The Cost of Faery
"Rumpelstiltskin" by Tim Shumate
In the faery world, there really is no such thing as a free lunch. Tam Lin was but one of the mortals who have found this out the hard way. His legendary powers of seduction were just some of his skills, but in exchange for such power, he is limited in his journeys on the mortal plane.
Mortals tend to be altered after making contact with the faery world, and, inevitably, the fae folk themselves. It is equally important to note that fae gifts and blessings are felt more acutely, because the faery creatures do not give them freely. There is always a price for power, and time can only tell when that particular faery will return to collect on the price._
Rumpelstiltskin
Perhaps one of the best examples of sacrifice to the Fey can be found in this story about a desperate woman and a hobgoblin by the name of Rumpelstiltskin. It follows a poor miller's daughter, who, according to her father, can spin straw into gold. Interested by this notion (because clearly the man doesn't have enough riches in his coffers), the king confines the miller's daughter inside a room filled with straw, commanding her to spin everything into gold by the next day. Some kings just have no sense of reality, I swear. Anyway, the miller's daughter obviously doesn't possess the skill to turn straw into gold (what mortal does?), and she weeps, knowing that the king will have her executed for her father's conniving lies.
In comes Rumpelstiltskin, an "impish creature" with the very powers she needs. And she enlists his help. For a price.
Rumpelstiltskin's impish qualities denote the fact that he's a sort of lesser demon. Another way to see him is as a creature of the fae: a hobgoblin up to mischief and mayhem. Rumpelstiltskin is able to help, and for sure, when the desperate miller's daughter yearns for assistance, the hobgoblin gives it. He turns the straw into gold for the miller's unskilled daughter. Each time, Rumpelstiltskin asks for a price, and each time, the miller's daughter gives something of value to him. On the third day, the miller's daughter has nothing to promise Rumpelstiltskin, and so they strike a bargain: her first-born child for the room of gold. At the time, the miller's daughter hadn't ever thought that she'd marry, but by the end of that deal, she marries the king (or the king's son in some stories) and bears a child. Things seem to be looking up!
Until Rumpelstiltskin reappears to collect on her debt: the woman's first-born child.
We won't get too into what happens after, but here we see a fae asking for a proper sacrifice for his magic. A child for the power of transmutation. It is not a mortal feat, turning straw into gold. When Rumpelstiltskin shows up and offers to spin all the straw into gold, the woman jumps at a chance to repay him with whatever she found valuable on her person. The first, a ring, the next, a necklace, the third, a child. Nice progression, right?
Below, you'll find that authors also play with this notion of sacrifice and the cost of faery.
Mortals tend to be altered after making contact with the faery world, and, inevitably, the fae folk themselves. It is equally important to note that fae gifts and blessings are felt more acutely, because the faery creatures do not give them freely. There is always a price for power, and time can only tell when that particular faery will return to collect on the price._
Rumpelstiltskin
Perhaps one of the best examples of sacrifice to the Fey can be found in this story about a desperate woman and a hobgoblin by the name of Rumpelstiltskin. It follows a poor miller's daughter, who, according to her father, can spin straw into gold. Interested by this notion (because clearly the man doesn't have enough riches in his coffers), the king confines the miller's daughter inside a room filled with straw, commanding her to spin everything into gold by the next day. Some kings just have no sense of reality, I swear. Anyway, the miller's daughter obviously doesn't possess the skill to turn straw into gold (what mortal does?), and she weeps, knowing that the king will have her executed for her father's conniving lies.
In comes Rumpelstiltskin, an "impish creature" with the very powers she needs. And she enlists his help. For a price.
Rumpelstiltskin's impish qualities denote the fact that he's a sort of lesser demon. Another way to see him is as a creature of the fae: a hobgoblin up to mischief and mayhem. Rumpelstiltskin is able to help, and for sure, when the desperate miller's daughter yearns for assistance, the hobgoblin gives it. He turns the straw into gold for the miller's unskilled daughter. Each time, Rumpelstiltskin asks for a price, and each time, the miller's daughter gives something of value to him. On the third day, the miller's daughter has nothing to promise Rumpelstiltskin, and so they strike a bargain: her first-born child for the room of gold. At the time, the miller's daughter hadn't ever thought that she'd marry, but by the end of that deal, she marries the king (or the king's son in some stories) and bears a child. Things seem to be looking up!
Until Rumpelstiltskin reappears to collect on her debt: the woman's first-born child.
We won't get too into what happens after, but here we see a fae asking for a proper sacrifice for his magic. A child for the power of transmutation. It is not a mortal feat, turning straw into gold. When Rumpelstiltskin shows up and offers to spin all the straw into gold, the woman jumps at a chance to repay him with whatever she found valuable on her person. The first, a ring, the next, a necklace, the third, a child. Nice progression, right?
Below, you'll find that authors also play with this notion of sacrifice and the cost of faery.
Conservation Laws
"Wildwood Dancing" by Kinuko Craft
"You can't claim the title of King without giving something in return. King of the Lake, King of the Land, Queen of the Fairies--such titles are not idly bestowed, nor easily won with foolish demonstrations of strength or speed. You must pay for them."
-- excerpt from Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Sacrifice in the faery world is depicted in Marillier's Wildwood Dancing, a story that takes place in Romania during the 1500s. While a historical tale that takes place in the castle of Piscul Dracului, the story is inspired by the Brothers Grimm's "The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes." Instead of 12 different sisters, however, Marillier deals with only five. The tale's essence is still there: the five sisters visit the world of the fae through a portal in their bedroom, and they dance the night away, mingling with the fae folk and Queen Ileana's court.
Jenica, the second eldest of the five sisters, knows much about the sacrifices given to the fae folk. After a childhood encounter with Draguţa, the Witch of the Wildwood, Jena and her playmates find that "nothing comes without a price." In that fateful meeting with Draguţa, Jena, Costi and Cezar all give up something they love in order to gain what they want to become: Queen of the Fairies, King of the Lake, and King of the Land, respectively. However, what used to be a harmless game turns into a dangerous trade, and in a horrifying turn of events, Costi, the eldest of the three children, disappears into the lake, never to be seen again.
"You must pay with what is most precious to you in all the world. The thing you love best. Put that on the cloth. Give it up willingly, and the title will be yours to take and to keep. If it were I, I would give these mushrooms, for they will keep starvation from my door for one more day, and what is more precious than life? What will you give?"
-- excerpt from Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
The story further deals with this issue of sacrifice, because throughout Wildwood Dancing, the reader will see each sacrifice play out to the very end.
-- excerpt from Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Sacrifice in the faery world is depicted in Marillier's Wildwood Dancing, a story that takes place in Romania during the 1500s. While a historical tale that takes place in the castle of Piscul Dracului, the story is inspired by the Brothers Grimm's "The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes." Instead of 12 different sisters, however, Marillier deals with only five. The tale's essence is still there: the five sisters visit the world of the fae through a portal in their bedroom, and they dance the night away, mingling with the fae folk and Queen Ileana's court.
Jenica, the second eldest of the five sisters, knows much about the sacrifices given to the fae folk. After a childhood encounter with Draguţa, the Witch of the Wildwood, Jena and her playmates find that "nothing comes without a price." In that fateful meeting with Draguţa, Jena, Costi and Cezar all give up something they love in order to gain what they want to become: Queen of the Fairies, King of the Lake, and King of the Land, respectively. However, what used to be a harmless game turns into a dangerous trade, and in a horrifying turn of events, Costi, the eldest of the three children, disappears into the lake, never to be seen again.
"You must pay with what is most precious to you in all the world. The thing you love best. Put that on the cloth. Give it up willingly, and the title will be yours to take and to keep. If it were I, I would give these mushrooms, for they will keep starvation from my door for one more day, and what is more precious than life? What will you give?"
-- excerpt from Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
The story further deals with this issue of sacrifice, because throughout Wildwood Dancing, the reader will see each sacrifice play out to the very end.
The Teind
"Tam-Lin" by Alla J. Lanevska
And pleasant is the fairy land
For those that in it dwell,
But ay at end of seven years
They pay a teind to hell;
I am sae fair and fu' o' flesh
I'm fear'd 'twill be mysell.
- excerpt from the "Ballad of Tam Lin"
The faery courts are not without their own sacrifices. Celtic folklore is actually big on the idea of the Teind (the "Tithe") and that of the Seven Year King. For these ideas to work, one must ask the following question: Where do the Fey truly get their powers? An easy answer would be "Nature," because clearly they are so attuned to the natural forces of the earth, the air, the flames, and the water. A more complicated explanation pinpoints the source to the Underworld, where the Fey strike a deal with the lord of the Underworld.
This deal is where the Teind comes in, and where the Seven Year King is involved. The Teind is the exchange, the sacrifice that the Fey make in order to retain their dominion over the faerie world. This is usually in the form of a mortal sacrifice who is given to the Underworld every seven years. Because of the power of the sacrifice, the fae folk tend to pick the choicest mortal for the sacrifice, and for the most part, this means kidnapping the most beautiful, the most heroic, and the most talented. Once this "Seven Year King" is sacrificed, the world of the Fey continues to enjoy its power.
"Once, there were two courts, the bright and the dark, the Seelie and the Unseelie, the folk of the air and the folk of the earth...They have brought back the Tithe, the sacrifice of a beautiful and talented mortal. In the Seelie Court, they may steal away a poet to join their company, but the Unseelie Court requires blood. In exchange, those who dwell in Unseelie lands must bind themselves into service."
-- excerpt from Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black
Holly Black's Tithe pulls elements of the Teind as a sacrifice of blood by the Unseelie Court. While slightly different from the actual Teind, the premise is retained: a non-faerie must be sacrificed in order for the faery courts to strike their balance and remain creatures of nature. In Tithe, we see the Unseelie Court clamoring to find its next sacrifice, and Unseelie knight Rath Roiben Rye's eyes somehow fall on Kaye, a New Jersey native with a strange ability of seeing faeries even amidst the suburban world.
For those that in it dwell,
But ay at end of seven years
They pay a teind to hell;
I am sae fair and fu' o' flesh
I'm fear'd 'twill be mysell.
- excerpt from the "Ballad of Tam Lin"
The faery courts are not without their own sacrifices. Celtic folklore is actually big on the idea of the Teind (the "Tithe") and that of the Seven Year King. For these ideas to work, one must ask the following question: Where do the Fey truly get their powers? An easy answer would be "Nature," because clearly they are so attuned to the natural forces of the earth, the air, the flames, and the water. A more complicated explanation pinpoints the source to the Underworld, where the Fey strike a deal with the lord of the Underworld.
This deal is where the Teind comes in, and where the Seven Year King is involved. The Teind is the exchange, the sacrifice that the Fey make in order to retain their dominion over the faerie world. This is usually in the form of a mortal sacrifice who is given to the Underworld every seven years. Because of the power of the sacrifice, the fae folk tend to pick the choicest mortal for the sacrifice, and for the most part, this means kidnapping the most beautiful, the most heroic, and the most talented. Once this "Seven Year King" is sacrificed, the world of the Fey continues to enjoy its power.
"Once, there were two courts, the bright and the dark, the Seelie and the Unseelie, the folk of the air and the folk of the earth...They have brought back the Tithe, the sacrifice of a beautiful and talented mortal. In the Seelie Court, they may steal away a poet to join their company, but the Unseelie Court requires blood. In exchange, those who dwell in Unseelie lands must bind themselves into service."
-- excerpt from Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black
Holly Black's Tithe pulls elements of the Teind as a sacrifice of blood by the Unseelie Court. While slightly different from the actual Teind, the premise is retained: a non-faerie must be sacrificed in order for the faery courts to strike their balance and remain creatures of nature. In Tithe, we see the Unseelie Court clamoring to find its next sacrifice, and Unseelie knight Rath Roiben Rye's eyes somehow fall on Kaye, a New Jersey native with a strange ability of seeing faeries even amidst the suburban world.
_Standing Still
"Briar Rose" by Maerianne Morrison
And then he was there. The clearing in the forest. Perfectly round, covered with leaves. Exactly as he had seen it for all these years in his dreams and memories.
-- excerpt from Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
Whether the fae folk pay the Teind or whether they are spiritual manifestations of nature, there is a great amount of evidence that shows the Fey as completely different from any creature in the mortal plane. Take the notion of "time," for example. The passage of time differs between the mortal world and the faerie world, and even though both worlds are a mere parallel planes of each other, seven years in the world of Fey can mean hundreds of years in the mortal world. While faeries are not necessarily "immortal" (for they are also subject to death, same as mortals in that way), their aging is ultimately prolonged. There is no telling how long they can live up to.
Then there are the mortals who walk into this world, or are somehow affected by the faery aging process. I mentioned Ossian as a prime example of someone who walked out of the faerie world after years with the Faerie Queen, only to realize that 300 years had passed in his world. There's also Rip Van Winkle, a colonial Dutchman who falls asleep after taking drinks and sharing food with peculiar mountain-folk (maybe dwarves). After waking from his nap, 20 years pass by.
What was he thinking, toying with an animal like this? If it could be called an animal, a bear living fifteen years at least under the leaves protecting a woman who lay uncorrupted on a pedestal. And it wasn't just fifteen years, Ivan knew that. It had to be longer. Centuries.
-- excerpt from Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
A more popular character in folklore is probably Briar Rose, who sleeps for 100 years without aging a second. Most known as Sleeping Beauty, Briar Rose is cursed by a wicked fae who puts her to sleep until she is woken up by a prince. Orson Scott Card, however, twists this story by adding in the most formidable of the fae: Baba Yaga, the Slavic villainess. In Enchantment, Ivan runs into the forest to find a sleeping Katerina, whose world is a completely different place than Ivan's modern Ukraine. The forest, however, seems to be the bridge between Ivan and Katerina's time periods, and clearly sleeping there for centuries had not aged Katerina one bit.
-- excerpt from Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
Whether the fae folk pay the Teind or whether they are spiritual manifestations of nature, there is a great amount of evidence that shows the Fey as completely different from any creature in the mortal plane. Take the notion of "time," for example. The passage of time differs between the mortal world and the faerie world, and even though both worlds are a mere parallel planes of each other, seven years in the world of Fey can mean hundreds of years in the mortal world. While faeries are not necessarily "immortal" (for they are also subject to death, same as mortals in that way), their aging is ultimately prolonged. There is no telling how long they can live up to.
Then there are the mortals who walk into this world, or are somehow affected by the faery aging process. I mentioned Ossian as a prime example of someone who walked out of the faerie world after years with the Faerie Queen, only to realize that 300 years had passed in his world. There's also Rip Van Winkle, a colonial Dutchman who falls asleep after taking drinks and sharing food with peculiar mountain-folk (maybe dwarves). After waking from his nap, 20 years pass by.
What was he thinking, toying with an animal like this? If it could be called an animal, a bear living fifteen years at least under the leaves protecting a woman who lay uncorrupted on a pedestal. And it wasn't just fifteen years, Ivan knew that. It had to be longer. Centuries.
-- excerpt from Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
A more popular character in folklore is probably Briar Rose, who sleeps for 100 years without aging a second. Most known as Sleeping Beauty, Briar Rose is cursed by a wicked fae who puts her to sleep until she is woken up by a prince. Orson Scott Card, however, twists this story by adding in the most formidable of the fae: Baba Yaga, the Slavic villainess. In Enchantment, Ivan runs into the forest to find a sleeping Katerina, whose world is a completely different place than Ivan's modern Ukraine. The forest, however, seems to be the bridge between Ivan and Katerina's time periods, and clearly sleeping there for centuries had not aged Katerina one bit.