23 h 28 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 23 h 28 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Why do elves, fairies and household spirits appear in so many lands, yet never quite look the same?
In The Fairy Mythology, Thomas Keightley gathers tales of beings who are neither human nor quite divine. His survey moves through European and Eastern traditions, setting elves, fays, dwarfs and water spirits side by side. Each region brings a different company of strange neighbours, and another way of imagining the world.
Follow Persian and Arabic peris, devs and jinn into a wider exploration of fairy belief. Meet the fays of medieval romance, the elves and trolls of the North, and the fairies of Britain and Ireland. Drawing on romances, folk collections and travellers’ reports, Keightley asks how these tales travel and why their creatures resemble one another.
What you’ll discover
- Spirits of the East Explore Persian and Arabic traditions through their peris, devs and jinn, and Keightley’s comparisons.
- Fays of medieval romance See how poems and prose tales bring fairy beings into the world of courts.
- The North’s strange neighbours Encounter elves, dwarfs and trolls whose stories tie them to particular places.
- Fairies close to home Enter the lively lore of Britain and Ireland, where fairies appear as close neighbours.
- Patterns across distant lands Consider Keightley’s explanations for the likenesses and differences that emerge when tales stand together.
Who will love it
This book suits lovers of folklore, myth and old romance, readers of Shakespeare and Spenser, and anyone curious where leprechauns, brownies, mermaids and changelings come from.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- People explain wonders with unseen beings
- The word fairy has a tangled history
- There are two families, fays and elves
- Arabian jinn carried fairy lore west
- Medieval romance made fairies of enchantresses
- Spenser and Shakespeare shrank the fairy
- The north gave us elves, dwarfs and trolls
- German and Swiss lore is full of dwarfs and kobolds
- Britain, Ireland and Brittany keep fairies close
- Fairy lore reaches Italy, Spain, France and beyond
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La Mythologie des fées
by Thomas Keightley · 1828
A fairy offers a cup at midnight, and the drink that burns a horse's hair is only the start.
ChallengingOver 20 hours to readfrançais
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In short
What would you do if a stranger at midnight offered you a cup? A Danish farm servant is offered one by a maiden at a hill, and he pours it over his shoulder.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
People explain wonders with unseen beings
Keightley opens with a claim about the human mind. When we see an effect, we look for a cause, and we tend to picture that cause as having a will. A philosopher follows the chain of causes up to one great first cause. A villager stops sooner, at some smaller being from his own tradition.
The rumbling of Etna was once put down to Typhon or Vulcan. The echo in the Norwegian hills is the voice of dwarfs mocking the speaker. Gossamer threads are woven by busy dwarfs, and green circles in meadows are traced by dancing elves. A new faith often turns beloved beings into dark and hostile ones.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1828
- Language
- français
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-fairy-mythology.
Keightley, T. (2026). The fairy mythology. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-fairy-mythology (Original work published 1828)
Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-fairy-mythology.
@book{keightley2026fairy,
author = {Keightley, Thomas},
title = {The Fairy Mythology},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-fairy-mythology},
note = {First published 1828}
}
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What is The Fairy Mythology about?
It surveys fairy beliefs and tales from Persia, Arabia, medieval romance, Scandinavia, Germany, Britain, Ireland, France and other lands. It sorts fays of romance from the elves and dwarfs of popular belief.
Where does the word fairy come from?
Keightley rejects the Persian Peri theory and traces it to the Latin fatum and the medieval verb fatare, meaning to enchant. Faerie first meant illusion, then fairyland, then its people, then one fairy.
Who are Oberon and Puck in this book?
Oberon is the dwarf king of the romance Huon de Bordeaux, whose name Keightley links to the German Elberich. Puck is originally an evil spirit whom Shakespeare blends with the household spirit Robin Goodfellow.
The author
Thomas Keightley
1789–1872 · Irish folklorist and historian
Thomas Keightley was an Irish writer born in Dublin in 1789. He moved to London in 1824 and wrote about mythology, folklore, and history. His books include The Fairy Mythology, published in 1828, and The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy, published in 1831. He died in 1872.
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