Pixies are mythical creatures from English folklore - particularly in Devon and Cornwall, England. Here, these mischievous little folk are sometimes referred to as 'piskeys' or 'the little people'. They are usually wingless, with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and a pointed hat.

Origins

One myth states that pixies were a race of people who were not good enough for heaven or bad enough for hell so they were forced to stay on earth forever. Another legend claims that they were Druids who resisted Christianity so God smote them by making them grow smaller until they accepted Christianity.

More recently a theory has developed that they are named after the race of Picts that inhabited Scotland before the Celts did. It is thought that other magical folk, such as leprechauns, are based on these people.

Activities

Pixies would often play tricks on people by stealing their belongings or throwing things at them. At night, they would steal horses and bring them back before dawn, leaving only tangled manes to show they were there. Some pixies are said to exude pixie dust that is left in their footprints or floating behind them as they fly.

On Dartmoor, in Devon, travellers who became lost on the moor were sometimes said to have been ‘pixie led’ - in other words, deliberately led astray by the little people. If you felt that you were falling under their spell, you could confuse them and escape by turning your coat inside out.

Those who deliberately followed pixies often vanished without trace. A farmhand at Rowbrook, for example, situated on the steep, wooded flanks of the River Dart valley, was said to have been lured down towards the river by mysterious voices, calling his name: ‘Jan Coo’. He was never seen again.

Even within living memory, farms would leave small gifts, bowls of food or saucers of milk out for the pixies to placate them. If properly looked after, it was said that pixies would even help with the chores, such as tidying up during the night.

Pixies are also a fantasy race in role-playing games.

In Culture

Pixie appear a fair amount in popular culture. Books and movie such as The Black Cauldron feature the creatures. In filmmaking, they can be traced as far back as the 1912 film As Others See Us . The candy Pixy Stix, by Willy Wonka are named after the "species". Pixie are a popular cosplay costume in Japan and the rest of the world.

Harry Potter

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Gilderoy Lockhart brings a cage of Cornish Pixies to class and releases them, with the intention of teaching students how to deal with them. It is a disaster, as he can't control them himself. He gets Harry, Ron and Hermione to "nip the rest of them back into their cage" at the end of class.

See also: Sprite (fantasy), Goblin, Korrigans