Faerie Lore

Faerie is an important part of our Craft. There is a call to our blood that leads us upon any of the three roads of Thomas the Rhymer -- the braid, braid road, level and even that runs straight on across the sand, so that no one traveling by  it can lose their way; or,  the narrow, winding and long road, beset thick with thorn-hedge and briar-hedge, so wild and tangled, that those who travel it have difficulty in persevering on their journey; or, for those most determined of folk, the bonnie, bonnie road that winds up the hillside among brackens and heather and golden-yellow whins...

That third road - the bonnie road - that runs up the brae among the ferns, and leadeth no mortal kens whither -- leads to fair Elf-land...and that road take we.¹

A few places elsewhere to look:

R.J. Stewart has been kind enough to provide the text of the 1692 book The Secret Commonwealth of Elves Fauns and Faeries by Robert Kirk on-line for free at http://www.dreampower.com/texts.html, while R J Stewart's workshop calendar and other materials is available at www.dreampower.com. Both websites are heartily recommended. The Secret Commonwealth of Elves Fauns and Faeries is the journey of the Reverend Robert Kirk, who, according to credible witnesses, spent several years in Faerie, returned to the Land of Man, and then disappeared again -- some say he still lives on, in Faerie;

The Tam Lin Pages

Dalriada Celtic Heritage Trust - website offline as of June 12 2007

We will be adding more faerie lore to this site in the near future. 

Below are listed several faerie poems and songs. They are from a collection that a friend found on the internet, and forwarded a zipped archive to me; however, they failed to include the URL of the original site. Many were noted as being from someone called Hadean, whom I've not been able to trace as yet; my thanks to you, Hadean, whomever and wherever you are...

On May 12, 2002, we received an email from Carol Sherman, indicating that she was the author of one of the Fairy Poems posted here, which had erroneously been credited to John Keats. This has now been corrected; and we offer our apologies to Carol for the misattribution. As she is the holder of copyright for that poem, we wish it noted that no infringement of her copyright was intended or implied by the misattribution of credit.

In August 2004, we were informed by Kenny Klein of the misattribution of The Faerie Queen to Jon C. Cyr; it was written by Kenny Klein, and the author credit has been corrected.

• A Call of the Sidhe, a poem by A. E. (George Russell)
• A Lover's Quarrel among the Fairies, a poem by William Butler Yeats
• Alice Brand, an excerpt from "The Lady of the Lake" by Sir Walter Scott
• Alms in Autumn, a poem by Rose Fyleman  
• A-Tishoo, a poem by Walter de la Mare 
• Bluebells, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• By the Moon, a poem by Thomas Ravenscroft 
• Come, Gather Near, a poem by Ferrashynn
• Cusheen Loo, an anonymous Irish poem translated by J. J. Callanan
• Dame Hickory, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• Daoine Sidhe, a poem by John C. Cyr
• Death of a Faery, a poem by Angie Rawlings
• Entertainment at Althorpe, an excerpt by Ben Jonson
• Erlkonig, a poem by by Goethe (Translated by Sir Walter Scott)
• Fairy Song, a song by Thomas Haynes Bayly
• Faery Song, a song by John Keats
• Faery Song, a poem by William Butler Yeats
• Fairies Last Dance, a poem by Carol Sherman
• Fairy Tree, a poem by John C. Cyr
• Finding Fairies, a poem by Marjorie Barrows
• Foxglove, a poem by Mary Webb
• from Nimphidia
• from The Life of Robin Goodfellow  
• Green Rain, a poem by Mary Webb
• Here We Come A-Piping, an anonymous poem
• La Belle Dame sans Merci, a poem by John Keats 
• Lament and Revelry of the Fey, a poem by John C. Cyr
• Lament of the Last Leprechaun, a poem by Nora Hopper 
• Lamia, a poem by John Keats
• Mor of Cloyne, a poem by Alfred Perceval Graves
• Never, a poem by Walter de la Mare 
• One From Faerie, a poem by Geannie Jensen 
• Sleepyhead, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• Solitude, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• Song of Fairies Robbing an Orchard, a poem by Leigh Hunt
• The Ancient Elf, a poem by James Stephens
• The Banshee, a poem by John Todhunter
• The Changeling (version 1), a poem by Walter de la Mare 
• The Changeling (version 2), a poem by Walter de la Mare
• The Elves' Dance, an anonymous poem 
• The Faerie Queen, a song by Kenny Klein
• The Faery Chasm, a poem by William Wordsworth
• The Faery Lorelei, a poem by John C. Cyr 
• The Fairies Dancing, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• The Fairies' Farewell, a poem by Richard Corbet 
• The Fairies, a poem by Wiliam Allingham  
• The Fairy Beam Upon You, a poem by Ben Jonson 
• The Fairy Boy, a poem by James Stephens
• The Fairy Changeling, a poem by Dora Sigerson
• The Fairy Lover, a poem by Moireen Fox
• The Fairy Man, a poem by Mary Gilmore
• The Fairy Mistress, a poem by Thomas Boyd
• The Fairy Nurse, a poem by Edward Walsh
• The Fairy Oak of Corriewater, an anonymous poem 
• The Fairy Pendant, a poem by W. B. Yeats
• The Fairy Thorn, a poem by Samuel Ferguson
• The Fairy Well of Lagnanay, a poem by Samuel Ferguson
• The Fairy, a poem by William Blake
• The Goblin Market, a poem by Christina Rossetti 
• The Honey Robbers, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• The Horn, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• The Lay of Sir Orfeo, a poem in the Auchinlech Manuscript
• The Lepracaun; or, Fairy Shoemaker, a poem by William Allingham 
• The Leprahaun, a poem by Robert Dwyer Joyce
• The Loreley, a poem by Heinrich Heine (Translated by Ernst Feise)
• The Mocking Fairy, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• The Moon Child, a poem by Fiona Macleod
• The Pedlar, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• The Road To Fairyland, a poem by Ernest Thompson Seton 
• The Ruin, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• The Song of the Leanan Sidhe, a poem by Brenna Gwyn
• The Stolen Child, a poem by W. B. Yeats
• The Three Beggars, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• The Voice, a poem by Walter de la Mare
• The Wind on the Hills, a poem by Dora Sigerson
• The Wyf of Bathe's Tale, a poem by Chaucer 
• Thomas of Erceldoune, an anonymous poem written around 1388 to 1401
• Thomas the Rhymer, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, II, 251, 1802.
• Will-O'-the-Wisp, a poem by Walter de la Mare

Sources and notes:

1. Scottish Fairy Tales, © 1994 by Senate, an imprint of Tiger Books International; "Thomas the Rhymer"