There can be little doubt that such beliefs are
but survivals in altered form of what were in still more ancient times
religious tenets. What were formerly divinities have given place to the
more lowly fairies, brownies, &c., and from the position of Pagan gods
they have, through the opposing influence of Christianity, been removed
to the other side, and became servants of the devil, actively opposing
the kingdom of Christ. Some have supposed that the fairies may have
originally been considered to be descendants of the Druids, for some
reason consigned to inhabit subterranean caves under green hills in wild
and lonely glens. Others have identified them with the fallen angels.
One thing is certain, that the notion that there exists supernatural
men, women, and animals who inhabit subterranean and submarine regions,
and yet can indulge in intercourse with the human race, is of very great
antiquity, and widely spread, existing in Arabia, Persia, India, Thibet,
among the Tartars, Swedes, Norwegians, British, and also among the
savage tribes of Africa.
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