The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-07-31
FAIRY, ELF, GNOME AND IMP.
THE INTANGIBLE FOLK OF ERIN.
1Ir. waksman Traces the Origin of Mystic
Beings-GraduaI Evolution of the Fairy
The Lepreehaun and Where He
DwelIs-Green Imps. Etc.

possess a decidedly grewsome and grisly
nature, that portion which pertains to the
fairy mythology OF Ireland is full Of reve-
lation of belief in the almost universally
comforting and friendly agency OF every
form of fairy, elf, gnome or imp. They
are of course possessed of supernatural
powers. but no one ever heard Of an Irish
fairy or imp harming anybody of right
motive and life, Indeed however wide
and deep may be ones study OF or &C
quaintance 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 well-es-
tablished doings, which could bring dis
credit upon their conduct, or make OF the
entire wee folk" race aught but benig-
nant allied force OF other good influences
and people.
Tracing their exact origin is a very diff
cult matter The word sidh or sih, pro-
nounced, and anghcized into, "shee,"
was always applied in the Oldest known
Celtic writings to the residences, palaces
and haunts OF those immOrtals OF the re-
hottest Gaedhehc or Erse mythology. In
this mythology was found the IMAM of
the lSjdRs," or the "far-shee, and also ''the
woman of the Sidbs." or the "bann-shee.
In the Gaedhelic mythology, however,
were two classes OF these ImmOrtals. One
OF these consisted of imps or demons hav
ing the power OF taking upon themselves
the body of man or woman, at will, and
by wooing human men and women, and
particularly in holding out ravishing
- No1f
them into fatal unions through which the
souls OF the mortals so deluded were end
lessly banished IRON heaven. The second
class were semi-immortals and magicians,
wholly devoted to Druidism and the black
art. These beings are the mystic folk who
originally possessed Erinn and who grad
ually emerge from the realm of phantOms
and legends giving place to the forms and
activities of men, where the hand OF his
tory begins 10 draw aside the veil from
the silences BY many searchers into an
clent 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
i
who hold to the belief that the Milesians
were the first human occupants Of Erinn,
are willing enough to regard the Tutha De
Dananns as those imaginable beings easily
created in the fanCiful thought of the in
coming wanderers; who naturally enough
could not comprehend, from their eastern
origin and associations, any land I'M
peopled and unknown 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 Erinn there were already centuries
behind in which people of some sort ex-
listed, whose wonderful skill in the cree
ton 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
skilful and more war-like people the
gradual dedication of this mysterious
race, and their eventual Identification
with the local phantOms and gods of the
earliest historically known people of Ire
land.
True it is that in the oldest Irish au-
thorities the fairies are often called the
Tuatha De Dananns, and the latter are in
turn given the virtues and powers OF i'm
rnortals and fairies. Their final dispersion
after the two disastrous battles of Tdifeapn
and Drum Ligbeda was fairy-liRe enough
They "held q meeting at Bru7b, on the
Bovine. under the presidency of Manannan;
and by his advice they distributed and
quartered themselves on the pleasant hills
Gibbs Of Erinn.' Hence an easy trans
formation to men and women on the
hills can be traced. Many OF these sidhs
are known to-day from local tradition and
IL
that the names OF no less than seventy
Irish townlands contain Sbce and It's modi-
fcaflons; while any one who will
tramp about Ireland for a 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 wears been known as This or
That "of or from the fairies" Sheetrim
(sidh-dhrium) 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. Knock
nasheega (Cnoc-na-sigel, near Cappoquiu,
In county Waterford. is the "hill OF the
fairies. Cuilsheeghary is the name of
two townlands IN county Sligo, and its
Celtic meaning is fairies forest"
EaIIyEakeeTF. IN MAYO. means the town
OF the fairy hill" The Sheehys, a town
land in Tipperary, means "the fairy
mountains The Shee hills, in county
Meath, are ''the fairy hills" Clonshee,
IN county Roscommon, is "a fairy
meadow" Mullaghshee, at Ballv-
shannon, Donegal, is lis the hill of the
fairy palace" These illustrations could
he multiplied indefinitely, and there will
he found names whose original and only
present meaning comprehended every
Imaginable form of ''rath or tort Of the
fairies, ''the mill of the fairies" 1.-The
place OF the fairies dance" ''the 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"
''storehouse of the fairies" pebble heap
OF the fairies, 'the fairies cavern"
'the mines of the fairies" and I even
found a few weeks since up among the
misty nights OF the Twelve Pins OF Bunne-
beola, IN Connamara, a lovely basin-ike
hollow near the top OF wild Bengower
which the peasants for 1000 years have
called by no other name than "the place
where the fairies we'd
In the gradual evolution OF the fairies
of Ireland, that portion Of its demonologv
providing maleyOlent magicians of an
impish nature has been almost wholly ex-
tirpated The arshee" or imam OF the
hills" in ancient times was a very wicked
fellow indeed, up 10 all manner OF wizard
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