THE GOD OF THE WITCHES - World eBook Library - World Public ...

Isobel Gowdie[23] volunteered the information that "the queen of Fairy is brawly clothed in white linens, and in
white and brown clothes, etc., and the king of Fairy is a braw man, well favoured, and broad-faced, etc." It is
most unfortunate that the recording clerk always put "etc." when Isobel began to give any real details about the
fairies. Possibly he was afraid to record any information about those terrifying people.
The colours of the fairies' dresses were due to dyes, produced and used like those still employed in country
places. The number of indigenous plants from which dye-stuffs are obtained is surprisingly large, such plants
are to be found in all parts of the British Isles and the dyes cover the whole range of colour. Lichens give very
fine dyes, red, yellow and blue; besides these, other plants and trees have been in use from time immemorial
and dyes are still made from their roots, bark, leaves and fruit. All combinations of colour and shade can be
made by mixing the dyes, but it is perhaps worth noting that there is no record of yellow being worn by the
fairies; blue, black, green, and a little red, were the chief colours. Green was the favourite colour, the reason,
probably being that the fairies were originally hunters, and green made them less visible to their quarry. Later,
when they themselves were hunted, green was the best colour in which to move unobserved in a forest or to lie
hidden on a moor. White garments are often recorded; these were probably of linen bleached in the sun. In
many stories there are accounts of the fairies spreading their linen on the grass, and the extraordinary
whiteness of the material is always the subject of admiration. Isobel Gowdie in the passage quoted above,
appears to have been struck with the Fairy Queen's white garments.
The fairy men of lower rank wore trousers and jackets, the women skirts and bodices. The most characteristic
article of attire, however, for all ranks was the hat, cap, or hood. This was so precious to a fairy that any of them
would risk capture or pay any ransom to recover it if it fell into alien hands. The cap varied in shape and colour
according to the district. In the West Highlands[24] the green conical caps of the fairies were like the rush
helmets which children made, and like those commonly worn by Swedish Lapps. In Ireland[25] a fairy-man was
"like a boy of ten or twelve years old, only more broad and bulky, dressed in a grey little coat, and stockings of
the same colour, with an old little black woollen hat." In the Isle of Man" the fairies were dressed in undyed wool
with little pointed red caps. In Wales[27] the male fairies had "red-tripled caps and the ladies a light fantastic
headdress which waved in the wind". The fairies of Upper Brittany[28] wore a kind of cap "like a crown, which
seemed to be part of their person." At Hildesheim[29] the local goblin was dressed like a peasant, but so
invariably wore a hood that he was called Hedekin or Hutkin. Even so far away as Eastern Europe a Slav
story[30] gives an account of a man who saw "two little demons pulling each other's hair. By the cut of their short
waistcoats, by their tight pantaloons and their three-cornered hats, he knew that they were inhabitants of the
nether world."
Fairies of higher rank were naturally better dressed. The king and queen, when riding in procession, wore rich
garments and were always crowned; on less solemn occasions they were dressed like their subjects though in
richer materials. When, in a domestic emergency in the Royal Household, the Fairy Queen went herself to
borrow a basinful of oatmeal from a cottage woman, she was dressed in the richest green embroidered with
gold and wore a small coronet of pearls. Her servant, who returned the oatmeal, is simply recorded as being in
green. This was in Kirkcudbrightshire.[31]
Fairy ladies of rank wore long flowing dresses which fell to the ground in soft, sweeping folds; these robes were
usually white, sometimes green, and occasionally scarlet. The hair was loose over the shoulders, which
increased the beauty of the younger ladies, but the long straggling elf-locks of the older women are always
commented on with horror by the "mortal" beholder. The fairy ladies covered their hair with a veil or hood, and
often wore a small coronet of gold. The fairy knights wore gold or silver armour in battle or in solemn
processions; for ordinary wear they dressed in green with a hat or cap; and on all occasions they wore green
cloaks or mantles, possibly arranged like a plaid.
When going among the villagers the records show that the fairies were dressed like their neighbours, apparently
lest they should attract attention and so be recognised. Bessie Dunlop[32] (1576) did not know till long
afterwards that the "stout woman" who visited her was actually the Queen of Elfhame. There are also
innumerable stories of "mortals" entering a fairy knowe and thereby becoming acquainted with the appearance
of some of the fairies whom they recognised later among the villagers; such recognition invariably met with
20