The Pixies of Picty Wode - The Secret People

The secret people is a book containing ten short stories featuring the Pixies of Picty Wode. You can find out more about the Pixies of Picty Wode by clicking on the links at the left, however, this page contains information on the mythology of pixis and other fairies some of which feature in the stories.

Pixies

Pixies (also Piskies and Pigsies as they are sometimes known in Cornwall) are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name. In regional dialect, these mischievous little folk are sometimes referred to as piskies/piskeys or the little people. They are usually depicted with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed hat. Sometimes their eyes are described as being pointed upwards at the temple ends. One myth states that pixies were a race of people who were not good enough for Heaven or bad enough for Hell and were therefore forced to remain on Earth forever. Another legend claims that they were Druids who resisted Christianity and were subsequently sentenced by God to grow subsequently smaller until they accepted Christianity. More recently a theory has developed that they are named after the nation of Picts that inhabited Scotland during the post-Roman period, whom some believe are descended from an indigenous group of people predating the arrival of the Celts in Britain during the Iron Age, the word 'pixie' apparently being formed from a mixture of the words 'Pict' and Sídhe. However, this is not proven, as many scholars believe the Picts to have been largely a Celtic people, as evidenced by the fact that they were called Priteni (Irish Cruithni) by the Welsh, a Celtic name for "Briton." Additionally, the name Pict is derived from Latin picti, "painted people", making the Pictish origin of pixies unlikely as the word would not have been used by the Celts to describe their neighbours. A pixie is said to enjoy playing tricks on people, for example by stealing their belongings or throwing things at them. At night, they steal horses and bring them back before dawn, leaving only tangled manes as evidence of the prank. Some pixies are said to exude pixie dust, which is left in their footprints. Fairy folk are also known to steal horses and return them with tangled manes, as in the book, An Earthly Knight written by Janet McNaughton. Though fairies and pixies have a lot in common they are not, as commonly mistaken, the same thing. On Dartmoor, in Devon, travellers who became lost on the moor were sometimes said to have been "pixie led", in other words, deliberately led astray by the little people. It is said that, if travellers felt the onset of the pixie spell, they can turn their coats inside out to confuse them and escape, a technique normally used for all fairies. Pixies can also be repelled by objects made from silver as contact with the metal can harm them, another trait they share in common with other fairies of the British Isles. Pixies are allergic to silver. It burns their skin and can kill them if it gets into their blood. Those who deliberately follow pixies often vanish without a trace. For example, a farmhand at Rowbrook, situated on the steep, wooded flanks of the River Dart valley, is said to have been lured down towards the river by mysterious voices, calling his name: ‘Jan Coo.’ He was never seen again. Even within living memory, some rural families left small gifts, such as bowls of food or saucers of milk, for the pixies in order to placate them. When shown this respect and attention, pixies would sometimes even help the family by tidying up the household during the night or in the day (in which case people call them brownies)! In some regions, belief in pixies has endured into contemporary times. During the construction of Hinkley Point nuclear power station, anything that went wrong was blamed on "the Pixy," with the station being built near Wick's Barrow, an Iron Age burial mound called "Pixies Mound" by the locals. After construction was completed, the contractors presented the station manager with a garden gnome, representing the Pixy. On the one occasion the ornament was removed from the station's trophy cabinet, the station was closed down by a freak flood. There were reports in 2001 of pixie sightings in the UK in the Woodham area of County Durham. All of these sightings were from residents of houses in a small street near a meadow called "Carwardine Close." In 2007 there was another pixie sighting in Sandy, Bedfordshire. The pixie was described by witnesses as a cross between an elderly Turkish gentleman and Tiny Tim, with a penanche for Turkish delight. It has been speculated by some medical professionals that the legends of pixies and elves, were inspired by a genetic disorder known as Williams syndrome. Some of these afflicted have pointed ears and slanted eyes and elongated faces that make them look like "real" pixies and the syndrome is often called "Pixieism."Go to top.

Fairies

In mythology and folklore, fairies are classified in a variety of ways. Two of the most prominent categories, derived from Scottish folklore, are the division into the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court. William Butler Yeats, in Irish Fairy and Folk Tales, further divided them into the Trooping Fairies and the Solitary Fairies. These categories are generally applied to any fairy-type creature, from elves, pixies and brownies to ogres and giants. The Seelie (Blessed or Holy) Court was seen as more beneficent toward humans. They were known to seek help from humans, to warn those who had accidentally offended them, and to return human kindness with favors of their own. Still, a fairy belonging to this court would avenge insults and could be prone to mischief. The most common time of day to see them was twilight. The Unseelie (Unholy) Court consisted of the malicious and evilly-inclined fairies. Unlike the Seelie Court, no offense is necessary to bring down their assaults. As a group (or "host"), they would appear at night and assault travelers, often carrying them through the air, beating them, and forcing them to commit such acts as shooting elfshot at cattle. In the French fairy tales of précieuses, fairies were likewise divided into good and evil, but the effect is clearly literary. Many of these literary fairies seem preoccupied with the character of the humans they encounter. Yeats divided fairies into the solitary and trooping fairies, as did James Macdougall in Folk Tales and Fairy Lore. Katharine Mary Briggs noted that a third distinction might be needed for "domesticated fairies" who live in human household, but such fairies might join with other fairies for merry-making and fairs. The trooping fairies contained the aristocracy of the fairy world, including the Irish Daoine Sídhe. They were known as trooping faeries because they traveled in long processions, such as the one from which Tam Lin was rescued. But the trooping fairies also included other fairies of lesser importance; a trooping fairy could be large or small, friendly or sinister. The Welsh fairies, Tylwyth Teg, and the Irish Sídhe were usually not classified as wholly good or wholly evil. Unlike the trooping fairies, solitary fairies live alone and are inclined to be wicked and malicious creatures, except for the brownie who is said to help with household chores. Go to top.

Goblins

A goblin is an evil, crabby, or mischievous creature of folklore, often described as a grotesquely disfigured or gnome-like phantom, that may range in height from that of a dwarf to that of a human. They are attributed with various (sometimes conflicting) abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases goblins have been classified as constant annoying little creatures somewhat related with the celtic brownie. According to "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English" the name is probably derived from the Anglo-French gobelin (medieval Latin gobelinus), which is probably a diminutive of Gobel, a name related to the word kobold. Goblin is also related to the French lutin. In addition, there also exist various other alternative spellings of the word goblin, including: Gobblin, gobeline, gobling, goblyn, gobelinus (medieval Latin), and vulgus gobelinum (demon) (Latin). Dwarfs, hiisi, duende, tengu, Menninkäinen and kallikantzaroi are often translated into English as 'goblins'. The Erlking and Billy Blind are sometimes called goblins. Goblins are often used as a general term to mean any small mischievous being. According to some traditions, goblin comes from Gob or Ghob, the king of the gnomes, whose inferiors were called Ghob-lings. Skratta is old Scandinavian word for a goblin or monster (modern Icelandic skratti, a devil). Any creature resembling a goblin, but larger than a human, is considered a Troll. One fabled origin for goblins is in France, in a cleft of the Pyrenees, from which they spread rapidly throughout Europe. They hitched a ride with Viking ships to get to Britain. They have no homes, being nomadic, dwelling temporarily in mossy cracks in rocks and tree roots. Sir Walter Scott in his Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft ascribed gnomes, kobolds and goblins, along with Scottish bogles, to all correspond with a caricature of the Sami people.Go to top.

Boggart

In British folklore, a boggart (or bogart, bogan, bogle or boggle) is a household spirit which causes things to disappear, milk to sour, and dogs to go lame. Always malevolent, the boggart will follow its family wherever they flee. In Northern England, at least, there was the belief that the boggart should never be named, for when the boggart was given a name, it would not be reasoned with or persuaded and become uncontrollable and destructive. It is said that the boggart crawls into people's beds at night and puts a clammy hand on their faces. Sometimes he strips the bedsheets off them. Sometimes a boggart will also pull on a person's ears. Hanging a horseshoe on the door of a house is said to keep a boggart away. In the folklore of North-West England, boggarts live under bridges on dangerous sharp bends on roads, and it is considered bad luck for drivers not to offer their polite greetings as they cross. In an old tale from the village of Mumby in the Lincolnshire countryside, the boggart is described as being rather squat, hairy and smelly. The story goes that a farmer bought a patch of land that was inhabited by the boggart. When the farmer tried to cultivate the field the boggart got angry, and after much arguing they decided to work the land together and share the bounty. The farmer, however, being greedy, began to ponder a way to cheat the boggart out of his share. When they were debating what to plant, he asked the boggart, 'Which half of the crop do you want for your share, the part below the ground or the part above it?' The boggart thought for a while before answering 'The part below the ground.' The farmer sowed the field with barley. At harvest time the farmer boasted a big pile of barley while all the boggart had to show for his work was stubble. It flew into a rage and screeched that next time it would take what lay above the ground. The next time the farmer sowed the field with potatoes. At harvest time the farmer laughed as he claimed his massive pile of potatoes while the boggart was yet again left with nothing to show for his efforts. Simmering with rage, the boggart stormed off, never to return again. There is a large municipal park called 'Boggart Hole Clough,' which is bordered by Moston and Blackley in Manchester, England. Clough is a northern dialect word for a steep sided, wooded valley; a large part of Boggart Hole Clough is made up of these valleys and are said to be inhabited by Boggarts. Supposed mysterious disappearances over the years, particularly in the early 19th century, were often attributed to the Boggart of the Clough.Go to top.

Information courtesy of wikipedia.