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H ere is a quick guide to some creatures mentioned in the story.

These are all based on hundreds of years of fairy lore and you’ll find that some like Brownies will remind you of house elves in the Harry Potter novels.

Some of the creatures have been taken from lore in countries other than the British Isles.

Banshee

- Harbinger of death

- Shows up at the home of the person who is about to die

- Appears as a crone with long hair and glowing red eyes wearing a gray mantle over a green dress

- Some families have their own personal banshee that wails for a death

Baobhan Sith

- Vampire-like fay

- Takes the form of beautiful man or woman looking for hunters or men walking along in the woods at night

- It dances with its prey until they are exhausted and then drains them of blood

- Can be killed by iron

Basilisk

- Highly poisonous so lethal it can kill by looking at you

- Body of a massive snake

- Can be killed by a blade covered in its own venom

Brownies

- assist people with domestic chores, very shy but very sweet

- Usually work when people are asleep

- Benevolent

- Three feet tall

- Tidy up kitchens, mow grass, run errands, cook

- Wear ragged brown servants clothing, males sport shaggy hair and beards

- If you try to give them new garments they can get offended

- Very social, hold conferences among themselves where they meet on remote rocky shorelines

Demoted Deities

- Descended from ancient gods and goddesses

- Had dominion over the earth, heavens and all inhabitants

- Govern night and day, land water, the seasons, growth of plants, wild and domestic animals – just about everything

- Two categories: Those who guard and guide the natural world and those who deal with destiny and fate of humankind

- Fate fairies

- Bring gifts to newborn humans such as courage, beauty or cleverness

- Always dazzlingly gorgeous, gossamer wings that for dark fae can look silvery or shadowy depending on the mood and can vanish entirely - more female fae show their wings than males

- Sidhe – pronounced “shee” – ancient and powerful group of spirits also known as ‘people of the hills’

- Once lived in fairy mounds and rings which are entrances to the Fae realm

- Human-like, exquisitely beautiful with powers far exceeding those of mortals

- Can fly through the air at great speeds, transform into creatures

- Nearly immortal

- Extremely beautiful, youthful in appearance, give the impression of being aristocratic, mature, powerful, not just in mind but in ability and mind and body

- Generally skilled artisans but were considered experts and excelled in baking, crafts, dancing, hunting, metalwork, music, spinning, weaving

- Held beauty, fertility, generosity, love, loyalty, order and truth in very high regard

Dryads

- Forest fairies once served Artemis and her companions and attendants

- Live in oaks, willows and other trees and protect the woodlands

- Usually playful and harmless to humans

- Appease them with wine, olive oil and honey

Dwarves

- Short in stature

- Live underground in magnificent structures hidden beneath the hills

- Excellent at metalsmithing

- Possess great wealth

- More solitary than other races, focus on their mines and gold

Goblins

- Ugly and sometimes mean-spirited, small creatures often travel in groups and wreak havoc

- Love money and other goodies, not above trickery to get what they want

- Have no real home and take shelter where they can in the roots of trees or in cracks between rocks

Kobolds

- Small in stature and ugly in appearance, they dwell in mines and search for gems

- Relatives of brownies

- They aren’t evil just mischievous

- Like playing tricks

Morgens

- Brenton and Welsh water fairies, will sit mermaid-like upon the rocks combing long hair.

- Have sharp teeth

- Use their voices to lure fishermen and sailors toward them to wreck ships

- Survivors glimpse a happy memory as they are drowned and then morgens drain them of blood

Pixies

- Tiny, child-like beings who once lived beneath the stone circles and fairy mounds in and around the British Isles

- Been linked with Picts- race of mysterious, small people who occupied Ireland and northern Britain in ancient times

- Enjoy a bit of mischief now and again

- Can steal horses and love to horseback ride during the night – will braid the manes and tails of horses

- Arched eyebrows and slightly winged ears

- Glittery green or blue with wings

Sidhe (The Shining Ones)

- Prounced as “Shee”

- Evolved from the Tuatha de Danann

- Human like in size and shape

- Can be invisible or change shape in the blink of an eye

- Handsome and aristocratic in bearing

- They organized into tribes or clans- ruled by fairy kings and queens

- Called the Gentry out of respect

- Live in magnificent castles made of gold, jewels, pearls or marble

- Hold lavish feasts and celebrations, complete with music and dancing

- When they cry their tears turn into pearls

Solitary Fairies

- Prefer to live alone and eschew gatherings of any kind

- While trooping fairies govern the society of the fey, solitary fairies guard fields, forests and lakes and streams

- Reclusive, nature-loving beings making their homes in forests or underwater

- Generally speaking ominous, outcasts, malicious renegade fairies who wear brown, grey or red clothing

- Usually one of kind beings associated with a certain place

- Quick to anger, have sense of entitlement

- Do not join in fairy dances, prefer to interact with humans one on one

- Lord Roan Arun is a solitary fairy whereas his sister Lady Eudora is a trooping fairy.

Sylphs

— sylphs (air), sprites (earth) and water nymphs (water), fire sprites (fire)

- Air Sylphs can fly, manipulate the winds, influence air quality and help earthlings breathe

- Earth Sprites are tree guardians, gnomes, dryads, some pixies and elves (wood elves)- aid the growth of flowers, trees and plants

- Water nymphs – mermaids, sirens, nourishing life on earth, regulating tides, inspiring poets and artists, protect fish and aquatic life, guide humans on sea voyages

- Handsome or Beautiful, male or female. Can be human sized or as small as pixies

Trolls

- Can be friendly and helpful

- Can also be thieves, sinister and dangerous

- Many are slow to move or speak, but are incredibly strong. They have power over stones and rocks.

- They like music and dancing and kidnap humans to entertain them

- Live underground in burrows and caves where they guard vast stores of teasure

- Large, dull-witted, lumbering hairy

- Can be ferocious if you taunt them

Trooping Fairies

- They travel in long, elaborate processions throughout the countryside

- Aristocracy of the Irish fey, they deck themselves out in elegant garments for their parades and play trumpets, harps and flutes

- Some of them mount horses; others ride in splendid chariots

- They like to dress in medieval clothing or renaissance styles with rich fabrics and adorned with gorgeous gems

- They live and travel in groups

- They love getting together for feasts in their grand castles, single and dancing near ancient stone circles or in groves of trees

Will-o’-the-wisps

- If you stray near a bog on a dark, stormy night, you may glimpse small lights flickering over its surface, half hidden among the reeds

- Lure unwary travelers to their deaths

- Sometimes they can mark the location of buried fairy gold

- Dark Fae use them to light the palace sconces and they can show visions of what is happening somewhere else to the Fae