Nexus - 0802 - New Times Magazine-pages

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interests. They seemed to be overly concerned with genetic and —_ Like the Nagas and dragons, some had the entrances to their sub- biological diversity, and they pilfered livestock, crops and human terranean homes at the bottom of lakes. To remove all doubt as to genes via theft or cross-species liaison whenever they saw fit to their relationship with Norse hidden-folk and Indian Nagas alike, do so. The elves are generally depicted as extremely fair-haired they shunned the sunlight and often seemed interested in cross- and fair-skinned. breeding their own bloodlines with those of human beings, or Dragons were also said to live deep in the Earth, as recounted in even in crossbreeding their "livestock" or fairy cattle, horses, the Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) saga of Beowulf. The monster hounds and so forth with the surface species which were most Grendel was a hairy, scaled fiend, a Naga compatible. The = goblin-dwarf troll which later British traditions would call Rumpelstiltskin, in his lust to have the a "goblin" and modern cryptozoologists human baby and its genetic bounty, is anoth- would term a "hairy humanoid". The term er example of this in German folklore. Pazuzu would probably have been just as Of particular interest are the Tuatha de appropriate for Grendel. Dragons were the Danaan of Ireland, the People of the Goddess special guardians of "buried treasure"; that Dragons were the Danu, also called the Sidhe. Originally an aristocratic warrior race of heroic pro- portion, they dwindled in size after retreating underground to become the Daoine Sidhe (Theena Shee) or diminu- tive faeries of Irish folklore. Most of the "gentry" or aristocratic trooping faeries are said to be of this type. Like the Scandinavian elves, they are depict- ed as particularly fair of complexion and hair. According to Lady Wilde in Ancient Legends of Ireland (Ward & is, buried knowledge or technology, much of it often made by the powers of the subterranean dwarves. The European dragon had a nastier disposi- tion than his oriental counterpart, or perhaps he came into conflict with a group of people who entertained differ- ent philosophical ideals when it came to living in fear of man-eating entities; but whatever the case, like his Eastern cousins he had a relationship with both special guardians of "buried treasure"; that is, buried knowledge or technology, much of it often made by the powers underground caverns and deep bodies of the subterranean Downey, London, 1887), "they are cat- of water. egorised as ‘cave fairies'". In addition England, Scotland, Wales and dwarves. to their now familiar practice of abduc- Ireland have rich traditions of under-earth tion of and hybridisation with surface dwellers, with many similarities or even humans, their name Tuatha ("tribe" or "peo- common origins between them. Like the ple") de Danaan holds a strong resemblance Norse/Germanic variants, the "fairies"— to the Egyptian name for the underworld: goblins, trows, knockers, brownies, lep- the Tuat. It is generally thought that the term rechauns, Sidhe (shee), Tylwyth teg (terlooeth teig), and numer- "fairy" or "faerie" has its origin in the earlier French term fay or ous other categories of humanoid beings—were fair or foul, the Latin fatae, but the possibility of an older origin, as hinted at malevolent or kind (actually, indifferent), making their homes by the Tuat/Tuatha connection, may in fact bear further examina- almost without exception beneath the ground. Mounds, hills, tion—for did not the "Pharaohs" believe that they would journey ruins, ancient raths and hill-forts, mountains, cliffs and even cities through the Tuat on the way to their places in eternity? of great age were said to serve as the rooftops of their palaces. The hills and glens of Ireland are also said to hide the remnants 7 =F = of at least three vanquished races: the Firbolgs, the 2 hn Fs a o =| Fomorians and the Nemedians. All are ancient ene- 2 mies of the Tuatha de Danaan and were driven under- ground by the latter in the distant past, where they then dwindled in size (lack of genetic diversity?) at an even earlier time than did their conquerors. The Fomors and the Firbolgs are probably the origin-race of many of the bogeys and pookas (bucas), goblins and hobgoblins, Scottish trows and other malevolent, sometimes shapeshifting beings which seem to bear strong resemblance to the Scandinavian trolls, being erhaps a smaller variant. The etymological connec- tion between "trows" and "trolls" is obvious, and reflects the sequence of both legendary and historical migrations to the British Isles as well as the wars etween each newcomer group and the then- ensconced one. Each group of faeries and goblins can be viewed as the dethroned exiled gods of an earlier defeated uman culture. The question is, what or who were these "gods" which still exist in the popular imagina- tion today? Were they symbolic pantheons or arche- Two examples of Utukku (Djinn or Genii), dispatched from the Ki-Gal types, or living beings who pre-dated man on this to the surface world. lanet? Dragons were the special guardians of "buried treasure’; that is, buried knowledge or technology, much of it often made by the powers of the subterranean dwarves. 62 = NEXUS Two examples of Utukku (Djinn or Genii), dispatched from the Ki-Gal to the surface world. FEBRUARY — MARCH 2001