Fairy

A fairy (also fay, fae, fair folk; from faery, faerie, "realm of the fays") is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural.

Etymology

According to Thomas Keightley, the word "fairy" derives from the Latin fata, and is from the Old French form faerie, describing "enchantment". Other forms are the Italian fata, and the Provençal "fada". In old French romance, "fee" was a woman skilled in magic, and who knew the power and virtue of words, of stones, and of herbs.

Faie became Modern English fay. Faierie became fairy, but with that spelling now almost exclusively referring to one of the legendary people, with the same meaning as fay. The word "fairy" was used to in represent an illusion, or enchantment; the land of the Faes; collectively the inhabitants thereof; or an individual such as a fairy knight.

To the word faie was added the suffix -erie (Modern English -(e)ry), used to express either a place where something is found (fishery, nunnery) or a trade or typical activity engaged in (cookery, thievery). In later usage it generally applied to any kind of quality or activity associated with a particular type of person, as in English knavery, roguery, wizardry. In the sense "land where fairies dwell", the distinctive and archaic spellings Faery and Faerie are often used.

Fairy (Artemis Fowl)

Fairies, in the fantasy series Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, are fictional beings, usually shorter than a human, who possess magic properties. The average height of a fairy is exactly 1 metre, one centimetre. All the fairies have retreated below the Earth to escape the destructiveness of the human race. Their underground civilization is centered on the capital city of Haven. Fairies are vernacularly known as the People, and live a life according to the Book of the People. There are 8 recognized families of fairies- Elves, Dwarves, Pixies, Gnomes, Gremlins, Goblins, Sprites and Demons. However, the centaurs have been mentioned several times, as with trolls, and the centaurs' cousins, the unicorns, were killed off, yet they are not recognized.

Races of Fairies and the eight families

The Eight Families

In Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony, it is said that 10,000 years ago, there were eight families (or species) of fairies. It is possible that Centaurs and Trolls used to live not underground but above ground, and were recruited by the fairies for the war against the Mud People (the term used by fairies to address humans). This would explain the links between many animals these two species have, and would explain why they don't have magic. Centaurs are also cousins of unicorns, so they couldn't be in the fairy family without the unicorns. The fairies, however, are mostly humanoid. Warlocks are also part of the fairy world. They are extremely magical fairies that originate under unknown circumstances.

Fairy (steamboat)

Fairy was a small wooden sidewheel-driven steamship placed into service on Puget Sound in 1853. Fairy was the first steam-powered vessel to conduct regularly scheduled service on Puget Sound.

Career

Fairy was built in San Francisco and brought to Puget Sound in November 1853 on the deck of the sailing ship Sarah Warren. The vessel was placed on the Olympia to Seattle run.

References

Night Song

Night Song or Night Songs or Nightsongs may relate to:

Books

Poetry

Theatre, Film and TV

Film

TV

Nightsongs (Earl Klugh album)

Nightsongs is an instrumental-pop studio album by Earl Klugh released in 1984. The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Performance at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985. This release has Klugh perform "a collection of funk-free, soft melodic standards with heavy string orchestrations", featuring legendary NEA Jazz Master Jean "Toots" Thielemans on the harmonica and Grammy Award winner Don Sebesky as conductor and arranger.

Track listing

Nightsongs (play)

Nightsongs (Nynorsk: Natta syng sine songar) is a 1997 play by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse. It tells the story of a young couple who just had their first child. The man tries to become a writer but is constantly rejected by publishers while the woman is growing tired of their situation. The play premiered in 1997 at Rogaland Teater in Stavanger, directed by Kai Johnsen.

Reception

Hans Rossin of Dagbladet compared the play to A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, and wrote: "But in terms of form, this is persistently Fosse. He continues to refine his linguistic minimalism with brief verbality on the surface and depths of emotions and charged situations below. Like earlier pieces, Nightsongs is also open in the sense that the realism in the texts can be put out as a straight depiction of a town where charicatured tough guys play the lead. Or they can be seen as abrupt and rather anti-realist allegories over human conditions in our time."

Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph reviewed the 2002 performance at the Royal Court Theatre in London: "The first line of Nightsongs is to prove eerily prophetic. 'I can't stand it any more. No I can't bear it.' It is a feeling likely to be shared by anyone unlucky enough to sit through this wretchedly pretentious, interminably boring drama by the Norwegian dramatist Jon Fosse. ... The aim of this infuriating piece is presumably to make the audience experience the same emotions as the characters on stage - depression, desperation, a terrible lassitude of spirit. It certainly succeeds, but what a perverse and pointless exercise."