The Ancient Secret of the Fairies

Added: 2026-05-03

The fairies (fae) of historical Scottish folklore, as documented by Robert Kirk in his 1692 work 'The Secret Commonwealth of Fairies,' were not the tiny winged creatures of Victorian imagination but rather invisible, intelligent beings who lived underground, competed with humans for resources, and possessed their own complex society with hierarchies, marriages, and funerals; these beings were believed to be neither spirits nor demons but a distinct order of creation, and their reputation as thieves and mischief-makers stemmed from their resentment of human occupation of land they once farmed, with people adjusting their daily lives by avoiding travel during seasonal migrations and using protective measures like cold iron against these invisible neighbors.