Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-27
THE IRISH FAIRIES.
A Band of Intangible Little Folk
That Never Do Anyone a Wrong.
THEIR ORIGIN A DARK MYSTERY.
They May Have Had an Existence. but If So,
None Know Aught of 1t.
SOME OF THE TALES TOLD OF THEM
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE D1spArcH.I i

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Irish peasantry may occasionally possess a
decidedly grewsome and grisly nature, that
portion which pertains to the fairy mythology
of Ireland is full of revelation of belief in
the almost universally comforting and
friendly agency of every form of fairy, eli,
gnome or imp. They are Of course possessed
of supernatural powers, but no one ever
heard of an Irish fairy or imp harming any
body of right motive and life. Indeed,
however wide and deep may be ones study
of or acquaintance with these intangible
folk of Erin, no instance can be found of
printed record or from among the countless
tales of the peasantry regarding their we'll
established doings, which could bring dis
credit upon their conduct, or make of the
entire "wee folk" race aught but benignant
allied force of other good influences and
people.
Tracing their exact origin is a very diff
cult matter The word sidh or sith. pro-
nounced and Anglicized into "shee," was
always applied in the Oldest known Celtic
writings to the residences, palaces and haunts
of those immortals of the remotest Ged-
hello or Erse mythology. In this mythology
was found the imam of the Sidhs," or the
"far-shee," and also the woman of the
Sidhs," or the ''bann-shee" In the Gad-
hello mythology, however, were two classes
of these immortals. One of these consisted
ofimps or demons having the power of tax
ing upon themselves the body of man or
woman at will, and by wooing human men
and women, and particularly in holding out
ravishing promises of Immortality, thus
leading them into fatal unions, through
which the souls of the mortals so deluded
were endIessly banished from heaven.
THE SECOND CLASS
were semi-immortals and magicians, wholly
devoted TO Druidism and the Black Art.
These beings are the mystic folk who orig
inally possessed Erin and who gradually
emerge from the realm of phantoms and le-
gends giving place to the forms and activi-
ties of men, where the hand of history be-
gins to draw aside the veil from the silences.
By many searchers into ancient Irish lore,
they are interchangeable with the mythical
Tuatha De Dananns. Those who believe
Ireland to have been peopled before the
coming of the Milesian colony, regard the
Tuatha De Dananns as the aboriginal race
and their gradual and mysterious fading
out of existence as largely the groundwork of
ancient and present Irish mythology Those
were the first human occupants of Erin, are
willing enough to regard the Tuatha De Da-
nanns as those imaginable beings easily Gre
ated in the fanciful thought of the incoming
wanderers; who naturally enough could not
comprehend, from their Eastern origin and
associations, any land uupeopled and un-
known of men. Whether the mythical race
had existence, or whether its people were
creatures of the imagination only so soon
as the records of the doings of men came to
be kept in ancient Erin there were al
ready centuries behind in which people of
some sort existed, whose wonderful skill in
the erection of sepulchral mounds, and in
the making of metal ornaments and slender
and delicately formed spear heads, was such
as to compel on the part of less skillful
and more warlike people the gradual deif-
cation of this mysterious race. and their
eventual Identification with the local phan-
toms and gods of the earliest historically
known people of ireland.
True it is that in the Oldest Irish authori-
ties the fairies are often called the Tuatha
De Danenns, and the latter are in turn
given the virtues and powers of immortals
and fairies. Their final dispersion after the
two disastrous battles of Tailteann and
Drum Lighean was fairy-like enough.
They "held meeting at Brugh, on the
Boyne, under the presidency OF Manannan;
and by his advice they distributed and
quartered themselves on the pleasant hills
(sidhs) of Erin" Hence an easy trans
formation to ''men and women of the hills"
can be traced. Many of these sidhs are
known to-day from local tradition and
nomenclature.
SEEN IN NAMES.
The learned Joyce states that the names
OF no less than 20 Irish townlands contain
Shee and its notifications; while anyone
who will tramp about Ireland for little,
or for that matter even glance over its map
for a half hour, will find names Of wales,
streams, glens. mountains and hills, in
countless numbers, which, in their Celtic
form, have for from one to two thousand
years been known as This or That "of or
from the fairies" Sheetrim (Sidh-dhruim)
or "fairy-ridge," was the old name of the
Rock of Cashel, on which stood but a few
DAYS ago, and also of six townlands OF
County Armagh. Knocknasheega (Cnoc-
na-sige), near Cappoquin, in County Wa
terford, is the ''hill of the fairies" Gull
sheeghary is the name of two townlands in
County Sligo, and its Celtic meaning is
"the fairies forest" BalIysakeery, in
Mayo, means ''the town OF the fairy
hill" The Sheehys, a townland in
Tipperary, means .the fairy mountains"
The Shee Hills, in County Meath, are "the
fairy hills" Cloonshee in County Ros-
common, is ga fairy meadow" Mrllagh-
shee. at Ballyshannon, Donegal, is "the hill
of the fairy palace" These illustrations
could be multiplied Indefinitely; apd there
will be found names whose original and
only present meaning comprehend every
imaginable fern of ''rath or fort of the
fairies, - "the mill of the fairies," the place
of the fairies dance" "fairy spring" "the
glen of the wee folk, " ''the burn where the
fairies sing" "the fairies pool" "the
church of the fairy hill," "the fairies
blacksmith shop, p" "storehouse of the fai-
ries, pebble heap of the fairies, "the
fairies cavern, ''the mines of the tairies;'
and even found a few weeks since, up
among the misty heights of the Twelve
Pins of Bunnebeola, in Connamara, alovely
basin-like hollow near the top of wild Ben
gower, which the peasants for 1000 years
have called by no other name than 'the
place where the fairies wed.''
ALMOST WIPED OUT.
In tie gradual evolution of the fairies of
Ireland, that portion of its demnology pro-
viding malevolent magicians of an impish
nature has been almost wholly extirpated.
The 'far-shee" or imam of the hills" in
ancient times was a very wicked fellow in
deed, up to all manner Of wizard harm, and
making no distinction whatever between
good and bad people in his depredations.
So, too, the ''ban-shee" or woman of the
hills" or woman of the fairy mansions" as
she is more pleasantly known to-day, was
looked upon in olden times as q most vim
dictive and hurtful female demon. The
former has been replaced by throng of
pleasant-mannered imps, possessed of much |
humor, with an occasional turn of practical
Joking, while not one in a score could be |
fairly accused of downright meanness. The |
latter has also, while retaining her orig