INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world.
These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.
I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.
I hope you’re enjoying the mass amount of content I’m putting out to make up for my unexplained hiatus from July to October - I have been working hard on having a backlog of episodes so I don’t fall behind again and I hope they’re itching a scratch for some new content.
DESCRIPTION:
But moving onto our monster of the week, we’re staying over here in Britain this episode for a one we’re all familiar with if you’ve ever watched Peter Pan or Harry Potter. Yes, this week, we’re looking at the ever mischievous and devious Pixies from British folklore!
So what is a Pixie - they are typically described as small fairies or fae folk, who are both male and female and generally stand about 6 inches to 2 feet tall. They are completely humanoid, but have elvish features, such as sharp chins, noses and eyes, high cheekbones and pointed ears as well as flawless hair and complexions.
Pixies are typically dressed in green rags, but massively cherish the idea of clothing, especially when given as a gift - but because of this, they also are very often naked or very underdressed.
Despite media depictions, they very rarely have wings - but when they do, they are made so delicately that they may as well be spiderwebs or light. Which also meant that they weren’t able to fly in most folktales either - so that’s another myth busted.
They were masters of trickery and mischief and had the power of shapeshifting, invisibility and apparation. They would change into the disguise of a bundle of rags, where they would lure children and kidnap them for Changelings, and they would also mis-lead travellers which was even known as being pixy-led.
On the other hand, they also helped humans from time to time, by helping needy widows or by doing housework like repairs, clearing, churning butter or helping your crops or livestock thrive - however, this was only if you honoured them, if you neglected them, you would get the bad end of the stick and you’d be lured off a cliff for instance.
You could stop them from tormenting you though by taking your coat off and wearing it inside out and backwards, which would baffle them, make them laugh and they’d run off thinking you were already enough of an idiot before they started harassing you.
Pixies also have a mythical link to horses, and love going riding on wild ones for fun and making tangles in the horses manes. They also love dancing, laughing, wrestling and music, which you could hear playing over the hills and watch if you were quiet.
Pixies would live in the moorlands of the South of Britain, in the counties of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and even went across to Sussex, Wiltshire and Hampshire. They lived in stone circles, barrow dens, dolmens, menhirs and ringforts, which are all quite common in the British outdoor space.
They are also a separate race within the fae folk to fairies themselves, which they were considered at war with. There is a short story later on I can tell you about this, which is super fun.
For eating, they would eat mostly berries, flower nectar, honey, milk and they really loved cream specifically. If you left out a bowl of pixie cream, which sounds like an innuendo, they would super love you.
As there are both male and female Pixies, they did reproduce as humanoid beings do, and would grow up in clans or tribes - however, Pixie children were at risk of being swapped with human ones as I mentioned earlier.
Lastly, how do they die? Well they don’t really, they kind of fade out of existence when the land they look after is forgotten or destroyed, such as forests and barrows over time. Other stories tell that Pixies can never die and are completely immortal and invulnerable, only dying when they forsake their immortality and fall in love with a human. There are also rumours that you can say you don’t believe in them to their face and they just poof - gone.
ORIGIN:
A super interesting etymology this week because we don’t actually know where the word Pixie comes from. Well, there’s a big debate around it anyway. Some believe the word Pixie comes from the Swedish term pyske, meaning small fairy - however, some have said that the Brits had no contact with the Swedes at this time, so that doesn’t make sense.
They claim instead that the word comes from the Cornish piskie comes from the original Celtic language, but there’s no direct translation for this into Celtic and then back out again.
There are a bunch of other names for Pixies, including Pisky, Pixy, Pizkie, Pigsie - but all of them mean the same thing and we’ll take that small fairy translation for all intents and purposes.
Their history is also interesting, as we believe that Pixie mythology dates back to pre-Christian times, when the Brits were Celtic, Gaelic and Saxon - however, there aren’t many texts from around that time, which was from around 43 AD to 631 AD by the way. We also had a big influence of the Vikings invading from Scandinavia, so belief in the unseen was not uncommon and magic was something that people really bought into.
Before Anglo-Saxon Paganism in the 400’s though, we had Celtic paganism in the British isles, which was mostly revolved around nature and ancestor worship, as well as belief in the supernatural and respect for the world around you, as your respect meant you got more physically out of it, such as a better crop for instance.
However, when the Romans came in 597 AD officially, Christianity came with it and swept the nation, making Paganism and everything to do with Celtic and Anglo-Saxon culture sinful and demonic - which Paganism is still often tarred with today. With that, the belief in fairies, pixies, brownies and the naturally occurring sprites who kept nature going and us humble, disappeared with these people.
During the Christian era, in fact, Pixies were said to be the souls of children who were unbaptised and had died, and they would become Pixies upon death, changing their appearance once their clothes had been put into the clay funeral pots used as toys during their lives.
The first written instance of Pixies was in 1853 in the earliest version of the Three Little Pigs, which had three pixies instead of the pigs. However, there are more stories about the Pixies in British mythology, such as the war between them and fairies I mentioned earlier.
It’s only a short one, but they were believed to be at war and in Buckland St. Mary in Somerset, a battle took place where the Pixies won. They would celebrate their victory and visit from time to time and the fairies never came back to the same place again.
In Devon, there is a group of rocks named after the Pixies called Pixie Rock, funnily enough and in Cornwall, 600 Pixies were said to have gathered to dance and laugh in a circle, and during the fun, a Pixie called Omfra, lost his laugh. He set out to find it in the barrows of the ancient kings of Cornwall, bearing in mind here that pre-Christian Britain was also separate kingdoms and countries rather than just counties, and he eventually stumbled into the infamous Bodmin Moor and found King Arthur, who restored his laugh but made him sound like a crow.
There is also still a Pixie House in Devon, where a cavalier family hid from Cromwell’s troops, which is a natural cavern in Sheepstor, a tiny village - and it’s still accessible to this day. A note: if you don’t know what a Cavalier is or who Cromwell was, then this is not the podcast to tell you and it’s too irrelevant to go into - but if you like British history, go watch Horrible Histories to find out more.
Pixies, though, are entirely British and we’re lucky to have such great and rich folklore here. However, by the 19th century, the humans were considered to no longer have a connection with the fairies and pixies, and the music was never heard again. Which is sad, but reports of fairies are not as common now, although many Brits will still not step inside a fairy ring, which is a ring of mushrooms or flowers that occur naturally in a forest, to avoid bad luck from fairies - so that’s something I guess.
There isn’t really a real life comparison to break down this episode, in a time where magic was believed in, Pixies felt completely natural and represented nature and respect for those around you. We’ve lost that somewhere as a human race I think and the fairies went with it.
There are loads of mythical comparisons though, as they live within the fairy adjacent circle. There are the German Kobolds, the Irish Leprechauns, Aos Si, & Puca, the Scottish Will-o-Wisp for instance. Or there are the Manc Moo injer Veggey, the Welsh Tylwyth Teg, and then the Spriggans and Knockers from down south in England too. These are all fairy, nature spirit types from across the Isles, so they’re all super similar to the Pixies.
I’ve covered a few of these along the podcast running history, but I’m yet to cover a lot too - so if you are interested in hearing more about the Kobolds, Leprechauns and Spriggans, go check them out in their own episodes.
Lastly, there is a slight similarity in the Scandinavian monsters the Tomte and Elves. Tomte, we are yet to cover and I cannot wait to do so. These cute little household elves nick your clothes and precious items when you’re not looking to keep them safe in exchange for food and shelter in your home.
Elves, we all know and love - originally from Scandinavian mythology, however, are almost god-like in the Norse pantheon and living in their own realm, Alfheimr, but these beautiful creatures were also sneaky and nature based. Again, I’ve covered these in their own episode if you’re interested.
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Now onto modern media, we actually have a few bits around Pixies themselves this week as they are popular in modern TV and movies.
For art, there’s not much for portrait art that has names, dates and titles linked to them properly - so this week, as all weeks, I refer you to independent art. My personal favourite is what I used in the advertising this week, which is called Pixie by Vincent Coviello on deviantart. He’s done a load of these for mythical creatures and I think they’re really cool so go check him out!
In movies, we have; Harry Potter, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Tinker Bell, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, Pixie Hollow Games, Secret of the Wings, The Pirate Fairy, Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast, Epic, Labyrinth, Maleficent, Pan’s Labyrinth & Willow.
For TV, we have; Merlin, Fairly Odd Parents, The Owl House, Pixie Girl, Winx Club, Tweeny Witches, Gargoyles, Once Upon a Time, Supernatural & Torchwood.
In video games, we have ones such as; Digimon, EverQuest 2, Granblue Fantasy, Harry Potter, The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Spyro The Dragon, LEGO Harry Potter, Kingdoms of Amalur, Hogwarts Legacy, A Very Long Rope to the Top of the Sky, Gems of War, World of Warcraft, Shin Megami Tensei, Monster Rancher, Sable’s Grimoire, ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal & Skylanders.
My book recommendation this week is for Fearsome Fairies: Haunting Tales of the Fae by Elizabeth Dearnley or The Fairy Races of the British Isles by Robert and Rhiannon Ellison for a great look into Great British fairies and their antics.
DO I THINK THEY EXISTED?
Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?
Probably not, but with fae folk, it becomes a bit tricky as they are quite ingrained into my brain as something that you also don’t want to anger by denying their existence and getting them onto ya. As well as that, I would never want to say I don’t believe in them as the belief is that one dies every time you say it, so I would never.
I think Pixies are a great addition and a really famous part of British folklore, when you think of fairies in folklore, I at least, really think of home and Pixies are up there in terms of recognisable types of them. They’re referenced in our culture over here as mischievous fairies who will get you in the most inconvenient ways if you annoy them, and as I said, I’m not willing to wish that bad karma on myself.
Pixies go beyond the UK with Harry Potter and Tinkerbell now though, and that makes me happy as a Brit and as a folklorist. I wish more people over here still believed in fairies, I think it might bring us together a bit in these especially divisive times.
Do I think they look like the little blue boys from Harry Potter though? Definitely not - they’re definitely more that stereotypical fairy look than that monstrosity, although I would definitely be more scared of them if they looked like that all the time, and I don’t think I’d like to be in a classroom surrounded by them.
But what do you think? Did Pixies cause trouble across the British Isles? Let me know on social media!
OUTRO:
A British classic for this episode, it always makes me quite happy to come home to my roots for a monster that was very present throughout my childhood. The best part of the Pixie scene in Harry Potter is when Neville says ‘Why is it always me?’ in his little northern accent by the way - that’s my last word on the Potter franchise this episode.
Next week, we’re heading over to the East to Indonesia and Malaysia for a spooky little gremlin child from a load of Asian mythologies! Prepare to give up only half of your wealth if the Toyol gives you bad luck next time on the show.
For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got loads of social media for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, YouTube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, twitter is mythmonsterspod and BlueSky is mythmonsters. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk, and you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.
Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.
But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.
