Pagan Portals--Where Fairies Meet by Daniela Simina

Author:Daniela Simina
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781803412306
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Published: 2023-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Endnotes

26. My own grandmother would clip my hair each year on the morning of Sântoader.

Chapter 9

Fairies and Animals

In the lore, animals relate to the Fairy realm in more than just one way. Stories mention domestic animals taken into Fairy, abducted or voluntarily given to the fey, animals that fairies themselves shift into, and those known as fairy animals per se. While parallels can be drawn between Irish and Romanian lore regarding fairies and animals, each among these various aspects is given different weight. For example, in Irish lore the predatory aspect of some shape-shifting fairies is strongly supported by accounts, while in Romanian lore, the stories where fairy animals partner up with humans and give assistance in times of need are most commonly encountered.

Irish lore abounds in examples of animals that fairies borrow, steal, or occasionally take with owner’s consent. In Ireland fairies are fond of sneaking into barns and take out horses to ride throughout the night. Several accounts, collected from primary or secondary sources, mention horses left in stables at night, only to be found in the morning exhausted, sweaty, and with their mane’s tangles. Finding a horse’s mane tangled for no obvious reason is in Ireland a sure sign of fairy mischief. Even today, once rational explanations are ruled out, fairy involvement is still considered a very plausible cause for horses’ exhaustion. (Lenihan, 2003)

In Ireland fairies are known to also interfere with other farm animals besides horses. Fairies are reputed for stealing cow’s milk. When a cow known for her abundant milk supply runs dry, and physiological causes have been ruled out, fairies are the primary suspect. There are also accounts of fairy cows helping communities survive. Everyone benefits, until some narrow-minded person offends the cow at which point all the favors are lost.

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