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Article THE FAIRY FAMILY. ← Page 4 of 13 →
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The Fairy Family.
To be no earthly wight , but either spright Or angcll , authour of all womau-kynd ; Therefore a Pay he her according hight , Of whom all Paryes spring , and fetch their ligiiage right . "
The causes of the transfer of Arabian fiction to Europe were manifold . Thc Crusaders and Troubadours became the agents of its transmission . The Holy Land pilgrims returned to diffuse then stores of Eastern ideal wealth . The commercial intercourse of Southern Europe ivith the Moors of Spain ancl the Venetians , and the Meccan pilgrimages , also contributed
towards the same end . During thc dark ages , too , Arabic Avas the language of science ; ancl in intercourse witli the Arabs of Spain , the Jews may have greatly aided in spreading- the elements of fairy faith throughout Europe . Sir Walter Scott , in his introduction to the "Tale of Tamlane , " gives as causes for the changes Avrought upon the foundation of
Gothic superstition in Europe , " the traditions of the East , the Avreck of Gothic mythology , the tales of chivalry , the fables of the classics , the influence of Christianity , ancl the creative imagination of the sixteenth century . " Without lingering to consider the respective influences of these causes , we need only at present point to the broad fact that European romancemore
, especially that subsequent to the foiu'teenth century , is indebted to Asiatic genius . Having already spoken of the Arabs , —Persian or Eastern , — we have now to turn our attention to the Scandinavian , or north European element of fairy belief . The Eddaic system is somewhat complicated ancl obscure ; the two great features necessary
to our present purpose being the Alfar , or Elves , and the Duergar , or Divarfs , titles which remain in all languages of Gotho-German origin . The Elves differ from the Fairies in the absence of the ethereal characteristics of the latter , and are more remarkable for their mischievous or silly gambols . The production ofthe "Faerie Queen" of Spenser went far to confound the Eastern fairy with the popular elfin tribe , an amalgamation rendered still more hopeless by the heedlessness of afterwriters .
The Elves and the Divarfs were forcibly unlike , in the same way as Avere the Peris and Deevs . The former Avere , Ave read , " whiter than the sun in appearance ; " the latter , " blacker than pitch . " The Dwarfs were distinguished for their skill in metallurgy , and are a race quite unlike those met AA'ith in the traditions of any but northern lands . This leads to the supposition that they Avere suggested by the Finns , a people of small stature , who applied themselves successfully to the working of metals in the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Fairy Family.
To be no earthly wight , but either spright Or angcll , authour of all womau-kynd ; Therefore a Pay he her according hight , Of whom all Paryes spring , and fetch their ligiiage right . "
The causes of the transfer of Arabian fiction to Europe were manifold . Thc Crusaders and Troubadours became the agents of its transmission . The Holy Land pilgrims returned to diffuse then stores of Eastern ideal wealth . The commercial intercourse of Southern Europe ivith the Moors of Spain ancl the Venetians , and the Meccan pilgrimages , also contributed
towards the same end . During thc dark ages , too , Arabic Avas the language of science ; ancl in intercourse witli the Arabs of Spain , the Jews may have greatly aided in spreading- the elements of fairy faith throughout Europe . Sir Walter Scott , in his introduction to the "Tale of Tamlane , " gives as causes for the changes Avrought upon the foundation of
Gothic superstition in Europe , " the traditions of the East , the Avreck of Gothic mythology , the tales of chivalry , the fables of the classics , the influence of Christianity , ancl the creative imagination of the sixteenth century . " Without lingering to consider the respective influences of these causes , we need only at present point to the broad fact that European romancemore
, especially that subsequent to the foiu'teenth century , is indebted to Asiatic genius . Having already spoken of the Arabs , —Persian or Eastern , — we have now to turn our attention to the Scandinavian , or north European element of fairy belief . The Eddaic system is somewhat complicated ancl obscure ; the two great features necessary
to our present purpose being the Alfar , or Elves , and the Duergar , or Divarfs , titles which remain in all languages of Gotho-German origin . The Elves differ from the Fairies in the absence of the ethereal characteristics of the latter , and are more remarkable for their mischievous or silly gambols . The production ofthe "Faerie Queen" of Spenser went far to confound the Eastern fairy with the popular elfin tribe , an amalgamation rendered still more hopeless by the heedlessness of afterwriters .
The Elves and the Divarfs were forcibly unlike , in the same way as Avere the Peris and Deevs . The former Avere , Ave read , " whiter than the sun in appearance ; " the latter , " blacker than pitch . " The Dwarfs were distinguished for their skill in metallurgy , and are a race quite unlike those met AA'ith in the traditions of any but northern lands . This leads to the supposition that they Avere suggested by the Finns , a people of small stature , who applied themselves successfully to the working of metals in the