turned them into beings serving the Devil, and that the fairies were actually demons. However this view is no longer shared, today.

These medieval fairies are different from the common folklore and fairy tales of today. The Tuatha de Danann is nothing like the brownie, leprechaun and goblin of these later traditions.

 
Related Information
Name
Faerie, Færie, Faery, Fairy.
Faeries (plural).

Irish: sidheog (unreformed); síóg (reformed); sheogue (anglicised).
daoine maithe ("good people"), daoine sidhe;
áes sidhe ("people of the mound");
daoine uaisle ("the noble people");
bunadh na cro, bunadh na gcnoc ("host of the hills");
bunadh beag na farraige ("wee folk of the sea").

Scottish Gaelic: boctogaí, s'thiche.
daoine s'th ("people of the mound").

Manx: ferrish.
ny guillyn beggey ("the little boys");
ny mooinjer veggey ("the little kindred");
ny sleih veggey ("the little people").

Welsh: y tylwyth teg (the fair folk).
bendith y mamau ("mother's blessing").

Cornish: spyrys.
an bobel vyghan ("the little people").

Breton: korriganez, boudig.

Sources
Midsummer Night's Dream was written by William Shakespeare.

Related Articles
See also Tuatha De Danann.

Back



Types of Fairies

Most of the information that I have about Irish fairies, comes from 19th century poet, Williams Butler Yeats.

He wrote two works, which is of interests:

The Celtic Twilight (1893, 1902)
Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888)
In Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, is not only description of fairies; it is a collection of works, poems and prose, from other authors, such as T. Crofton Croker and Lady Wilde.

In this work, he divided the fairies into two broad categories:

Trooping Fairies or Social Fairies
Solitary Fairies
Social or trooping fairies are those who lived in large company, like in a clan. The Tuatha de Danann who lived in the sidh, ruled by a king, and sometimes a queen (or both), can be considered as the social fairies. They were often seen feasting, singing and dancing. They can be either benevolent or hostile to humans. Another example of trooping fairies is the Merrow.

The solitary fairy usually avoid large gathering. There are many types of solitary fairy, such as banshee, leprechaun, cluricaune, brownie, pooka, etc.

Generally, they can recognise by the type of jackets they wore. The social fairies wore green jackets, while the solitary fairies wore red ones, but sometimes their jackets are brown or grey.

Scottish fairy folklore can also be divided in the similar fashion of solitary and social fairies.

Another writer, Wirt Sikes wrote in the British Goblins (1880), comparing the Welsh fairies with that of Norse/Teutonic fairies.

Sikes says that there are four types in the Norse tradition: 1) elves, 2) dwarves and troll, 3) nisses and 4) necks, mermen, and mermaids.

While in the Welsh traditions there are:

the ellyllon, or the elves;
the coblynau, or the mine fairies;
the bwbachod, or the household fairies;
the gwragedd annwn, or the fairies of the lakes and streams;
the gwyllion, or the mountain fairies.
Here, the classification of Welsh fairies distinguished household fairies from that of the mines, lakes and mountains. Like the Irish tradition, the Welsh can be further divided into solitary and social fairies.

The Welsh name use for fairies is y Tylwyth Teg, which mean "the fair folk". And these folk lived in Gwlad y Tylwyth Teg, "Fairyland".

 
Related Information
Name
Solitary fairy.

Social fairies, trooping fairies.

Sources
Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888) and The Celtic Twilight (1893) were written and edited by William Butler Yeats.

British Goblins was 

written by Wirt Sikes (1880).

http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html#Origin

Thursday 19 December 2013

Natural History of Dragons

Natural History of Dragons
"For using dragon's bones, first cook odorous plants; bathe the bones twice in
hot water, pound them to powder and put this in bags of gauze. Take a couple
of young swallows and, after taking out their intestines and stomach, put the
bags in the swallows and hang them over a well. After one night take the bags
out of the swallows, rub the powder and mix it into medicines for strengthening
the kidneys. The efficacy of such a medicine is as it were divine!"
--Chine
se medical scholar Lei Xiao (AD 420-477)
etaa0000406_med.jpgetaa0000406_med.jpg
© A. Baker / AA World Travel / Topfoto / The Image Works
Klagenfurt, Austria: The Lindwurmbrunnen (dragon fountain), its head the skull of a woolly rhinoceros
Dragons in the Dust
In legends and folktales, dragons are
magical--yet early naturalists often
treated these creatures as part of the
natural world. Biologists in Europe
once wrote accounts of the behavior
and habitat of dragons, along with
lizards and snakes. Chinese scholars
have classified the dragon as one of
the 369 animal species with scales.
Long before the development of
paleontology, people unearthed
fossilized bones in Asia and Europe-
-and believed they had found the
remains of dragons
from an earlier age.Town Trophy
Legend has it that long ago, the marshes near Klagenfurt, Austria, were
haunted by a fearsome Lindwurm--a serpentlike dragon. It devoured all the
people and livestock who ventured its way.Finally, a local ruler called on
his knights to destroy the dragon, and after many attempts it was slain.
To commemorate the event, a "dragon" skull was placed in the town hall. In
1582, an artist borrowed the skull--really the fossil remains of an Ice Age
woolly rhinoceros--to use as a model in shaping a massive sculpture of the
Lindwurm, which still stands in the city today.
amnhTRex_med.jpg
© AMNH / D. Finnin
Tyrannosaurus rex
amnhTRex_med.jpgDragons and Dinosaurs
With their enormous size, reptilian
shape and threatening teeth and
claws, some dragons might easily
be taken for cousins of
Tyrannosaurus rex. Living dinosaurs
did not inspire the dragon idea--they
died out long before people were
around to observe them. But the fossil
remains of extinct animals have
sometimes been taken for dragon
bones--and helped perpetuate old
dragon stories.
Mortal Enemies
According to the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), a dragon could
strangle an elephant with its tail. Perhaps Pliny heard stories about pythons,
which can crush and devour large animals, though elephants are beyond
their capabilities.
So They Say
"The dragons of the mountains have scales of a golden color, and in length
excel those of the plain, and they have bushy beards, which also are of a
golden hue; and their eye is sunk deep under the eyebrow, and emits a
terrible and ruthless glance."
--Greek scholar Philostratus (c. AD 170-245)
"
33.--Woolly-rhinoceros-skull-cast_md.jpgDragon Bones"
In traditional Chinese medicine, longgu, or "dragon bones," are prescribed
as a treatment for numerous ailments, from madness to diarrhea and
dysentery. Most fragments and powders sold in Chinese pharmacies as
dragon bone come from fossil remains of extinct mammals, unearthed from
China's renowned fossil beds.
Dragon's Blood
Arab merchants once sailed to the Socotra Islands in the Arabian Sea to
obtain resin from the fruit of the palmlike dragon's blood tree. Dragon's
blood was once prized as a medicine in Europe and the Middle East.
According to the early Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, it formed when
dragons attacked elephants, and their blood ran together and congealed.33.--Woolly-rhinoceros-skull-cast_md.jpg
© AMNH / D. Finnin
"Dragon" Skull
The skull of a woolly rhinoceros
(Coelodonta antiquitatis) was once
kept in the town hall of Klagenfurt,
Austria. It was said to be the remains
of a dragon slain before the city was
founded around AD 1250.
Chinese Parade Dragon
A Chinese parade dragon is carried by dancers from the Wan Chi Ming Hung
Gar Institute, a martial arts school in New York City, and performs the dragon
dance, a Chinese tradition linked with the Lunar New Year.

Wednesday 18 December 2013

THE SEVEN DRAGONS

I.

THE BOOK OF BEASTS

HE happened to be building a Palace when the news came, and he left all the bricks kicking about the floor for Nurse to clear up - but then the news was rather remarkable news. You see, there was a knock at the front door and voices talking downstairs, and Lionel thought it was the man come to see about the gas which had not been allowed to be lighted since the day when Lionel made a swing by tying his skipping-rope to the gas-bracket.
And then, quite suddenly, Nurse came in, and said, "Master Lionel, dear, they've come to fetch you to go and be King."

Then she made haste to change his smock and to wash his face and hands and brush his hair, and all the time she was doing it Lionel kept wriggling and fidgeting and saying, "Oh, don't, Nurse," and, "I'm sure my ears are quite clean," or, "Never mind my hair, it's all right," and, "That'll do."

"You're going on as if you was going to be an eel instead of a King," said Nurse.

The minute Nurse let go for a moment Lionel bolted off without waiting for his clean handkerchief, and in the drawing-room there were two very grave-looking gentlemen in red robes with fur, and gold coronets with velvet sticking up out of the middle like the cream in the very expensive jam tarts.
They bowed low to Lionel, and the gravest one said:-

"Sire, your great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, the King of this country, is dead, and now you have got to come and be King."
"Yes, please, sir," said Lionel; "when does it begin?"
"You will be crowned this afternoon," said the grave gentleman who was not quite so grave-looking as the other.
"Would you like me to bring Nurse, or what time would you like me to be fetched, and hadn't I better put on my velvet suit with the lace collar?" said Lionel, who had often been out to tea.
"Your Nurse will be removed to the Palace later. No, never mind about changing your suit; the Royal robes will cover all that up."

The grave gentlemen led the way to a coach with eight white horses, which was drawn up in front of the house where Lionel lived. It was No. 7, on the left-hand side of the street as you go up. Lionel ran upstairs at the last minute, and he kissed Nurse and said:-

"Thank you for washing me. I wish I'd let you do the other ear. No - there's no time now. Give me the hanky. Good-bye, Nurse."

"Good-bye, ducky," said Nurse; "be a good little King now, and say 'please' and 'thank you', and remember to pass the cake to the little girls, and don't have more than two helps of anything."
So off went Lionel to be made a King. He had never expected to be a King any more than you have, so it was all quite new to him - so new that he had never even thought of it. And as the coach went through the town he had to bite his tongue to be quite sure it was real, because if his tongue was real it showed he wasn't dreaming. Half an hour before he had been building with bricks in the nursery; and now the streets were all fluttering with flags; every window was crowded with people waving handkerchiefs and scattering flowers; there were scarlet soldiers everywhere along the pavements, and all the bells of all the churches were ringing like mad, and like a great song to the music of their ringing he heard thousands of people shouting, "Long live Lionel! Long live our little King!"

He was a little sorry at first that he had not put on his best clothes, but he soon forgot to think about that. If he had been a girl he would very likely have bothered about it the whole time.

As they went along, the grave gentlemen, who were the Chancellor and the Prime Minister, explained the things which Lionel did not understand.

"I thought we were a Republic," said Lionel. "I'm sure there hasn't been a King for some time."
"Sire, your great-great-great-great-great-grandfather's death happened when my grandfather was a little boy," said the Prime Minister, "and since then your loyal people have been saving up to buy you a crown - so much a week, you know, according to people's means - sixpence a week from those who have first-rate pocket-money, down to a halfpenny a week from those who haven't so much. You know it's the rule that the crown must be paid for by the people."

"But hadn't my great-great-however-much-it-is-grandfather a crown?"

"Yes, but he sent it to be tinned over, for fear of vanity, and he had had all the jewels taken out, and sold them to buy books. He was a strange man; a very good King he was, but he had his faults - he was fond of books. Almost with his last breath he sent the crown to be tinned - and he never lived to pay the tinsmith's bill."

Here the Prime Minister wiped away a tear, and just then the carriage stopped and Lionel was taken out of the carriage to be crowned. Being crowned is much more tiring work than you would suppose, and by the time it was over, and Lionel had worn the Royal robes for an hour or two and had had his hand kissed by everybody whose business it was to do it, he was quite worn out, and was very glad to get into the Palace nursery.

Nurse was there, and tea was ready: seedy cake and plummy cake, and jam and hot buttered toast, and the prettiest china with red and gold and blue flowers on it, and real tea, and as many cups of it as you liked. After tea Lionel said:-

"I think I should like a book. Will you get me one, Nurse?"

"Bless the child," said Nurse, "you don't suppose you've lost the use of your legs with just being a King? Run along, do, and get your books yourself."

So Lionel went down into the library. The Prime Minister and the Chancellor were there, and when Lionel came in they bowed very low, and were beginning to ask Lionel most politely what on earth he was coming bothering for now when Lionel cried out:

"Oh, what a worldful of books! Are they yours?"

"They are yours, your Majesty," answered the Chancellor. "They were the property of the late King, your great-great -"

"Yes, I know," Lionel interrupted. "Well, I shall read them all. I love to read. I am so glad I learned to read."

"If I might venture to advise your Majesty," said the Prime Minister, "I should not read these books. Your great -"

"Yes?" said Lionel, quickly.

"He was a very good King - oh, yes, really a very superior King in his way, but he was a little - well, strange."

"Mad?" asked Lionel, cheerfully.

"No, no" - both the gentlemen were sincerely shocked. "Not mad; but if I may express it so, he was - er too clever by half. And I should not like a little King of mine to have anything to do with his books."
Lionel looked puzzled.

"The fact is," the Chancellor went on, twisting his red beard in an agitated way, "your great -"
"Go on," said Lionel.
"Was called a wizard."
"But he wasn't?"

"Of course not - a most worthy King was your great -"
"I see."

"But I wouldn't touch his books."

"Just this one," cried Lionel, laying his hands on the cover of a great brown book that lay on the study table. It had gold patterns on the brown leather, and gold clasps with turquoises and rubies in the twists of them, and gold corners, so that the leather should not wear out too quickly.

"I must look at this one," Lionel said, for on the back in big letters he read: "The Book of Beasts."
The Chancellor said, "Don't be a silly little King."

But Lionel had got the gold clasps undone, and he opened the first page, and there was a beautiful Butterfly all red, and brown, and yellow, and blue, so beautifully painted that it looked as if it were alive.

"There," said Lionel, "isn't that lovely? Why -"

But as he spoke the beautiful Butterfly fluttered its many-coloured wings on the yellow old page of the book, and flew up and out of the window.

"Well!" said the Prime Minister, as soon as he could speak for the lump of wonder that had got into his throat and tried to choke him, "that's magic, that is."

But before he had spoken the King had turned the next page, and there was a shining bird complete and beautiful in every blue feather of him. Under him was written, "Blue Bird of Paradise", and while the King gazed enchanted at the charming picture the Blue Bird fluttered his wings on the yellow page and spread them and flew out of the book.

Then the Prime Minister snatched the book away from the King and shut it up on the blank page where the bird had been, and put it on a very high shelf. And the Chancellor gave the King a good shaking, and said:-
"You're a naughty, disobedient little King," and was very angry indeed.

"I don't see that I've done any harm," said Lionel. He hated being shaken, as all boys do; he would much rather have been slapped.

"No harm?" said the Chancellor. "Ah - but what do you know about it? That's the question. How do you know what might have been on the next page - a snake or a worm, or a centipede or a revolutionist, or something like that."

"Well, I'm sorry if I've vexed you," said Lionel. "Come, let's kiss and be friends." So he kissed the Prime Minister, and they settled down for a nice quiet game of noughts and crosses, while the Chancellor went to add up his accounts.

But when Lionel was in bed he could not sleep for thinking of the book, and when the full moon was shining with all her might and light he got up and crept down to the library and climbed up and got "The Book of Beasts".

He took it outside on to the terrace, where the moonlight was as bright as day, and he opened the book, and saw the empty pages with "Butterfly" and "Blue Bird of Paradise" underneath, and then he turned the next page. There was some sort of red thing sitting under a palm tree, and under it was written "Dragon". The Dragon did not move, and the King shut up the book rather quickly and went back to bed.

But the next day he wanted another look, so he got the book out into the garden, and when he undid the clasps with the rubies and turquoises, the book opened all by itself at the picture with "Dragon" underneath, and the sun shone full on the page. And then, quite suddenly, a great Red Dragon came out of the book, and spread vast scarlet wings and flew away across the garden to the far hills, and Lionel was left with the empty page before him, for the page was quite empty except for the green palm tree and the yellow desert, and the little streaks of red where the paint brush had gone outside the pencil outline of the Red Dragon.

And then Lionel felt that he had indeed done it. He had not been king twenty-four hours, and already he had let loose a Red Dragon to worry his faithful subjects' lives out. And they had been saving up so long to buy him a crown, and everything!
Lionel began to cry.

Then the Chancellor and the Prime Minister and the Nurse all came running to see what was the matter. And when they saw the book they understood, and the Chancellor said:-

"You naughty little King! Put him to bed, Nurse, and let him think over what he's done."
"Perhaps, my Lord," said the Prime Minister, "we'd better first find out just exactly what he has done."
Then Lionel, in floods of tears, said:-

"It's a Red Dragon, and it's gone flying away to the hills, and I am so sorry, and, oh, do forgive me!"
But the Prime Minister and the Chancellor had other things to think of than forgiving Lionel. They hurried off to consult the police and see what could be done. Everyone did what they could. They sat on committees and stood on guard, and lay in wait for the Dragon, but he stayed up in the hills, and there was nothing more to be done. The faithful Nurse, meanwhile, did not neglect her duty. Perhaps she did more than anyone else, for she slapped the King and put him to bed without his tea, and when it got dark she would not give him a candle to read by.

"You are a naughty little King," she said, "and nobody will love you."

Next day the Dragon was still quiet, though the more poetic of Lionel's subjects could see the redness of the Dragon shining through the green trees quite plainly. So Lionel put on his crown and sat on his throne and said he wanted to make some laws.

And I need hardly say that though the Prime Minister and the Chancellor and the Nurse might have the very poorest opinion of Lionel's private judgement, and might even slap him and send him to bed, the minute he got on his throne and set his crown on his head, he became infallible which means that everything he said was right, and that he couldn't possibly make a mistake. So when he said:-

"There is to be a law forbidding people to open books in schools or elsewhere." - he had the support of at least half of his subjects, and the other half - the grown-up half - pretended to think he was quite right.

Then he made a law that everyone should always have enough to eat. And this pleased everyone except the ones who had always had too much.

And when several other nice new laws were made and written down he went home and made mudhouses and was very happy. And he said to his Nurse:

"People will love me now I've made such a lot of pretty new laws for them."

But Nurse said: "Don't count your chickens, my dear. You haven't seen the last of that Dragon yet."
Now the next day was Saturday. And in the afternoon the Dragon suddenly swooped down upon the common in all his hideous redness, and carried off the Football Players, umpires, goal-posts, football, and all.

Then the people were very angry indeed, and they said:-

"We might as well be a Republic. After saving up all these years to get his crown, and everything!"
And wise people shook their heads and foretold a decline in the National Love of Sport. And, indeed, football was not at all popular for some time afterwards.

Lionel did his best to be a good King during the week, and the people were beginning to forgive him for letting the Dragon out of the book. "After all," they said, "football is a dangerous game, and perhaps it is wise to discourage it."

Popular opinion held that the Football Players, being tough and hard, had disagreed with the Dragon so much that he had gone away to some place where they only play cats' cradle and games that do not make you hard and tough.

All the same, Parliament met on the Saturday afternoon, a convenient time, when most of the Members would be free to attend, to consider the Dragon. But unfortunately the Dragon, who had only been asleep, woke up because it was Saturday, and he considered the Parliament, and afterwards there were not any Members left, so they tried to make a new Parliament, but being an M.P. had somehow grown as unpopular as football playing, and no one would consent to be elected, so they had to do without a Parliament. When the next Saturday came round everyone was a little nervous, but the Red Dragon was pretty quiet that day and only ate an Orphanage.

Lionel was very, very unhappy. He felt that it was his disobedience that had brought this trouble on the Parliament and the Orphanage and the Football Players, and he felt that it was his duty to try and do something. The question was, what?

The Blue Bird that had come out of the book used to sing very nicely in the Palace rose-garden, and the Butterfly was very tame, and would perch on his shoulder when he walked among the tall lilies: so Lionel saw that all the creatures in the Book of Beasts could not be wicked, like the Dragon, and he thought:

"Suppose I could get another beast out who would fight the Dragon?"
So he took the Book of Beasts out into the rose-garden and opened the page next to the one where the Dragon had been just a tiny bit to see what the name was. He could only see "cora", but he felt the middle of the page swelling up thick with the creature that was trying to come out, and it was only by putting the book down and sitting on it suddenly very hard, that he managed to get it shut. Then he fastened the clasps with the rubies and turquoises in them and sent for the Chancellor, who had been ill on Saturday week, and so had not been eaten with the rest of the Parliament, and he said:-

"What animal ends in 'cora'?"
The Chancellor answered:
"The Manticora, of course."
"What is he like?" asked the King.
"He is the sworn foe of Dragons," said the Chancellor. "
He drinks their blood. He is yellow, with the body of a lion and the face of a man. I wish we had a few Manticoras here now. But the last died hundreds of years ago - worse luck!"

Then the King ran and opened the book at the page that had "cora' on it, and there was the picture - Manticora, all yellow, with a lion's body and a man's face, just as the Chancellor had said. And under the picture was written, "The Manticore".

And in a few minutes the Manticora came sleepily out of the book, rubbing its eyes with its hands and mewing piteously. It seemed very stupid, and when Lionel gave it a push and said, "Go along and fight the Dragon, do," it put its tail between its legs and fairly ran away. It went and hid behind the Town Hall, and at night when the people were asleep it went round and ate all the pussy-cats in the town. And then it mewed more than ever. And on the Saturday morning, when people were a little timid about going out, because the Dragon had no regular hour for calling, the Manticora went up and down the streets and drank all the milk that was left in the cans at the doors for people's teas, and it ate the cans as well.

And just when it had finished the very last little ha'porth, which was short measure, because the milkman's nerves were quite upset, the Red Dragon came down the street looking for the Manticora. It edged off when it saw him coming, for it was not at all the Dragon-fighting kind; and, seeing no other door open, the poor, hunted creature took refuge in the General Post Office, and there the Dragon found it, trying to conceal itself among the ten o'clock mail. The Dragon fell on the Manticora at once, and the mail was no defence. The mewings were heard all over the town. All the pussies and the milk the Manticora had had seemed to have strengthened its mew wonderfully. Then there was a sad silence, and presently the people whose windows looked that way saw the Dragon come walking down the steps of the General Post Office spitting fire and smoke, together with tufts of Manticora fur, and the fragments of the registered letters. Things were growing very serious. However popular the King might become during the week, the Dragon was sure to do something on Saturday to upset the people's loyalty.

The Dragon was a perfect nuisance for the whole of Saturday, except during the hour of noon, and then he had to rest under a tree or he would have caught fire from the heat of the sun. You see, he was very hot to begin with.

At last came a Saturday when the Dragon actually walked into the Royal nursery and carried off the King's own pet Rocking-Horse. Then the King cried for six days, and on the seventh he was so tired that he had to stop. Then he heard the Blue Bird singing among the roses and saw the Butterfly fluttering among the lilies, and he said:-

"Nurse, wipe my face, please. I am not going to cry any more."

Nurse washed his face, and told him not to be a silly little King. "Crying," said she, "never did anyone any good yet."

"I don't know," said the little King, "I seem to see better, and to hear better now that I've cried for a week. Now, Nurse, dear, I know I'm right, so kiss me in case I never come back. I must try if I can't save the people."

"Well, if you must, you must," said Nurse; "but don't tear your clothes or get your feet wet."
So off he went.

The Blue Bird sang more sweetly than ever, and the Butterfly shone more brightly, as Lionel once more carried the Book of Beasts out into the rose-garden, and opened it very quickly, so that he might not be afraid and change his mind. The book fell open wide, almost in the middle, and there was written at the bottom of the page, "The Hippogriff', and before Lionel had time to see what the picture was, there was a fluttering of great wings and a stamping of hoofs, and a sweet, soft, friendly neighing; and there came out of the book a beautiful white horse with a long, long, white mane and a long, long, white tail, and he had great wings like swan's wings, and the softest, kindest eyes in the world, and he stood there among the roses.

The Hippogriff rubbed its silky-soft, milky-white nose against the little King's shoulder, and the little King thought: "But for the wings you are very like my poor, dear, lost Rocking-Horse." And the Blue Bird's song was very loud and sweet.

Then suddenly the King saw coming through the sky the great straggling, sprawling, wicked shape of the Red Dragon. And he knew at once what he must do. He caught up the Book of Beasts and jumped on the back of the gentle, beautiful Hippogriff, and leaning down he whispered in the sharp white ear:
"Fly, dear Hippogriff, fly your very fastest to the Pebbly Waste."

And when the Dragon saw them start, he turned and flew after them, with his great wings flapping like clouds at sunset, and the Hippogriff's wide wings were snowy as clouds at the moon-rising.

When the people in the town saw the Dragon fly off after the Hippogriff and the King they all came out of their houses to look, and when they saw the two disappear they made up their minds to the worst, and began to think what would be worn for Court mourning.

But the Dragon could not catch the Hippogriff. The red wings were bigger than the white ones, but they were not so strong, and so the white-winged horse flew away and away and away, with the Dragon pursuing, till he reached the very middle of the Pebbly Waste.

Now, the Pebbly Waste is just like the parts of the seaside where there is no sand - all round, loose, shifting stones, and there is no grass there and no tree within a hundred miles of it.

Lionel jumped off the white horse's back in the very middle of the Pebbly Waste, and he hurriedly unclasped the Book of Beasts and laid it open on the pebbles. Then he clattered among the pebbles in his haste to get back on to his white horse, and had just jumped on when up came the Dragon. He was flying very feebly, and looking round everywhere for a tree, for it was just on the stroke of twelve, the sun was shining like a gold guinea in the blue sky, and there was not a tree for a hundred miles.
The white-winged horse flew round and round the Dragon as he writhed on the dry pebbles. He was getting very hot: indeed, parts of him even had begun to smoke. He knew that he must certainly catch fire in another minute unless he could get under a tree. He made a snatch with his red claws at the King and Hippogriff, but he was too feeble to reach them, and besides, be did not dare to over-exert himself for fear he should get any hotter.

It was then that he saw the Book of Beasts lying on the pebbles, open at the page with "The Dragon" written at the bottom. He looked and he hesitated, and he looked again, and then, with one last squirm of rage, the Dragon wriggled himself back into the picture, and sat down under the palm tree, and the page was a little singed as he went in.

As soon as Lionel saw that the Dragon had really been obliged to go and sit under his own palm tree because it was the only tree there, he jumped off his horse and shut the book with a bang. "Oh, hurrah!" he cried. "Now we really have done it."

And he clasped the book very tight with the turquoise and ruby clasps.

"Oh, my precious Hippogriff," he cried, "you are the bravest, dearest, most beautiful-"

"Hush," whispered the Hippogriff, modestly. "Don't you see that we are not alone?"

And indeed there was quite a crowd round them on the Pebbly Waste: the Prime Minister and the Parliament and the Football Players and the Orphanage and the Manticora and the Rocking-Horse, and indeed everyone who had been eaten by the Dragon. You see, it was impossible for the Dragon to take them into the book with him - it was a tight fit even for one Dragon - so, of course, he had to leave them outside!

They all got home somehow, and all lived happy ever after.

When the King asked the Manticora where he would like to live he begged to be allowed to go back into the book. "I do not care for public life," he said.

Of course he knew his way on to his own page, so there was no danger of his opening the book at the wrong page and letting out a Dragon or anything. So he got back into his picture, and has never come out since: that is why you will never see a Manticora as long as you live, except in a picture-book. And of course he left the pussies outside, because there was no room for them in the book - and the milk-cans too.

Then the Rocking-Horse begged to be allowed to go and live on the Hippogriff's page of the book. "I should like," he said, "to live somewhere where Dragons can't get at me."

So the beautiful, white-winged Hippogriff showed him the way in, and there he stayed till the King had
him taken out for his great-great-great-great-grandchildren to play with.


As for the Hippogriff, he accepted the position of the King's Own Rocking-Horse - a situation left vacant by the retirement of the wooden one. And the Blue Bird and the Butterfly sing and flutter among the lilies and roses of the Palace garden to this very day.

The Secret Commonwealth


The Secret Commonwealth 

of Elves, Fauns and Fairies part 2

9. As Birds and Beasts, whose Bodies are much used to the Change of the free and open Air, forsee Storms; so those invisible People are more sagacious to understand by the Books of Nature Things to come, than wee, who are pestered with the grosser Dregs of all elementary Mixtures, and have our purer Spirits choked by them. The Deer scents out a Man and Powder (thou a late Invention) at a great Distance; a hungry Hunter, Bread; and the Raven, a Carrion: Their Brains, being long clarified by the high and subtle Air, will observe a very small Change in a Trice. Thus a Man of the Second Sight, perceiving the Operations of these forecasting invisible People among us, (indulged through a stupendous Providence to give Warnings of some remarkable Events, either in the Air, Earth, or Waters,) told he saw a Winding-shroud creeping on a walking healthful Person's Legs till it come to the Knee; and afterwards it came up to the Middle, then to the Shoulders, and at last over the Head, which was visible to 
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no other Person. And by observing the Spaces of Time betwixt the several Stages, he easily guessed how long the Man was to live who wore the Shroud; for when it approached his Head, he told that such a Person was ripe for the Grave.

10. THERE be many Places called Fairie-hills, which the Mountain People think impious and dangerous to peel or discover, by taking Earth or Wood from them; superstitiously believing the Souls of their Predicessors to dwell there. 1 And for that End (say they) a Mote or Mount was dedicate beside every Church-yard, to receive the Souls till their adjacent Bodies arise, and so become as a Fairie-hill; they using Bodies of Air when called Abroad. They also affirm those Creatures that move invisibly in a House, and cast hug great Stones, but do no much Hurt, because counter-wrought by some more courteous and charitable Spirits that are everywhere ready to defend Men, (Dan. 10. 13.) to be Souls that have not attained their Rest, thorough a vehement Desire of revealing a Murder or notable Injurie done or received, or

p. 24
or a Treasure that was forgot in their Lifetime on Earth, which when disclosed to a Conjurer alone, the Ghost quite removes.

IN the next Country to that of my former Residence, about the Year 1676, when there was some
Scarcity of Graine, a marvelous Illapse and Vision strongly struck the Imagination of two Women in one Night, living at a good Distance from one another, about a Treasure hid in a Hill, called SITHBRUAICH, or Fayrie-hill. The Appearance of a Treasure was first represented to the Fancy, and then an audible Voice named the Place where it was to their awaking Senses. Whereupon both arose, and meeting accidentally at the Place, discovered their Design; and jointly digging, found a Vessel as large as a Scottish Peck, full of small Pieces of good Money, of ancient Coin; which halving between them, they sold in Dish-fulls for Dish-fulls of Meal to the Country People. Very many of undoubted Credit saw, and had of the Coin to this Day. But whether it was a good or bad Angel, one of the subterranean People, or the restless Soul of him who hid it, that
p. 25

discovered it, and to what End it was done, I leave to the Examination of others.

11. THESE Subterraneans have Controversies, Doubts, Disputes, Feuds, and Siding of Parties; there being some Ignorance in all Creatures, and the vastest created Intelligences not compassing all Things. As to Vice and Sin, whatever their own Laws be, sure, according to ours, and Equity, natural, civil, and revealed, they transgress and commit Acts of Injustice, and Sin, by what is above said, as to their stealing of Nurses to their Children, and that other sort of Plaginism in catching our Children away, (may seem to heir some Estate in those invisible Dominions,) which never return. For the Inconvenience of their Succubi, who tryst with Men, it is abominable; but for Swearing and Intemperance, they are not observed so subject to those Irregularities, as to Envy, Spite, Hypocracies, Lying, and Dissimulation.

12. As our Religion obliges us not to make a peremptory and curious Search into these Obstrusenesses, so that the Histories of all Ages give as many plain Examples of extraordinary Occurrances
p. 26
[paragraph continues] Occurrances as make a modest Inquiry not contemptible. How much is written of Pigmies, Fairies, Nymphs, Sirens, Apparitions, which thou not the tenth Part true, yet could not spring of nothing! Even English Authors relate (of) Barry Island, in Glamorganshire, that laying your Ear into a Clift of the Rocks, blowing of Bellows, striking of Hammers, clashing of Armour, feeling of Iron, will be heard distinctly ever since Merlin enchanted those subterranean Wights to a solid manual forging of Arm's to Aurelius Ambrosius and his Brittans, till he returned; which Merlin being killed in a Battle, and not coming to loose the Knot, these active Vulcans are there tied to a perpetual Labour. But to dip no deeper into this Well, I will next give some Account how the Seer my Informer comes to have this secret Way of Correspondence beyond other Mortals.

THERE be odd Solemnities at investing a Man with the Privileges of the whole Mystery of this Second Sight. He must run a Tedder of Hair (which bound a Corps to the Bier) in a Helix [?] about his Middle, from End to End; then
p. 27
then bow his Head downwards, as did Elijah, 1 Kings, 18. 42. and look back thorough his Legs until he sees a Funeral advance till the People cross two Marches; or look thus back thorough a Hole where
was a Knot of Fir. But if the Wind change Points while the Hair Tedder is tied about him, he is in Peril of his Life. The usual Method for a curious Person to get a transient Sight of this otherwise invisible Crew of Subterraneans, (if impotently and over rashly sought,) is to put his [left Foot under the Wizard's right] Foot, and the Seer's Hand is put on the Inquirer's Head, who is to look over the Wizard's right Shoulder, (which he's an ill Appearance, as if by this Ceremony an implicit Surrender were made of all betwixt the Wizard's Foot and his Hand, ere the Person can be admitted a bravado to the Art;) then will he see a Multitude of Wight's, like furious hardy Men, flocking to him hastily from all Quarters, as thick as Atoms in the Air; which are no Nonentities or Phantasms, Creatures proceeding from an affrighted Apprehension, confused or crazed Sense, but Realities, appearing
p. 28
to a stable Man in his awaking Sense, and enduring a rational Trial of their Being. These throw Fear struck him breathless and speechless. The Wizard, defending the Lawfullness of his Skill, forbids such Horror, and comforts his Novice by telling of Zacharias, as being struck speechless at seeing Apparitions, Luke, 1. 20. Then he further maintains his Art, by vouching Elisha to have had the same, and disclosed it thus unto his Servant in 2 Kings, 6. 17. when he blinded the Syrians; and Peter in Acts, 5. 9. foreseeing the Death of Saphira, by perceiving as it were her Winding-sheet about her before hand; and Paul, in 2nd Corinthians 12. 4. who got such a Vision and Sight as should not, nor could be told. Elisha also in his Chamber saw Gehazi his Servant, at a great Distance, taking a reward from Naaman, 2d Kings, 5. 26. Hence were the Prophets frequently called SEERS, or Men of a second or more exalted Sight than others. He acts for his Purpose also Matthew 4. 8. where the Devil undertakes to give even Jesus a Sight of all Nations, and the finest Things in the World, at one Glance, thou in

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their natural Situations and Stations at a vast Distance from other. And 'tis said expressly he did let see them; not in a Map it seems, nor by a fantastic magical juggling of the Sight, which he could not impose upon so discovering a Person. It would appear then to have been a Sight of real solid Substances, and Things of worth, which he intended as a Bait for his Purpose. Whence it might seem, (comparing this Relation of Matthew 4. 8. with the former,) that the extraordinary or Second Sight can be given by the Ministery of bad as well as good Spirits to those that will embrace it. And the Instance of Balaam and the Pytheniss make it nothing the less probable. Thus also the Seer trains his Scholler, by telling of the Gradations of Nature, ordered by a wise Providence; that as the Sight of Bats and Owls transcend that of Shrews and Moles, so the visive Faculties of Men are clearer than those of Owls; as Eagles, Lynx, and Cats are brighter than Mens. And again, that Men of the Second Sight (being designed to give warnings against secret Engyns) surpass the ordinary Vision of other Men
p. 30
[paragraph continues] Men, which is a native Habit in some, descended from their Ancestors, and acquired as any artificial Improvement of their natural Sight in others; resembling in their own Kind the usual artificial Helps of optic Glasses, (as Prospectives, Telescopes, and Microscopes,) without which external Aids those Men here treated of do perceive Things that, for their Smallness, or Subtility, and Secrecy, are invisible to others, thou daily conversant with them; they having such a Beam continually about them as that of the Sun, which when it shines clear only, lets common Eyes see the Atoms, in the Air, that without those Rays they could not discern; for some have this Second Sight transmitted from Father to Son throw the whole Family, without their own Consent or others teaching, proceeding only from a Bounty of Providence it seems, or by Compact, or by a complexional Quality of the first Acquirer. As it may seem alike strange (yet nothing vicious) in such as Master Great-rake, 1 the Irish Stroaker, Seventh-sons, and others that cure the King's Evil, and
p. 31
and chase away Diseases and Pains, with only stroking of the affected Part; which (if it be not the decree by the same Degrees afterwards,) proceeds only from the curative also me of their healthful Constitutions; Virtue going out from them by spirituous Effluxes unto the Patient, and their vigorous healthy Spirits affecting the sick as usually the unhealthy Fumes of the sick infect the sound and whole.
Relics of miraculous Operations, or some secret Virtue in the Womb, of the Parent, which increases until Seventh-sons be born, and

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