The Darker Side of Faery
"Scary Woods IV" by Johann Valentin Andree
_O see ye not yon narrow road,
So thick beset with thorns and briers?
That is the path of righteousness,
Tho after it but few enquires.
And see not ye that braid braid road,
That lies across that lily leven?
That is the path of wickedness,
Tho some call it the road to heaven.
- Excerpt from "Thomas the Rhymer"
From everything that you've learned about faeries by now, you should be clearly familiar with the concept of the dark side of the Fey. Where there is a set of good folk, there will always be a set of bad. In fact, someone stepping into the world of Fey and glimpsing the splendiferous beauty of the world might say: "This is exactly what I wish the land of the Fey to be!"
After a few steps, that person gets mauled over by a two-headed goat on a rampage. Within the next few steps into Faerie-Land (after surviving the previous attack), the same poor duckling gets undoubtedly enslaved by the most beautifully glamoured Unseelie in the vicinity. Don't be fooled by the glamour, though, that only lasts for so long.
Still find the whole aspect of the world of Fey too perfect for words? I didn't think so.
Jack and the Beanstalk (retold by Joseph Jacobs, annotated by Heidi Anne Heiner)
Let's remove ourselves from the ground and head to the cloudy inhabitants of the sylph faeries for once. If you aren't familiar with the following rhyme, best familiarize yourself now:
"Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I’ll have his bones to grind my bread."
Yes, up high above, past the towering beanstalk and the goose with the golden eggs, lies a majestic world of large fae. Welcome to the cloud kingdoms, where giants and ogres reside to terrorize unassuming man. At least, that's the deal here with the tale of Jack. There are, of course, some variations. I, for one, have seen "Jack and the Beanstalk" versions that typically point toward a giant wreaking havoc, while some others say an ogre (in the linked version of Joseph Jacobs' tale, it'll be an ogre). In the ogre's castle is--surprise, surprise!--quite a number of enticing items that has certainly tempted many a person to sneak in and steal said items. Who wouldn't want a golden goose?
But ah, here's the drawback. The owner of such lovely items is a menacing ogre who eats mortals that trespass upon his home. Nevermind that his wife is a delight and willingly helps travelers. Clearly Mr. Ogre is the boss of the house, and no ogre could allow such an insult pass over his mean, overly-scary nature. While the tale ends happily for Jack and unhappily for the ogre, the question remains: Before Jack, how many people have perished in the ogre's hands?
Think on it.
So thick beset with thorns and briers?
That is the path of righteousness,
Tho after it but few enquires.
And see not ye that braid braid road,
That lies across that lily leven?
That is the path of wickedness,
Tho some call it the road to heaven.
- Excerpt from "Thomas the Rhymer"
From everything that you've learned about faeries by now, you should be clearly familiar with the concept of the dark side of the Fey. Where there is a set of good folk, there will always be a set of bad. In fact, someone stepping into the world of Fey and glimpsing the splendiferous beauty of the world might say: "This is exactly what I wish the land of the Fey to be!"
After a few steps, that person gets mauled over by a two-headed goat on a rampage. Within the next few steps into Faerie-Land (after surviving the previous attack), the same poor duckling gets undoubtedly enslaved by the most beautifully glamoured Unseelie in the vicinity. Don't be fooled by the glamour, though, that only lasts for so long.
Still find the whole aspect of the world of Fey too perfect for words? I didn't think so.
Jack and the Beanstalk (retold by Joseph Jacobs, annotated by Heidi Anne Heiner)
Let's remove ourselves from the ground and head to the cloudy inhabitants of the sylph faeries for once. If you aren't familiar with the following rhyme, best familiarize yourself now:
"Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I’ll have his bones to grind my bread."
Yes, up high above, past the towering beanstalk and the goose with the golden eggs, lies a majestic world of large fae. Welcome to the cloud kingdoms, where giants and ogres reside to terrorize unassuming man. At least, that's the deal here with the tale of Jack. There are, of course, some variations. I, for one, have seen "Jack and the Beanstalk" versions that typically point toward a giant wreaking havoc, while some others say an ogre (in the linked version of Joseph Jacobs' tale, it'll be an ogre). In the ogre's castle is--surprise, surprise!--quite a number of enticing items that has certainly tempted many a person to sneak in and steal said items. Who wouldn't want a golden goose?
But ah, here's the drawback. The owner of such lovely items is a menacing ogre who eats mortals that trespass upon his home. Nevermind that his wife is a delight and willingly helps travelers. Clearly Mr. Ogre is the boss of the house, and no ogre could allow such an insult pass over his mean, overly-scary nature. While the tale ends happily for Jack and unhappily for the ogre, the question remains: Before Jack, how many people have perished in the ogre's hands?
Think on it.
Fae Possessions
"Hatchling" by Jim Di Bartolo
_To an ancient folk dulled by eternity, children are a revelation. That's why they keep them as pets.
-- excerpt from "Hatchling," Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Faeries will always find mortals inferior for many different reasons. They do not--or cannot--understand the concept of mortality, and thus many faeries become intrigued by this concept. The only difference is that faery queens seem to have a better pull on getting mortals for toys.
Laini Taylor's "Hatchling" (found in Lips Touch: Three Times, Taylor's collection of three short folkloric romance stories) mentions Mahzarin, the beautiful Druj Queen of wondrous and frightening Tajbel, a faery-like world. It is revealed in the story that Mahzarin took mortal girls as pets, doting on them and keeping them until she became bored by the girl-of-the-moment. Once the girl grew up, it was inevitable that she would be discarded and replaced with the next girl (most likely the daughter of the previous "toy"). This process continued until, of course, her most faithful Druj Mihai sought to end the pattern by whisking the latest child toy away. But that's a different topic entirely.
Mab learned that she was even less than she had always thought. She wasn't animal. She was cithra. She was just something for the Queen to wear, like a robe, like a fur. She would watch the Queen's empty body from within her own violated one, would see the stillness of that empty vessel and wish her own self might be a sacred place, a clean and empty cloister unscuffed by trespassers.
-- excerpt from "Hatchling," Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
The point is that even the beautiful faery queens are not above their dark quirks. It is unsurprising that the faery queen would find amusement in keeping a mortal to her service. It is, after all, what many of the fae seducers do. The golden-haired Niamh bewitched Ossian to her side, and Tam Lin followed his own particular queen as well.
-- excerpt from "Hatchling," Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Faeries will always find mortals inferior for many different reasons. They do not--or cannot--understand the concept of mortality, and thus many faeries become intrigued by this concept. The only difference is that faery queens seem to have a better pull on getting mortals for toys.
Laini Taylor's "Hatchling" (found in Lips Touch: Three Times, Taylor's collection of three short folkloric romance stories) mentions Mahzarin, the beautiful Druj Queen of wondrous and frightening Tajbel, a faery-like world. It is revealed in the story that Mahzarin took mortal girls as pets, doting on them and keeping them until she became bored by the girl-of-the-moment. Once the girl grew up, it was inevitable that she would be discarded and replaced with the next girl (most likely the daughter of the previous "toy"). This process continued until, of course, her most faithful Druj Mihai sought to end the pattern by whisking the latest child toy away. But that's a different topic entirely.
Mab learned that she was even less than she had always thought. She wasn't animal. She was cithra. She was just something for the Queen to wear, like a robe, like a fur. She would watch the Queen's empty body from within her own violated one, would see the stillness of that empty vessel and wish her own self might be a sacred place, a clean and empty cloister unscuffed by trespassers.
-- excerpt from "Hatchling," Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
The point is that even the beautiful faery queens are not above their dark quirks. It is unsurprising that the faery queen would find amusement in keeping a mortal to her service. It is, after all, what many of the fae seducers do. The golden-haired Niamh bewitched Ossian to her side, and Tam Lin followed his own particular queen as well.
The "Unseen" Court
"Goblin Market" by Arthur Rackham
_"Lie close," Laura said,
Pricking up her golden head:
"We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?"
-- excerpt from Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti
Then you have the faeries offering their faery-imbued gifts. Such gifts should never really be touched or taken in by mortals. The poem warns the reader about the repercussions of accepting goblin fruits. In Rossetti's "Goblin Market," it is Laura who succumbs to the goblins' pleas at buying their fruits. The more logical Lizzie is horrified by the fact that her sister Laura is so enamoured by the fruits that she could think of nothing else, let alone eat anything else. In order to break the spell that the goblins have over Laura, Lizzie challenges them in her own manner, fighting their enticements along the way.
The goblins, of course, can't help themselves but test Lizzie in much the same fashion as Laura. But once they see that Lizzie will not budge, they grow bored. And the enchantments they cast are broken.
These goblins are certainly "evil" in as far as their temptation and fruits go, but in the end, even they are bound by their natures. Once bored, they break their own spells and allow their mortal captives free. This does not always happen, mind. The Unseelie Court is much less merciful with regard to enchantments.
For instance, in Ann Aguirre's "Wild Magic" (a short story found in Corsets & Clockwork, edited by Trisha Telep), the Ferisher court contains within it both the beautiful and horrible faeries. Pearl, the main protagonist, encounters both types, and her life would have been forfeit had the dark spriggan after her not been interrupted. It is fortunate then, that the spriggan was stopped in his tracks, because unlike the goblins in Rossetti's story, this spriggan would not have stopped his enchantment once he'd started.
Pricking up her golden head:
"We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?"
-- excerpt from Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti
Then you have the faeries offering their faery-imbued gifts. Such gifts should never really be touched or taken in by mortals. The poem warns the reader about the repercussions of accepting goblin fruits. In Rossetti's "Goblin Market," it is Laura who succumbs to the goblins' pleas at buying their fruits. The more logical Lizzie is horrified by the fact that her sister Laura is so enamoured by the fruits that she could think of nothing else, let alone eat anything else. In order to break the spell that the goblins have over Laura, Lizzie challenges them in her own manner, fighting their enticements along the way.
The goblins, of course, can't help themselves but test Lizzie in much the same fashion as Laura. But once they see that Lizzie will not budge, they grow bored. And the enchantments they cast are broken.
These goblins are certainly "evil" in as far as their temptation and fruits go, but in the end, even they are bound by their natures. Once bored, they break their own spells and allow their mortal captives free. This does not always happen, mind. The Unseelie Court is much less merciful with regard to enchantments.
For instance, in Ann Aguirre's "Wild Magic" (a short story found in Corsets & Clockwork, edited by Trisha Telep), the Ferisher court contains within it both the beautiful and horrible faeries. Pearl, the main protagonist, encounters both types, and her life would have been forfeit had the dark spriggan after her not been interrupted. It is fortunate then, that the spriggan was stopped in his tracks, because unlike the goblins in Rossetti's story, this spriggan would not have stopped his enchantment once he'd started.
Aftermath
"Cinderella" by Agnieszka Szuba
_Sitting with her back against the tree, she remembered a tale her mother had once told her about a fairy who lived in the mountains north of Rook Hill. This fairy was a shapeshifter, and a cruel one at that. If a family had just lost someone, this fairy would visit them, knocking on their door after sunset. When they opened the door, they would see their departed loved one standing there, as real as could be. It would be tempting to invite her in, for in the depths of grief, sometimes one cannot tell the difference between illusion and reality.
-- excerpt from Ash, by Malinda Lo
Malinda Lo's Ash is littered with the dark aspects of the faery world, or, in Lo's case, of Taninli. When a mortal steps into Taninli, it has been said that his or her physical essence in the mortal world wastes away and becomes an empty carcass. Many of the tales told by Elinor (Ash's deceased mother) have this sort of atmosphere, perhaps to warn her own daughter of the dangers of the fae folk who set out to form their traps.
Ash steps into this world once or twice during the tale, and each time there is this feeling of both pleasure and acute pain, because all the tales she's been told about the magical world of fae end in a tragic death. At some point, Ash is made to choose between the illusory fae and the reality of her world.
-- excerpt from Ash, by Malinda Lo
Malinda Lo's Ash is littered with the dark aspects of the faery world, or, in Lo's case, of Taninli. When a mortal steps into Taninli, it has been said that his or her physical essence in the mortal world wastes away and becomes an empty carcass. Many of the tales told by Elinor (Ash's deceased mother) have this sort of atmosphere, perhaps to warn her own daughter of the dangers of the fae folk who set out to form their traps.
Ash steps into this world once or twice during the tale, and each time there is this feeling of both pleasure and acute pain, because all the tales she's been told about the magical world of fae end in a tragic death. At some point, Ash is made to choose between the illusory fae and the reality of her world.
_There is always a drawback when a mortal encounters a faery. Step into a
faery haven on accident and the mortal might be able to escape with
minimal alterations to his or her being. But an accidental encounter is
usually unlikely. More often a mortal is seduced by the Faery Queen (or
any faery seducer for that matter), enticed by the beauty of the Wild
Hunt, and tempted by the smells, tastes, and other mind-numbingly
physical sensations in partaking of faery fruits. One
day, these mortals wake up and suddenly all of the glorious sensations
experienced before have disappeared, leaving them craving, thirsting,
hungering for more, more, more. And sadly, they are left immensely
disappointed.