Introduction to Fairy Songs and Poems

Read My Collection of Fairy Songs and Poems

There are two overarching categories of songs and poems about fairies; the first and the most important to understanding fairies are ancient songs and poems written as prayers and charms for humans to try to get the fairies to do something for them. Such songs are extremely important to our understanding of what people believed about them and humans relationship to them.

For example the following Finnish fairy song was sung by those seeking treasure as a means of trying to get a haltia to aid them;

Kinsman of Hiisi! rise, awake,
thou mountain haltia, to show a man the path,
to point to a full-grown man the place where booty is to be obtained,
treasures can be opened up before a man who is making search,
a fellow creeping on his knees.

This song tells us that the "haltia" a form of domestic spirit in Finnish lore was related to the the Hiisi which were a form of nature spirit which was the soul of rocks, potholes, etc.

Its important to keep in mind that the Indo-European peoples and the Uralic Peoples who came to dominate Europe tended to utilize songs and poems to describe all their beliefs and histories and to say prayers. So much of what we would learn about peoples beliefs would come from poems and songs as well as fairy tales.

That is why we've started collecting fairy songs and poems at http://zeluna.net/fairy-songs.html
Not all of the songs and poems on this page are ancient or religious, many are literary meant simply to be beautiful but in their own way these can also help us understand peoples ideas about fairies at various stages in history.