Fairies are beautiful creatures from fairy tales. They can be both good and bad. One thing is for sure - fairies are always extremely beautiful. The Disney concept of fairies with wings is far from the traditional concept of this magical creature.
What do fairies look like?
There is a misconception that fairies can only be small in stature (up to half a meter). In fact, fairies can be as tall as a person, or even taller. In European fairy tales, fairies often change their height at will. However, if you focus on traditional fairy houses, we can conclude that the most comfortable height for these creatures is from fifty to eighty centimeters.
Most often, the skin of fairies is very light, it can even be bluish. Fairies are very beautiful, at least in the places where people who can see them live.
In the legends of King Arthur, fairies are called the most beautiful sorceresses, including not at all kind.
Fairies certainly fly, but they do it with magic, not wings. Wings were first added to fairies only in the nineteenth century to emphasize their ability to fly. And a little later, moralists demanded that the bird's (that is, associated with angels) wings be replaced by insect wings. This is how one of the most clichéd images arose - a cute creature with dragonfly wings.
At the same time, male fairies are often not at all beautiful and not graceful. They are more like old goblins - squat, dumpy with dark skin and goat beards. Perhaps this is due to the fact that fairies are able to change their appearance, which means that such an unassuming appearance can be the fruit of conscious efforts in this area.
One way or another, feminine fairies usually interact with people. Apparently, for them an attractive appearance is still more natural, which means that it is easier for them to win over gullible human creatures to themselves.
Meeting a fairy doesn't bode well
Numerous eyewitnesses, however, have repeatedly said and wrote that fairies may not look like humans at all. Vague features, an animal muzzle, a gray strange face - all this was allegedly seen by people during their meetings with fairies.
It should be noted that almost always a meeting with fairies does not end very well for a person. The Irish believe that fairies steal their babies for procreation, and then enchant them and turn them into fairies, and so that parents do not worry right away, do not start to fuss and look for loss, fairies leave someone from “their own” in the cradle.
Fearful people avoided clusters of flowers, mushrooms and other plants that form a regular circle, it was believed that fairies often dance in such circles at night.
At the same time, in many Irish and Scottish tales, fairies are not limited to abducting babies, they often take quite adult people to them. In such cases, the fairy guests usually return to their home from the Wizarding Kingdom after decades or centuries.
