Читать книгу 366 Celt: A Year and A Day of Celtic Wisdom and Lore - Carl McColman - Страница 85

Mind you, the fairies as the Celts have traditionally understood them have hardly anything in common with the fairies as they are typically portrayed in popular culture (or in the modern media). Tinkerbell may be a cute little sprite with some connection to traditional beliefs, but it is a real mistake to see in her diminutive petulancy the sum total of the fairy world. Similarly, the Victorian-era notion of fairies as garden-resident Thumbelinas is charming in its own way (and has spawned a vigorous industry of gift items now available at your local new age shop), but it’s not a very good representation of the good people as the Celts knew them—and, often as not, feared them.

Yes, the fairies have always been known for how little they are. But such spiritual beings could also appear as big as, if not larger than, a typical man or woman. Since so many stories in the tradition talk of fairy lovers, or fairies exchanging their babies for human infants, it’s clear that the little people have not always been the tiny people. But that’s what they’ve become. And in the world of Victorianesque flower fairies and post-modern knickknacks, the fairies just keep getting smaller and smaller. Which is a metaphorical way of saying that our society has taken a belief that has long been trivialized and is making it more marginalized than ever.