A Dictionary of Fairies

The ultimate folklorist's guide to the supernatural creatures of Britain and IrelandHairy Jack. The Fairy Widower. Jenny Greenteeth. Selkies. For millennia people have glimpsed mysterious beings out of the corner of their eye, as if our reality were interleaved with another. These creatures - known as fairies - take on every conceivable shape and size and live wherever people tell stories, their temperaments as variable as the weather.Katharine Briggs, the most important folklorist of the twentieth century, dedicated her life to the study of British and Irish fairies. In this, her crowning achievement, she catalogues every supernatural creature known to have been spotted, rumoured or described in these isles, from Kate Crackernuts of Orkney to the wish hounds of Dartmoor to the banshees of Ireland. The result is an astonishing archive of age-old folk belief, but beware: if we don't tell the tale of dreadful Skriker with his padding feet and fearful screams, or if we don't pay our respects to wise old Apple-Tree Man with his head full of orchard secrets, these fairies will disappear forever.A Dictionary of Fairies is a rich and earthy hoard, a trove of stories for every budding folklorist to treasure, steward and share.