Most people in Europe have a mental image of what fairies look like and how they behave. These may have their roots in actual people and events 5000 years ago, during the Neolithic era.
Thank you for this fascinating piece, Mr. Webb! I also wonder if beliefs in fairies could be related to when earlier people in Europe encountered Neanderthals. From what I know, the Neanderthals were very intelligent and, based on what was found in some of their graves, believed in the supernatural. And they might have tended to retreat to remote places when the Cro-Magnon people came, although they sometimes interbred. But the explanation of the Yamnaya and earlier people makes sense too. Keep up the great work!
The Little People of the Isle of Man could usefully have been included in your account.
Also, as Graham Hancock points out in his book "Supernatural", there is a continuity between medieval accounts of Fairies and modern accounts of Extraterrestrials. The colour green, abductions and time dislocations for example. He goes in a biochemical direction for an explanation, but notes that culture plays a large part in individual descriptions.
Jacques Vallee made similar connections in his book Passport to Magonia. He mentioned the work H Wentz undertook to research the “good people.” (Bless them!😉)
Why should the pre-yamnaya folk have a taste for milk unless they had the lactase persistence allele? Why should they have this allele except they were already herders?
Thanks for an interesting read. The theory sounds plausible. I’d just point out that other cultures seem to have a similar phenomenon. Magical/supernatural and at least potentially harmful creatures that live in the forests, deserts and other uninhabited places through which people are sometimes forced to travel. The Arabs have their jinn. Japan seems to be full of them - my neighbor Totoro and his buddies for example. It seems pretty ubiquitous. And they are also a convenient explanation for mishaps in any culture. If George Washington had been a little less honest, he could have easily blamed the cherry tree incident on a fairy. Thanks again for all the education and entertainment you provide.
While being an attractive and very seductive hypothesis, such stories about 'little people are indeed found around the world, such as in Indian tales in North America wich never saw the neolithic/bronze age European Indo-European invasions.
Also, stories about 'gnomes' being outcast, marginal (little) people are also set in much more recent times, even running into the early twentieth centuriy.
The southeastern Dutch region of De Peel, once a pretty "wild' area for Dutch standards is set to have been a refuge for dwarvish, maimed, inbred people (frequent appearance of Down Syndrom) who where rejected hy rural society and especially the Roman Catholic Church from Medieval/ Early Modern Times up to the Twentieth Century. Stories appeard about these 'gnomes' (kabouters) appearing from the wild, doing little jobs at night in exchange for especially dairy products and farming tools. You were well advised to keeping on good terms with them...
(Dutch author Ton van Reen published 'Klein Volk' Leven en Werken van de Kabouter' ('Little People. The Live and Labour of the Gnome') https://fleursdumal.nl/mag/ton-van-reen-klein-volk In Dutch, perhaps Google Translate material.)
Many North American native tribes also had their own stories and legends of "little people", they and their ancestors had encountered. The stories come from tribes scattered throughout North America. I find this explanation fascinating. Thank you, Mr. Webb.
Yes, indeed there is an overlap and I think that I should write a follow-up piece exploring this theme. I have been writing about this a lot lately and next year a book of mine about prehistoric London is due to be published, which also examines some of these themes.
You might be interested to know that the author Michael Crichton (of Jurassic Park fame) wrote a novel in 1976 that illustrated something like this. It was called "Eaters of the Dead", and featured the historical Baghdadi ibn-Fadlan and a band of fictional Norsemen in conflict with a group of atavistic and cannibalistic humans who are initially regarded as supernatural, and are hinted to be a degenerate (as in inbred) matriarchal neolithic population. Or possibly even a Neanderthal remnant. Crichton even incorporates "Beowulf", implying that Grendel and his mother were of this same class of primate. The novel was adapted into a 1999 film starring Antonio Banderas as ibn-Fadlan.
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl’s feather!
Down along the rocky shore
Some make their home,
They live on crispy pancakes
Of yellow tide-foam;
Some in the reeds
Of the black mountain-lake,
With frogs for their watchdogs,
All night awake.
High on the hill-top
The old King sits;
He is now so old and grey
He’s nigh lost his wits.
With a bridge of white mist
Columbkill he crosses,
On his stately journeys
From Slieveleague to Rosses;
Or going up with music
On cold starry nights,
To sup with the Queen
Of the gay Northern Lights.
They stole little Bridget
For seven years long;
When she came down again
Her friends were all gone.
They took her lightly back,
Between the night and morrow,
They thought that she was fast asleep,
But she was dead with sorrow.
They have kept her ever since
Deep within the lake,
On a bed of flag-leaves,
Watching till she wake.
By the craggy hillside,
Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn trees
For pleasure, here and there.
Is any man so daring
As dig them up in spite,
He shall find their sharpest thorns
In his bed at night.
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl’s feather!
Thank you for this fascinating piece, Mr. Webb! I also wonder if beliefs in fairies could be related to when earlier people in Europe encountered Neanderthals. From what I know, the Neanderthals were very intelligent and, based on what was found in some of their graves, believed in the supernatural. And they might have tended to retreat to remote places when the Cro-Magnon people came, although they sometimes interbred. But the explanation of the Yamnaya and earlier people makes sense too. Keep up the great work!
I'm so happy to see you here Simon! Much love to you and your clan from mine here on Skye😘
Dear Sarah, I am pleased that you like to read my stuff! ll my love to you and those dear to you.
The Little People of the Isle of Man could usefully have been included in your account.
Also, as Graham Hancock points out in his book "Supernatural", there is a continuity between medieval accounts of Fairies and modern accounts of Extraterrestrials. The colour green, abductions and time dislocations for example. He goes in a biochemical direction for an explanation, but notes that culture plays a large part in individual descriptions.
Jacques Vallee made similar connections in his book Passport to Magonia. He mentioned the work H Wentz undertook to research the “good people.” (Bless them!😉)
Have you ever looked into the relation between dragons and dinosaurs?
A fascinating read - brilliant and very interesting
interesting essay. thx simon
Why should the pre-yamnaya folk have a taste for milk unless they had the lactase persistence allele? Why should they have this allele except they were already herders?
Thanks for an interesting read. The theory sounds plausible. I’d just point out that other cultures seem to have a similar phenomenon. Magical/supernatural and at least potentially harmful creatures that live in the forests, deserts and other uninhabited places through which people are sometimes forced to travel. The Arabs have their jinn. Japan seems to be full of them - my neighbor Totoro and his buddies for example. It seems pretty ubiquitous. And they are also a convenient explanation for mishaps in any culture. If George Washington had been a little less honest, he could have easily blamed the cherry tree incident on a fairy. Thanks again for all the education and entertainment you provide.
While being an attractive and very seductive hypothesis, such stories about 'little people are indeed found around the world, such as in Indian tales in North America wich never saw the neolithic/bronze age European Indo-European invasions.
Also, stories about 'gnomes' being outcast, marginal (little) people are also set in much more recent times, even running into the early twentieth centuriy.
The southeastern Dutch region of De Peel, once a pretty "wild' area for Dutch standards is set to have been a refuge for dwarvish, maimed, inbred people (frequent appearance of Down Syndrom) who where rejected hy rural society and especially the Roman Catholic Church from Medieval/ Early Modern Times up to the Twentieth Century. Stories appeard about these 'gnomes' (kabouters) appearing from the wild, doing little jobs at night in exchange for especially dairy products and farming tools. You were well advised to keeping on good terms with them...
(Dutch author Ton van Reen published 'Klein Volk' Leven en Werken van de Kabouter' ('Little People. The Live and Labour of the Gnome') https://fleursdumal.nl/mag/ton-van-reen-klein-volk In Dutch, perhaps Google Translate material.)
Many North American native tribes also had their own stories and legends of "little people", they and their ancestors had encountered. The stories come from tribes scattered throughout North America. I find this explanation fascinating. Thank you, Mr. Webb.
I enjoyed reading your article. Thank you
I'm glad that you liked it!
I wonder if you have read anything by the Rev. Robert Kirk? The Secret Commonwealth is a great book.
I've read bits from the Secret Commonwealth, but never been able to plough my way through the whole thing!
A great piece Simon. Is there any overlap between the area dominated by the Druids and belief in fairies or little people?
Yes, indeed there is an overlap and I think that I should write a follow-up piece exploring this theme. I have been writing about this a lot lately and next year a book of mine about prehistoric London is due to be published, which also examines some of these themes.
You might be interested to know that the author Michael Crichton (of Jurassic Park fame) wrote a novel in 1976 that illustrated something like this. It was called "Eaters of the Dead", and featured the historical Baghdadi ibn-Fadlan and a band of fictional Norsemen in conflict with a group of atavistic and cannibalistic humans who are initially regarded as supernatural, and are hinted to be a degenerate (as in inbred) matriarchal neolithic population. Or possibly even a Neanderthal remnant. Crichton even incorporates "Beowulf", implying that Grendel and his mother were of this same class of primate. The novel was adapted into a 1999 film starring Antonio Banderas as ibn-Fadlan.
I read that many years ago!
A great essay Mr. Webb.
Thank you, I'm glad that you should think so.