by Edwin Sidney Hartland
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[239] ?Y Cymmrodor,? vol. iv. p. 177, vol. vi. p. 203. I have also made inquiries at Ystradgynlais, in the neighbourhood of the lake, the results of which confirm the statements of Professor Rhys' correspondents; but I have failed to elicit any further information.
Transcriber's Note: See Appendix for more detailsRetrospect ? The fairies of Celtic and Teutonic races of the same nature as the supernatural beings celebrated in the traditions of other nations ? All superstitions of supernatural beings explicable by reference to the conceptions of savages ? Liebrecht's Ghost Theory of some Swan-maiden myths ? MacRitchie's Finn Theory ? The amount of truth in them ? Both founded on too narrow an induction ? Conclusion.
We have in the preceding pages examined some of the principal groups of tales and superstitions relating to Fairies proper,?that is to say, the Elves and Fays of Celtic and Teutonic tradition.
Dealing in the first instance with the sagas found in this country, or in Germany, our investigations have by no means ended there; for in order to understand these sagas, we have found occasion to refer again and again to the märchen, as well as the sagas, of other European nations,?nay, to the traditions of races as wide apart from our own in geographical position and culture, as the South Sea Islanders, the Ainos, and the Aborigines of America. And we have found among peoples in the most distant parts of the globe similar stories and superstitions. Incidentally, too, we have learned something of the details of archaic practices, and have found the two great divisions of Tradition,?belief and practice,?inseparably interwoven.
I do not pretend to have touched upon all the myths referring to Fairies, as thus strictly defined; and the Kobolds and Puck, the Household Spirits and Mischievous Demons, have scarcely been so much as mentioned. Want of space forbids our going further. It is hoped, however, that enough has been said, not merely to give the readers an idea of the Fairy Mythology correct as far as it goes, but, beyond that, to vindicate the method pursued in the investigation, as laid down in our second chapter, by demonstrating the essential identity of human imagination all over the world, and by tracing the stories with which we have been dealing to a more barbarous state of society and a more archaic plane of thought. It now remains, therefore, to recall what we have ascertained concerning the nature and origin of the Fairies, and briefly to consider two rival theories.
