Fairies, Pookas, and Changelings: A Complete Guide to the Wild and Wicked Enchanted Realm

by Varla A. Ventura

Overview

While it's true that fairy folk love a good garden and take great pleasure in a tulip, there are dozens of beasties who fall under the fairy domain that are not quite as delightful as the quintessential flower fairy. This book is an exploration of the many things that go bump in the night near the fairy mound. Along with an exploration of folklore and historical literature, readers will delight in fairy tales that demonstrate everything from striking a bargain with a fairy to staving off changelings to laughing with the dwarves.

Included are fairy tales and myths from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Scandinavia plus classic stories by Thomas Crofton Croker, Joseph Jacobs, Clara Stroebe, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Yei Theodora Ozaki, and others on goblins, trolls, gnomes, pookas, changelings, banshees, and more!

Chapters include:

• A Fear of Little Men: Elves, Trolls, Leprechauns, Tree Spirits, Brownies, Coblyns, Dwarves, Goblins, Bonga, Trolls and Other Fairy Folk of Glen, Forests and Hearth
• The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: Changelings and Other Greedy Kidnappers of the Fairy Kingdom
• I'm Not Drunk, It's Just My Pooka: Tales of the Trickster Fairy and Its Wild Counterpart
• Is That All There Is? Faries Who Give, or The Barter System
• Whoops, There It Is: How to Enter the Fairy Kingdom (or How Not To)

If you think fairies are merely delicate beings who follow you about on gossamer wings, you are in for quite a shock: the kingdom of the fairy is one of vengeance, thievery, trickery, and wild creatures. Consider yourself warned!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781578636112
Publisher:	Red Wheel/Weiser
Publication date:	04/01/2017
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Varla Ventura, author of Sheroes, Beyond Bizarre, and The Book of the Bizarre, and is a lover of all things odd and unusual and truly freaky. Her favorite holiday is Halloween, which she celebrates almost every day. She lives in the attic of an old Victorian in San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Woods Are Lovely, Dark, and Deep xi

Chapter 1 A Fear of Little Men: Elves, Trolls, Leprechauns, Tree Spirits, Brownies, Coblyns, Dwarves, Goblins, Bonga, Trolls, and Other Fairy Folk of Glen, Forests, and Hearth 1

Three Leprechaun Stories D. R. McAnally 19

The Enchanted Elm Henry Beston 33

The Brownie O' Ferne-Den Elizabeth W. Grierson 52

The Goblin of Adachigahara Yei Theodora Ozaki 68

The Magic Fiddle Joseph Jacobs, Ed. 79

The Troll Wedding Clara Stroebe, Ed. 88

The Fairies William Allingham 92

Chapter 2 The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: Changelings and Other Greedy Kidnappers of the Fairy Kingdom 95

The Changeling W. Y. Evans-Wentz 103

The Brewery of Eggshells T. Crofton Croker 106

The Fairy Nurse Edward Walsh 112

Jamie Freel and the Young Lady: A Donegal Tale Letitia McClintock 114

The Stolen Child William Butler Yeats 128

Chapter 3 I'm Not Drunk, It's Just My Pooka: Tales of the Trickster Fairy and Its Wild Counterparts 131

The Piper and the Púca Douglas Hyde 133

The Pooka W. B. Yeats 138

The Kildare Pooka Patrick Kennedy 140

Daniel O'Rourke T. Crofton Croker 146

Taming the Pooka D. R. McAnally 159

Chapter 4 Is That All There Is? Fairies Who Give, or the Barter System 181

The Magic Teacup Dolores Guetebier 184

The Fairy Charles Perrault 191

Rumpelstiltskin The Brothers Grimm 199

Chapter 5 Whoops, There It Is: How to Enter the Fairy Kingdom (or How Not To) 207

Childe Rowland Joseph Jacobs, Ed. 213

Fairy Ointment Joseph Jacobs, Ed. 225

Goodbye Is Not Forever 231

Acknowledgments 233

Bibliography 237