Sketches of Japanese Folk Religion and Fairy Tales - part 2
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A girl in the Tono district was given some leaves by tall red faced man (in the Tono district kami appear with red faces) and from this she gained the power of divination. (In Japan shamans which gained their power from various kami and other beings were most often female) It was commonly believed that people gained the power of divination from mountain kami who possessed them. At first such possessed people would go mad, but eventually they would go into a trance.

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Mountain Kami - part 2

Sketches of Japanese Folk Religion and Fairy Tales
See Part 1

Read our collection of Japanese Fairy Tales

Each Mountain Kami is unique, some are depicted as giant read humans, others as Tengu, still others take the form of a centipede. This is because Mountain Kami aren’t a particular type of kami, rather they are the kami which resides in the mountain, so each region will have their own beliefs with regards to the mountain kami.

The most common belief, however, seems to be that the mountain is the causer of birth and rebirth, that it is the mountain from which humans, animals and plants spring. For this reason most mountain kami are portrayed as female.

Such mountain kami typically played an important role within a village, for they were the guardian of the people, but also the people’s ruler in some ways. For it was the mountain kami who gave people permission to build new buildings.

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Mountain Kami Part 1

Sketches of Japanese Folk Religion and Fairy Tales

Read our collection of Japanese Fairy Tales

Tall forest covered mountains rise from the ocean above the Japan’s villages and towns and into the sky where they bridge the gap between heaven and earth, between pure and impure. For it is from the mountains, from this avenue between heaven and earth which water springs. It is the pure water from these mountains which brings life to the world.

In Japan’s oldest folk religion’s the mountains are typically considered to be the most important and sacred of all objects.  In ancient times the fishermen believed that the deity who controlled navigation and weather lived upon the mountains. Further there are a number of folktales in Japan in which the Thunder Kami which brings rain lives within the mountains.

Life giving water comes down from the mountains in the form of springs, and glacial streams to water peoples crops and create the forests. So the source of all life in Japan came from the mountains, the source of agriculture. The mountain kami were also the agricultural kami, the terms Yama-no-kami (kami of the mountain) and Ta-No-Kami (Kami of the rice paddy) were interchangeable. So in order to insure an abundant crop the farmers had to entice the kami down from the mountains in the spring time.

Each mountain kami was unique. Some were bright red and easily angered, like the ones in Tono. Others. were the spirits of bears or stages. Many, others, however were women who had lots of children and so needed the village to provide them with food to feed these children.



Learn More About Japanese Kami


Japanese Fairy Tales With Kami


The Bear Kami

How a bear's spirit became the guardian of a village. This fairy tale shows one way animals could become guardian kami. There was also a white deer enshrined in one region, a cat which became the guardian spirit of a samurai's home, a dog, and even a cow.


The Witch of the Mountain
A mountain witch's child is starving so she demands that the village bring her food.


The Mountain Kami and the Ugly Fish
The village uses humor to bring a mountain kami back to them.


The Priest and the Kami's cave
Those who are boastful are punished by the mountain kami.

 

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Notes on THE THREE PRINCES, THE THREE DRA- GONS, AND THE OLD WOMAN WITH THE IRON NOSE.

The Tale of a Prince who saved his kingdom from three dragons. (fairy tale notes are in blue)

ON the shores of the Blue Sea there was a land in
which dragons grew. This land had a king whose
court was draped in black, and whose eye never
ceased to weep, because every Friday he had to
send ninety-nine men to the dragons, who were the pest of
the place, and who slew and devoured the ninety-nine human
beings sent to them. The king had three sons, each of whom
was handsomer and more clever than the other. The king
was very fond of his sons, and guarded them most carefully.
The eldest was called Andrew, the next Emerich, and the
youngest Ambrose. There were no other lads left in the land,
for the dragons fed on lads' flesh only. One day Andrew and
Emerich went to their father and begged him to allow them to
go and fight the dragons, as they were sure they could conquer
them, and that the dragons would not want any more human
flesh after they had been there. But the father would not even
listen to his sons' request. As for Ambrose, he did not even
dare so much as to submit such a request to his father. Andrew
and Emerich, at length, by dint of much talking, prevailed upon
their father to allow them to go and fight the dragons. Now,
there were only three dragons left in the land : one had seven
heads, another eight, and the third nine; and these three had
devoured all the other dragons, when they found that there were
no more lads to be had.

We see in many of these tales the idea of kingdoms ruled over by dragons, ogres and other monsters. Such kingdoms are not at a distance, rather they are often present in a neighboring land or in the very kingdom in which the primary characters seem to live. Hungary and it's neighbors seemed to be more plagued by dragons than any other place. In some tales these beings would devour or try to devour the sun and so heroes and people would have to rise up rescue the sun from the greedy hunger of the dragon.

Andrew and Emerich joyfully galloped
off towards the copper, silver, and golden bridges in the neigh-
bourhood of which the dragons lived, and Ambrose was left alone
to console his royal father, who bewailed his other sons.
Ambrose's godmother was a fairy, and as it is the custom
for godmothers to give presents to their godchildren, Ambrose
received a present from his fairy godmother, which consisted of a
black egg with five corners, which she placed under Ambrose's
left armpit. Ambrose carried his egg about with him under his
left armpit for seven winters and seven summers, and on Ash
Wednesday, in the eighth year, a horse with five legs and three
heads jumped out of the egg; this horse was a Tatos and could
speak.

Fairy Godmothers and Godfathers are an important part of the success of a person in many fairy tales. One must recall after all that at one time a persons status, their relationship to others was what determined their success. This is true even in "Cinderella Stories" in which Cinderella was a noble girl and her step sisters were merely peasants, and she had a fairy godmother, or a mother who'd become a tree (in one version). 


The egg one must hold under their armpit is a common motif for the Baltic peoples, in one story a strange chicken like creature hatched from the egg which gave the girl who hatched in the ability to speak with animals. 



Horses could be said to me more important to a persons victory in battle than a sword. There is after all only a minor difference between two swords. There can however be vast differences between a smart and fast horse and an incapable one. Thus wise talking horses are a commonality in Hungarian tales, they after all were still closer to life on the Steppes than any other European group, it was only two thousand years previous that they had invaded Europe and become the Vikings of their day on horseback and so horses and horsemen were still an important part of their folk memory. 




At the time when the brothers went out to fight the dragons,
Ambrose was thirteen years and thirteen days old, and his horse
was exactly five years old. The two elder brothers had been
gone some time, when he went into the stable to his little horse,
and, laying his head upon its neck, began to weep bitterly. The
little horse neighed loudly and said, " Why are you crying, my
dear master ? " " Because," replied Ambrose, " I dare not ask
my father to let me go away, although I should like to do so
very much."
“Go to your royal father, my dear master, for he
has a very bad attack of toothache just now, and tell him that
the king of herbs sends word to him through the Tatos-horse
with three heads, that his toothache will not cease until he gives
you permission to go and fight the dragons; and you can also
tell him that if you go, there will be no more dragons left on this
earth; but if you do not go his two elder boys will perish in the
stomachs of the dragons. Tell him, also, that I have assured
you that you will be able to make the dragons vomit out, at
once, all the lads whomsoever they have swallowed; and that
his land will become so powerful when the lads, who have grown
strong in the stomachs of the dragons, return that, while the
world lasts, no nation will ever be able to vanquish him." Thus
spoke the Tatos colt, and neighed so loudly that the whole
world rang with the sound.
The little boy told his father what the Tatos colt had told him ; but the king objected for a long time, and no wonder, as he was afraid lest evil might happen to his only son: but at last his sufferings got the better of him, and,
after objecting for three hours, he promised his son that if the
Tatos were able to carry out its promise he would give him
permission to go and fight the dragons.

This idea that a fairy of the herbs controls pains such as tooth aches is common among the Ugric peoples such as Hungary and Finland. In Finland their are a number of prayers to such fairy like creature asking for respite from tooth aches.

As soon as he had uttered these words his toothache left him.
The little lad ran off and told the message to his little horse,
which capered and neighed with delight.
"I heard you when you were bargaining," said the horse to its little master, who in his delight didn't know what to do with himself, " and I should
have heard you even if you had been a hundred miles away.
Don't fear anything, my little master ; our ride, it is true, will
be a long one, but in the end it will turn out a lucky one. Go,
my great-great-grandmother's great-great-grandmother's saddle
is there on that crooked willow; put it on me, it will fit me
exactly ! "

The prince ran, in fact he rushed like a madman, fetched the
ragged old saddle, put it on his horse, and tied it to a gate-
post. Before leaving his father's home, the little horse asked
its little master to plug up one of its nostrils; the prince did
so, and the little horse blew upon him with the other nostril
which he had left open, when, oh, horror! the little boy became
mangy like a diseased sucking pig. The little horse, however,
turned into a horse with golden hair, and glistened like a mirror.
When the little boy caught sight of his ugly face amidst the hair
of his shining horse, he became very sad. " Plug up my other
nostril, too ! " said the horse with the golden hair. At first the
little master would not do it, until the horse neighed very loudly
and bade him do it at once, as it was very unwise to delay obey-
ing the commands of a Tatos. So what could the poor lad do but
plug up the other nostril of the horse. The horse then opened
wide its mouth, and breathed upon the lad, who at once became
a most handsome prince, worthy to be a fairy king. " Now sit
on my back, my little master, my great king, we are worthy of
each other; and there is no thing in the world that we cannot
overcome. Rejoice ! You will conquer the dragons, and restore
the young men to your father's realm ; only do as I bid you, and
listen to no one else."

In an hour's time they arrived on the shore of the Red Sea,
which flows into the Blue Sea. There they found an inn, and
close to the inn, within earshot, stood the copper bridge, on the
other side of which the dragon with seven heads roamed about.
Andrew and Emerich were already at the inn, and as they were
very tired, they sat down and began to eat and drink : when the
new guest arrived the knives and forks dropped from the two
princes' hands ; but when they learned that he, too, had come to
fight the dragons they made friends with him. They could not,
however, recognize him for all the world. Night set in, and An-
drew and Emerich had eaten and drunk too much, and became
decidedly drunk, and so slept very deeply. Ambrose ate little,
drank nothing, and slept lightly. At dawn the Tatos-horse pulled
his master's hair, in order to wake him ; because it knew that the
dragon had least strength at dawn, and that the sun increased
his strength. Ambrose at once jumped on horseback and arrived
at the copper bridge : the dragon heard the clattering of the horse's
hoofs, and at once flew to meet him.
"Pooh ! " cried the dragon and snorted, " I smell a strange smell ! Ambrose, is it you ? I know you; may you perish, you and your horse! Come on!"
They fought for one hour and three quarters. Ambrose, with
two strokes, slashed six of the dragon's heads off, but could not,
for a long time succeed in cutting off the seventh, for in it lay
the dragon's magic power. But, at last, the seventh head came
off too.

The dragon had seven horses, these Ambrose fastened together,
and took them to the inn, where he tied them by the side of
Emerich's horse. Andrew and Emerich did not awake till nine
o'clock, when Emerich asked Andrew if he had killed the dragon,
and Andrew asked Emerick if he had done so ; at last Ambrose
told them that he had killed the dragon with seven heads and
taken away his seven horses, which he gave to Emerich, who
thanked him for them. The three then continued their journey
together as far as the silver bridge : here again they found an
inn, which stood close to the bridge. Emerich and Andrew ate
and drank and went to sleep as before ; the Tatos horse, as soon
as day began to break, awoke his master, who cheerfully jumped
up, dressed neatly, and left the princes asleep. The Tatos
scented the dragon quite ten miles off, and growled like a dog,
and the dragon in his rage began to throw his sparks at them
when four German miles off ; they rushed upon each other and
met with a tremendous clash on the bridge ; it was a very diffi-
cult task for Ambrose to conquer this huge monster, but at last,
through the skilful mano3uvring of his horse, he deprived the
dragon of all his eight heads: the eight horses belonging to the
dragon he tied to a post near the head of the eldest prince,
Andrew. Andrew and Emerich did not awake till noon, and
were astonished at the sight of the splendid horses, questioning
each other as to who could have brought them there at such an
early hour, and then came to the conclusion that the prince must
have killed the dragon, and that these horses had belonged to
the monster, for no such horses ever neighed under a man
before. Ambrose again confessed that he had killed the dragon,
and brought away his horses for them. He also urged his two
companions to hurry on to kill the third dragon, or they would
be too late. They all got on horseback, but in their joy two of
them had had to eat and drink, till they had more than enough,
but Ambrose, according to his custom, took but little; the two
elder brothers again went to sleep and slept like tops ; but again
the little Tatos pulled Ambrose's hair, so soon as the morning
star began to glimmer.

Ambrose got up at once, and dressed even more quickly than
before; for the journey he took a small flask of wine, which he
secured upon his saddle The horse warned its master to ap-
proach the dragon with great caution, because it was a very
excitable one, and if he got frightened the least it would be very
difficult to conquer the monster. Soon the monster with nine
heads arrived, thumped once on the golden bridge, so that it
trembled under the thump; Ambrose dashed at the dragon
and fought with it, but they could not conquer each other,
although they fought fiercely and long. At the last hug,
especially, Ambrose grew so weak that, if he had not taken a
long draught from his flask he would have been done for on
the spot; the draught, however, renewed his strength, and they
dashed at each other again, but still neither could conquer the
other.

So the dragon asked Ambrose to change himself into a steel
hoop and he, the dragon, would become a flint hoop, and that
they should both climb to the top of yon rock, which was so
high that the sun was only a good span above it; and that they
should roll down together, and if, while running, the flint hoop
left the rut, and, striking the steel hoop, drew sparks therefrom,
that Ambrose's head should fall off; but if on the other hand,
the steel hoop left the rut and struck the flint hoop so as to
draw sparks, then all the dragon's heads should fall off. But
they were both wise and stuck to their own ruts, rolling down
in a straight course till they reached the foot of the mountain
without touching each other, and lay down when they got to the
bottom. As they could not manage in this way, the dragon pro-
posed : u I will become a red flame and you will become a white
one, and which ever flame reaches highest he shall be victor."
Ambrose agreed to this also ; while they were contending, they
both noticed an old crow, which croaked at them from a hollow
tree; the dragon was an old acquaintance of the aged crow,
and requested it to bring in its beak as much water as would
extinguish the white flame, and promised that if he won, he
would give his foe's flesh to the crow, every bit of it.

Ambrose asked for a single drop of water, and promised the
crow all the flesh of the big-bodied dragon. The crow helped
Ambrose : it soaked its crop full of water and spat it over the
red flame; thus Ambrose conquered his last foe. He got on his
horse, tied together the nine horses of the dragon with nine
heads and took them to his brothers, who were still snoring
loudly, although the sun had reached its zenith and was hot
enough to make a roast. At last the two lazy people got up,
and Ambrose divided the nine horses between them and took
leave of them, saying, " Go in peace, I myself am obliged to run
wherever my eyes can see." The two good-for-nothing brothers
were secretly delighted, and galloped off homewards. Ambrose
turned himself into a small rabbit, and as it ran over hill and
dale it ran into a small hut where the three wives of the three
dragons were seated. The wife of the dragon with seven heads
took it into her lap and stroked it for a long time, and thus
addressed it: " I don't know whether Ambrose has killed my
husband; if he has, there will be a plague in the world, because I
will turn into a great pear tree, and the odour of its fruit will be
smelt seven miles off, and will be sweet to the taste but deadly
poison. The tree which thus grows from me will not dry up
till Ambrose plunge his sword into its root, then both it and
myself will die." Then the wife of the dragon with eight heads
also took the little rabbit in her lap, and spoke thus: "If
Ambrose has killed my husband there will be a plague in the
world, I can tell you ! because in my sorrow I will change into a
spring ; there will be eight streams flowing out of this spring,
each one of which will run eight miles, where it again will sub-
divide into eight more branches. And whoever drinks of the
water will die ; but if Ambrose wash his sword in my blood
which is the water of the spring all the water will at once dry
up and I shall die." Then the wife of the dragon with nine
heads spoke to the rabbit, saying, " If Ambrose has killed my
husband, in my sorrow I will change into a huge bramble, and
will stretch all over the world, all along the highroads. And
whoever trips over me, will die; but if Ambrose cut my stalk in
two anywhere the bramble will dry up everywhere and I shall
die."

Having listened to all this, the little rabbit scampered off out of
the hut; but an old woman with an iron nose, the mother of the
three dragons, chased him, and chased him over hill and dale: he
ran, and rushed about, till at length he overtook his brothers;
jumping on his little horse's back, he continued his journey at
his leisure. As they travelled on, his eldest brother longed for
some good fruit; just then they saw a fine pear tree, whereupon
Ambrose jumped from his horse, and plunged his sword into
the roots of the tree, and drew blood, and a moaning voice was
heard. They travelled on for a few miles, when Emerich all of a
sudden became very thirsty: he discovered a spring, and jumped
off his horse in order to drink, but Ambrose was first to arrive at
the water; when, plunging his sword into it, it became blood, and
fearful screams were heard, and in one moment the whole of the
water dried up. From this point Ambrose galloped on in front
till he left his brothers two miles behind, because he knew that
the bramble was stretching far along the country road; he cut it
in two, blood oozed out, and the bramble at once dried up.
Having thus cleared away all dangers from his brothers' way, he
blest them and separated from them.

The brothers went home, but the old woman with the iron
nose persecuted Ambrose more than ever, being in a great rage
at his having killed her sons and her daughters-in-law. Ambrose
ran as hard as he could, for he had left his horse with his
brothers; but when he was quite exhausted and had lost all
confidence in himself, he ran into a smithy, and promised the
smith that he would serve him for two years for nothing if he
would hide him safely and well. The bargain was soon struck,
and no sooner had the smith hidden him than the old woman
appeared on the spot and inquired after a youth : she described
his figure, the shape of his eyes and mouth, height, colour of his
moustache and hair, dress, and general appearance. But the smith
was not such a fool as to betray the lad who had engaged to work
at his anvil for him for two years for nothing. So the old witch
with the iron nose got to know nothing and left the place growl-
ing. One day Ambrose was perspiring heavily by the side of the
anvil ; so at eventide he went for a short walk in the road in order
to get a mouthful of fresh air. When he had nearly reached the
edge of the wood, which was only at a dog's trot from the smithy,
he met a very old woman with wizened face, whose carriage was
drawn by two small cats: the old woman began to ogle little
Ambrose, making sheep's eyes at him, like fast young women do.
" May hell swallow you, you old hag," said Ambrose to her
angrily, "I see you have still such foolish ideas in your head,
although you have grown so old ! " Having said this he gave
the carriage in which the witch sat, a kick, but poor Ambrose's
right foot stuck fast to the axle, and the two cats scampered off
over hill and dale with him until he suddenly discovered that he
was trotting in hell, and saw old Pilate staring at him. The old
witch with the iron nose because it was she who had the carriage
and pair of cats fell over head and ears in love with the young
lad, and at once asked him to marry her.

Ambrose shuddered when he heard this repulsive, unnatural
request. " Very well," said the woman with the iron nose, " as
you don't intend to marry me, into jail you go ! twelve hundred-
weight of iron on your feet !" Nine black servants seized hold
of poor Ambrose, at once, and took him nine miles down into
the bowels of the earth, and fastened a piece of iron weighing
twelve hundred-weight on his feet and secured it with a lock.
The poor lad wept and groaned, but no one had admission to
where he was, with the exception of the old witch and one of
her maids. The maid of the witch with the iron nose was not
quite such an ugly fright as her wizened old mistress, in fact she
was such a pretty girl that one would have to search far for a
prettier lass. She commenced to visit Ambrose in his prison
rather often, sometimes even when the old witch did not dream of
it to tell the truth, she fell head over ears in love with the lad,
nor did Ambrose dislike the pretty girl; on the contrary, he pro-
mised to marry her if she were able to effect his escape from his deep
prison. The girl did not require any further coaxing, but com-
menced plotting at once, At last she hit upon a scheme, and
thus spoke to her darling Ambrose: " You cannot get out of
this place, unless you marry the old woman with the iron nose.
She having once become your wife will reveal to you all her
secrets; she will also tell you how she manages to keep alive so
long, and by what ways and means she may be got rid of."
Ambrose followed her instructions and was married to the old
witch by a clergyman there are clergy even in hell, as many as
you want. The first night Ambrose, after having for a long time
been kissing and making love to the old iron nose, asked her :
" What keeps you alive for so long, and when do you think you
will die? I don't ask these questions, my dearest love," he
added, flatteringly, " as if I wished for your death, but because
I should like to use those means myself which prolong your life
and keep away everything from me which would shorten life,
and thus preserve me, living long and happily with you." The
old woman at first was half inclined to believe his words, but
while meditating over what she had just heard, she suddenly
kicked out in bed, and Ambrose Hew three miles into hell in
his fright.

But the result of all the questioning and flattering in the end
was that the old woman confessed. She confided to him that
she kept a wild boar in the silken meadow, and if it were killed,
they would find a hare inside, inside the hare a pigeon, inside
the pigeon a small box, inside the little box one black and one
shining beetle : the shining beetle held her life, the black one her
power ; if those two beetles died then her life would come to an
end, too. As soon as the old woman went out for a drive
which she had to do every day Ambrose killed the wild boar,
took out the hare, from the hare the pigeon, from the pigeon the
box, and from the box the two beetles : he killed the black one
at once, but kept the shining one alive. The old witch's power
left her immediately. When she returned home her bed had
to be made for her. Ambrose sat by her bedside and looked
very sad, and asked her with tears if she, who was the other half
of his soul, died what would become of him, who was a man
from earth and a good soul, who had no business there. " In
case I die, my dear husband," said the doomed woman, in a
mild voice, "open with the key which I keep in my bosom yon
black closet in the wall. But you can't remove the key from
my bosom until I am dead. In the closet you will find a small
golden rod ; with this rod you must strike the side of the castle
in which we are, arid it will become a golden apple. You, then,
can get into the upper world by harnessing my two cats in my
carriage, and by whipping them with the golden rod. Here-
upon Ambrose killed the shining beetle too, and her para (animal
soul) left the old witch at once.

He then struck the castle side with the golden rod, and it
turned into an apple; having harnessed the two cats and patted
them with the golden rod, he bade the maid sit by him, and in
a wink they reached the upper world. The maid had been kid-
napped by the old witch with the iron nose from the king of the
country in the upper world, in whose land the mouth of hell was
situated. Ambrose placed the golden apple in the prettiest part
of the country and tapped its side with the rod and it became a
beautiful castle of gold, in which he married his sweetheart and
lived with her happily. Some time after he returned to his
father's land, where an immense number of strong soldiers had
grown up since Ambrose had killed the dragons. The old king
distributed his realm among his three sons, giving the most beau-
tiful empires to Ambrose, who took his father to him and kept
him in great honour. His wife bore pretty children who rude
out every day on the Tatos.

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Vampire Cats in Japanese Fairy Tales

Find More Japanese Fairy Tales


“One day Otoyo (a beautiful princess) sat alone in her room working on her embroidery with a big cat which had been in the palace for some time lounging beside her. As Otoyo looked up briefly from her work she saw the cat suddenly look at her with such hateful and evil eyes that she let out an involuntary cry of fear. But no sooner had the cry escaped her lips then the cat leapt upon the beautiful Otoyo’s throat and bit deep into veins sucking the blood from her.”
The Vampire Cat – Japanese Fairy Tale

Bakeneko (magical cats which can take on human form) are some of the most feared vampires in Japanese folklore because they are able to observe humans, calculating and planning their attack. In one fairy tale a bakeneko watches a boy as he prepares to go hunting, counting the number of arrows the boy takes so it can wait until he’s used them all before attacking.
Beyond simply being cunning the bakeneko was also powerful, in the story of ‘The Vampire Cat,’ the bakeneko drains a concubine in a prince’s court then takes her form so that she can drain the prince of his blood. She then puts all the guards to sleep before making her move. In this form she is able to sleep with the prince, and she drains a little of his blood each night, making him weaker and weaker.
Seeing that the prince is dying of a magical illness his soldiers try to guard him constantly, but the cat in the form of Otoyo puts them all to sleep with her powers. What we see is that the cat in Japanese mythology can be much like the vampires of Slavic mythology, able to kill quickly if they wish to, but they choose to slowly drain those they love, causing them to whither away.
Cats do often fall in love with people, in one tale a woman falls in love with a man believed to be a bakeneko. Eventually the word spreads that she is sleeping with a cat so she tries to break of her relationship with him. She is found later with her throat torn out.
Unlike the vampire, however, the Bakeneko is always watching humans, in the form of a cat or by taking the form of a person’s friend or lover. The problem is that a person can’t simply get rid of the cat which is watching them intently, nor can they avoid owning a cat at times. In the fairy tale “The Guardian Cat” a man sees a cat following his daughter everywhere and so thinks to kill it. The cat however turns out to be protecting her from another evil. In addition to being the vampires of Japanese mythology cats can also the guardians of humans, sent by the kami (gods) to protect humans from other evil man eating monsters. Thus a people often needed cats in mythology to survive, so the cats would watch them, live with them but they could never be certain if the cat watching them closely was a protector or a vampire.

 

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Russian Vampires: Lonely Solitary Hunters

“Presently up ran the first corpse--the one that had chased the Soldier--and dashed into the chapel. Thereupon the one that was lying on the table jumped up, and cried
to it: "What hast thou come here for?"
"I've chased a soldier in here, so I'm going to eat him."
"Come now, brother! he's run into my house. I shall eat him myself."
"No, I shall!"
"No, I shall!"
And they set to work fighting; the dust flew like anything.
The Two Corpses – Russian Fairy Tale


Those who encounter vampires in Russian fairy tales and live to tell the tale are often not strong, they are the lucky. They are those who through happenstance survived until the cocks crow (morning) when the dead loose the ability to move. Humans in these tales are swept into the dark world of the dead, rarely if ever do they go in search of it. They spend their night in fear, praying, begging for the light, hoping for some reprieve as the vampires, as evil descends upon them. Then something happens, and through luck they survive until dawn, when in Russian tales the dead loose the ability to move.
This all is typical of such stories, what’s unique about this story is that while most Russian folk tales involve a single vampire this one has two. The two vampires in the tale meet not as friends or kindred spirits, instead they meet as two predators hunting the same prey. So it would seem that in the Russian conception of the world, those who haunted the night were territorial, typically solitary hunters.
At the same time vampires in the Russian tradition seem to crave company. Other fiendish beings will befriend travelers or the people of a village. They don’t simply do so to eat them because that would be easy enough without a long term deceit. Indeed in the tale “The Soldier and the Vampire” the vampire eats everyone but the soldier who he tries to befriend. As strange as it might seem this does paint vampires as both tragically lonely figures and deadly hunters.

Nukiuk is a folklorist who’s been translating Russian Fairy Tales into English and writing on them. You can find these at http://zeluna.net/russian-fairy-tale.html.

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Baba Yaga and the Young Man

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In this Russian fairy tale we get the description of Baba Yaga as riding a mortar and pestle.

A brave young man lived with a can and a sparrow. One day the cat and the sparrow went out into the forest to chop some wood, and as they left they told the brave young man to keep the house; “but if Baba Yaga comes and counts the spoons be sure to keep quite.”

“Okay,” the brave young man agreed.

Once the cat and the sparrow left, the young man sat down behind the stoves chimney. Sure enough Baba Yaga came in and began to count the spoons.

“This is the cats spoon, and this is the birds spoon, and this third spoon must be the young mans,” Baba Yaga said.

The Young man could not stand it so he shouted: “don’t touch my spoon Baba Yaga.”

Baba Yaga seized the young man, and flew of in her mortar paddling it with a pestle as she swept away her tracks with a broom.

“Run cant, Fly Sparrow,” the young man called for his friends.

They heard his cries and came and the cat scratched Baba Yaga while the sparrow pecked at her, and together they took the young man from her.

The next day the cat and the sparrow had to go once more into the forest to gather wood.

“Don’t say anything if Baba Yaga comes today,” they warned the young man again.

When they left the young man sat down behind the chimney again. Sure enough Baba Yaga came in and began to count the spoons.

“This is the cats spoon, and this is the birds spoon, and this third spoon must be the young mans,” Baba Yaga said.

The Young man could not stand it so he shouted: “don’t touch my spoon Baba Yaga.”

Baba Yaga seized the young man, and flew of in her mortar paddling it with a pestle as she swept away her tracks with a broom.

The next day the cat and the sparrow warned the youth very urgently not to say anything if Baba Yaga came for they were going very far away on that day.

Sure enough Baba Yaga came in and began to count the spoons.

“This is the cats spoon, and this is the birds spoon, and this third spoon must be the young mans,” Baba Yaga said.

This time however the young man managed to remain silent. So Baba Yaga counted the spoons again “This is the cats spoon, and this is the birds spoon, and this third spoon must be the young mans,” Baba Yaga said.

But still the young man remained quite so Baba Yaga counted the spoons a third time: “This is the cats spoon, and this is the birds spoon, and this third spoon must be the young mans,” Baba Yaga said.

The Young man could not stand it any longer so he shouted: “don’t touch my spoon whore.”

Baba Yaga seized the young man, and flew of in her mortar paddling it with a pestle as she swept away her tracks with a broom.

Again the young man called for help, but this time his friends didn’t hear him.

Baba Yaga dragged the young man to her home and put him in a shed then filled the stove with wood.

“I’m going to Russia, in the mean time roast this young man for my supper,” she told her eldest daughter.

“Okay,” her daughter agreed.

She then heated the stove and told the young man to come out of the shed and lay down on the cooking pan. So he laid down on the pan but he had one foot touch the ceiling and one foot touch the floor so she couldn’t get him in the oven.

“No, don’t lay down like that,” she told him.

“How then?” he asked.

So the girl laid down as she wanted him to and the young man seized the tongs and shoved her into the oven and roasted her instead. The young man then went back to the shed to wait for Baba Yaga.

Baba Yaga came running into the house saying that she was going to feast on the young mans bones.

“Feast on your own daughter’s bones,” the young man called out to her.

Realizing that it was indeed her daughter in the oven Baba Yaga cried: “Oh you rascal, you won’t escape.”

The next day she orered her second daughter to roast the young man before going out again.

Baba Yaga’s daughter heated the oven as her elder sister had and then went to get the young man. Once more the young man laid down on the pan with one leg on the ceiling and th other on the floor. Just as before Baba Yaga’s daughter scolded him and he asked how he should lay down. When she showed him he throw her in the oven as well.

Baba Yaga returned singing: “I’m going to feast on the young mans bones, I’m going to feast on the young mans bones.”

“You can feast on your own daughters bones,” the young man called to her.

Yagishna grew furious then.

“You won’t get away,” she told the young man. She then instructed her youngest daughter to roast the young man. But she had no more luck then her elder sisters, and was roasted as well.

Baba Yaga of the Forest grew furious and swore that he would not escape

Baba Yaga heated the oven and then called for the young man to come out.

As before he came out and laid down on the pan, with one leg on the ceiling and the other on the floor.

“That’s not how to do it,” Baba Yaga scolded him.

“Show me then,” he replied.

So Baba Yaga laid down on the pan and the young man shoved her into the oven. He then ran home to his brothers and told them: “That’s what I did with Baba Yaga.”

Baba Yaga Forest angry: "Wait a minute - he says - I do not uverneshsya!" Heated the oven, shouting: "Come out, zhiharko! Get down here on debugging. " Zhikhar lay down, he seated with one leg in the ceiling, the other in Navolok, not a thing of the human 7 . Baba Yaga says, "Not so, not so!" A Zhikhar not seem to know. "I, - he says - I do not know, learn it myself!" Witch-woman pursed her once and went to debugging. Zhikhar not timid, but he took it and shoved into the oven; he go home, he ran, skazyvat brothers: "That's what I did with Baba-Yaga!"

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The Fingerling

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One can't help but be reminded of the Indo-European creation and deity myths when reading the Russian version of "Tom Thumb." Most Indo-Europeans have a tale in which a castrated monsters blood turns into nymphs, or the maggots which grow from a giant turn into elves. We often forget when romanticizing fairies that they often come from very unromantic places. In the case of this story the little fairy like boy comes from the decapitated finger of an old woman. He shares all the traits of many fairies, having no real childhood he matures instantly and is cunning from the beginning. He is tiny, can talk to animals and is a clear trickster figure. He's barely a few hours old when he helps his "Father" swindle a Gentlemen out of a thousand rubles. The next morning he tricks a wolf into carrying him home, then gets his father to kill the wolf.

Yet the boy is clearly not lazy, laziness would be evil, cleverness isn't. Cleverness when it helps one's family even at the determent of others is one of the highest morality in Russian Fairy Tales.

In other Russian folktales another family fairy, the Domovoi is known to help with choirs and protect the family from harm. He is called grandfather and given a place of honor in the household. Yet at the same time the neighbors of a family fear the domovoi for the domovoi steals from them and will attack their household fairy.

* * * * *

The old man lived with an old woman. Once when the old woman was chopping cabbage she accidently chopped of her finger. So she wrapped it in a cloth and put it on a bench.

Suddenly she heard someone on the bench crying. So she looked over at the rag and saw that her finger had turned into a little boy.

“Who are you?” the frightened old woman gave a surprised gasp.

“I’m your son, the born from your finger,” the boy told her.

Because he was so tiny that he was barley visible when someone stood over him he was called fingerling boy. He grew smarter and smarter as he matured quickly but he didn’t grow any taller.

“Where is my father?” the boy asked.

“He’s out in the fields,” the old woman asked.

“I’ll go and help him,” the boy said.

“Go my child.”

So the boy went out into the field until he found his father.

“Hello, sir,” the boy greeted his father.

The old man looked around but because the Fingerling was so tiny he couldn’t see him anywhere.

“How strange,” the old man declared. “I can hear a voice but I don’t see anybody around. Who’s talking to me?”

“I’m your son,” the Fingerling answered. “Sit down and  rest for a little while, sir.”

Delighted the old man sat down to eat his supper, while the boy got on the horse and whispered in the horse’s ear to get it to plow the fields. As he was plowing the fields the horse and the Fingerling went past a man who looked at them astonished.

“That horse is plowing the fields by himself!” the man said with surprise. “I’ve never seen a horse plow the fields by himself, “ the man said to the old man.

“Are you blind?” the old man chuckled. “My son is on the horses head.”

“Amazing, will you sell him to me?” the man asked.

“No.” the old man refused. “He is a good child, and my wife and I are old so he’ll be our only joy.”

“Go ahead and sell me father,” Fingerling told his father. “You could get a thousand rubles.”

“Why so expensive?” the man asked with surprise.

“Well you see yourself that the boy is small but daring, swift on his feet and very capable,” the old man explained.

So the gentleman paid the thousand rubles, put the boy in his pocket and went home.

The boy however didn’t stay in the mans pocket, he instead gnawed a hole in it and ran away from the Gentleman. He then walked and walked. When night came he hid under a blade of grass beside the road and fell asleep.

As he slept a hungry wolf came a long and swallowed him which caused the boy to wake up inside the wolves belly. The wolf was still hungry and so he continued on until he saw a herd of sheep. The wolf began to creep up on the sheep so the little boy cried out.

“Shepherd, shepherd, wake up, the wolf is trying to steal your sheep”

Hearing the boys cry the shepherd woke up, grabbed his club and with the help of his dogs attacked the wolf nearly killing it. The wolf barley managed to crawl away, complaining of his hunger.

“Take me home to my father and mother,” the Fingerling told him.

With nothing else to do the wolf ran to the village and jumped straight into the old man and womans hut. The Fingerling boy then jumped out of the wolves belly.

“Beat the wolf,” he cried

The old man seized a fire poker and beat the wolf. They then skinned it and had a thousand rubles, a wolf pelt and their son back. 

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The Leshy

A priest’s daughter went for a walk in the forest without asking her father or mother and disappeared without a trace. Three years later, in the village where her parents still lived there was a brave hunter who traveled through the primeval forests with his dog and his gun.

One day while he was traveling through the woods his dog began barking furiously as its hair rose up on its back in anger. The hunter looked down the path to see a man picking at his shoe. After a moment the hunter realized that the man wasn’t really a human but a leshy and so he took aim and fired striking the forest spirit in the belly. The Leshy rolled across the ground for only a moment before getting up and dragging himself into the thicket with the dog and the hunter chasing after.

The hunter followed the Leshy into the mountains, through a rock crevice where there stood a tiny cabin. On peering inside the cabin the hunter saw the Leshy laying on a bench with a girl crying bitterly beside him.

“Who will feed me now?” the girl cried.

“Hello, fairy maiden,” the hunter greeted her. “Can you tell me where your from?”

“I do not know,” the girl told him. “I do not know if I have ever seen freedom, if I have a father and mother, I don’t recall anything.”

“Very well, I’m going to take to Holy Russia,” the hunter told the girl.

So he took her with him out of the forest as he realized that she had been carried away by the Leshy, and had lived in the woods for many years, naked and knowing no shame. At last they came to the village and the hunter inquired if anyone had lost a girl. Soon the priest and his wife discovered that their daughter had returned. SO the priests wife ran to the girl and hugged her.

“You are my dear little child, where have you been so long?” the girls mother said tearfully.

At first however the girl didn’t understand anything that was happening and it took some time for her to recover. However eventually she recalled all and married the hunter. When people went later to find the hut in which she’d been living with the leshy they couldn’t find it.

See all Russian Fairy Tales

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Kami and the Religions of Japan

It has been argued that the Shintoism of Japan is made up of a big tradition and many little traditions. It might be more accurate however to state that Shintoism, or at least the major Shinto tradition which involves the imperial line is a construct which has been used to supersede the original religions of Japan. Japan is after all a fairly large place with many traditions which while similar can also be as drastically different from one region to the next as the Irish are to the Welsh, or the Cornish, or the people of Brittney. In other words Japan has or at least had a different religious tradition for each of its localities. Then during the Seventh through the Eighth Centuries the Imperial Court wrote a new text which introduced the idea of heavenly Kami to Japan, Kami who's goal it was to bring order to the Japan's existing kami and belief system.
In "A New History of Shinto," Teeuwen and Breen discuss extensively how what is now considered to be the primary tradition of Shintoism was constructed from Buddhism and Chinese belief systems in order to provide more power and support to the imperial Court. Even today the largest Shinto organization seems to be focused on this goal. This is not to say that the original faiths of Japan don't exist within Shintoism. These belief systems are very resilient and have adapted to this larger system with varying degrees of effectiveness. Rather this is to say that it is Japan's small traditions which make up its original faith. These small traditions are what exist within the folktales and folklore of Japan. In the tales of Bears which become the guardian kami of a village (http://zeluna.net/japanese-fairy-tales-bearspirit.html).
There are two sets of belief systems which merged in Pre-Shinto Japan, those of the Ainu and Emishi peoples who lived in Japan for thousands of years before the coming of the Altaic peoples from Korea who make up about 60% of Japan's Genetic makeup and who's language dominates the country. It seems likely, especially in studying the fairy tales of the Ainu that there was some amount of similarity between these two peoples. There are some Ainu fairy tales which can be used to better understand the original faith of these peoples. In addition I would recommend studying the works of Kunio Yanagita, the founder of Japanese folklore studies.
Many of these tales paint a very different picture of Kami then that depicted by the big tradition of Shintoism. It is interesting to note however that while the primary political movements of Europe attempted to demonify the traditions of the people Shintoism attempted to purify them, to remove their rough edges. To me though these rough edges are what makes folkloric research so interesting so worthwhile. Because Court religions, the belief systems of nobles were so sterile, they didn't deal with the scary realities of the ordinary person the way they needed to be dealt with. This is why small traditions persisted all over the world and especially in Japan for so long.

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Understanding Russian Fairy Tales - part 1

A man saw an older woman enter a Russian church and light a candle for a saint but then was surprised when she went to light a candle to an image of Lucifer being cast out of heaven. Surprised the man asked her what she was doing and she told him that essentually since there is no way to know where one will end up it didn't hurt to have friends everywhere (Haney, 1999).
Such thinking is an important aspect of many Russian fairy tales, where one of the primary moral lessons is that one must learn to respect that which is fearful and at times cruel. In the "Black Smith and the Demon" this a black smith shows disrespect to an icon of a demon, spitting on it and calling it ugly. So the demon kills his friends and frames the blacksmith for the crime. When the blacksmith apologizes for the wrong he he committed to the demon the demon then saves him. Baba Yaga, perhaps one of the most feared and loathsome creatures in Russian folklore is also the donor, the one who supplies hero's with the ability to succeed in their quest, to grow up.
It makes sense for the Russian serfs who made up the majority of Russia's ancient population to try to pacify the cruel and the dangerous. After all all those that can harm you need to be placated as most Russians were powerless before the mighty. These mighty beings from Ivan the Terrible to the local Lords where the heroes of the Russian tales but they must also have been feared, at least to some extent. Thus we see that within the Russian world good and evil mesh together into a single figure more then in many other tales. Certainly I have argued that internal dualism (the presence of good and evil in a single being) is an important feature of most of the original belief systems of Eurasia, and so is present in most fairy tales. Still the idea seems more well defined within Russian fairy tales. A certain amount of rugged toughness was required to survive in a land where one could die of cold or heat and so no season gave any real respite to the bitter whims of the natural world. Russia too has also existed in the world between the raiders of the East and the West, who have attacked them constantly. While any one group from the Scythians to the Mongols may have attacked many places they did seem to do the most damage to Russia.

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Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga is perhaps one of the most feared of all creatures within Russian fairy tales. A hag witch whom appears as a monstrous old lady with long greasy hair, a sign of her freedom and wildness. She is interesting however because despite how feared she has become she's obviously plays a duel roll. On the one hand she's the witch who devours girls who get lost in the woods, who threatens the weak and the faint of heart. Yet at the same time she tales on the roll of the donor within fairy tales. She's the one who tells the hero how to kill their immortal foes, or gives them the magical object needed to complete their quest. Of course it's interesting to note that she only does this for male characters who tend to seem perfectly at ease with her, to understand exactly how to act. Because she represents the wilderness and that is their element. Girls are only in the woods in Russian fairy tales because they have been lost or left their. Thus their test in the forest is much more scary.

The obvious duel role of Baba Yaga has led to speculation that she was once purely good. That Christianity perverted her. I think that this is a misconception. In the post Christian world we want to divide things neatly into good and bad. Perfect and imperfect. We forget that even in places which never converted many of the deities and fairy like creatures still retain a duel role. Baba Yaga doesn't represent good or evil, she represents the world which the heroes of fairy tales have now found themselves. These heroes are entering the adult world, a world which is both good and bad. Which provides opportunity and danger. Baba Yaga like nearly all fairies appears to people at a time of inbetween, when they are not yet adults but are no longer children. A time when that which challenges someone also makes them stronger. When people have conflicted emotions about those challenging them to be better. In the modern and perhaps even the past era she is the employer which people portray as a cruel hag but which provides what they need to advance in society.

The world isn't always divided into good and evil then, sometimes its divided into growing experiences, into challenges. And while Baba Yaga represents something harsher then the modern day challenges we tend to face, she was exactly what was needed when nearly everyone was a serf.

To learn more about Baba Yaga visit http://zeluna.net/russian-fairy-tale-babayaga-fairy.html

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The Stone of the Bear Kami

In the Japanese fairy tale "The Bear Guardian," we see one of the more interesting aspects of the ancient Japanese belief systems, which is that nearly any kind soul may become a kami in the form of a tree or stone. Certainly the peoples as far away as Ireland and Iceland held similar beliefs but they have long since lost most of their tales so one must dig to find the hidden meaning under their fairy tales. In Japan however such meaning is out in the open for anyone to see. This is what makes Japan so interesting because while most peoples have lost their ideas about the nature of the soul and the world the people of Japan have not.
In the story of "The Bear Guardian" a lumberjack gathers wood in the forest when he comes across a bear which had been injured by an arrow. The lumberjack helps the bear who in turn then helps him bring wood out of the mountain. Eventually the bear becomes a giant stone beside the road, who's soul is believed to protect the village and those out in the woods.
Bears are of course often considered to be sacred beings in their own right, the Ainu of Northern Japan believed that bears were heavenly kamuy in an earthly form. Women of the villages might even go so far as to breast feed bear cubs themselves in order to take proper care of these important spirits. Stones as previously mentioned are also of sacred significance, especially among the Altaic, Indo-European and Uralic peoples living in northern Eurasia. Some of the most important kami of Japan are said to reside inside of stones. In another fairy tale the powerful kami of thunder and rain lives in a large stone on a mountain. The parents of most of the kami of Japan are also said to reside in (or be the souls of) two large rocks.

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Translating Russian Fairy Tales

We are beginning the process of translating Russian Fairy Tales to English to help people learn about the historic culture of Russia the land where Asia and Europe meet. Go to http://zeluna.net/russian-fairy-tale.html to learn more.

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Kivi and the West Wind

One of the most common themes in older fairy tales is for characters to ask the
wind for help.

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Lamps midwinter blossoms

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Sleeping

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Fairies of Frozen Mid-Night Sun

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Midwinter Blossoms - Fairy Art

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Searching for Neolithic Eastern Europe's Fairies and Deities part 3.

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Wild and untamed

Despite what can be seen as a civilizing nature the fairies of the nymph types were ultimately wildness fairies, wild and untamed. (Ralston, 1872) describes the rusalki by stating that;

They are generally represented under the form of beauteous maidens with full and snow-white bosoms, and with long and slender limbs. Their feet are small, their eyes are wild, their faces are fair to see, but their complexion is pale, their expression anxious. Their hair is long and thick and wavy, and green as is the grass (sometimes it is black, or blond). Their dress is either a covering of green leaves, or a long white shift, worn without a girdle. At times they emerge from the waters of the lake or river in which they dwell, and sit upon its banks, combing and plaiting their flowing locks, or they cling to a mill-wheel; and turn round with it amid the splash of the stream. If any one happens to approach, they fling themselves into the waters, and there divert themselves, and try to allure him to join them. Whomsoever they get hold of they tickle to death Witches alone can bathe with them unhurt.

A more recent scholar describes them as:

In contrast to the bride, there is a female folk figure in East Slavic lore whose hair is permanently loose and uncontrolled; she is the rusalka.
She is pale, lithe, often beautiful female spirit who lives in the water, forest and fields. She is known to swing aon tree branches waiting to entice unsuspecting male passersby whom she often attacks and at times tickles to death.
Hair is light brown, blond, or green, loose hair, blazing eyes and magnificent breasts…. Noted for her beautiful voice and melodious laugh…. If her hair ever dries out she will perish.

She goes on to state that they ride wildly through pastors on horses, dance freely in meadows. In essence they are symbolic of the freedom and happiness so often denied to women in later Europe. Their wild hair is extremely which is significant to their character and this is symbolic in the Slavic lands as hair is symbolic of sexual status.

In the wedding ritual the bride is “sold” to her new husband and his family, and must leave her home and village. As part of the ritual, she “sell her braid to her new husband, and is valued for the thickness of her braid. I will argue that this act is symbolic of the women’s giving over her sexual potency and autonomy to her husband…

Because the various Slavic fairies have no braids they can be said to be free from any obligation and they cannot be sold or given over to anyone. Without the knots of a braid they are not tied down to anything as the fairies of the nymph type tend to be.
Of course the tying down associated to marriage was not always so strict;

Philippa Rapport maintains that the wedding rituals of the tenth through the fifteenth century show diminishing domestic and social status of women with the increasing influence of the church.
Ihttps://journals.ku.edu/index.php/folklorica/article/viewFile/3689/3532

Vila and rusalka in the Slavic lands are to a certain extent a folk memory of freer times. However, they go beyond this by being able to shirk nearly all reasonability, when a fairy of a nymph type bares their children they give it over to humans to be raised as they have no family ties. Yet despite the fact that they don’t raise their own children they do in fact raise the children of other people. They raise those who will become leaders and heroes, the fairies of the nymph type have every advantage then for they still raise children as many people want too but they do not have to raise children who are disobedient or difficult, only those who will grow up to do great things. Their children are Zeus and Dyonisis thus their civilizing power comes from their wild freedom and their freedom comes from their civilizing power. This contrasting nature is important to the fairies of the nymph types. In Greece the religious places associated with nymphs were natural places, often in caves. So the heroes and the civilizers of society lived and were raised in caves while at the same time caves were the birth place of monsters and the dangerous nature. In Slavic lands it was said that;

they run about the meadows, or they frolic among the high-standing corn and,
rocking upon it, make it wave to and fro. Whole bevies of
them live on lonely spots along the streams, or in deep places
and under rapids. Sitting in the depths of brooks and rivers,
they entangle the fishermen's nets; by breaking the dikes they
flood the adjoining fields and wreck the bridges; and they may
also cause fatal storms, dangerous rains, and heavy hail.
Rising to the surface of the stream on clear summer nights,
they bathe, sprinkling the water around them and frolicking in
the waves; they like to sit on the mill-wheel, splashing each
other, and then they dive deep, crying, "Kuku." In late spring
especially they come out of the water, and run about the
neighbouring woods and thickets, clapping their hands and
turning somersaults upon the grass, while their laughter re-
sounds far and wide in the forests. In the evening they like
to rock upon slender branches, enticing unwary wanderers;
and if they succeed in leading any one astray, they tickle him
to death, or draw him down into the depths of the stream.

The Rusalky are extremely fond of music and singing; and
their fine voices lure swimmers to deep places, where they
drown. The water-nymphs also divert themselves by dancing
in the pale moonlight, and they inveigle shepherds to play with
them, the places where they dance being marked by circles
in which the grass is particularly luxuriant and green. Fond of
spinning, they hang their yam on trees; and after washing
the linen which they weave, they spread it on the banks to
dry. If a man treads on such linen, he becomes weak and lame.

Larson states that;
The word numph, paradoxically can refer to the Greek Maiden as a virgin bride and her divine counterpart in the chorus of Artemis, or it can refer to a local fertility deity, often manifestly unchaste, who presides over the spring and woodland..... Nymphs combine the forbidden allure of virgin Artimus with the lust of the sexually aware Aphrodite; yet a social deities believed to inhabit not Olympus but caves, trees, and springs they are much more accessible.... The nymph is also idolized myth poetic version of the village girl at the peak of her sexual desirability.... She has  supernatural power and assumed superiority over the male so that her desires are central to the narratives of their stories..... Unlike the chorus of Artemis, which attempts to preserve sexual purity, the nymphs in general are likely to engage in sexual sport with Hermes, the silens, or even a bemused shepherd.

Fairies of the nymph type then represent both the a certain amount of wishfulness for women and the sexual fantasies of men. For they are free, boys who dare to harm their linins, or insult them are punished. She is superior to males and yet is desirable to them. She is never rejected, never has to truly worry what others will think of her. She is also never going to be tied down. For boys she represents both the fantasy of the shy girl and the agressive willing girl. The fairies of the nymph type allow them to imagine having a dominant mate while continuing to think of their future or current brides as submissive.
This internal dualism as previously mentioned is important to naturalistic worship, because nature itself is clearly internally dualistic, as mentioned in Grimm’s Fairies

So while later religions and societies would place the duel nature of creative and destructive of fertility and desolation in separate beings it was common for people who worshiped nature to think of them as being in the same being. So when people later thought of the fairies as evil or dangerous it may not be a complete change in their nature but rather a shift in focus.
As part of this dualism we also see that they were both feared for their deisire to snatch away both males and females and that they would give comfort to those who’s loved ones had been snatched away. This is because death by natural forces was thought to be a selection by the gods, a means by which they took people to live among them. In both accounts of Hylos (Herkuleses assistant who was taken by the nymphs) they are said to have taken him, not drowned him. In one he becomes their husband in the other they hold him in their laps like a weeping child while they comfort him. In either case however he is now free from mortal concerns. In essence one can imagine that he will find a form a bliss in their free heaven.
In the Rome an epitaph states that a five year old girl was carried of by the naides to be a their playmate.
In many later mythologies its stated that fairies will try to get girls to join them or that fairies of the nymph type are the souls of girls who drowned before marraige or unbaptized. What’s likely is that these myths are a remnant of a form of heaven in which some girls could get to live out their fantasy of being free, of dancing wildly, punishing those who wronged them, while at the same time bringing life to their village and people. For men this too represents a form of heaven where they are allowed to be blissfully passive.

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Danuta Taken by Fairies

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Moss Folk

Moss Folk are a form of wood wives, Germanic fairies which will ask mortals to bake bread for them and then pay the mortals in piles of wood chips if the human is smart enough to bring it home.

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