The centuries-old origins of current fairy fiction

Fallen angels and demi-gods

The debate over what exactly fairies are – fallen angels, demi-gods, the spirits of humans – continues, and some see their antecedents in the likes of Lilith. Possibly of Mesopotamian origin, Lilith was adopted into some Jewish folk traditions as the first wife of Adam who was cast out of Eden after demanding to be his equal. She has sex with men, often when they are asleep, in order to be impregnated. Lilith is often associated with Lamia, a figure from Greek myth. Lamia also seduces men and, like Lilith, steals babies, a common fae behaviour.

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when or why fairies began to change from the capricious and frightening beings of folklore into the glittery-winged, delightful do-gooders many think of today. According to the book Magical Folk: British and Irish Fairies 500AD to the Present by Simon Young and Ceri Houlbrook, the first fairy wings “appear only at the end of the 18th Century in paintings, and were an invention of a cabal of British artists rather than a feature of traditional folklore. It took 70 more years for fairy wings to be mentioned in fairy tales, then another 50 for the first claims that people had seen fairies with wings.”

The same book points out that belief in fairies decreased from the mid-19th Century with the advent of the industrial age, maybe as a result of urbanisation and a decline in the sort of rural places the little folk favoured, or maybe as a result of an increase in scientific knowledge and scepticism about folk superstitions. Perhaps improving infant mortality also contributed to the fading of the fairies.

In some ways JM Barrie’s creation Tinker Bell, from Peter Pan, represents both the older traditions and the new: she physically resembles the cuter sort of fairy but she is chaotic and cruel – and sexually jealous of Wendy.