Mythology

Alvas

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Tradition: Icelandic Mythology, Norwegian Mythology, Swedish Mythology
Alternative Names: Álfar, Álfr, Alv, Ælfur, Ljósálfar, Dökkálfar, Svartálfar
Category: Elf

The Myth

The Alvas were lower nature spirits of Scandinavian mythology and were regarded as the original beings behind the later tradition of elves. Their name appears in several Scandinavian forms: Ælfur in Icelandic, Álfar in Old Norse, Álvar in Swedish, and Alv in Norwegian. They were supernatural beings connected with nature, fertility, and the unseen world. The tradition also distinguished different kinds of elves, including the luminous Ljósálfar and the dark Dökkálfar or Svartálfar.

In the Elder Edda, the elves are presented as a distinct supernatural group alongside the Æsir, although the traditions sometimes blur the boundary between elves and dwarves. The distinction between light and dark elves gives the Alvas a divided nature: the Ljósálfar are associated with light, while the Dökkálfar and Svartálfar belong to the darker side of the supernatural world. The elves therefore occupied an important place among the various non-human beings of the Norse cosmos.

The Alvas were also associated with fertility and received their own cult in Scandinavian tradition. In the Elder Edda, the smith Völundr is called the “prince of the elves,” showing that the elves could possess their own hierarchy and prominent supernatural figures. They were consequently not simply small magical creatures, but a broader class of nature spirits inhabiting the supernatural world alongside gods, dwarves, and other beings.

Sources

“Alv.” New Bestiary (Bestiary.us). Accessed October 5, 2026.
https://www.bestiary.us/alv

Boggart

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Tradition: English Mythology
Alternative Names: Boggard, Baggard, Bogle, Buggerd, Boggert
Category: Goblin

The Myth

A boggart is a solitary supernatural being whose appearance varies greatly from place to place. Many are described as squat, hairy, ugly humanoids with uncouth or bestial features, sometimes possessing enormous arms and great physical strength. Others take entirely animal-like forms. The Boggart of Longar Hede in Yorkshire was said to be the size of a calf, covered in long shaggy hair, with enormous saucer-like eyes and a long chain trailing behind it that sounded like baying hounds. The boggart of Hackensall Hall in Lancashire appeared as a huge horse, while another Lancashire boggart called Nut-Nan was said to flit through hazel bushes with a shrill scream. Some could change their form into animals or more frightening creatures, while the Lancashire boggarts were said to have a master called Owd Hob, who appeared as a horned, cloven-hoofed, tailed creature resembling a satyr or devil.

Boggarts could inhabit houses, farms, roads, hills, caves, fields, and other isolated places, becoming spirits closely associated with the places where they lived. Household boggarts were particularly troublesome, disturbing families at night by making noises, banging doors, frightening horses, overturning carts, pulling away bedclothes, or crawling into people’s beds and pressing clammy hands against their faces. One Lancashire tradition warned that a household boggart should never be given a name, because naming it made the creature impossible to reason with and caused it to become uncontrollable and destructive. At Grizlehurst, an old couple claimed that their local boggart had been buried beneath an ash tree together with a cockerel pierced by a stake, yet it continued to cause disturbances. A farmer’s wife later heard doors banging and terrible laughter at night, then saw three blue-burning candles and a creature with red glowing eyes leaping outside the house. The following morning, cloven hoofprints were found around the building.

Boggarts could also be encountered in the countryside, where they sometimes behaved more like troublesome land spirits. In the tale of the Farmer and the Boggart, a squat, hairy, foul-smelling boggart inhabits a farmer’s land and agrees to divide each harvest with him. The boggart first chooses everything growing beneath the ground, so the farmer plants barley and leaves the creature with nothing but roots and stubble. The next year the boggart chooses everything above ground, so the farmer plants potatoes and again defeats him. Enraged by being tricked, the boggart eventually abandons the land. Another version has the two agreeing to harvest a wheat field from opposite sides, but the farmer secretly plants iron rods throughout the boggart’s portion. The creature’s scythe is repeatedly blunted against them, allowing the farmer to harvest almost the entire crop.

Sources

“Boggart.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed October 5, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boggart

Lovestruck Elf

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Tradition: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternative Names: The Light Elf of Junglinster
Category: Elf

The Myth

A Light Elf fell deeply in love with a young girl from Junglinster, and the two exchanged tokens of affection and lived together in the happiness of an innocent love. Their relationship eventually came to the attention of the local pastor, who regarded the elf as a heathen being. He strictly forbade the girl from having any further contact with him, threatening her with punishment both in this life and the next. The poor girl reluctantly promised to obey, but separating the lovers proved far more difficult than the pastor expected. The elf was not considered a devil or a spirit of Hell, so the usual means used against Satan and his servants seemed useless. Even locking the girl inside a convent would accomplish little, since elves were believed capable of slipping through the smallest keyholes.

The pastor therefore summoned an old and experienced shepherd and asked him for advice. The shepherd smiled and explained that the elf’s refined nature and delicacy had to be taken into account. He proposed that the girl prepare a small bread made from salt, lard, garlic, and sulfur. She was to eat the bread and, when the elf approached her again, discreetly press her flat hand against her body. The girl followed the shepherd’s instructions. That evening, the Light Elf appeared before his beloved with joy shining in his eyes, but as he approached her, she made the faintest sound.

The elf was immediately offended and fled in indignation. He never returned to the girl again, and their strange romance came to an end.

Sources

La Fontaine, Edmond de. Luxemburger Sagen und Legenden. Luxembourg: Jos. Beffort, 1882.

Fairy of Gutenberg

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Tradition: Liechtenstein Mythology
Alternative Names: Fairy of Gutenberg
Category: Fairy

The Myth

The Fairy of Gutenberg appears as an extraordinarily beautiful woman dressed in flowing white robes, with long blond hair and gentle, soulful eyes. She is an enchanted princess who has been trapped for hundreds of years and is bound to a treasure hidden near Gutenberg Castle. Every hundred years, on a particular day, she is allowed to return to the earthly world with her treasure, but she must remain there guarding it until the time passes.

One morning at sunrise, a peasant boy walking past Gutenberg Castle notices a dazzling gleam above the castle wall. Climbing the slope, he discovers countless snail shells scattered through the grass, but these are no ordinary shells: they are made entirely of gold. As he admires the treasure, the fairy appears and tells him that he can gain both her freedom and the treasure if he has enough courage. He must take her in his arms and swing her around three times without speaking or letting go. The boy eagerly agrees. He succeeds with the first turn and then the second, while the fairy sighs with growing happiness. During the third and final turn, however, he suddenly feels cold snakes in his hands. Horrified, he cries out and releases her. The snakes vanish, leaving his hands empty.

The boy has failed at the final moment. The fairy mourns that she must now guard Gutenberg’s treasure for another hundred years, and she disappears into the morning sunlight like mist. At the same instant, the golden treasure vanishes, leaving only ordinary snail shells scattered through the grass. The boy searches through the undergrowth but finds nothing and eventually returns to the road without the fortune he had imagined would buy him a farm, cows, horses, and an alpine pasture. Yet the encounter leaves him wondering whether another opportunity might await someone who passes the castle again a century later.

Sources

Dino Larese. “Die Fee von Gutenberg.” In Liechtensteiner Sagen. Basel, 1970, p. 52. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/liechtenstein/larese/fee_gutenberg.html

Elf of Sterpenich

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Tradition: Luxembourgish Mythology
Alternative Names: Wichtelchen of Sterpenich, Elf of Sterpenich
Category: Elf, Dwarf

The Myth

The Elf of Sterpenich was a small supernatural being who appeared to a poor serf near the castle of Sterpenich. In ancient times, the village did not yet exist and only a castle stood there, inhabited by a cruel nobleman who spent his days thinking of ways to torment his impoverished subjects. One day, the nobleman ordered one of his serfs to carry a letter to Metz and return with the answer within thirteen hours, before sunset. The task seemed completely impossible, but terrified of immediate punishment, the poor man set out at once. Beyond the first hill, however, he encountered an elf waiting with a small carriage and a team of horses.

The elf took the serf into his carriage and drove him to Metz and back with incredible speed, allowing him to complete the impossible journey. When they reached the castle again, the elf gave the serf a final message for his cruel master: he was to deliver the requested answer, but also tell the nobleman that the elf himself would come that very day to collect him and carry him into eternity. The serf repeated the message exactly as instructed. When the lord heard the elf’s warning, he cried out in terror, asking whether he was going to die, and immediately collapsed and died.

Afterward, the name Sterpenich remained attached to the castle and later to the village that grew around it. The little elf therefore became part of the legend explaining the place’s name, appearing as a mysterious supernatural messenger who punishes the cruel lord while rescuing the helpless servant from an impossible task.

Sources

“Das Wichtlein von Sterpenich.” SAGEN.at – Traditionelle Sagen aus Luxemburg. Reproduced by SAGEN.at.
https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Wichtlein_Sterpenich.html

Fairy of Sonnwendjoch

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Tradition: Austrian Mythology
Alternative Names: Fairy of the Sonnwendjoch
Category: Fairy

The Myth

The Fairy of the Sonnwendjoch was a proud and beautiful supernatural mistress of the mountain, living deep inside the Sonnwendjoch near Rattenberg. She protected the wild creatures that lived among its slopes and rocky clefts and regarded all the animals of the mountain as her own. Within the mountain lay a magnificent hidden kingdom of glittering palaces, great halls with crystal ceilings and reddish marble walls, gardens whose trees never withered, green meadows filled with peaceful herds, and clear streams winding through the mountain’s depths.

One day, a young knight from Mehrnstein Castle was hunting a chamois near the foot of the mountain when the fairy appeared before him and demanded to know why he was hunting on her land. She warned him that every animal belonged under her protection and commanded him never again to pursue the mountain’s creatures if he wished to have her favor. The knight agreed, and the fairy led him into her hidden kingdom. She fell in love with him and gave him a magical ring as a token of their bond. From then on, the knight continued to ride out as though going hunting, but instead secretly visited the fairy inside the mountain. Although he had once been a famous hunter, he never returned with game, and his friends wondered why he no longer showed interest in hunting or in the noblewomen of the surrounding castles.

Eventually, the lord of Rattenberg invited the knight to a wedding feast. There he met a beautiful noblewoman from Innsbruck who admired the fairy’s ring and persuaded him to give it to her. The knight immediately regretted his betrayal and hurried back to the Sonnwendjoch the following morning to beg the fairy’s forgiveness. On the way, however, a white deer crossed his path and awakened his old hunting instinct, causing him to pursue it toward the mountain. He reached the rock where he had always entered the fairy’s kingdom by tapping with the ring, but the ring was gone and the entrance would not open. The fairy appeared before him holding the ring and told him that he had broken his promise three times: he had been unfaithful, had allowed the ring to leave his hand, and had once again chased one of her protected animals. She declared that he would suffer for his betrayal and disappeared forever. As the knight departed, a great mudslide thundered down the mountain and buried a wide area. He was never truly happy again, eventually leaving the Inn Valley and undertaking a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, from which he never returned.

Sources

“Die Fee vom Sonnwendjoch.” In Die schönsten Sagen aus Österreich. n.p., n.d., p. 260. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/oesterreich/tirol/unterinntal/sonnwendjoch.html

Fayettes

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Tradition: French Mythology
Alternative Names: Fayettes, Little Fairies
Category: Fairy

The Myth

The Fayettes are tiny fairies said to inhabit the Forez region of France, particularly the forests and caves around the Loire basin and Beaujolais. They are believed to descend from the ancient Greek nymphs, having escaped from the Mediterranean as Christianity spread. Though much smaller than their supposed ancestors, the Fayettes retained their magical powers. They guard caves and forests and can sometimes be seen dancing among the trees of Couroux in the Beaujolais.

The Fayettes are notorious for stealing human children and leaving behind changelings in their place. These fairy children are difficult to satisfy and are said to possess an insatiable appetite. To recover a stolen child, the changeling can be taken to the entrance of a cave and threatened with violence. The Fayettes will then emerge and return the human child, saying, “There, here is yours; give me mine.” The fairies also emerge at night to wash their clothes beneath the moon. Travellers passing through their woodland territory are advised to sing loudly so that the Fayettes do not mistake them for enemies or threats.

At dawn, the Fayettes disappear like mist, sometimes leaving behind magical washboards made of solid gold. During the daytime they take another form, becoming moles that burrow through gardens and delight in destroying cultivated plants. According to the legend, this is why moles have their characteristic small pink hands. The Fayettes therefore move between several hidden worlds: fairies dancing in the forest by night, mysterious creatures guarding caves, and destructive little moles roaming gardens by day.

Sources

“Fayette.” A Book of Creatures. July 24, 2015. A Book of Creatures
https://abookofcreatures.com/2015/07/24/fayette/

Lavandières de Nuit

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Tradition: French Mythology
Alternative Names: Washerwomen of the Night, Kannerez Noz, Bean Nighe, Mille-Lorraines, Teurdous
Category: Fairy

The Myth

The Lavandières de Nuit are supernatural washerwomen who appear at night beside ponds, rivers, and other bodies of water. They are usually imagined as tall, gaunt, withered old women, although the Gollières a Noz of Romandie are described as beautiful as they are cruel. Some sing while they wash, earning the name Kannerez Noz, or “night singers.” Their songs are mournful and are sometimes associated with the dead; in Morbihan they are said to sing of wringing rags and the shrouds of dead wives. Some washerwomen are condemned spirits forced to wash a burial shroud as punishment for sins committed during life. Among them are women who worked at their laundry on Sundays, greedy misers who refused proper clothing to the poor, and women guilty of infanticide. In the darkest stories, the sheets they wash remain stained with blood and reveal the outline of the murdered child.

The Lavandières are especially dangerous when they encounter people at night. In Brittany, they may call upon passers-by to help wring their laundry. Those who refuse can be drowned, while those who agree may have their arms broken or be forced to continue until exhaustion. The only way to survive the task is to wring the cloth in precisely the same direction as the washerwomen, following every turn they make throughout the night. A single mistake can result in the victim being crushed and twisted to death. Another escape is to tell them, “Wring out your sins, and I will wring out mine.” Running away can also save a person, while freshly ploughed fields are places the washerwomen cannot cross. The sign of the cross and biblical verses are likewise said to protect against them. Different communities tell of their own washerwomen: the Lavandière of Chantepie endlessly washes the dirty shroud in which she buried her husband; those of Fond-de-Fond hold up the bodies of the newly dead; those around Landéda spare goodhearted people but tie sinners into knots; and several washerwomen gather at the pond of Roc-Reu, where anyone attempting to touch them is drowned.

Related traditions appear throughout the Celtic and French-speaking world. The Bean Nighe of the British Isles are women who died in childbirth and are condemned to wash the clothes of people destined to drown until the day they themselves were supposed to die. Seeing one can therefore foretell death. Some are connected with the Morrigan and wash the clothing of the dead; in one tale, Cú Chulainn encounters the daughter of Bodhbh washing bloodstained clothes while weeping, shortly before his death in battle. Around Dinan, the Teurdous is a rare male counterpart who offers to help washerwomen wring their clothes, only to break their arms if they accept. The Mille-Lorraines of Lower Normandy form fairy circles around ponds, while the Lavandière of Noes Gourdais is said to appear in the early morning with a skull instead of a head. Around Dinan, these supernatural washerwomen became so strongly associated with the night that strange sounds from frogs and toads were sometimes interpreted as their washboards and singing. There were also real women who washed clothing at night, whether because they worked during the day or wished to avoid being seen, and even thieves exploited the legend: one French warden once encountered two spectral-looking washerwomen and spent the entire night helping them wash fine clothing, only to discover afterward that the garments had been stolen from a nearby castle.

Sources

“Lavandière de Nuit.” A Book of Creatures. April 17, 2015. A Book of Creatures
https://abookofcreatures.com/2015/04/17/lavandiere-de-nuit

Kivihaldjad

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Tradition: Estonian mythology
Alternative Names: Kivialused
Category: Fairy

The Myth

The Kivihaldjad are Estonian nature spirits believed to inhabit or dwell upon sacred offering stones. These stones were regarded as places where supernatural beings could be present, and the Kivihaldjad were specifically associated with them.

Water that collected on the surface of an offering stone was considered sacred and was believed to possess healing powers. The water could therefore be gathered and used for its supposed curative properties, linking the Kivihaldjad closely with both the sacred stone and the healing power attributed to it.

Sources

“Kivihaldjad.” Vikipeedia (Estonian Wikipedia). Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed October 5, 2026. et.wikipedia.org
https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kivihaldjad

Pillywiggins

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Tradition: English Mythology, Irish Mythology
Alternative Names: Pillywiggin
Category: Fairy

The Myth

The Pillywiggins are extraordinarily tiny fairies and goblin-like nature spirits, usually only about a centimetre tall, though they are said to possess the ability to change their size. They have delicate wings and antennae resembling those of butterflies or dragonflies, and their appearance is often described as wonderfully beautiful. They live in groups and feed on dew and pollen. Their small size and winged appearance allow them to move easily among flowers, and they are sometimes imagined riding bees from blossom to blossom or appearing themselves as tiny as bees.

The Pillywiggins are guardians of small plants and flowers, living according to the rhythms of the vegetation they protect. They are particularly fond of gardens, parks, and wildflower meadows, especially places shaded by great oak trees. They spend their time dancing, playing, and moving among the flowers, largely ignoring human beings. Unlike many British fairies, they are not known for deliberately playing tricks on people, although they may occasionally appear at human celebrations such as weddings. Their strongest association is with spring flowers, and English gardening folklore particularly connects them with tulips.

The Pillywiggins are said to disappear during the colder part of the year, remaining dormant from November until spring, when the call of the cuckoo announces their return. They then resume their life among the plants, protecting the smallest flowers and celebrating the return of warmer weather. Their world is therefore closely tied to the seasonal life of the garden and forest: when the plants awaken, so do the tiny fairies that live among them.

Sources

“Pillywiggin.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed October 5, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillywiggin