Little people

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since August 2006.

People with the medical condition of dwarfism may also be referred to as little people; Fisher-Price makes and sells the Little People line of toys.

Little people have been part of the folklore of many cultures in human history, including Ireland, Greece,the Philippines, the Hawaiian Islands, Flores Island, Indonesia, and Native Americans.

The Native peoples of North America told legends of a race of "little people" who lived in the woods near sandy hills and sometimes near rocks located along large bodies of water, such as the Great Lakes. Often described as "hairy-faced dwarfs" in stories, petroglyphs illustrations show them with horns on their head and travelling in a group of 5 to 7 per canoe.^[1]

Native Legends often talk of the little people playing pranks on people such as singing and then hiding when an inquisitive person searches for the music. It is often said that the little people love children and would take them away from bad/abusive parents or if the child was without parents and left in the woods to fend for themselves.

Other legends say the little people if seen by an adult human would beg them not to say anything of their existence and would reward those who kept their word by helping them and their family out in times of need. From tribe to tribe there are variations of what the little people's mannerisms were like, and whether they were good or evil may be different. Many of the Elders still have a belief in these beings, but younger generations tend not to believe in these stories.

One of the common beliefs is that the little people create distractions to cause mischief. They were believed to be gods by some. One North American Native Tribe believed that they lived in nearby caves. The caves were never entered for fear of disturbing the little people. Another belief is that the little people's purpose is to make humans wonder about their purpose. They were believed to feed off of the brain waves devoted to them and in order to exist they needed a certain amount of thought dedicated to them. They remained mysterious so people would wonder about them. Ceremonies and feasts were held in honor of the little people.