The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-02-15
BELIEF IN FAIRIES
1t is Said to Still Exist in Some
Parts of the World.
PRETTY AND HARMLESS DELUSION
BETTER Things for Children Than Some Other
Things That are not SO Old-TwO Little
Fairy Tales.

In countries where good deal of Celtic
blood yet remains pure and untainted with
Teutonic or Scandinavian a lingering be-
lief in fairies may still be traced in remote
parts A few years ago an old man in the
! Isle of Man solemnly assured Il traveller
there that he himself had one night beheld
! the fairies at their revels in such multi
tudes that there was quite thickness
tremendous of them" and no amount of
skeptical questioning could shake the old
man in his belief. At the present day, in
the wilder parts of Cornwall, a quite
genuine belief in being ''pisky led" pre-
walls "Piskie" (pixic in Devonian) is the
common Cornish name for fairies, and GER
tain mischievous sprites among them are
supposed to derive great pleasure in entic-
iag unwary travellers across the wild moors
and hills from the right paths and leading
them grievously astray. After landing
some unlucky wight in bog burst OF
merry laughter in the air generally informs
the traveller who his guide has been. The
only way to circumvent these airy sprites
is to turn the coat inside out before ventur-
ing across desolate eXpanse. That they
have a certain command over the powers
of nature is shown by their having the
b power to blind and bewilder the traveller
by throwing fog around him, so that he
cannot trace his way.
WHAT "AUNT JOAN" SAW.
The following account of their personal
appearance is preserved in tale told by
old wives in the neighborhood of Lamorna,
beyond Penzance: An old woman called
Aunt JOAN" when ona visit to neighbor
popularity supposed to be white witch,
!.
! under some fern upon one of her eyes, and
S the result is that when she opened her eyes
e ''the place was full of sprites and spriggans.
1 In all the folds of the nets and sails hang
a ing from the beams troops of small people
u were cutting all sorts of capers. The little
. creatures were tossing up their heels, way
: ing their feathered caps and fans as they
: launched up and down on the mcrest bits
of sticks or green twigs. Numbers of them
S were swinging in the cobwebs that hung
e from the rafters, or riding the mice in and
+ out through the holes in the thatch.
81 noted that all the little men were
dressed in green, pinked out with red, and
had feathered caps on their heads, high
riding boots, with silver spurs on their
u heels. Their ladies were al decked out in
~ the grand old fashion; their gowns were
. of green velvet with long trains, some
So looped up with silver chains and bells or
N tassels, others had their trains sweeping
~ behind them as they walked in grand state
- up and down. They seemed to think there
~ was nobody in the house but themselves,
e. prancing about in their high heeled shoes
at sparkling with diamond buckles. The
er little women all wore high crowned steeple
j. hats like mine, with wreaths of the most
a beautiful flowers of all colors around
q them, sDrigs and garlands ON all the other
% parts. of their dress and in their hands as
n well. flirting their fans in the faces of the
men. They were the sauciest little NOR
r tails l ever did see. What puzzled me
On most was to see so many sweet flower:
e with them at that time of the year
ou spied some ugly spriggans seated in the
Us dark corner looking very gloomy, becaus,
of they are doomed to guard the TREASURES
and do irksome things the merry small
X people are free from. A troop of the small
up people entered, playing such sweet strain
% on the pipes, flutes and other instrument
ut they had made with green reeds of TIL
ir0 brook and shells of the shore"
Ia Then follows an account of how the fair
ne, ND band approached the ola dame Chenanc
a (the white witch), and cast punches of tn
he herbs into her apron, with which she mad
healing salves and lotions. AS soon a
d these fairies retired others came forward
he bearing in their hands unopened flower
70 of the foxglove, from which they poure
~ magic dyes, which no sooner touched he
an. dress than it was changed into velve
ex others laid silver cord on the cuttings {
lty the petticoat, and decked the old dame on
he in all manner and variety of flowers. Th
,he house is covered with marvellous tapestrie
ro- and the old dame so transformed wit
49, her fairy attire that Aunt Joan gets frigh
er ened and hobbies Off, but on CHANGING bac
Ter with her unanointed eye sees Dame CHI
ute nance in her ordinary clothes sewing; br
her on looking with the anointed eye the fail
nd, scene is again revealed.
jhe LITTLE ''BoBBY GRIGLANs."
iho Another story relates how aman, cuttin
H. furze on the heath, finds among the busht
rf tiny figure asleep He was no bigg
m than a cat, and dressed in a green Goa
sky blue breeches and diamond buckle
lily shoes Uncle Billy takes him home to h
,ed children, who make great friends wit
lhe him, and call him Bobby Griglans (gri
los 1,,c =. olI f,orp;sb for bao+bA no &c o -.
IL little creature, who sings and dances f
ill hours together, with a great adherence
,ult dirt or dust. He only drinks milk, al
eats blackberries or hips and haws. Th,
ave keep him Il few days, but among the fur
ort, one day Bobby and the children meet a l
tie man and woman, the man dressed in
as Bobby, only wearing riding boots wi
,o,- silver spurs The little woman wore
green gown sprinkled all over with silv
no stars Her little steeple crowned hat W
wreathed with heather perched on h
o,., golden curlS, and the pretty soul w
81 wringing her hands a-crying, "Oh, 1
lsly dear ana tender oRlilyWldden' where eN
canst "a be gone to, my only joy?" ''Nc
Chi goe back" said Bobby to the childrt
seth ssmv dad and mann are come, Here | a
lus6 NANNY"
wv BY the time he said Here [ am t
rec liVoie man anu "o'iiai anu "iu :,
rood vanished, and were never more seen. I
children got q good thrashing for letti
Ma Skillywidden go, for if they had kept h
tah he would have shown their daddy VIII
mis- crooks Of gold are buried, and they woi
nee, all of them have been rich.
'n0f All things pass away; even our childl
moe now will scarcely deign to own belief
g of one of the purest fancies that ever entel
ex human imaginations, and which in form
citi- DAYS great poets deigned to treat as a by
oble means despicable belief. Fairies are who
Eel somer diet for our babies minds than an
=, dotes of great men and diluted history
aVHy human endeavors and failures Let
y :" children keep their fairies as long as
he sible, for fairy reverence means sim
nd faith in goodness, and it does no harm
mily a child to see fairies in the cups of
the flowers, even if he afterward has to LEI
all that can be learned about vegetable
, sues and coloring matter in solution