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Fairyland (''Faerie'', Scottish ''Elfame'', c.f.
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
'' Álfheimr'') in English and Scottish folklore is the fabulous land or abode of
fairies A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...
or ''fays''.
Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intel ...
(Early Modern English ) referred to an illusion or enchantment, the land of the ''faes''. Modern English (by the 17th century) ''fairy'' transferred the name of the realm of the ''fays'' to its inhabitants, e.g. the expression ''fairie knight'' in
Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for '' The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen o ...
's ''
The Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...
'' refers to a "supernatural knight" or a "knight of Faerie" but was later re-interpreted as referring to a knight who is "a fairy".


Folklore

Fairyland may be referred to simply as ''Fairy'' or ''Faerie'', though that usage is an archaism. It is often the land ruled by the " Queen of Fairy" and thus anything from fairyland is also sometimes described as being from the "Court of the Queen of " or from the
Seelie court Seelie is a term for fairies in Scottish folklore, appearing in the form of seely wights or The Seelie Court. The Northumbria#Language, Northern and Middle English word (also , , ), and the Scots language, Scots form , mean "happy", "lucky" or "bl ...
in Scottish folklore. The Scots word or ' "fairyland" has other variant forms, attested in Scottish witch trials, but or with the stem (meaning 'home' in Scots) were conjectural readings by Pitcairn.


In English and Scots texts

Records of the Scottish witch trials reveal that many initiates claimed to have had congress with the "Queen of Elfame" and her retinue. On November 8, 1576, midwife Bessie Dunlop, a resident of Dalry, Scotland, was accused of sorcery and witchcraft. She answered her accusers that she had received tuition from Thomas Reid, a former barony officer who had died at the Battle of Pinkie 30 years earlier, and from the Queen of "Court of Elfame" that lay nearby. It resulted in a conviction and she was
burned at the stake Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...
in 1576. Allison Peirson was burned as a witch in 1588 for conversing with the Queen of Elfame and for prescribing magic charms and potions (Byre Hills, Fife, Scotland). This same woman (styled "Alison Pearson") is also featured in Robert Sempill's ballad (1583) where she is said to have been in a fairy-ride. Sempill's piece mentions "Elphyne" glossed as "Elfland" or "Fairyland".DOST ('' Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue'') entry, retrieved using the electronic In the medieval verse romance and the Scottish ballad of ''
Thomas the Rhymer Sir Thomas de Ercildoun, better remembered as Thomas the Rhymer (fl. c. 1220 – 1298), also known as Thomas Learmont or True Thomas, was a Scottish laird and reputed prophet from Earlston (then called "Erceldoune") in the Borders. Thomas ...
'', the title character is spirited away by a female supernatural being. Although identified by commentators as the Queen of Fairies, the texts refrain from specifically naming her or her domain except in ballad version A, in which she is referred to as the Queen of Elfland. Poet and novelist
Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celt ...
published his own alteration of the ballad, replacing her name with " Queen of Elphame": Elfhame or Elfland is portrayed in a variety of ways in these ballads and stories, most commonly as mystical and benevolent, but also at times as sinister and wicked. The mysteriousness of the land and its otherworldly powers are a source of skepticism and distrust in many tales. Additional journeys to the realm include the fairy tale " Childe Rowland", which presents a particularly negative view of the land.


See also

*
Otherworld The concept of an otherworld in historical Indo-European religion is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of ''orbis alius'' (Latin for "other Earth/world"), a term used by Lucan in his description of the Celtic Otherwor ...
* Seelie * Tír na nÓg


References


Bibliography

* * * * {{Fairies English folklore Fairies Mythological kingdoms, empires, and countries Scottish folklore