This Week on the Edge of Elfland: August 13th Edition

Last updated on: August 13, 2016 at 10:00 am by David Russell Mosley

Darkness in Elfland: Tolkien on Whether Fairies Are Demons and a (Hopefully) Fuller Account of Enchantment

Katharine Cameron (1874–1965) English: From Thomas the Rhymer (retold by Mary MacGregor, 1908), originally captioned "Under the Eildon tree Thomas met the lady." The "lady" here is Queen of Elfland. Date before 1901 Source MacGregor, Mary; Cameron, Katharine (1874–1965), illus. (1908) Stories from the Ballads Told to the Children (Project Gutenberg), T. C. & E. C. Jack (PD US) — Katharine Cameron (1874–1965)
English: From Thomas the Rhymer (retold by Mary MacGregor, 1908), originally captioned “Under the Eildon tree Thomas met the lady.” The “lady” here is Queen of Elfland.
Date before 1901
Source MacGregor, Mary; Cameron, Katharine (1874–1965), illus. (1908) Stories from the Ballads Told to the Children (Project Gutenberg), T. C. & E. C. Jack (PD US)

Still, the critics are right. It is not sufficient to talk about enchantment and mean only good. Enchantment means remembering that there are evil forces at work in this world, as well as some possible merely mischievous ones as well. I agree with Tolkien that calling fairies demons is a human mistake. Still, that doesn’t mean there are no demons or even evil fairies. We forget this at our peril.

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