KidLit Forum

“The smith and the fairies”

Context/ Introductory notes:
The IX fairy tale : The Smith and the Fairies(scotch) is part of a collection called “British Fairy and Folk Tales”, written by W.J. Glover and illustrated by Charles Folkard. This is an edition of the collection printed by Morrison and Gibb LTD, Edinburgh.
British Fairy and Folk Tales, Edited by W. J. Glover, Author of “Tales from the Earthly Paradise” and “Tales from the Poets”. Illustrated by Charles Folkard. A. & C. Black LDT. 4, 5, and 6, Soho Square, London. .1919. ( https://ro.pinterest.com/pin/508062401692178299/ )
In this collection called: “British Fairy and Folk Tales”, written by W.J. Glover we have nineteen tales, ordered from I-XIX. The language of the fairy tale is simple, ordinary, easy to be understood.
“British Fairy and Folk Tales”, written by W.J. Glover , Illustrated by Charles Folkard. A. & C. Black LDT. 4, 5, and 6, Soho Square, London was the volume I have consulted during my research.

Summary:
The Smith and the Fairies
The fairy tale begins with the presentation of the characters, the smith and his young son. The name of the smith is MacEachern.
Suddenly one day his son gets ill, nobody understands what is wrong with him. One day an old man tells to the smith that in the body of his son is something else, it is an elf.
“The boy has been carried away by the Fairies and they have left an elf in his place”, were the words of the old man. The smith didn’t know what to believe, and the old man wanted to help him to find the truth.
When the smith gathered all the egg-shells as the old man told him to do, the truth was clear. The smith heard his son, when the voice of the elf inside his son started to speak about the age and about that he was eight hundred years of age. A moment of truth, now the smith needed to save his son from the fairies which were living on Borra-cheill in a digh there. Before that the old man told him to make a large fire before the bed of his son ,and to throw the son into the fire. The smith was assured by the old man that if is not his son in that body, the elf will fly through the roof.
The smith did everything and followed the advice of the old man, and the elf gave an awful yell. This was the moment he took a bible, a dirk and a crowing cock to go the hill. These elements will help him to save his boy and to defend himself from fairies. When he got there , the fairies were not happy to see him and asked what is he doing there?
With the Bible he could defend himself, and finally saved his son. One year and a day after the events, the boy was silent, only one word in a while. One day his father was making a special sword and because of the son taught that the manner of creating it is not appropriate, he spoke to his father and took the place of smith in his hands. The sword was a special sword, and because of his beautiful work the two men became famous in weapons.

Position in the Aarne-Thomson-Uther Index:
“The smith and the fairies” belongs to the category of Tales of Magic (300-749), Supernatural Adversaries (300-399).
Another fairy tale with Supernatural Adversaries would be:
327F: The Witch and the Fisher Boy
Witch has her tongue made thin by a blacksmith so as to change her voice [F556.2, K1832]. She thus entices the fisher boy [G413].
The presence of the witch shows a supernatural creature, similar with fairies.
327B: The Small Boy Defeats the Ogre
The dwarf and his brother in the giant's house. The nightcaps of the children are exchanged. Cf Types 700, 1119. See analysis: I e; II; IV.
Also here we have the Ogre which represents a supernatural creature as in our fairy tale the fairies.


Characters of fairy tale according to Vladimir Propp:
The Hero: the smith, father .
The Villain: the elf, fairies.
The Old man: an essential character who helps the hero to succeed in the confrontation, the character that has the answers and the advice. The fairy tale would have no sense without him.
The son: also the victim of the elf, is the reason of the hero. The hero risks everything to save him from the spirit.

The Function of the Fairy Tale According to Vladimir Propp:
Initial situation: The characters are presented first, the smith and his son, also it is mentioned the age of the boy. The ordinary daily life is presented at first, until the boy gets ill.
Villainy and Lock:
The villain causes harm or injury to a member of family- here we have the Elf inside the boy who possessed the body.
Absentation: the spirit of the son (taken by force), physically the body is there.
Interdiction: there are no interdictions mentioned, and is no violation of interdiction because of that.
Task: the only task of the hero is to save the spirit of his son.
The hero acquires to use a magical agent which would be in our tale: a crowing cock.
Objects possessing magical property: dirk.
Also here we have the Bible, is the main object the Hero uses.
Solution: Here we have the father, he is the character who seeks his son in the tale.The hero leaves home, he is tested to face the fairies.
Return: The hero returns from the hill, he accomplished his task of saving his son.
Punisment: there is no presence of punishment in the tale.

Similarities with other tales: This fairy tale is different, the only similarity would be the supernatural creatures, the fairies and the elf.
The idea of being possessed by a supernatural creature the body of a fourteen years boy is quite unique. (in my opinion)
The desire to save and the use of tools, the use of animals. (in this case the crowing cock).
Modern-day editions: The tale was not adapted or used in cinematography.

Sources: Aarne-Thomson-Uther Classification of Folk Tales
Morphology of the Folktale by Vladimir Propp
https://archive.org/stream/MorphologyOf ... 7/mode/2up
https://ro.pinterest.com/pin/508062401692178299/