Literary notes about fairy (AI summary)
The word “fairy” in literature assumes a variety of roles, simultaneously embodying magic, the charm of folklore, and a vehicle for imaginative escapism. It often identifies supernatural beings that influence the course of events with otherworldly power, as when a character’s fate is intertwined with a being promising “all my fairy power” ([1]) or when a fairy’s intervention causes a sudden, enchanted transformation ([2]). At the same time, “fairy” evokes culturally rooted myth and wonder, evidenced by its key role in traditions like the Celtic Fairy-Faith ([3], [4], [5]) and its use in titles that signal a journey into a realm of fables and romance ([6], [7]). Overall, the term enriches narratives by bridging the gap between everyday reality and a fantastical universe, inviting readers to explore the liminal space of dreams and myth ([8], [9]).
- If there is anything that I can do for you in return, you have only to tell me, and all my fairy power shall be used to make you happy.’
— from The Red Fairy Book - So saying, the Fairy disappeared, leaving Prince Darling very much astonished.
— from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang - How all this is parallel to the Celtic Fairy-Faith is perfectly evident, and no comment of ours is necessary.
— from The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. Evans-Wentz - These are the Fairy Folk—ever since doomed to live under the ground, and only allowed to emerge where and when the King permits.
— from The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. Evans-Wentz - The Fairy-Faith as the folk-religion of the Celts ought, like all religions, to be studied sympathetically as well as scientifically.
— from The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. Evans-Wentz - FOR GRADES IV AND V. Thackeray's The Rose and the Ring , A Fairy Tale.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World by Jonathan Swift - When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!
— from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - Of God and heaven he had heard so little, that they were to him what fairy-land is to a child: something real, but not here; very far off.
— from Life in the Iron-Mills; Or, The Korl Woman by Rebecca Harding Davis - And the sky was a fairy realm like the earth.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy
