![]() ![]() Think, for example, of the British equivalents of Rumpelstiltskin, creatures such as Whuppity Stoorie and Sili Go Dwt: these goblin-like characters sing their secret to themselves, but are always overheard and undone: The use of verse and rhyme to formulate secrets was also common amongst faery-kind. Expressions of strong emotions, such as anger, love and grief, would also take a verse form (Halliwell, Popular Rhymes & Nursery Tales, 1849, p.190 Evans Wentz pp.102 & 112). For example, fairies at work- grinding, churning or ‘waulking’ cloth- had special songs that went with those activities. James Halliwell long ago observed that “fairies always talk in rhyme” and it is true to say that many of their activities and many significant statements are accompanied by song. The Queen screamed in frustration, but he had effectively broken her spell, and she was forced to relinquish her claim to his wife. “There is music ( ceol) in the hall of my dear,īut there is a song ( oran) in Inverness,īig Angus cried out that he now knew every word of her song- and her secret with it. It was the queen, and the song itself was her secret. Seven days later Angus was on the bridge, where he heard a woman singing in a very fine voice. She told him that he would only be able to save his intended if, at the end of that week, he could tell the fairy queen’s secret on the Bridge of Easan Dubh (the Black Falls). ![]() A fairy woman happened to be passing by so he seized her with his iron-tipped crook and demanded to know what was happening. Approaching the knoll, he peeped in but couldn’t see her. He heard music coming from a fairy knoll, accompanied by the voice of his wife-to-be singing. The special status of song in fairy culture is demonstrated extremely well in a story from Highland Scotland. Songs are more, though, than just entertainment: they are magical. I have written before of the fairies’ love of music (known as fonn-sith in Scotland) and of song. ![]()
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