The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries: The Classic Study of Leprechauns, Pixies, and Other Fairy Spirits - Paperback

First published in 1911, the classic book on the luminous reality of leprechauns, pixies, and other fairy spirits What are fairies, those romantic and sometimes mischievous little people--pixies, nixies, elves, fauns, brownies, dwarfs, leprechauns, and all other forms of the daoine sidhe (fairy people)? Are they real? Folklorists say they are fragments of ancient religious beliefs; occultists call them nature spirits; the peasant tradition says they are fallen angels who were not good enough to be saved or bad enough to be lost. In his definitive study, W.Y. Evans-Wentz, the renowned translator of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, unveils the mystic and mysterious folklore of all the Celtic nations. This book presents a body of tradition of and testimony about an elusive order of life that survives in the natural setting of wild and lonely places. Not satisfied with merely formal study, Evans-Wentz collected firsthand reports of fairies in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Brittany and sought to answer the key questions avoided by other folklorists. A classic in the field of Celtic studies, The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries presents evidence for living fairy faith that Dr. Wentz gathered in his travels; examines the recorded stories of fairies in classic works like the Welsh Mabinogion, and the Irish Tuatha de Danann, as well as Arthurian legends; explores belief in fairies; and studies the fairy faith in light of science. A compassionate, lively, and seminal exploration of a rich and luminous world, this is an unparalleled addition to the field of Celtic studies.