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The evil fairies

We often think of fairies as they were like angels, but in the legends and folklore this is not the case at all. Fairies have an ambivalent nature, good and bad, light and darkness blend into them as they do in reality. There are good fairies, such as the Cinderella fairy, or bad fairies such as the Snow Queen, Carabosse (called Maleficent in the Disney version of 'Sleeping Beauty') or Prezzemolina Fairies. Prezzemolina is an Italian fairy tale collected by Italo Calvino in the book 'Italian fairytales', tells of a little girl who, because of her mother who had stolen parsley in the fairy garden yielding to the whim of pregnancy, was born with the destiny already marked and was kidnapped by the fairies who want to eat her. This fairy tale is reminiscent of the Grimm Brothers' Rapunzel, where instead of parsley there are the rampions and instead of the bad fairies there is a powerful witch, actually there are various versions of this fairytale also previous, one of these is Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile.

More often than not, fairies are good or bad depending on the situation and the person they are dealing with. In mythology the fairies are often associated with the souls of the dead, it is believed that they are fallen angels or pagan dead who remain trapped in the middle Kingdom. The fairies also strenuously defend their homes and their gold and cast curses that can even lead to death. Anyway the mythology of the whole world is full of tales about fairies, such ancient tales that date back to the dawn of time.

Esempi di fate cattive si trovano in ogni cultura

  •  Nixes they are water fairies, shapeshifters that meet in the Germanic, Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon culture. They are very ambiguous and dangerous. They throw themselves into night dances and, thanks to their beauty, attract beautiful young people who are then drowned. During the spring equinox instead they become good and give beauty and youth to those who bathe in the waters of ponds and lakes.
  • Glaistig they are also fairies of water, from the waist down they have the body of a carp, they too seduce men with dance and then feed on their blood.
  • Leanan-Sidhe also called fairy mistress is a spirit that seeks the love of mortals. If the chosen one yields, he will be hers forever, not even death can separate him from her and he will die young but he will surely be a poet or an artist in fact she is an inspiring muse that feeds on the life of her beloved.
  • Bean-Nighe or washerwoman, is a spirit that infests waterways in Scotland and Ireland and washes the blood-stained clothes of the dying persons.

These are just some examples worthy of the Halloween month!

 

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 And finally I leave you the beautiful poem by John Keats that tells of a charming and evil fairy

 

'La belle dame sans merci'

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

       Alone and palely loitering?

The sedge has withered from the lake,

       And no birds sing.

 

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

       So haggard and so woe-begone?

The squirrel’s granary is full,

       And the harvest’s done.

 

I see a lily on thy brow,

       With anguish moist and fever-dew,

And on thy cheeks a fading rose

       Fast withereth too.

 

I met a lady in the meads,

       Full beautiful—a faery’s child,

Her hair was long, her foot was light,

       And her eyes were wild.

 

I made a garland for her head,

       And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;

She looked at me as she did love,

       And made sweet moan

 

I set her on my pacing steed,

       And nothing else saw all day long,

For sidelong would she bend, and sing

       A faery’s song.

She found me roots of relish sweet,

       And honey wild, and manna-dew,

And sure in language strange she said—

       ‘I love thee true’.

 

She took me to her Elfin grot,

       And there she wept and sighed full sore,

And there I shut her wild wild eyes

       With kisses four.

 

And there she lullèd me asleep,

       And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!—

The latest dream I ever dreamt

       On the cold hill side.

 

I saw pale kings and princes too,

       Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;

They cried—‘La Belle Dame sans Merci

       Thee hath in thrall!’

 

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,

       With horrid warning gapèd wide,

And I awoke and found me here,

       On the cold hill’s side.

 

And this is why I sojourn here,

       Alone and palely loitering,

Though the sedge is withered from the lake,

 

       And no birds sing.


Scrivi commento

Commenti: 2
  • #1

    Michael Gottselig (venerdì, 31 marzo 2023 15:50)

    A whole page about Faerie's and they can't spell it correctly. FAERIE

  • #2

    Gioconda (venerdì, 31 marzo 2023 16:36)

    Maybe faeries it's more specific speaking about folklore but fairies is correct too.

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