Scottish Fairy Field Guide
Guid Folk and where to find them. If you dare.
No wee “cowran, tim’rous beasties” here! Although Scotland’s fairies are plenty sleekit! If you’re exploring Scotland this spring, there’s a chance you might bump into one. In Gaelic they’re known as the sìth (pronounced ‘shee’) or ‘the guid folk’ in Scots.
Signs of them abound in Scotland’s place names, from hill and waterfall to loch and sea — even abandoned mills may lay claim to a loyal brownie. One of Scotland’s most famous Munros, Schiehallion, is Gaelic for ‘fairy hill of the Caledonians’ and a giant is said to dwell with its conical mass.
Scotland’s fairies have a reputation for darkness. Souring milk might be the least of their misdemeanours in a criminal record that encompasses theft, kidnap, vandalism, and seduction. Fairies have even been at the centre of an infamous murder trial in the 1890s.
Its fair to say that fairy nature is neither good nor bad, but a sliding scale between mischievous and murderous!
From the fickle to the downright ferocious, our ‘fairy field guide’ will help you stay on the guid folks’ good side!
The Ghillie Dhu
Fairies are deeply connected to nature, being guardians of the wood, waterways, and sea. The Ghillie Dhu is one of Scotland’s famous fairies, as old as the ancient Caledonian Forest he inhabits. Shy and solitary he presents little threat to travellers, and guards the precious trees which were sacred to the druids who once cast their spells in the oak groves.
Ghillie Dhu dwindled with the loss of their habitat as more and more of Scotland’s woods and forests were harvested for timber. The last Ghillie Dhu was seen in Gairloch, in the late 1700s, when he provided shelter for a lost child.
One used to live inside the ancient Yew tree at Fortingall, in Highland Perthshire, a tree thought to be over three thousand years old.
If you went to Brownies (a section of the Girl Guides) in your youth, maybe you were a proud Ghillie Dhu! Brownies work in ‘sixes’ or groups. Each group is assigned the name of a fairy or woodland creature. The group motto of the Ghillie Dhus in Scotland was, “Ghillie Dhu it is our name, We guard the bairns and lead them hame.”
So, if you do find the elusive Ghillie Dhu or ‘dark-haired lad’, be assured that he is gentle and means you no harm.
Selkies
Selkies are mystical fairies of the sea. In the water, they appear as seals and onshore they shed their skin to reveal bonnie human forms. Without their sealskins, they can’t return to their homes in the kingdom under the waves. Many selkie stories end tragically when a fisherman forces a selkie woman to be his wife and bear him children by stealing her sealskin. Of course, at the first opportunity, the selkie reclaims her sealskin and returns home, despite the love she has for her children.
Selkies, or ‘seal-folk’, are native to the Orkney Isles where they often encounter humans. One of the best-known romantic encounters between a maiden and her selkie lover is recounted in the haunting ballad The Great Selkie O’ Sule Skerry.
The Loireag
The Loireag dwells on the moody slopes of Beinn Mhòr, South Uist’s highest mountain. She is fond of music and milk and will render a weaver’s web too thin if they sing out of tune! Farmers were driven to distraction by the Loireag, who cursed their cattle so that they couldn’t move. Only an offering of milk or invoking St Columba would chase her back to her lonely, mist-wreathed mountaintop.
In the words of Benbecula local, Mary Macinnes, “Benmore [Beinn Mhòr] was always eerie because of the 'Loireag' dwelling there. The 'Loireag' is a small mite of womanhood that does not belong to this world, but to the world thither. She was wont to drive the people out of their heart-shrine with fear.”
‘Loireag’ can be translated from the Gaelic to mean a shaggy cow, a plump girl, a pancake, a petrel or a water sprite, which perhaps says something about the fairies’ slippery characters.
Kelpie
Fairies are notorious shapeshifters. Sometimes human-sized in stature and at times bearing little resemblance to humans at all. The Kelpie is one such shapeshifter.
Kelpies are malevolent water fairies who can take the form of a beautiful horse or a handsome young man. Beware! Both forms are designed to lure children or women to a watery grave. If you’re foolish enough to mount the kelpie you’ll find it impossible to tear free from its magical, sticky hide. In human form, the kelpie is betrayed by the bindweed tangling his hair.
Kelpies can be found near any river or loch. If you have Clan MacGregor’s magical bridle to hand you might be able to tame the kelpie. At The Helix in Falkirk you can’t miss two of Scotland’s most famous kelpies, rearing majestically into the grey sky. Loch Coruisk’s waters, found at foot of the Black Cuillins on Skye, are said to be haunted by a kelpie.
Baobhan-sìth
Visit the ruins of Slains Castle (Aberdeenshire) on a moonlit night and you might witness dark shapes wheel out of the haar to perch on its Gothic ruins. They are the castle’s baobhan-sìth; blood-sucking fairy women who prey on local fishermen. Baobhan-sìth also haunt lonely glens and moors. Green of eye and dress, they captivate weary male travelers and lure them to dance before sinking needle-sharp fangs into their prey’s neck.
Your best protection against these creatures of the night is iron. Fairies fear it's cold touch!
Slains Castle in Aberdeen supposedly inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. Perhaps these fearsome fairies also inspired him to create Dracula’s blood-thirsty brides?
Luckily, fairies are extremely secretive. They dwell in Scotland’s sacred mountains, by misty lochs, and in lush, native woodlands. If you respect Scotland’s natural landscape, then you shouldn’t come to harm. One last word of advice: never wear green and never, ever call fairies ‘fairies’. They prefer to be addressed as ‘the good folk’. An unearned title, perhaps, given their antics, but do you really want to risk the fairies’ wrath?
Want to read more about fairies? Writer Kate’s short story collection Fireside Fairy Tales is inspired by Scotland’s fairy lore!