Fairie Folk

While thinking about my talk at the English/Irish SIG next month I came across some articles about Irish fairies. Yes - they do exist. Just walk around the Irish countryside at dusk or dawn an if you are lucky you may just see them

The people known as "The Sidhe"or people of the mounds, or "The Lordly Ones"or "The Good People"were descended from the "Tuartha de Dannan" who settled in Ireland millennia ago and in being defeated by the Milesians they retreated to a different dimension of space and time than our own, believed to be living under mounds and fairy raths and cairns. Placenames in Ireland with the pre-nouns Lis, Rath, and Shee are associated with these people for example; Lismore, Lisdoonvarna, Sheemore Rathfarnham etc.

(O'Hanlon, rev. John (Lageniensis), Irish Folklore:Traditions and Superstitions of the country. first published 1870, republished E.P. Publishing Ltd., 1973)

Another interesting book is Tales Of The Fairies And Of The Ghost World by Jeremiah Curtin published in 1895. It is available at 

http://chestofbooks.com/fairy-tale/Fairy-Ghost/#.VAnD9vmSx8F#ixzz3CRyva5ze 

If you want proof that fairies do exist in Ireland, an article in The Sligo Champion dated January 2007 states - Fairies blamed for fallen electricity poles - well it is Ireland after all.

Last time I was in Ireland I was sitting in a very isolated spot in the Burren in Co Clare, there was nobody for miles and a gentle breeze came across the hillside I was sitting on and I  heard a tinkling of bells. This was fleeting but I amsure it was the "fairie folk".

Well, enough of the fairies, I need to do some more research for my talk. How easy it is to procrastinate.

Spot the fairie, she's leaving so I can do some work and stop procrastinating.