Pixies, or Piskies?
Pixies are of Celtic origin. There seems to be no clear origin for the word, no clear lineage to trace it to, it sort of surfaces all over England and Cornwall, where they were revered to as pigsies . The word is a little similar to the Irish Celtic (Goidelic) word, Aos Si, but this is inconclusive. Most accounts of pixies are from the South West of Briton. The odd pronunciation of Piskies also comes from there as the local people had a habit of turning ‘letter couples’ around, the other way from the Standard English
Different types
Pixies generally follow the theme of being small people who live in burial mounds and under hills and large stones. They are all known for stealing small shiny things. In most legends they are famed for their dance parties, hence fairy rings but in Cornwall the Pixies are also famed for their wrestling matches. Some pixies are though to have wings rather like those of butterflies or dragon flies, others just walk everywhere prosaically. Some are known to have been covered in blue tattoos of wode, and in the recent century it was declared that pixies had pointed sharp eyes
Pixies, as opposed to elves, are always harmless, or friendly to man. Despite this they do like to be mischievous. Although the scale of their mischief is of the slightest, such as blowing out candles, or stealing thimbles. They live in between our world and the full blown world of the elves. Pixies are fond of music and dancing, thieving and in some cases wrestling. They are blamed for the disappearances of shiny and brightly coloured small things. The items have to be small as the pixies are small themselves. They like to ride on the backs of wild horses. Some people can often hear their laughter In certain place, but, because pixies are so small and fast, they can’t be seen. Pixies are said to be great explorers and have had occasional battles with the elves.
Iron. If you don’t want it stolen, nail it down, with iron. Wood, bronze or cloth will not work. They are mildly irritating at best but if you leave food out for them they will not bother you.
This account was received from an old herbalist woman, in the village of Trebirren, Cornwall.
The local butcher was a man named Laen, he was rude and brutish, but did quite a good job of hiding it. He had recently decided that he was the marry the local yoeman’s daughter Elise. Elise was a pretty kind little thing, but not only that had a good dowry, that would set up any man who married her for a good life. Now one of the features Laen apart from his temper was his disregard for anything that could be seen as “nonsense” which is why, when he came into his kitchen one morning to see two small pixies attempting to steal a sugar bowl, he threw his chamber pot over them and hit them with his boots. Now anyone who knows anything about dealing with fair folk knows this was possibly one of the stupidest decisions in his life. The pixies swore revenge and Laen’s life was never the same again.
Laen went a courting Elise, bringing flowers and many little gifts. Elise didn’t particularly like him, but her parents told her that he would be a good husband and that they approved of the match. When Len proposed, Elise said that she would think about it and ask her parents. Her father, when she told him, later, pointed out that he and his wife were old, now, and that they would feel a lot happier if they knew that the butcher was going to be caring for her. Elise therefore accepted Len’s proposal, but asked for a few months, before the wedding. Laen was perfectly happy to wait a few months for such a pretty wife and a large amount of money, everything seemed to be going fine
Len now came courting every weekend. One day he turned up and was confounded when Elise’s mother was staring at him as if he was a mad man, and when he plucked up the courage to ask what was wrong, he was informed by a giggling Elise that as he had his breeches undone in a most ungentlemanly manner. Horrified, he rectified the offending garment, but had to leave the house as Elise’s mother was most offended.
A few days later, after greatly apologising to Elise and her mother and her father Laen came a courting again, this time gave Elise a box containing a necklace of semi-precious stones. He had spent quite a bit of money on this and was very proud. But when Elise opened the box however, there was only a daisy chain there. As elises mother now refused to be in company with Laen, Elise’s father was to be her chaperone, was not impressed by the daisy chains fancy box. Laen at this point was angry, as he knew he had checked the contents of the box before leaving his house! But he had managed to keep his cool in front of his father in law, so all was well.
His misfortunes continued, the following Saturday, when Laen turned up at Elise’s father’s, he removed his hat to find it all wrapped up in bows. Elise and her father collapsed laughing. Now Laen placed a lot of importance in his physical appearance and this jape was too much for him. He forgot himself, tore the bows from his head and roared at Elise and her father for laughing at him. He slammed the door and left. Now Elise’s parents were good folk and were fond of their daughter, the mother had already been impressed of his bad nature, but the father had convinced her she was maybe judging him too harshly. But with Laen’s outburst, Elise’s became worried that maybe his wife had been right.
Finally, a week before the wedding, Laen turned up on horseback, towing another, to take Elise for a ride. Her father begrudgingly went to get his own horse to accompany his daughter on this ride, as he did not have much faith in Laen’s good character. As they left the yard and were trotting out of the gate, Elise’s cat appeared before Laen’s horse and it danced backwards on its hind legs supported by two little angry pixie men. Laen’s horse shied and threw him off, Lean’s temper snapped, he sprang up, grabbed the cat, and whirled it around by its tail, throwing it into the road. Both Elise’s father and mother were witness to this violence and were horrified. They called off the wedding and banned Laen from ever going near their family again. Nobody but the wise woman saw the sharp shining eyes of the two pixie men watching from the hedge as they grinned at Laen’s downfall.