The Celtic Fairies
Part 111
Our little people hid below the ground
That is right, down there underneath your feet. They were small; they could disappear into rabbit burrows and badger sets and they founded their underworld in the biggest cave complex on the Island. From that time on strange things started happening, especially in the homes of the tall people, things that they could not explain rationally. The tall people knew there was something there but could not see them and so they started to call them fairies.
Our fairies built their own kingdom under the feet of the tall people; they called it Annwm, the Underworld. The first thing they did was to appoint a King, as had been their custom in their own country. The King was called Gwyn ap Nudd, King of the Fairies.
The cave complex where the underworld of the Celtic Fairies sprang up was underneath the Neath and Swansea Valleys in South Wales, that land of enchantment that everyone knows has little people. So here in the Neath, Dulias and Swansea Valleys, we live in the centre of the Celtic Underworld and always have since just after the dinosaurs and from the time when wild boar, bear and beaver roamed this land.
Are the fairies still there?
Do they exist today?
Let us retell their story and you can make your own decision.
How big are fairies?
Our fairies are not too small for you to see, they are in fact little people who are very clever at hiding from you.
They live under your feet, in a kingdom which they rule, where no big people can go, or if they do happen to fall in, they do not know how to get back out.
The Fairies had huge piles of diamonds and jewels, gold and silver, which they washed in little pans made out of the tin they mined in the Underworld.
After a long time of living under the ground the fairies wanted to go back up onto the Island of Honey and build their villages there.
They knew that if they set foot on the top of the island and showed themselves, they would once again be slaves and would have no kingdom of their own. They had the gift of making themselves invisible but only for short periods and would be captured again.
In the nights the fairies would creep up into the forests and forage for wild mushrooms and nuts and because they could morph into animals, the wild boar and bears they met were no threat to them. They helped the animals when they were hurt and took into their kingdom cubs and young badgers when their parents had been killed by the tall people.
What do you think fairies look like?
Everyone thinks they have gossamer wings and are so small you are lucky to spot them; they are all beautiful colours and they fly.
If you had seen our fairies fly you would have had quite a shock as they were ranging from one to two feet tall.
They could climb on to a hawk or an owls back and go for a ride over the forests; although owls only fly by night and hawks by day. It is said that hawks and owls carry souls, so perhaps someone did see a fairy having a ride once upon a time, which is where the idea that they carry souls comes from.
Our fairies lived together in beautiful little houses carved out of rocks above tinking streams in the Underworld, they had as much coal as they wanted to heat their houses. In fact they had every thing they needed except for one thing.
What is the one thing they were not getting that they craved and needed?
Does anyone know?
