Little People (also known as Leprchauns but be careful calling them that. They can be tempermental and might curdle your milk) are the shoemakers of faeryland. They originally wore red but are now more often depicted as wearing green. They hoard their gold and keep it in a pot at the end of the rainbow. If you catch one they have to grant you three wishes before they can go free but be carefull. Little people are tricky and may not give you what you meant to ask for. They love to solve riddles but even more they like to confuse people with them.
Amazing book featuring Little People:
Instead of Three Wishes --by Megan Whelan Turner
Mermaids are half fish, half human creatures. There are meremaid myths in every part of the world with access to the sea. In most tales their lovely voices and alluring beauty lead sailors to their doom out on the ocean. It some stories they inter marry with humans and live in elaborate underwater societies. Some mermaids cry pearls while others posess healing powers or the power to call on the wind and rain to sink ships. In most British folklore mermaids were said not to have immortal souls.
Mermen are less often talked about but also existed in most of the folklore. They are often cosidered ugly as opossed to the beauty of mermaids. Matsya Avatar, the first incarnation of Vishnu was said to be half man and half fish.
Amazing stories featuring Mermaids:
The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen --by Delia Sherman
The Little Mermaid --by Hans Christain Anderson (There will be more about this if you join me for my fairy tale series in May)
The Golden Bird --by the Grim Brothers
Rope and Mast
Salt stinging spray, collecting on my face
A wind dried throat, burning with pain.
You grasp at my soul for your saving grace,
Mock my desperation with self disdain.
My lungs are weak like yours, gasping for air,
My eyes blinded by wind, squinting for light.
My skin withers under the sun's false glare
I can drown too in the sky's endless fight.
You chase your will-o-the-wisp, your siren.
You beg the fish-girls for a a place in their waves,
Careless that their kiss is as deadly as sin.
You flail and you rave, too afraid to save.
I will not drown whatever my life costs.
If you plunge to the depths it's you who's lost.
On the Isle of Man, where I come from, the little people were traditionally just called "themselves" as people didn't want to invoke them.
ReplyDeleteNice post :-) When I was a small child, there was a hollow oak tree in the woods beyond the cow pasture. My mom always told us that the elves lived there and they made shoes. Ha! Should have been leprechauns, lol...we ran barefoot all summer :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I love how you talk about the creatures and then share a story that they are in. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Love mermaids and mermen!
ReplyDeleteGreat post thanks man! Kind regards Pino.
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