Oral tradition and folklore
"Plucked from the Fairy Circle"
A man saves his friend from the grip of a fairy ring
A great deal of folklore surrounds fairy rings. Their names in European languages often allude to supernatural origins; they are known as
ronds de sorciers ("sorcerers' rings") in France, and
Hexenringe ("witches' rings") in German. In German tradition, fairy rings were thought to mark the site of witches' dancing on
Walpurgis Night, and Dutch superstition claimed that the circles show where the
Devil set his milk churn. In
Tyrol, folklore attributed fairy rings to the fiery tails of flying dragons; once a dragon had created such a circle, nothing but toadstools could grow there for seven years. European superstitions routinely warned against entering a fairy ring. French tradition reported that fairy rings were guarded by giant bug-eyed toads that cursed those who violated the circles. In other parts of Europe, entering a fairy ring would result in the loss of an eye. Fairy rings are associated with diminutive spirits in the
Philippines.
Western European, including English, Scandinavian and Celtic, traditions claimed that fairy rings are the result of
elves or
fairies dancing. Such ideas dated to at least the mediæval period; The
Middle English term
elferingewort ("elf-ring"), meaning "a ring of daisies caused by elves' dancing" dates to the 12th century.
[38] In his
History of the Goths (1628),
Olaus Magnus makes this connection, saying that fairy rings are burned into the ground by the dancing of elves. British folklorist
Thomas Keightley noted that in Scandinavia in the early 20th century, beliefs persisted that fairy rings (
elfdans) arose from the dancing of elves. Keightley warned that while entering an
elfdans might allow the interloper to see the elves—although this was not guaranteed—it would also put the intruder in thrall to their illusions.
[40]
Fairy rings in moss in Iceland
The
folklores of the
British Isles contain a wealth of fairy lore, including the idea from which fairy rings take their name: the phenomena result from the dancing of fairies.
[41] In 19th-century Wales, where the rings are known as
cylch y Tylwyth Teg, fairies were almost invariably described as dancing in a group when encountered,
[42] and in Scotland and Wales in the late 20th century, stories about fairy rings were still common;
[43][44] some Welsh even claimed to have joined a fairy dance.
[45] Victorian folklorists regarded fairies and witches as related, based in part on the idea that both were believed to dance in circles.
[46] These revels are particularly associated with moonlit nights, the rings only becoming visible to mortals the following morning.
[48] Local variants add other details. An early 20th-century Irish tradition says that fairies enjoy dancing around the
hawthorn tree so that fairy rings often centre on one.
[49] One resident of
Balquhidder, Scotland, said that the fairies sit on the mushrooms and use them as dinnertables,
[44] and a Welsh woman claimed that fairies used the mushrooms as parasols and umbrellas.
[45] Olaus Magnus in
Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus wrote that the brightness of the fairy ring comes not from the dancing of the fairies, who harm it with their feet, but from
Puck, who refreshes the grass.
[50] A Devon legend says that a black hen and chickens sometimes appear at dusk in a large fairy ring on the edge of
Dartmoor.
[51] A Welsh and Manx variant current in the 1960s removes dancing from the picture and claims that fairy rings spring up over an underground fairy village.
[52] These associations have become linked to specific sites. For example, "The Pixies' Church" was a rock formation in Dartmoor surrounded by a fairy ring,
[53] and a stone circle tops
Cader Idris in northern Wales, believed to be a popular spot for fairy dances. Guernsey Fairy Ring is also a popular spot for fairie dancing and known for having evil fairies living there.
[54]
Many folk beliefs generally paint fairy rings as dangerous places, best avoided.
[52][55] Sikes traces these stories of people trespassing into forbidden territory and being punished for it to the tale of
Psyche and Eros. In it, Psyche is forbidden to view her lover, and when she does so, her palace disappears and she is left alone.
[56] Superstition calls fairy circles sacred and warns against violating them lest the interloper (such as a farmer with a plough) anger the fairies and be
cursed.
[45][57][58] In an Irish legend recorded by
Wilde, a farmer builds a barn on a fairy ring despite the protests of his neighbours. He is struck senseless one night, and a local "fairy doctor" breaks the curse. The farmer says that he dreamed that he must destroy the barn.
[59] Even collecting dew from the grass or flowers of a fairy ring can bring bad luck. Destroying a fairy ring is unlucky and fruitless; superstition says it will just grow back.
[52]
A traditional Scottish rhyme sums up the danger of such places:
He wha tills the fairies' green
Nae luck again shall hae :
And he wha spills the fairies' ring
Betide him want and wae.
For weirdless days and weary nights
Are his till his deein' day.
But he wha gaes by the fairy ring,
Nae dule nor pine shall see,
And he wha cleans the fairy ring
An easy death shall dee.
[60]
Numerous legends focus on mortals entering a fairy ring—and the consequences. One superstition is that anyone who steps into an empty fairy ring will die at a young age.
[61] A 20th-century tradition from
Somerset calls the fairy ring a "galley-trap" and says that a murderer or thief who walks in the ring will be hanged.
[62] Most often, someone who violates a fairy perimeter becomes invisible to mortals outside and may find it impossible to leave the circle. Often, the fairies force the mortal to dance to the point of exhaustion, death, or madness.
[61][63] In Welsh tales, fairies actively try to lure mortals into their circles to dance with them.
[42] A tale from the
Cambrian Mountains of Wales, current in the 19th century, describes a mortal's encounter with a fairy ring:
... he saw the Tylwyth Teg, in appearance like tiny soldiers, dancing in a ring. He set out for the scene of revelry, and soon drew near the ring where, in a gay company of males and females, they were footing it to the music of the harp. Never had he seen such handsome people, nor any so enchantingly cheerful. They beckoned him with laughing faces to join them as they leaned backward almost falling, whirling round and round with joined hands. Those who were dancing never swerved from the perfect circle; but some were clambering over the old cromlech, and others chasing each other with surprising swiftness and the greatest glee. Still others rode about on small white horses of the most beautiful form ... All this was in silence, for the shepherd could not hear the harps, though he saw them. But now he drew nearer to the circle, and finally ventured to put his foot in the magic ring. The instant he did this, his ears were charmed with strains of the most melodious music he had ever heard.
[64]
Entering the ring on
May Eve or
Halloween night was especially dangerous.
[52] One source near
Afon fach Blaen y Cae, a tributary of the
Dwyfach, tells of a shepherd accidentally disturbing a ring of rushes where fairies are preparing to dance; they capture him and hold him captive, and he even marries one of them.
[65] In variants from Scotland recorded by
Edwin Sidney Hartland in 1891, the ring is replaced by a cavern or an old mill.
[66]
Freedom from a fairy ring often requires outside intervention. A tactic from early 20th-century Wales is to cast wild
marjoram and
thyme into the circle and befuddle the fairies;
[67]another asks the rescuer to touch the victim with iron.
[68] Other stories require that the enchanted victim simply be plucked out by someone on the outside,
[69] although even this can be difficult: A farmer in a tale from the
Langollen region has to tie a rope around himself and enlist four men to pull him from the circle as he goes in to save his daughter.
[70]Other folk methods rely on Christian faith to break the enchantment: a stick from a
rowan tree (thought to be the wood from which the cross of
Jesus Christ was built) can break the curse,
[45] as can a simple phrase such as "what, in Heaven's name", as in a 19th-century tale from
Carmarthenshire.
[71] A common element to these recoveries is that the rescuer must wait a year and a day from the point where the victim entered the ring.
[68]
Mortals who have danced with the fairies are rarely safe after being saved from their enthrallment. Often, they find that what seemed to be but a brief foray into fairyland was indeed much longer in the mortal realm, possibly weeks or years.
[61][72] The person rescued from the fairy ring may have no memory of their encounter with the sprites, as in a story from Anglesea recorded in 1891.
[73] In most tales, the saved interlopers face a grim fate. For example, in a legend from
Carmarthenshire, recorded by Sikes, a man is rescued from a fairy ring only to crumble to dust.
[71] In a tale from
Mathavarn,
Llanwrin Parish, a fairy-ring survivor moulders away when he eats his first bite of food.
[69] Another vulnerability seems to be iron; in a tale from the
Aberystwyth region, a touch from the metal causes a rescued woman to disappear.
[73]
Some legends assert that the only safe way to investigate a fairy ring is to run around it nine times. This affords the ability to hear the fairies dancing and frolicking underground.
[55] According to a 20th-century tradition of
Northumberland, this must be done under a full moon, and the runner must travel in the direction of the sun; to go
widdershins allows the fairies to place the runner under their sway. To circle the ring a tenth time is foolhardy and dangerous.
[52] Keightley recorded a similar tradition from
Northumberland in 1905: "The children constantly run this number [nine times], but nothing will induce them to venture a tenth run." A story from early 20th century England says that a mortal can see the sprites without fear if a friend places a foot on that of the person stepping beyond the circle's perimeter.
[75] Another superstition says that wearing a hat backwards can confuse the fairies and prevent them from pulling the wearer into their ring.
[76]
Although they have strong associations with doom, some legends paint fairy circles as places of fertility and fortune. Welsh folk belief is that mountain sheep that eat the grass of a fairy ring flourish, and that crops sown from such a place will prove more bountiful that those from normal land. A folk belief recorded in the
Athenian Oracle claims that a house built on a fairy circle will bring prosperity to its inhabitants.
[77] Likewise, a legend from
Pont y Wern says that in the 13th or 14th century, the inhabitants of the town of Corwrion watched fairies dancing in a ring around a
glow worm every Sunday after church at a place called Pen y Bonc. They even joined the sprites in their revels. The legend survives in a rhyme: "With the fairies nimbly dancing round / The glow-worm on the Rising Ground."
[78] A Welsh tale recorded by Rhys in 1901 tells of a man who supposedly lived on the side of the
Berwyn, above
Cwm Pennant, in the early 19th century. The man destroyed a nest of
rooks in a tree surrounded by a fairy ring. In gratitude, the fairies gave him a half crown every day but stopped when he told his friends, "for he had broken the rule of the fair folks by making their liberality known".
[79] Nevertheless, fairy boons are not without their curses, and tales often tell of the sprites exacting their revenge.
Literature
Fairy rings have featured in the works of European authors, playwrights, and artists since the 13th century. In his
Arthurian romanceMeraugis de Portlesguez,
Raoul de Houdenc describes a scene clearly derived from Celtic fairy-ring lore: The title character visits the Château des Caroles and sees a circle of women and a knight dancing around a pine in the castle courtyard. Meraugis is unable to fight the intense desire to join in, thus freeing the previous knight from the spell. Meraugis is helpless to leave the dance until, ten weeks later, another knight joins it and frees him.
[80] Fairy circles feature in works by several
Elizabethan poets and playwrights.
William Shakespeare alludes to them in
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene I
[61][81] ("And I serve the fairy queen, / To dew her orbs upon the green" and "To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind"),
[82] and
The Tempest, Act V, Scene I:
[41]
... you demi-puppets that
By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make,
Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime
Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
To hear the solemn curfew ...
[83]
And in their courses make that round
In meadows and in marshes found,
Of them so called the Fairy Ground,
Of which they have the keeping.
[84]
Art
Fairy circles have appeared in European artwork since at least the 18th century. For example,
William Blake painted
Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing, depicting a scene from Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream, around 1785,
[88] and
Daniel Maclise painted
Faun and the Fairies around 1834. Images of fairies dancing in circles became a favourite trope of
painters in the Victorian period. On the one hand, artists were genuinely interested in the culture such imagery represented, and on the other, fairies could be depicted as titillating nudes and semi-nudes without offending
Victorian mores, which made them a popular subject of art collectors. Examples of Victorian fairy-ring paintings include
Come unto these Yellow Sands (1842) by
Richard Dadd and
Reconciliation of Titania and Oberon (1847) by
Joseph Noel Paton.
[89]
