Pixie
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Pixies or Piskies as they are known in Cornwall are mythical creatures of English folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name. In regional dialect, these mischievous little folk are sometimes referred to as piskies/piskeys or the little people. They are usually depicted as wingless, with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed hat. Sometimes their eyes are described as being pointed upwards at the temple ends.
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[edit] Mythic origins
One myth states that pixies were a race of people who were not good enough for Heaven or bad enough for Hell and were therefore forced to remain on Earth forever. Another legend claims that they were Druids who resisted Christianity and were subsequently sentenced by God to grow smaller and smaller until they accepted Christianity.
More recently a theory has developed that they are named after the nation of Picts that inhabited Scotland during the post-Roman period, whom some believe are descended from an indigenous group of people predating the arrival of the Celts in Britain during the Iron Age, the word 'pixie' apparently being formed from a mixture of the words 'Pict' and Sídhe (see also Banshee). However, this is not proven, as many scholars believe the Picts to have been largely a Celtic people, as evidenced by the fact that they were called Priteni (Irish Cruithni) by the Welsh, an archaic Celtic name for "Briton." Additionally, the name Pict is derived from Latin picti, "painted people", making the Pictish origin of pixies unlikely as the word would not have been used by the Celts to describe their neighbours.
[edit] Characteristics
Pixies are said to enjoy playing tricks on people, for example by stealing their belongings or throwing things at them. At night, they steal horses and bring them back before dawn, leaving only tangled manes as evidence of the prank. Some pixies are said to exude pixie dust, which is left in their footprints or floating behind them as they fly.
Just a small note: Fairy folk are also known to steal horses and return them with tangled manes, as in the book, An Earthly Knight written by Janet McNaughton. Though fairies and pixies have a lot in common they are not, as commonly mistaken, the same thing.
On Dartmoor, in Devon, travellers who became lost on the moor were sometimes said to have been "pixie led", in other words, deliberately led astray by the little people. It is said that, if travellers felt the onset of the pixie spell, they can turn their coats inside out to confuse them and escape, a technique normally used for all fairies.
Pixies can also be repelled by objects made from iron or iron ore as contact with the metal is said to harm them, another trait they share in common with other fairies of the British Isles.
Those who deliberately follow pixies often vanish without a trace. For example, a farmhand at Rowbrook, situated on the steep, wooded flanks of the River Dart valley, is said to have been lured down towards the river by mysterious voices, calling his name: ‘Jan Coo.’ He was never seen again.
Even within living memory, some rural families left small gifts, such as bowls of food or saucers of milk, for the pixies in order to placate them. When shown this respect and attention, pixies would sometimes even help the family by tidying up the household during the night.
[edit] Recent folklore
In some regions, belief in pixies has endured into contemporary times. During the construction of Hinkley Point nuclear power station, anything that went wrong was blamed on "the Pixy," with the station being built near Wick's Barrow, an Iron Age burial mound called "Pixies Mound" by the locals.
After construction was completed, the contractors presented the station manager with a garden gnome, representing the Pixy. On the one occasion the ornament was removed from the station's trophy cabinet, the station was closed down by a freak flood.
There were reports in 2001 of pixie sightings in the UK in the Woodham area of County Durham. All of these sightings were from residents of houses in a small street near a meadow called "Carwadine Close."
[edit] Modern medicine
It has been speculated by some medical professionals that the legends of pixies and elves, were inspired by a genetic disorder known as Williams syndrome. Some of these afflicted have pointed ears and sloe eyes and elongated faces that make them look like "real" pixies and the syndrome is often called "Pixieism."
[edit] In modern popular culture
Pixies, sometimes depicted as having fairy-like wings, commonly appear in popular culture and works of fantasy. In film, their first appearance was in the 1912 film As Others See Us.
[edit] Fiction
- Peter Pan
- In the play by J.M. Barrie and subsequent film adaptations, Tinker Bell is described as a pixie (though she also has many of the characteristics of a fairy). She is feisty and beautiful, makes a tinkling, bell-like sound when she flies (hence, her name), and is sustained by people's belief in fairies.
- Holly Black's Spiderwick Chronicles
- Pixies are small and mischievous creatures that can usually be found in one's backyard.
- Holly Black's Tithe
- Pixies are green human-like creatures that enjoy trickery and playing with people. They tend to have dark almond shaped eyes, and pointed ears, with long limbs, and fingers with an extra joint in them. They also have wings.
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Gilderoy Lockhart brings a cage of Cornish Pixies to class as part of a lesson. The pixies are small, blue, anthropoid creatures which fly without the aid of wings and create havoc when released.[1]
- Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series
- Pixies are one of a number of magical species that have been driven underground by humans and the pollution they have caused on Earth. Pixies fly using mechanical wings. Opal Koboi is the megalomaniac, genius pixie of Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception.
- Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels
- The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky feature a race of fairies named "Pictsies," which are truly Pictish pixies.
[edit] Animation
- The Fairly OddParents
- The Pixies are dull, wear grey suits, speak in monotone voices, wear pointy caps and, unlike the fairies, treat magic like a business. Instead of wands, they carry cellphones. The Head Pixie (H.P. for short), Mr. Sanderson, and the other male pixies are all voiced by Ben Stein. The female pixies are not seen.
- American Dragon: Jake Long
- Pixies are featured as one of the mythical creatures in the show.
- The Monster Rancher video games and anime series
- Features anthropoid pixies that resemble angels and fairies.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ David Colbert, The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter, p 53, ISBN 0-9708442-0-4
