A list of fairies, elves and little people from around the world (not exhaustive by any means). I'm always working on this list, so don't hesitate to contact me if you see something inaccurate or missing.
Europe
Africa
North America
Mexico and South America
Oceania
Asia
Under Investigation ("faux fairies")
Europe
Africa
North America
Mexico and South America
Oceania
Asia
Under Investigation ("faux fairies")
Europe
THE BRITISH ISLES
Abbey Lubber: England. Spirits that live in wine cellars and kitchens, especially in abbeys or monasteries where the monks were gluttonous. Similarly-named spirits were the lubber fiend or Lob-lie-by-the-fire.
Arragousets, sarragousets: the west coast of Guernsey. According to legend, a massive army of tiny men emerged one day from a cave and went all over the island, killing all the men and claiming their wives and homes. Only one man and boy survived by hiding in an oven for years. The Arragousets lived with their new wives for many years, fathering children, and then mysteriously left overnight. However, they still visited invisibly at night to do housework, like brownies and other house-elves. The people of Guernsey are supposedly of shorter stature because of their ancestry.
Boggarts: English. A sprite that inhabited either a house or a field, a marsh, a hole in the ground, or a sharp turn on a road. They varied from helpful (if mischievous) sprites to malevolent poltergeists.
The Scottish equivalent is Bogle or Boggle. The Irish have ballybogs, boggies and bog-a-boos.
Brownies: Scottish. Small elves who clean houses and can be banished with gifts of clothes or wages. They may play pranks on sloppy or lazy humans. Similar creatures include urisks, tomte, heinzelmannchen, and domovoi.
Buttery Sprites: England. Much like the abbey lubber, these spirits live in the cellars of miserly people. Although harmless, they will eat and spoil food wherever they go.
Dinkies, dinky folk: a Cornish term for piskies or Little Folk, given by Enys Tregarthen. Also known as “the Little Invisibles.”
Dwarfs
Ellyllon (sing. ellyll): Welsh. A term which could refer to a goblin, elf, sprite, or phantom. Foxgloves were known as menyg ellyllon, or the gloves of the ellyllon. Wirt Sikes described them as tiny elves who ate toadstools and were ruled by Queen Mab (although the part about Mab appears to be fantasy on Sikes' part).
Elves
Fairies: an English word for supernatural beings, dated to around the year 1300. Shakespeare helped popularize fairies as incredibly tiny creatures, and in the 18th century artists began to frequently depict them with wings. Today they are usually shown as miniature, benevolent, winged sprites, but the word has a great deal of range and can still apply to larger and more powerful beings.
Fenodyree: A brown, hairy spirit from the Isle of Man.
Feeorin: Lancashire, England. Sometimes given as a term for small fairies, fond of dancing, who wear green coats and red hats. 'Feeorin' was originally a dialect term for "frightening, things that frighten." Bowker mentions "boggart, witch, and feeorin stories." In his story of the "Fairy Funeral," two men observe a group of tiny fairies in red caps holding a funeral; these fairies are briefly referred to as "feeorin."
Ganconer (gancanagh, geancanach): an Irish fairy similar to the leprechaun, who smokes a pipe and seduces women.
New Age writer Edain McCoy somehow split this into two creatures - the "love-talker" and a kind of sooty hearth-fairy.
Goblins: mischievous monsters, usually of small size. The English word goblin existed as early as the 14th century. The Old French gobelin is recorded around 1195, and Latin gobelinus before 1141. It might be related to the German kobold.
Greencoaties: fairies of Lincolnshire Fen. Also known as the tiddy people, yarthkins, or simply strangers.
Greenies: tiny fairies of Lancashire, England. As described by James Bowker, they wear elaborate costumes of butterfly and beetle wings, and are very similar to the sophisticated miniature fairies seen in the poetry of Michael Drayton and William Browne.
Gwarchells: Wales. "Puny dwarves." Similar Welsh terms are gwion and gwyll.
Henkies: Fairies or trolls from the Shetland and Orkney Islands. So called because they limp when they dance – from “henk,” limp. Their hills are called “henkie knowes.”
Hob: Benevolent, mischievous elves - also a generic term which played into many other names like Hobany, Hobbe, Hobby, Hobredy, or Hobgoblin. Hobhole Hob lived in a cave and cured whooping cough. Hob Headless haunted a road and had to be exorcised.
Hyter Sprites (hikey sprites, hight sprites): Norfolk. In 1877, Walter Rye described hyter-sprites as a kind of "beneficient fairy."
These were a popular turn of phrase or a parental admonition, as in “Don’t go out after dark or the hyter sprites will get you.” They are usually associated with nightfall and wild places, and interpretations can range from benevolent spirits, to little fairies, to man-sized batlike figures, to nightmarish saltmarsh-dwelling bloodsuckers.
The storyteller Ruth Tongue described hyter sprites as small, sandy-colored, green-eyed fairies who can turn into sand martins and are protective of children. That version, particularly the ability to turn into birds, differs strongly from collected folk narratives and may be suspect.
Klippes: the little people of Forfarshire, Scotland.
Knocker: gnome of Wales, Cornwall or Devon. A little miner about two feet tall who knocks on the walls of mines right before a collapse – either to warn of the collapse or to actually cause it.
Leprechaun: Ireland. In modern parlance, they are green-clad or red-clad shoemaking elves. Perhaps related to lubberkin and other similar words.
Ly Erg. A tiny Scottish fairy with one red hand who dresses like a soldier and always lives near water. He will challenge people to fight.
Mannikins: a word for a small person, used for little people similar to elves and dwarves.
Mooinjer veggey (the little people): the Isle of Man. Other names for Manx fairies were "the Li'l Fallas," the "crowd," "the Mob" or "Themselves." Manx fairies liked to wear red and blue, particularly red hats. When they took human form, they typically had red hair. Even their animals wore red ornaments.
Some places are named for the ferrishyn, possibly a combination of fairy and sidhe.
Muryans: ants, or in Cornish myth, a kind of fairy. Ants were supposed to be the souls of the fairies, slowly shrinking away to nothing. There was one tradition that tin placed in an anthill at a certain phase of the moon would turn to silver.
Night-riders: England. Pixies who ride horses to exhaustion during the night and leave their manes knotted into fairy stirrups.
Pech, pecht: a word for the Picts which also came to refer to an incredibly strong gnome.
Peerie folk: "little folk" or trows of Orkney.
Pixies, piskies, pigsies – Cornwall, England. They tend to be pranksters and love horses. Like most fairies, they are nocturnal and love dancing. Although today they are often depicted as pretty winged fairies like Tinker Bell, traditional stories typically have them as small wingless elves, usually dressed in rags, with some similarities to brownies (such as cleaning houses and being banished by a gift of clothes). Then again, that's true of most fairies. They were popularized and brought into fairylore by Anna Eliza Bray, who depicted them as all sorts of classes of fairy including mine-dwelling fairies, house-cleaning fairies, and fairy godmother types. She also described them as the souls of unbaptized infants.
Pobel Vean: Cornwall. “The small people.”
Poldies: Cheshire, Lancashire. A wood fairy. Children were told by their parents to come home before dark, as the poldies came out at night. They were guardian spirits who would defend the woods and punish anyone who did damage to trees.
Portunes: English (known as neptunes in French). Fairies the size of a finger, who appear as ancient wrinkled men who work on farms. They are friendly and may grant wishes if captured, but love to play harmless pranks. They also like to eat roast frogs.
These are mentioned in Gervase of Tilbury's Otia Imperialia ("Recreation for an Emperor") in the early 13th century, making them possibly the earliest example of truly miniature fairies.
Gervase added that they were known as neptunes in France. Netons or neptunes was a term for demons. Bishop Guichard of Troyes, on trial in 1308, was accused of being the son of a neton and a human woman. Gervase of Tilbury wrote more on “neptunis qui homines deludunt” (neptunes who deceive humans) in Otia Imperialia.
Redcap: an evil goblin which wears a cap soaked in blood. Folklorist William Henderson distinguished the dunter or powrie, which also inhabit old Border buildings and castles but only make pounding noises to frighten people.
Shefro (Sifra, Siofra). Ireland. Tiny trooping fairies who wear foxglove flowers for hats, described and possibly created by Crofton Croker. The word shefro means, literally, a fairy house.
Spriggans: Cornwall, England. According to Robert Hunt, they were mischievous troll-like beings.They lived around cairns and cromlechs and guarded buried treasure. In the story "The Spriggans of Trencrom Hill" (p. 90), Hunt describes a man who tries to dig up a crock of giant's gold. A thunderstorm rises and the spriggans flood out of the rocks and, surrounding him, grow into hideous giants
Sprites: an inclusive term for tiny fairies and nature spirits.
Tiddy Mun: A bog spirit in Lincolnshire. Also known as Greencoaties or Yarthkin.
Trows, trowies: The Shetland and Orkney Islands. Squat, grotesque fairies. They are mischievous and will move things around, but are usually harmless. Nocturnal, mound-dwelling, fond of music.
Twlwyth Tegs: Small trooping Welsh fairies, usually friendly. The name means “fair family.” Their changelings are called crimbils. Fond of dancing, living underground or in the water, and may give gifts to those who please them.
Will-o-the-wisp: a floating light which guides people astray in the dark, sometimes explained as a tiny fairy with a lantern. The name means "Will of the wisp [torch]," a common English construction; similar ones are Jack o' Lantern or Joan the Wad. This theme is known almost worldwide under different names.
BRITTANY
Fions: Brittany. Little men (according to Paul Sebillot, at least, there were no females of that kind). They were so small that their swords were the size of bodice pens, and they served as pages for the larger and more beautiful fairies.
Gorics: They live in megaliths and dance around the stones at night. They are no more than a foot tall. They are also known as courils.
Jetins: These small dwarves derive their name from their ability to toss huge boulders. They were a foot and a half tall. They caused trouble on farms at night by opening the henhouses or tangling the horse's tails. They also left changelings. They lived in caves.
Korr, korrigan, korred: In Breton folklore, the Korrigan is a small dwarf. Couril, Goric and Crion are other names for these beings. The korr is mentioned in Jacob Grimm's Teutonic Mythology vol. 4.
Morganed: aquatic, beautiful little people from Ushant. The women are called morganezed. The term may be related to “morgen,” a widespread Celtic word for water fairies.
FRANCE
Fayettes: France. They are supposedly descended from the Greek nymphs. They switch human children for their changelings. They dance in the woods of Couroux in Beaujolais. At night they clean their gossamer linens, but if surprised at daybreak, they flee and some might drop their golden laundry beaters by accident. I am not clear on their exact size, but they are "petites fées" who sometimes take the form of moles; this is why moles have pretty little pink hands.
Lutins: French gnomes.
Nain: French word for dwarf, from the Latin "nanus."
GERMANY
Bieresal: German kobolds who live in beer cellars, wash glasses, and keep the beer in order in exchange for a drink.
Erdluitle. A class of Germanic dwarves or earth-people. According to Nancy Arrowsmith, they have webbed feet. The story of "Die Guten Erdluitle" is the same as the Elves and the Shoemaker.
Klabautermann – German or Danish elf which appeared in ships.
Kobolds: A generic term with many meanings. Domestic house spirits or sprites that live in mines.
Mönks: manikins, also called unterirdischen. In the tale of the Changeling of Spornitz, these folk carry off human children to ensure that "earthly beauty would not entirely die out among them."
Mooseleute (moss folk): forest spirits. Also called moosfraulein (moss damsels), wood-wives (Holzweibel), wilde leute, waldschrat. Though the size of three-year-old children, they look old, grey, and hairy, and dress in moss. They may have trade or other dealings with humans, and live in fear of the Wild Huntsman. They are distinct from domestic kobolds and house sprites.
Schrat: a hairy, shaggy elf.
Unterirdischen: subterraneans. An occasional term for the little people who dwell underground.
Wichtel: German diminutive of wight, also translated as imp, and sometimes associated with Santa’s elves. Wichtelmann is the term used for the elves in the Grimms' The Elves and the Shoemaker.
Zwerge: the German word for dwarf.
GREECE
Kallikantzaroi: Greece. Little black goblins with long tails. They lisp and are mostly blind. They live underground, attempting to saw down the world tree, but it always grows back during the Twelve Days of Christmas while they’re out bothering people. They can be warded off by burning salt or stinky shoes, or building a fire to keep them from coming down the chimney. They are easily distracted by counting all the holes in a colander. Any child born during the twelve days of Christmas is in danger of becoming a kallikantzaros throughout each Christmas season.
Malienitza: a Serbian dwarf. Also manyo (little one), star-mali (old little one) or kepetz.
ITALY
Buffardello: half-foot-tall Italian goblins which may look like little gnomes, young or old, dressed in red with pointy shoes, or ugly, animalistic creatures resembling foxes or squirrels. They can turn invisible and may be able to control the wind. They usually live in barns or nut trees but also like to move into human houses to play pranks, steal objects, tangle hair, suffocate sleepers, and run around laughing.
Folletto (pl. folletti): An Italian term for the typical gnome figure. They can vary from benevolent domestic helpers to baby-stealing monsters. They may have magical abilities such as seeing the future or changing shape. One way to protect children was to put a red cap on them, a custom usually for stillborn infants; this would cause the elves to think the child dead and ignore it. Also known as nuton, donanandl (Tyrolean), buffardello, cardinalen, cjalcjut, fajettu, fuddhittu, mazzamareddu, gnefro, lauru, lengehlo, linchetto, mazapegul, munaciello, and many other names.
Compare follet, a French or Catalan word for a goblin, and feufollet, a term for a will o' the wisp.
Folletti di vento are attributed with control over the wind and weather, stealing babies, and typical fairy behavior.
Gianas: Sardinia, Italy. Also known as giannèddas, nanos, mergianas, birghines, or le faddi. The “Domus de Gianas” or prehistoric tombs are supposed to be the homes of the little people. Details varied between storytellers. Male and female gianas may be indistinguishable, or the women may have very long breasts that they throw over their shoulders. In Aritzo, the gianas are said to be only twenty-five centimeters tall and were shy beings who hid from humans. Some accounts gave that they became vampiric beings who lured in human men, murdered them, and later gave birth to half-human children. Fortunately, they shrank over the years into smaller and less dangerous creatures. In some cases they are tied to luck and prophecy, and some say they weave on golden looms. They sometimes appear as nocturnal laundresses and may be the souls of women who died in childbirth.
Giana or jana is cognate with the anjana of Spain, zana of Romania/Albania and xana of Asturia, and perhaps connected to the goddess Diana. Some details are reminiscent of the Fates.
Gnomes: small spirits, often shown in red hats and immortalized as garden gnomes. The word "gnome" was invented by the writer Paracelsus in the 16th century, as a name for an earth elemental.
Sylphs: Paracelsian beings, the elementals of the air. They were originally probably derived from sylvani, hairy wild men of the woods. Sylphs featured prominently as tiny flying fairies, possibly the first depiction of winged fairies, in the English poem The Rape of the Lock.
Zonnets, zonnetti: In Paracelsian alchemy, a zonnet is defined as "the fantastical body of a fairy" (Ash) or "fantastical bodies of the Gnomes or Pigmy-Spirits" (Coles). It's evidently an earth spirit. According to Pinnell, "To the Earth doe belong Gnoms, Lemurs, Sylphs, Montans, Zonnets, whose Monsters [offspring] are the Pigmyes".
LITHUANIA
Karla, karlele: Lithuanian dwarves.
THE NETHERLANDS
Alrûn: a kobold, one foot tall, from East Friesland. When given biscuits and milk, he would become strong enough to carry a whole load of rye in his mouth. According to Thorpe (1852), there is a saying that “when one has luck at play, that he has an Alrun in his pocket.”
Alvens: elves, in the Netherlands. When egg shells were seen floating on the water, it was said that the elves were boating in them. They also lived in the bubbles or scum on surface of fishless ponds. Some elves were evil and made plants poisonous. People did not sleep in the pastures after sunset, and farmers kept their animals from grazing there at night, for fear of elves.
They could also turn into swans. In Brabant, they were said to live inside hills called Alvinnenberge.
RUSSIA
Domovoi: Russian. A guardian of the house, much like a Scottish brownie. Domovikha/Kikimora were the females of this species. They were very territorial and solitary.
Vodyanoy: Russian water spirits.
SPAIN
Anjana: Cantabria, Spain. Good fairies of the mountain. They were enemies of the evil being Ojancanu and were sometimes known to bring gifts to children on January 5. Other names were injana, onjana, janara, jana or sana. The Asturian xanas and Italian gianas are probably related.
Duende: Spanish word for elves or dwarves.
Trasgu, trasgo: Asturia or Cantabria, Spain. A troublesome goblin who may lurk in the woods or cause destruction in houses at night and may follow the inhabitants. Other names are Cornin, Xuan Dos Camios, or Gorretín Coloráu (Little Red Hat).
SCANDINAVIA
Kirkegrim – a nisse who dwells in a church, in Scandinavian lore.
Kirkonwaki: Finland. "Church-folk." Similar to Scandinavian Kirkgrims, they are misshapen little people who live beneath church altars. Their women can be relieved from the labours of childbirth if a Christian woman lays her hand on them, and they will reward her with gold and silver.
Ljúflingar (lovelings): A type of Icelandic fairies. In folktales, they were young men of the Hidden Folk or huldufolk. Erla Stefansdottir, who wrote about fairies and even created a map of them in Iceland, described them as slender fairies no taller than ten-year-old children, who lived in the woods or behind hedgerows. Erla described many other fairy species such as elves (álfar), gnomes (jarðvergar), light-fairies (ljósálfar), dwarves (dvergar), angels (englar), and radiant mountain spirits called tívar (a word which literally means "god.")
Marmennil (the Sea-mannikin), a tiny merman who appears sitting in a fish hook in “Half’s Saga”
Menninkäinen: Finnish. a leprechaun- or goblin-like being.
Niägruisar: from the Feroe Islands. George Landt described them as hobgoblins or brownies who wore red caps and brought good luck. It may be connected to the Niðagrísur, the soul of a murdered unbaptized child, which returns to haunt people in the shape of a round creature no bigger than a ball of yarn.
Nisse, tomte: Scandinavian brownie varying from a few inches tall to half the size of a normal man; dressed as a farmer. He was rarely seen because he could turn invisible. May appear as an old bearded man or a young boy; always wears a red cap. Despite his small size he was very strong and, when living with a human family, works around the farm and protects it from bad luck, being especially active at night. However, despite the advantages of having a nisse around, you must be clever if you need to get rid of him, as he is easily offended and prone to taking revenge. A solitary fairy who dislikes change and rudeness but likes porridge. They particularly like horses. In some stories he was the soul of the farm’s first owner, or lived in a burial mound. In modern times, the jultomte or julenisse is the equivalent of Santa Claus.
Nisse is a nickname for Nils. Also known as gårdbo ((arm-dweller), gardvord (yard-warden, see vörðr), god bonde (good farmer), fjøsnisse (barn gnome), or gårdsrå (yard-spirit), niskepuk or nes-puk.
Tonttu: Finnish house spirits.
Tusse, tusser: a Norwegian troll or elf, similar to huldrefolk. They lived underground and were sometimes on friendly terms with humans, coming over to borrow items on occasion.
Also spelled thusse/thusser, a modernized spelling for Norse giants or thursar.
Uldra: A Norwegian water sprite, possibly related to the elves known as huldrefolk.
It has been referred to as a water sprite (Martineau, Harriet. Feats on the Fiord (1856), p176) or a "spirit of the vapour" (Grant, James. Bothwell (1851), vol. 1, p53). There is a painting called "Uldra, The Scandinavian Spirit of the Rainbow in the Waterfall" by George Frederick Watts from 1884.
Derwent Conway, in A Personal Narrative of a Journey Through Norway (1829), described them as river spirits. He recounted a story of a peasant going, as was customary, to leave a cake for one of these spirits. When he got there, he found the river frozen over. He was only able to hammer a small hole in the ice, but to his surprise, a tiny snow-white hand came through the hole and took the cake, which became small enough to pass through (pp.230-231).
Lapland has a different kind of uldra: "little people who lived under the earth" who took food to the hibernating animals in winter. They came out only at night, being unable to see anything in the day. They were friendly if left alone, but might kill reindeer if angered. They were also known to replace babies with changelings, which had hairy black faces and long teeth. (Axel Munthe, The Story of San Michele, 1929)
SWITZERLAND
Fadhas, fadas, farfadet: Switzerland, Portugal, France, Brittany.
Fantines, masques: benevolent fairies of the Vaudois Valley in Switzerland. They are associated with nature and agriculture, and bring good crops. They make tiny bells to keep cattle from getting lost in the woods.
TRANSYLVANIA
Keshalyi – Roma spirits from Transylvania. They are forest nymphs, daughters of King Haze (rain). They gain their name from their silky hair. Edwin Sidney Hartland wrote of a tradition where loose cobwebs are believed to be keshalyi hair, and can be used in rituals surrounding childbirth.
Their queen is named Ana. The king of the Locolics, who were once humans and were cursed by elves to become demons, forced Ana to marry him. She gave birth to nine increasingly hideous disease demons, until finally her husband agreed to a divorce. As long as she lived, the Locolics would abstain from eating the Keshalyis.
Alternate spellings: kešali, keshali. The word keshalyi has also been translated as "Fate."
Abbey Lubber: England. Spirits that live in wine cellars and kitchens, especially in abbeys or monasteries where the monks were gluttonous. Similarly-named spirits were the lubber fiend or Lob-lie-by-the-fire.
Arragousets, sarragousets: the west coast of Guernsey. According to legend, a massive army of tiny men emerged one day from a cave and went all over the island, killing all the men and claiming their wives and homes. Only one man and boy survived by hiding in an oven for years. The Arragousets lived with their new wives for many years, fathering children, and then mysteriously left overnight. However, they still visited invisibly at night to do housework, like brownies and other house-elves. The people of Guernsey are supposedly of shorter stature because of their ancestry.
- Sébillot, P. Le Folk-lore de France, Tome Deuxième: La Mer et les Eaux Douces. 1905.
Boggarts: English. A sprite that inhabited either a house or a field, a marsh, a hole in the ground, or a sharp turn on a road. They varied from helpful (if mischievous) sprites to malevolent poltergeists.
The Scottish equivalent is Bogle or Boggle. The Irish have ballybogs, boggies and bog-a-boos.
Brownies: Scottish. Small elves who clean houses and can be banished with gifts of clothes or wages. They may play pranks on sloppy or lazy humans. Similar creatures include urisks, tomte, heinzelmannchen, and domovoi.
Buttery Sprites: England. Much like the abbey lubber, these spirits live in the cellars of miserly people. Although harmless, they will eat and spoil food wherever they go.
Dinkies, dinky folk: a Cornish term for piskies or Little Folk, given by Enys Tregarthen. Also known as “the Little Invisibles.”
- Tregarthen, Enys. Pixie Folklore and Legends (1996), p. 12
Dwarfs
Ellyllon (sing. ellyll): Welsh. A term which could refer to a goblin, elf, sprite, or phantom. Foxgloves were known as menyg ellyllon, or the gloves of the ellyllon. Wirt Sikes described them as tiny elves who ate toadstools and were ruled by Queen Mab (although the part about Mab appears to be fantasy on Sikes' part).
- Sikes, Wirt. British Goblins. 1880. Chapter 2.
Elves
Fairies: an English word for supernatural beings, dated to around the year 1300. Shakespeare helped popularize fairies as incredibly tiny creatures, and in the 18th century artists began to frequently depict them with wings. Today they are usually shown as miniature, benevolent, winged sprites, but the word has a great deal of range and can still apply to larger and more powerful beings.
Fenodyree: A brown, hairy spirit from the Isle of Man.
- Cregeen, Archibald (1835), A Dictionary of the Manks language.
- Evans-Wentz, W.Y. (1911). The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries.
- Moore, Arthur William. The Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man, 1891. "Chapter IV: Hobgoblins, monsters, giants, mermaids, apparitions, &c." p. 52.
- Rhys, John. Celtic folklore: Welsh and Manx 1, 1901. "Chapter IV: Manx Folklore", pp. 284–53
Feeorin: Lancashire, England. Sometimes given as a term for small fairies, fond of dancing, who wear green coats and red hats. 'Feeorin' was originally a dialect term for "frightening, things that frighten." Bowker mentions "boggart, witch, and feeorin stories." In his story of the "Fairy Funeral," two men observe a group of tiny fairies in red caps holding a funeral; these fairies are briefly referred to as "feeorin."
- Bowker, James. Goblin Tales of Lancashire. 1887.
- Waugh, Edwin. Poems and Lancashire Songs. 1870. pg. 134.
Ganconer (gancanagh, geancanach): an Irish fairy similar to the leprechaun, who smokes a pipe and seduces women.
New Age writer Edain McCoy somehow split this into two creatures - the "love-talker" and a kind of sooty hearth-fairy.
- Yeats, W. B. Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry. 1888. p. 207.
Goblins: mischievous monsters, usually of small size. The English word goblin existed as early as the 14th century. The Old French gobelin is recorded around 1195, and Latin gobelinus before 1141. It might be related to the German kobold.
Greencoaties: fairies of Lincolnshire Fen. Also known as the tiddy people, yarthkins, or simply strangers.
- Folklore, vol. 2. 1891. p. 279.
Greenies: tiny fairies of Lancashire, England. As described by James Bowker, they wear elaborate costumes of butterfly and beetle wings, and are very similar to the sophisticated miniature fairies seen in the poetry of Michael Drayton and William Browne.
- Bowker, James. Goblin Tales of Lancashire. 1878.
Gwarchells: Wales. "Puny dwarves." Similar Welsh terms are gwion and gwyll.
- Grimm, Jacob. Teutonic Mythology vol. 4. p. 1411.
Henkies: Fairies or trolls from the Shetland and Orkney Islands. So called because they limp when they dance – from “henk,” limp. Their hills are called “henkie knowes.”
- Wright, Elizabeth Mary. Rustic speech and folk-lore (1913). p. 206.
Hob: Benevolent, mischievous elves - also a generic term which played into many other names like Hobany, Hobbe, Hobby, Hobredy, or Hobgoblin. Hobhole Hob lived in a cave and cured whooping cough. Hob Headless haunted a road and had to be exorcised.
Hyter Sprites (hikey sprites, hight sprites): Norfolk. In 1877, Walter Rye described hyter-sprites as a kind of "beneficient fairy."
These were a popular turn of phrase or a parental admonition, as in “Don’t go out after dark or the hyter sprites will get you.” They are usually associated with nightfall and wild places, and interpretations can range from benevolent spirits, to little fairies, to man-sized batlike figures, to nightmarish saltmarsh-dwelling bloodsuckers.
The storyteller Ruth Tongue described hyter sprites as small, sandy-colored, green-eyed fairies who can turn into sand martins and are protective of children. That version, particularly the ability to turn into birds, differs strongly from collected folk narratives and may be suspect.
- Loveday, Ray. Hikey Sprites: The Twilight of a Norfolk Tradition. 2009.
- Rabuzzi, Daniel Allen. “In Pursuit of Norfolk's Hyter Sprites.” Folklore, vol. 95, no. 1, 1984, pp. 74–89.
- Rye, Walter. The Norfolk Antiquarian Miscellany. 1877.
Klippes: the little people of Forfarshire, Scotland.
- Simpson, Evelyn Blantyre. Folk Lore of Lower Scotland. 1908. pg. 93.
Knocker: gnome of Wales, Cornwall or Devon. A little miner about two feet tall who knocks on the walls of mines right before a collapse – either to warn of the collapse or to actually cause it.
Leprechaun: Ireland. In modern parlance, they are green-clad or red-clad shoemaking elves. Perhaps related to lubberkin and other similar words.
Ly Erg. A tiny Scottish fairy with one red hand who dresses like a soldier and always lives near water. He will challenge people to fight.
Mannikins: a word for a small person, used for little people similar to elves and dwarves.
Mooinjer veggey (the little people): the Isle of Man. Other names for Manx fairies were "the Li'l Fallas," the "crowd," "the Mob" or "Themselves." Manx fairies liked to wear red and blue, particularly red hats. When they took human form, they typically had red hair. Even their animals wore red ornaments.
Some places are named for the ferrishyn, possibly a combination of fairy and sidhe.
- Gill, W. Walter. A Second Manx Scrapbook. 1932.
Muryans: ants, or in Cornish myth, a kind of fairy. Ants were supposed to be the souls of the fairies, slowly shrinking away to nothing. There was one tradition that tin placed in an anthill at a certain phase of the moon would turn to silver.
- Hunt, Robert. Popular Romances of the West of England. 1903.
Night-riders: England. Pixies who ride horses to exhaustion during the night and leave their manes knotted into fairy stirrups.
- Hunt, Popular Romances, p. 87.
Pech, pecht: a word for the Picts which also came to refer to an incredibly strong gnome.
- Scottish National Dictionary
- The Literary World, vol. 40. 1889.
Peerie folk: "little folk" or trows of Orkney.
Pixies, piskies, pigsies – Cornwall, England. They tend to be pranksters and love horses. Like most fairies, they are nocturnal and love dancing. Although today they are often depicted as pretty winged fairies like Tinker Bell, traditional stories typically have them as small wingless elves, usually dressed in rags, with some similarities to brownies (such as cleaning houses and being banished by a gift of clothes). Then again, that's true of most fairies. They were popularized and brought into fairylore by Anna Eliza Bray, who depicted them as all sorts of classes of fairy including mine-dwelling fairies, house-cleaning fairies, and fairy godmother types. She also described them as the souls of unbaptized infants.
- Bray, Anna Eliza. A Peep at the Pixies, or Legends of the West. 1854.
- Bray, Anna Eliza. The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy: Their Natural History, Manners, Customs, Superstitions, Scenery, Antiquities, Eminent Persons, Etc, Volume 1. 1879.
- Manning, Paul. "Pixies' Progress: How the Pixie became part of the 19th century Fairy Mythology." The folkloresque: Reframing folklore in a Popular Culture World. 2016.
Pobel Vean: Cornwall. “The small people.”
Poldies: Cheshire, Lancashire. A wood fairy. Children were told by their parents to come home before dark, as the poldies came out at night. They were guardian spirits who would defend the woods and punish anyone who did damage to trees.
- The Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore.
Portunes: English (known as neptunes in French). Fairies the size of a finger, who appear as ancient wrinkled men who work on farms. They are friendly and may grant wishes if captured, but love to play harmless pranks. They also like to eat roast frogs.
These are mentioned in Gervase of Tilbury's Otia Imperialia ("Recreation for an Emperor") in the early 13th century, making them possibly the earliest example of truly miniature fairies.
Gervase added that they were known as neptunes in France. Netons or neptunes was a term for demons. Bishop Guichard of Troyes, on trial in 1308, was accused of being the son of a neton and a human woman. Gervase of Tilbury wrote more on “neptunis qui homines deludunt” (neptunes who deceive humans) in Otia Imperialia.
Redcap: an evil goblin which wears a cap soaked in blood. Folklorist William Henderson distinguished the dunter or powrie, which also inhabit old Border buildings and castles but only make pounding noises to frighten people.
Shefro (Sifra, Siofra). Ireland. Tiny trooping fairies who wear foxglove flowers for hats, described and possibly created by Crofton Croker. The word shefro means, literally, a fairy house.
- Croker, Thomas Crofton. Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. 1844.
Spriggans: Cornwall, England. According to Robert Hunt, they were mischievous troll-like beings.They lived around cairns and cromlechs and guarded buried treasure. In the story "The Spriggans of Trencrom Hill" (p. 90), Hunt describes a man who tries to dig up a crock of giant's gold. A thunderstorm rises and the spriggans flood out of the rocks and, surrounding him, grow into hideous giants
- Hunt, Robert. Popular Romances of the West of England. 1865.
Sprites: an inclusive term for tiny fairies and nature spirits.
Tiddy Mun: A bog spirit in Lincolnshire. Also known as Greencoaties or Yarthkin.
- Folklore, vol. 2. 1891. p. 279.
- Peacock, E (1889) A Glossary of Words used in the Wapentakes of Manley and Corringham, Lincolnshire. page 562.
Trows, trowies: The Shetland and Orkney Islands. Squat, grotesque fairies. They are mischievous and will move things around, but are usually harmless. Nocturnal, mound-dwelling, fond of music.
Twlwyth Tegs: Small trooping Welsh fairies, usually friendly. The name means “fair family.” Their changelings are called crimbils. Fond of dancing, living underground or in the water, and may give gifts to those who please them.
Will-o-the-wisp: a floating light which guides people astray in the dark, sometimes explained as a tiny fairy with a lantern. The name means "Will of the wisp [torch]," a common English construction; similar ones are Jack o' Lantern or Joan the Wad. This theme is known almost worldwide under different names.
BRITTANY
Fions: Brittany. Little men (according to Paul Sebillot, at least, there were no females of that kind). They were so small that their swords were the size of bodice pens, and they served as pages for the larger and more beautiful fairies.
- Sébillot, P. Le Folk-lore de France, Tome Deuxième: La Mer et les Eaux Douces. 1905
Gorics: They live in megaliths and dance around the stones at night. They are no more than a foot tall. They are also known as courils.
- Spence, Lewis. Legends and Romances of Brittany. 1917, pp. 98-99.
Jetins: These small dwarves derive their name from their ability to toss huge boulders. They were a foot and a half tall. They caused trouble on farms at night by opening the henhouses or tangling the horse's tails. They also left changelings. They lived in caves.
- Sébillot, P. Le Folk-lore de France, Tome Deuxième: La Mer et les Eaux Douces. 1905.
Korr, korrigan, korred: In Breton folklore, the Korrigan is a small dwarf. Couril, Goric and Crion are other names for these beings. The korr is mentioned in Jacob Grimm's Teutonic Mythology vol. 4.
- W. Y. Evans-Wentz, The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries, p.212.
- Keightley, Thomas (1870). The Fairy Mythology. 1828. "Lord Nann and the Korrigan".
Morganed: aquatic, beautiful little people from Ushant. The women are called morganezed. The term may be related to “morgen,” a widespread Celtic word for water fairies.
- Sébillot, Paul (1904). Le Folk-lore de France, p.36
- Luzel, François-Marie (1881) Contes populaires de Basse-Bretagne. page 257.
FRANCE
Fayettes: France. They are supposedly descended from the Greek nymphs. They switch human children for their changelings. They dance in the woods of Couroux in Beaujolais. At night they clean their gossamer linens, but if surprised at daybreak, they flee and some might drop their golden laundry beaters by accident. I am not clear on their exact size, but they are "petites fées" who sometimes take the form of moles; this is why moles have pretty little pink hands.
- Proth, Mario. Au Pays de l’Astrée. 1868.
- Sébillot, Paul. Le Folk-Lore de France, Tome Premier: Le Ciel et la Terre. 1904.
Lutins: French gnomes.
Nain: French word for dwarf, from the Latin "nanus."
GERMANY
Bieresal: German kobolds who live in beer cellars, wash glasses, and keep the beer in order in exchange for a drink.
- Thorpe, Benjamin. Northern mythology : comprising the principal popular traditions and superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and the Netherlands. 1852. p. 157.
Erdluitle. A class of Germanic dwarves or earth-people. According to Nancy Arrowsmith, they have webbed feet. The story of "Die Guten Erdluitle" is the same as the Elves and the Shoemaker.
- Arrowsmith, Nancy. Field Guide to the Little People. 1970. pp. 26-28.
- Brockhaus, Blätter für literarische Unterhaltung (1862), p. 245
- Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, Volume 4 (1859). p. 171. "Die Guten Erdluitle."
Klabautermann – German or Danish elf which appeared in ships.
Kobolds: A generic term with many meanings. Domestic house spirits or sprites that live in mines.
Mönks: manikins, also called unterirdischen. In the tale of the Changeling of Spornitz, these folk carry off human children to ensure that "earthly beauty would not entirely die out among them."
- Karl Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg (Vienna, Wilhelm Braumüller, 1879), vol. 1, p. 46. English translation at pitt.edu.
Mooseleute (moss folk): forest spirits. Also called moosfraulein (moss damsels), wood-wives (Holzweibel), wilde leute, waldschrat. Though the size of three-year-old children, they look old, grey, and hairy, and dress in moss. They may have trade or other dealings with humans, and live in fear of the Wild Huntsman. They are distinct from domestic kobolds and house sprites.
- Grimm, Jacob. Teutonic Mythology. 1835. Trans. James Steven Stallybrass, 1882. p. 432.
- Grimm. Deutsche Sagen, vol. 1, 1816. "Der wilde Jäger jagt die Moosleute."
- Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. 1828. p. 231.
- Thorpe, Benjamin (1851). Northern Mythology: Comprising the Principal Popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and the Netherlands. London: Edward Lumley. pp. 250–252.
Schrat: a hairy, shaggy elf.
Unterirdischen: subterraneans. An occasional term for the little people who dwell underground.
- Arndt. Märchen und Jugenderinnerungen volume 1. Berlin, 1818. "Die Neun Berge bei Rambin." Story retold by Thomas Keightley in The Fairy Mythology under the heading "The Isle of Rugen."
- Bartsch, Karl. Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg (Vienna, Wilhelm Braumüller, 1879), vol. 1, p. 46. English translation at pitt.edu.
Wichtel: German diminutive of wight, also translated as imp, and sometimes associated with Santa’s elves. Wichtelmann is the term used for the elves in the Grimms' The Elves and the Shoemaker.
Zwerge: the German word for dwarf.
GREECE
Kallikantzaroi: Greece. Little black goblins with long tails. They lisp and are mostly blind. They live underground, attempting to saw down the world tree, but it always grows back during the Twelve Days of Christmas while they’re out bothering people. They can be warded off by burning salt or stinky shoes, or building a fire to keep them from coming down the chimney. They are easily distracted by counting all the holes in a colander. Any child born during the twelve days of Christmas is in danger of becoming a kallikantzaros throughout each Christmas season.
Malienitza: a Serbian dwarf. Also manyo (little one), star-mali (old little one) or kepetz.
- Grimm, Jacob. Teutonic Mythology, vol. 4.
ITALY
Buffardello: half-foot-tall Italian goblins which may look like little gnomes, young or old, dressed in red with pointy shoes, or ugly, animalistic creatures resembling foxes or squirrels. They can turn invisible and may be able to control the wind. They usually live in barns or nut trees but also like to move into human houses to play pranks, steal objects, tangle hair, suffocate sleepers, and run around laughing.
Folletto (pl. folletti): An Italian term for the typical gnome figure. They can vary from benevolent domestic helpers to baby-stealing monsters. They may have magical abilities such as seeing the future or changing shape. One way to protect children was to put a red cap on them, a custom usually for stillborn infants; this would cause the elves to think the child dead and ignore it. Also known as nuton, donanandl (Tyrolean), buffardello, cardinalen, cjalcjut, fajettu, fuddhittu, mazzamareddu, gnefro, lauru, lengehlo, linchetto, mazapegul, munaciello, and many other names.
Compare follet, a French or Catalan word for a goblin, and feufollet, a term for a will o' the wisp.
Folletti di vento are attributed with control over the wind and weather, stealing babies, and typical fairy behavior.
Gianas: Sardinia, Italy. Also known as giannèddas, nanos, mergianas, birghines, or le faddi. The “Domus de Gianas” or prehistoric tombs are supposed to be the homes of the little people. Details varied between storytellers. Male and female gianas may be indistinguishable, or the women may have very long breasts that they throw over their shoulders. In Aritzo, the gianas are said to be only twenty-five centimeters tall and were shy beings who hid from humans. Some accounts gave that they became vampiric beings who lured in human men, murdered them, and later gave birth to half-human children. Fortunately, they shrank over the years into smaller and less dangerous creatures. In some cases they are tied to luck and prophecy, and some say they weave on golden looms. They sometimes appear as nocturnal laundresses and may be the souls of women who died in childbirth.
Giana or jana is cognate with the anjana of Spain, zana of Romania/Albania and xana of Asturia, and perhaps connected to the goddess Diana. Some details are reminiscent of the Fates.
- Bottiglioni, Gino. Leggende e tradizioni di Sardegna (testi dialettali in grafia fonetica). 1922.
- Arrowsmith, Nancy. Field Guide to the Little People. 1977. (Here they are called giane.)
Gnomes: small spirits, often shown in red hats and immortalized as garden gnomes. The word "gnome" was invented by the writer Paracelsus in the 16th century, as a name for an earth elemental.
Sylphs: Paracelsian beings, the elementals of the air. They were originally probably derived from sylvani, hairy wild men of the woods. Sylphs featured prominently as tiny flying fairies, possibly the first depiction of winged fairies, in the English poem The Rape of the Lock.
Zonnets, zonnetti: In Paracelsian alchemy, a zonnet is defined as "the fantastical body of a fairy" (Ash) or "fantastical bodies of the Gnomes or Pigmy-Spirits" (Coles). It's evidently an earth spirit. According to Pinnell, "To the Earth doe belong Gnoms, Lemurs, Sylphs, Montans, Zonnets, whose Monsters [offspring] are the Pigmyes".
- Ash, John. The New And Complete Dictionary Of The English Language, vol. 2. 1775
- Coles, Elisha. An English dictionary explaining the difficult terms. c.1640?-1680
- Pinnell, Henry. Philosophy Reformed & Improved in Four Profound Tractates, 1657, from Oswald Croll, Hermetischer Probier Stein, 1647
LITHUANIA
Karla, karlele: Lithuanian dwarves.
- Grimm, Jacob. Teutonic Mythology, vol. 4.
THE NETHERLANDS
Alrûn: a kobold, one foot tall, from East Friesland. When given biscuits and milk, he would become strong enough to carry a whole load of rye in his mouth. According to Thorpe (1852), there is a saying that “when one has luck at play, that he has an Alrun in his pocket.”
- Thorpe, Benjamin. Northern mythology : comprising the principal popular traditions and superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and the Netherlands. 1852. p. 157.
Alvens: elves, in the Netherlands. When egg shells were seen floating on the water, it was said that the elves were boating in them. They also lived in the bubbles or scum on surface of fishless ponds. Some elves were evil and made plants poisonous. People did not sleep in the pastures after sunset, and farmers kept their animals from grazing there at night, for fear of elves.
They could also turn into swans. In Brabant, they were said to live inside hills called Alvinnenberge.
- Thorpe, Benjamin. Northern Mythology vol. 3. 1852. p. 265.
- Bergh, Laurence Philippe van den. Proeve van een kritisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche mythogie, 1846. p.6.
- Wolf, Johann Wilhelm. Niederlandische Sagen. 1843. 572.
RUSSIA
Domovoi: Russian. A guardian of the house, much like a Scottish brownie. Domovikha/Kikimora were the females of this species. They were very territorial and solitary.
Vodyanoy: Russian water spirits.
SPAIN
Anjana: Cantabria, Spain. Good fairies of the mountain. They were enemies of the evil being Ojancanu and were sometimes known to bring gifts to children on January 5. Other names were injana, onjana, janara, jana or sana. The Asturian xanas and Italian gianas are probably related.
- Baroja, Julio Caro. Algunos mitos españoles: ensayos de mitología popular. 1941.
- Llano Merino, Manuel (1931). "Las Anjanas." Boletín de la biblioteca Menéndez Pelayo (edición extraordinaria vol 1): 177.
- Lomas, Adriano Garcia. Mitología y supersticiones de Cantabria. 1964.
Duende: Spanish word for elves or dwarves.
Trasgu, trasgo: Asturia or Cantabria, Spain. A troublesome goblin who may lurk in the woods or cause destruction in houses at night and may follow the inhabitants. Other names are Cornin, Xuan Dos Camios, or Gorretín Coloráu (Little Red Hat).
SCANDINAVIA
Kirkegrim – a nisse who dwells in a church, in Scandinavian lore.
Kirkonwaki: Finland. "Church-folk." Similar to Scandinavian Kirkgrims, they are misshapen little people who live beneath church altars. Their women can be relieved from the labours of childbirth if a Christian woman lays her hand on them, and they will reward her with gold and silver.
- Keightley, The Fairy Mythology. 1828.
Ljúflingar (lovelings): A type of Icelandic fairies. In folktales, they were young men of the Hidden Folk or huldufolk. Erla Stefansdottir, who wrote about fairies and even created a map of them in Iceland, described them as slender fairies no taller than ten-year-old children, who lived in the woods or behind hedgerows. Erla described many other fairy species such as elves (álfar), gnomes (jarðvergar), light-fairies (ljósálfar), dwarves (dvergar), angels (englar), and radiant mountain spirits called tívar (a word which literally means "god.")
Marmennil (the Sea-mannikin), a tiny merman who appears sitting in a fish hook in “Half’s Saga”
Menninkäinen: Finnish. a leprechaun- or goblin-like being.
Niägruisar: from the Feroe Islands. George Landt described them as hobgoblins or brownies who wore red caps and brought good luck. It may be connected to the Niðagrísur, the soul of a murdered unbaptized child, which returns to haunt people in the shape of a round creature no bigger than a ball of yarn.
- Landt, George. A description of the Faroe Islands, containing an account of their situation, climate, and productions, together with the manners and customs of the inhabitants, their trade etc. 1810. pg. 401.
- Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902. pg. 184.
Nisse, tomte: Scandinavian brownie varying from a few inches tall to half the size of a normal man; dressed as a farmer. He was rarely seen because he could turn invisible. May appear as an old bearded man or a young boy; always wears a red cap. Despite his small size he was very strong and, when living with a human family, works around the farm and protects it from bad luck, being especially active at night. However, despite the advantages of having a nisse around, you must be clever if you need to get rid of him, as he is easily offended and prone to taking revenge. A solitary fairy who dislikes change and rudeness but likes porridge. They particularly like horses. In some stories he was the soul of the farm’s first owner, or lived in a burial mound. In modern times, the jultomte or julenisse is the equivalent of Santa Claus.
Nisse is a nickname for Nils. Also known as gårdbo ((arm-dweller), gardvord (yard-warden, see vörðr), god bonde (good farmer), fjøsnisse (barn gnome), or gårdsrå (yard-spirit), niskepuk or nes-puk.
Tonttu: Finnish house spirits.
Tusse, tusser: a Norwegian troll or elf, similar to huldrefolk. They lived underground and were sometimes on friendly terms with humans, coming over to borrow items on occasion.
Also spelled thusse/thusser, a modernized spelling for Norse giants or thursar.
- The St. James Magazine
- Christiansen, Reidar. Folktales of Norway.
- Folklore Thursday
Uldra: A Norwegian water sprite, possibly related to the elves known as huldrefolk.
It has been referred to as a water sprite (Martineau, Harriet. Feats on the Fiord (1856), p176) or a "spirit of the vapour" (Grant, James. Bothwell (1851), vol. 1, p53). There is a painting called "Uldra, The Scandinavian Spirit of the Rainbow in the Waterfall" by George Frederick Watts from 1884.
Derwent Conway, in A Personal Narrative of a Journey Through Norway (1829), described them as river spirits. He recounted a story of a peasant going, as was customary, to leave a cake for one of these spirits. When he got there, he found the river frozen over. He was only able to hammer a small hole in the ice, but to his surprise, a tiny snow-white hand came through the hole and took the cake, which became small enough to pass through (pp.230-231).
Lapland has a different kind of uldra: "little people who lived under the earth" who took food to the hibernating animals in winter. They came out only at night, being unable to see anything in the day. They were friendly if left alone, but might kill reindeer if angered. They were also known to replace babies with changelings, which had hairy black faces and long teeth. (Axel Munthe, The Story of San Michele, 1929)
SWITZERLAND
Fadhas, fadas, farfadet: Switzerland, Portugal, France, Brittany.
- Berbiguier, Les Farfadets ou tous les démons ne sont pas de l’autre monde (1821)
Fantines, masques: benevolent fairies of the Vaudois Valley in Switzerland. They are associated with nature and agriculture, and bring good crops. They make tiny bells to keep cattle from getting lost in the woods.
- Bonnerjea. A Dictionary of Superstitions and Mythology. 1936.
- Robinson. Margaret of Angouleme, 1886, Chapter 15.
- Rose, Carol. Spirits, Fairies, Gnomes and Goblins. pg. 113
- Leach, Maria. Funk and Wagnall Dictionary of Folklore. 1985.
TRANSYLVANIA
Keshalyi – Roma spirits from Transylvania. They are forest nymphs, daughters of King Haze (rain). They gain their name from their silky hair. Edwin Sidney Hartland wrote of a tradition where loose cobwebs are believed to be keshalyi hair, and can be used in rituals surrounding childbirth.
Their queen is named Ana. The king of the Locolics, who were once humans and were cursed by elves to become demons, forced Ana to marry him. She gave birth to nine increasingly hideous disease demons, until finally her husband agreed to a divorce. As long as she lived, the Locolics would abstain from eating the Keshalyis.
Alternate spellings: kešali, keshali. The word keshalyi has also been translated as "Fate."
- Hartland, Edwin Sidney. The Legend of Perseus: A Study of Tradition in Story, Custom and Belief. 1894.
- Pavelčík, N. and Pavelčík, J. (2001) Myths of the Czech Gypsies. Asian Folklore Studies, v. 60, pp. 21-30.
- Turkler Online. http://turkleronline.net/diger/cingeneler/kesali.htm
- von Wlislocki, Heinrich. Volksglaube und religioser Brauch der Zigeuner. 1891.
Africa
East Africa
Chitowe (plural Itowe): from Machinga Yao myth. They walk on all fours. They steal from gardens and any fruits or vegetables they touch will rot. People put out some of their vegetables at crossroads so that the Itowe will be satisfied with those and leave the gardens alone.
Maithoachiana: Kikuyu country, Kenya. A tribe of dangerous cannibal dwarves who hate to be called small. In some sources, they are called Abatwa - actually the name for a tribe of bushmen neighboring the original Zulu storytellers.
More recently, a new version of the Abatwa has been circulated (possibly originating with the 1987 Encyclopedia of Things that Never Were). This, uh, "update" makes them much closer to the "cute fairy" archetype; they are shy, peaceful foragers who only appear to children, pregnant women and wizards. Pretty much the exact opposite of the original version!
Similar tiny beings who are sensitive about their height are the Katsumbakazi of the Giryama, the of the Akikyu, the Wabilikimo (Swahili), and the Mumbonelekwapi of the Machinga Yao.
Wadarimba, Wakonyingo (singular Mkonyingo): Wachaga myth. Child-sized dwarves with large, deformed heads. They sometimes help people and have tall ladders reaching up the sky. They must carry horns in case they need to call for help; having such large heads, if they fall over, they need assistance to get back up.
Central Africa
Eloko (pl. biloko): Mongo-Nkundo, Zaire. Dwarves who haunt the forests and may be the spirits of the dead. They have long claws and, instead of hair, grass grows on their skin. They have bells with which they can enchant people, who they then devour.
Isiki (pl. asiki): Libreville, French Congo. Little people, originally human children captured by evil wizards and witches who cut their tongues out. They are immortal. They wear combs made of fiber which they treasure, and which will bring good fortune to anyone who can steal one.
South Africa
Abantubomlambo: Nguni myth. Their name means the River People. They are dangerous, but may also be ancestor spirits.
Psikwembu, shikwembu: Thonga myth. Ancestor-gods. They were “of short stature," and one was even mistaken for a baby. They also appeared in the form of snakes. They might live underground in a shining white village or deep in the sacred woods, but they behaved just like the living - coming to the well for water, keeping flocks of animals, marrying and having children, and so on. The women carried their babies upside down. Sometimes they could be heard singing and dancing in the woods, but if anyone tried to find them, they would vanish. Their dwelling spaces were forbidden to humans.
Their blessings and curses could be extremely powerful, but we also find that when one man broke taboo and started cutting wood in the forest, the gods’ revenge was to throw fruit at him. He then became lost in the forest and misplaced his axe.
Many of these behaviors are also found in European fairies, which likely developed from ancestor worship.
Tikoloshe: Zulu myth. A small, dwarflike being, similar to poltergeists in the trouble it causes. Perhaps originally a water spirit.
West Africa
Aboatia (plural mmoetia, mmoatia): Ghana. The singular is aboatia. They are small forest spirits. Black Mmoetia are good, but Red and White Mmoetia are troublesome and unpredictable. Like many creatures in African mythologies, their feet point backwards.
Alizini, alizinima. Dagbani word for fairies or evil spirits. The bark of the silk cotton tree or vabga can be burnt to make smoke that will drive them away.
Asamanukpai: Ghana. Small dwarves with backwards feet. Also known as Asamanua, and similar to the Mmoetia. They are about the size of a monkey, and colored red, black or white. If you enter their territory, it's best to leave an offering of rum or of water that they can bathe in. If pleased, they may feed a human a juice which gives him psychic powers.
Aziza (azizan): Dahomey. Little hairy people who live in the forest in anthills and silk-cotton trees, and are known to help hunters. In the Fon religion, the aziza are associated with the supernatural powers of gbo, and have passed on knowledge of herbs and medicine to humans.
Chichiriga (pl. chichirsi): Togo. Cardinall attributed them to northern tribes of Togoland, and told an Anansi story of a chichiriga who swallows all the water in a river so that a hunter can collect the fish. Anansi comes along greedy for fish, but when he sees the "misshapen dwarf," is insolent to him. In the end, Anansi loses out on his fish because of his foolishness. The chichiriga closely resembled the kulparga.
Might be the same as kikirisi.
Egbere: Yoruba. A small gnome which carries a sleeping mat (eni egbere) and constantly weeps. Some people say that if you can steal its mat and then endure it following you around wailing, then you will gain riches. Its name is sometimes used as a nickname for something small and troublesome.
Iwin: Yoruba. A fairy or sprite which lives in the ground or the forest.
Konderong (kondorong, kondrong): Wolof tradition. They are no more than two feet tall, with feet turned backwards. Their beards are incredibly long, and they often wrap them around their bodies to serve as clothes. According to Ames, they can be rascally or dangerous, and serve as guardians of the wild animals. According to other authors, the kondorong might be known to cut off cows' tails or to be great wrestlers. One oral tale is called "Hyena Wrestles a Konderong." They can be rascally or dangerous, known to kidnap children and change them into kondorong. They sometimes prevent hunters from capturing animals, but can be made to help the hunters by using magic.
Kontomblé: Burkina Faso. In Dagara tradition, these are small beings and spirits of divination who passed on the secrets of beer-making to humanity.
Krifi: Sierra Leone. They live in the bush and steal children. They look like deformed humans. Some live in anthills and are responsible for cursing farmers with sores. There are different types of krifi.
Kulparga (plural Kulparsi): Dagomba tribes, Togo and Ghana. The Kulparsi are mischievous beings, naked and hairy, with long noses and backwards feet. They play malicious tricks on humans and their language sounds like the twittering of birds. They often live in trees, or in northern areas, within rocks. There are some areas in the bush where no grass grows; these are the Kulparga's nightly dancing grounds, and anyone who falls asleep there will lose their mind or go blind. Bad dreams are attributed to them. Twins are kulparsi who chose to be born as humans, and will possess magical powers during childhood.
I’ve found a different spelling in almost every source: kulukpariga (pl. kulukparsi), kupagisi, kukparga, kpunkparsi, kolkpaareg, kolkpareeg, kolkparis.
Madebele: from the Senufo people on the Ivory Coast. These are bush spirits resembling small humans with large heads, and oversized, backwards-pointing feet. They are invisible and have societies similar to humans and have their own language. When they defied the creator god Kolocolo, they were displaced by humans and sent into the bush. They can serve as spiritual messengers. The Senufo make many arts to appease the madebele, who are prone to bringing misfortune.
Siyawesi: Bebelibe country (Benin). Helpful bush dwarves who taught humans about agriculture and animal husbandry. Between half a meter or one meter tall, with long, thick hair. Those maintain a relationship with them will prosper, but those who neglect them will be tormented.
Sihonkpaasi: Mbelime myth, Benin. Literally "river beings who paralyze," a.k.a. "ihiini yanbɛ" (sky owners). Small humanoids with short hair and only one arm and one leg. They can fly and enjoy playing in water. Malevolent, known to attack children.
Tombuisia: Sierra Leone. Bush sprites (dyinganga are a similar class). They were the former lords of the land, and will jealously cause farmers to be scratched and cut in the bush. People make offerings to appease them. They can also be calmed with a sawei or purifying medicine scattered through the bush.
Wokulo: from the Bamana people of Mali. These are bush spirits, three-foot-tall dwarves with large and hairy heads. They are invisible, can see through things, and steal food from people.
Yumboes, Bakhna Rakhna, Good People: Wolof myth from Senegal. They are the souls of the deceased, and appear as two feet tall and completely white. They live beneath the hills in wonderful residences. Visiting humans are waited upon by servants who are invisible except for their hands and feet. Yumboes sometimes favor particular human families and are heard to mourn their deaths and dance on the graves. In the evenings, they will visit human homes to steal food.
The only source is Thomas Keightley, who was known to have lied about at least one story he collected (The soul Cages). Also, this was third-hand information, based on a story that a European woman had heard from her slave. However, yumboes do bear a resemblance to some other fairylike ancestral spirits of West Africa and the Caribbean. See also Psikwembu and the duppy folk of Jamaica.
Chitowe (plural Itowe): from Machinga Yao myth. They walk on all fours. They steal from gardens and any fruits or vegetables they touch will rot. People put out some of their vegetables at crossroads so that the Itowe will be satisfied with those and leave the gardens alone.
Maithoachiana: Kikuyu country, Kenya. A tribe of dangerous cannibal dwarves who hate to be called small. In some sources, they are called Abatwa - actually the name for a tribe of bushmen neighboring the original Zulu storytellers.
More recently, a new version of the Abatwa has been circulated (possibly originating with the 1987 Encyclopedia of Things that Never Were). This, uh, "update" makes them much closer to the "cute fairy" archetype; they are shy, peaceful foragers who only appear to children, pregnant women and wizards. Pretty much the exact opposite of the original version!
Similar tiny beings who are sensitive about their height are the Katsumbakazi of the Giryama, the of the Akikyu, the Wabilikimo (Swahili), and the Mumbonelekwapi of the Machinga Yao.
- Anomalies. "1868 (pub): "Abatwa: Microscopic Menace of Zulu Africa."
- Callaway, Henry. Nursery tales, traditions, and histories of the Zulus, in their own words. 1868. p. 352-355.
- Gray, Louis Herbert, et al. The Mythology of all races, vol VII, Armenian and African. Chapter IX. "The Little People."
Wadarimba, Wakonyingo (singular Mkonyingo): Wachaga myth. Child-sized dwarves with large, deformed heads. They sometimes help people and have tall ladders reaching up the sky. They must carry horns in case they need to call for help; having such large heads, if they fall over, they need assistance to get back up.
- Gray, Louis Herbert, et al. The Mythology of all races, vol VII, Armenian and African. Chapter IX. "The Little People."
Central Africa
Eloko (pl. biloko): Mongo-Nkundo, Zaire. Dwarves who haunt the forests and may be the spirits of the dead. They have long claws and, instead of hair, grass grows on their skin. They have bells with which they can enchant people, who they then devour.
- Knappert, Jan. African mythology: an encyclopedia of myth and legend. 1995.
Isiki (pl. asiki): Libreville, French Congo. Little people, originally human children captured by evil wizards and witches who cut their tongues out. They are immortal. They wear combs made of fiber which they treasure, and which will bring good fortune to anyone who can steal one.
- Nassau, Rev. Robert Hamill. Fetichism in West Africa (1904).
South Africa
Abantubomlambo: Nguni myth. Their name means the River People. They are dangerous, but may also be ancestor spirits.
- Prins, Frans E., and Hester Lewis. “Bushmen as Mediators in Nguni Cosmology.” Ethnology, vol. 31, no. 2, University of Pittsburgh- Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education, 1992, pp. 133–47, https://doi.org/10.2307/3773617.
Psikwembu, shikwembu: Thonga myth. Ancestor-gods. They were “of short stature," and one was even mistaken for a baby. They also appeared in the form of snakes. They might live underground in a shining white village or deep in the sacred woods, but they behaved just like the living - coming to the well for water, keeping flocks of animals, marrying and having children, and so on. The women carried their babies upside down. Sometimes they could be heard singing and dancing in the woods, but if anyone tried to find them, they would vanish. Their dwelling spaces were forbidden to humans.
Their blessings and curses could be extremely powerful, but we also find that when one man broke taboo and started cutting wood in the forest, the gods’ revenge was to throw fruit at him. He then became lost in the forest and misplaced his axe.
Many of these behaviors are also found in European fairies, which likely developed from ancestor worship.
- Junod, Henri A. The life of a South African tribe. vol. II. 1913. p. 346-361.
Tikoloshe: Zulu myth. A small, dwarflike being, similar to poltergeists in the trouble it causes. Perhaps originally a water spirit.
West Africa
Aboatia (plural mmoetia, mmoatia): Ghana. The singular is aboatia. They are small forest spirits. Black Mmoetia are good, but Red and White Mmoetia are troublesome and unpredictable. Like many creatures in African mythologies, their feet point backwards.
- Michigan Alumnus Quarterly Review, vol. 63, pg. 331
- Bannerman-Richter, Gabriel. Mmoetia: The Mysterious Little People. 1987.
Alizini, alizinima. Dagbani word for fairies or evil spirits. The bark of the silk cotton tree or vabga can be burnt to make smoke that will drive them away.
Asamanukpai: Ghana. Small dwarves with backwards feet. Also known as Asamanua, and similar to the Mmoetia. They are about the size of a monkey, and colored red, black or white. If you enter their territory, it's best to leave an offering of rum or of water that they can bathe in. If pleased, they may feed a human a juice which gives him psychic powers.
- Field, M. J. "The Asamanukpai of the Gold Coast." Man, vol. 34 (Dec. 1934), pp. 186-189.
Aziza (azizan): Dahomey. Little hairy people who live in the forest in anthills and silk-cotton trees, and are known to help hunters. In the Fon religion, the aziza are associated with the supernatural powers of gbo, and have passed on knowledge of herbs and medicine to humans.
- Molefi Kete Asante, Ama Mazama. Encyclopedia of African Religion, Volume 1. 2009.
- Blier, Suzanne Preston. African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power. 1996.
- Peek and Yankah. African Folklore: An Encyclopedia. 2004. Has Aziza as a god of the Jejes.
- Tonukari, Ochuko J. Aziza: King of the Urhobo Forest.
Chichiriga (pl. chichirsi): Togo. Cardinall attributed them to northern tribes of Togoland, and told an Anansi story of a chichiriga who swallows all the water in a river so that a hunter can collect the fish. Anansi comes along greedy for fish, but when he sees the "misshapen dwarf," is insolent to him. In the end, Anansi loses out on his fish because of his foolishness. The chichiriga closely resembled the kulparga.
Might be the same as kikirisi.
- Kroger, Franz. First Notes on Koma Culture: Life in a Remote Area of Northern Ghana. 2010.
- Cardinall, Allan Wolsey. Tales told in Togoland. 1931.
Egbere: Yoruba. A small gnome which carries a sleeping mat (eni egbere) and constantly weeps. Some people say that if you can steal its mat and then endure it following you around wailing, then you will gain riches. Its name is sometimes used as a nickname for something small and troublesome.
- Crowther, Samuel; Vidal, Owen Emeric (1852). A Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language. Seeleys. p. 80.
- http://www.nairaland.com/808767/question-yorubas-what-egbere
Iwin: Yoruba. A fairy or sprite which lives in the ground or the forest.
Konderong (kondorong, kondrong): Wolof tradition. They are no more than two feet tall, with feet turned backwards. Their beards are incredibly long, and they often wrap them around their bodies to serve as clothes. According to Ames, they can be rascally or dangerous, and serve as guardians of the wild animals. According to other authors, the kondorong might be known to cut off cows' tails or to be great wrestlers. One oral tale is called "Hyena Wrestles a Konderong." They can be rascally or dangerous, known to kidnap children and change them into kondorong. They sometimes prevent hunters from capturing animals, but can be made to help the hunters by using magic.
- Magel, Emil Anthony. Folktales from the Gambia: Wolof fictional narratives. 1984.
- David W. Ames, a. (1958). The Dual Function of the "Little People" of the Forest in the Lives of the Wolof. The Journal Of American Folklore, (279), 23.
Kontomblé: Burkina Faso. In Dagara tradition, these are small beings and spirits of divination who passed on the secrets of beer-making to humanity.
Krifi: Sierra Leone. They live in the bush and steal children. They look like deformed humans. Some live in anthills and are responsible for cursing farmers with sores. There are different types of krifi.
- McCulloch, Merran. Peoples of Sierra Leone: Western Africa, Part 2.
Kulparga (plural Kulparsi): Dagomba tribes, Togo and Ghana. The Kulparsi are mischievous beings, naked and hairy, with long noses and backwards feet. They play malicious tricks on humans and their language sounds like the twittering of birds. They often live in trees, or in northern areas, within rocks. There are some areas in the bush where no grass grows; these are the Kulparga's nightly dancing grounds, and anyone who falls asleep there will lose their mind or go blind. Bad dreams are attributed to them. Twins are kulparsi who chose to be born as humans, and will possess magical powers during childhood.
I’ve found a different spelling in almost every source: kulukpariga (pl. kulukparsi), kupagisi, kukparga, kpunkparsi, kolkpaareg, kolkpareeg, kolkparis.
- Cardinall, Allan Wolsey. Tales told in Togoland. 1931.
- Manoukian, Madeline. Tribes of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast: Western Africa. 2017.
Madebele: from the Senufo people on the Ivory Coast. These are bush spirits resembling small humans with large heads, and oversized, backwards-pointing feet. They are invisible and have societies similar to humans and have their own language. When they defied the creator god Kolocolo, they were displaced by humans and sent into the bush. They can serve as spiritual messengers. The Senufo make many arts to appease the madebele, who are prone to bringing misfortune.
Siyawesi: Bebelibe country (Benin). Helpful bush dwarves who taught humans about agriculture and animal husbandry. Between half a meter or one meter tall, with long, thick hair. Those maintain a relationship with them will prosper, but those who neglect them will be tormented.
- Merz, Sharon. "Enigmatic bush dwarfs of West Africa: The case of the siyawesi of northwestern Benin." Anthropology and Cryptozoology: Exploring Encounters with Mysterious Creatures. 2016
Sihonkpaasi: Mbelime myth, Benin. Literally "river beings who paralyze," a.k.a. "ihiini yanbɛ" (sky owners). Small humanoids with short hair and only one arm and one leg. They can fly and enjoy playing in water. Malevolent, known to attack children.
Tombuisia: Sierra Leone. Bush sprites (dyinganga are a similar class). They were the former lords of the land, and will jealously cause farmers to be scratched and cut in the bush. People make offerings to appease them. They can also be calmed with a sawei or purifying medicine scattered through the bush.
- Little, Kenneth. Mende of Sierra Leone. 2013.
- McCulloch, Merran. Peoples of Sierra Leone: Western Africa, Part 2.
Wokulo: from the Bamana people of Mali. These are bush spirits, three-foot-tall dwarves with large and hairy heads. They are invisible, can see through things, and steal food from people.
- Knappert, Jan. African mythology: an encyclopedia of myth and legend. 1995.
Yumboes, Bakhna Rakhna, Good People: Wolof myth from Senegal. They are the souls of the deceased, and appear as two feet tall and completely white. They live beneath the hills in wonderful residences. Visiting humans are waited upon by servants who are invisible except for their hands and feet. Yumboes sometimes favor particular human families and are heard to mourn their deaths and dance on the graves. In the evenings, they will visit human homes to steal food.
The only source is Thomas Keightley, who was known to have lied about at least one story he collected (The soul Cages). Also, this was third-hand information, based on a story that a European woman had heard from her slave. However, yumboes do bear a resemblance to some other fairylike ancestral spirits of West Africa and the Caribbean. See also Psikwembu and the duppy folk of Jamaica.
- Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. 1828.
- Yumboes: Senegalese Fairies?
- Yumboes and African Ghost Lore
- The Soul Cages: A Fake Folktale
North America

Most of the information here comes from http://www.native-languages.org/
The reference book American Elves by John E. Roth is also a good resource. Legends of little people are extremely widespread here, and I have only included a few.
Akeki, or pains: California Indian and Northwest Coast. They look like little fairies, although they can also appear as small animals or inanimate objects. They can be summoned by witches or they hang around certain families. They tend to be powerful guardians, although this can vary by tribe.
Apci'lnic: Innu and other Northern Algonquian tribes. They’re about two feet tall and their name means “little people.” They are sorcerers with the power of invisibility. Although usually neutral towards humans, they can also create lots of damage if they feel insulted. Depending on whether they like you or not, they can make things much easier by returning lost items or warning medicine people of danger, or they can steal and sabotage things. Because of the inclusive meaning of the word “Apa’iins,” it can also refer to the Apisiiyiis, the water sprites called Mannegishi or Memegwesi, or to insect-like fairies called Wiings.
Atosee: Alabama and Koasati folklore. Things that are small and easy to humans are large and difficult to them, and things that are large and difficult to humans are small and easy to them.
Aua: small female shore spirits in the mythology of Greenland’s Inuit. A well-known medicine man, who was named Aua after these beings, described them as “bright and cheerful” and appearing as “sweet little live dolls” no taller than a man’s arm. They wear pointed skin hoods, bearskin breeches, and sealskin coats. They walk on their heels.
Black Imps or Je su chin, from Achumawi folklore. They live on Mount Shasta and drive off trespassers.
Bohpoli: Choctaw. They are mischievous creatures who get their name from their habit of throwing rocks at people. They may be related to or the same as the Kowi Anukasha, which are also a race of little people in Choctaw folklore.
Cannibal Dwarves, Enemy Dwarves: Man-eating enemies of the Arapaho Indians. Their name, Hecesiiteihii, literally means "little people." They are also known by the Shoshone term Nimerigar. They have super-strength, are child-sized, dark-skinned, and aggressive. They are hard to spot, either because of invisibility or because they move at super-speed. Their murderous habits may come from needing to be killed in battle to reach heaven, or perhaps they just like killing things. They were eventually destroyed in battle.
Duppy folk: Jamaica. Duppies usually appear as ghosts or monsters, but there are some accounts of little people called “duppy folk.” They are white-skinned (like many spirits in African mythology) with large heads and eyes. They live in the branches of silk cotton trees, love singing, and have their own society with a king and queen. People leave out water or small pumpkins as offerings for them.
Geow-lud-mo-sis-ing, Kiwolatomuhsisok – Maliseet. Their tricks are typically friendly and harmless. If people are nice to them, they return the favor by doing household chores. These sprites may be able to tell the future.
Halfway People, Sabawaelnu: Mi’kmaq. They look like mermaids and can control storms. Their songs predict the weather but need to be interpreted.
Ircinraq - Yup'ik
Ishigaq - Inuit
Jogah, or Jungies. Iroquois. They’re usually invisible; if they do reveal themselves, it’s usually to children, elders, and medicine people. They’re as tall as a person’s knee and are grandchildren of the thunder god Hinun. They can be mischievous but are generally friendly and appreciate tobacco.
Within Jogah, you have some subtypes. Gahongas (Stone Throwers or Stone Roller) are earth spirits who live in rocky environments and move rocks around. Gandayah or Drum Dancers help farmers with their crops and can be detected by the sounds of their drums. Ohdows live underground, taking care of snakes and monsters.
Kowi Anukasha: Choctaw. Literally “forest dwellers.” They can be dangerous, but may also give powers to those who respect them.
Little Giver: A Seminole corn spirit who appears as a dwarf and gave corn to the people.
Lampeqin, Lumpeguin: Maliseet-Passamaquoddy. Little mermaid creatures which may have either legs or fish tails. They can be controlled by anyone who steals their magical clothing, and may be claimed as spouses in this way. They can create food by multiplying a few crusts into a feast or even baking bread from snow.
Lost Elves: Caddo. These are child-sized ghosts who live inside hollow trees and haunt forests. People who get lost in the woods may become Lost Elves.
Makiawisug: Mohegan and Pequot tribes. They can be dangerous but are typically benevolent, and stand about two feet tall. Their name comes from the whippoorwhill bird. They can turn invisible, and like to carve rocks. Their leader is Granny Squant or Squannit.
Mannegishi – Cree. Thin, sexdactylous humanoids with no noses. They are similar to the Ojibwa’s Memegwesi. They live between rocks in the rapids and like to capsize canoes and kill people. May be connected to modern stories of the Dover Demon.
Manogames, manogemasak: Wabanaki narrow-faced river-elves who live on riverbanks. who make their homes in rocky riverbanks. Sometimes their faces are so narrow they’re invisible from the front. If in a less friendly move, they may sabotage fishing boats or nets. They create sculptures in the clay on the riverbank, and unusual stones are a sign that manogamasak live nearby.
Memegwesi: Anishinaabe (Ojibway, Algonquin, Ottawa, Cree, Metis, Innu, Menominee). Child-sized, hairy people with narrow faces and shrill voices, who live on the riverbank. Mischievous but gentle, and require respect. They may have been created from treebark, carve symbols on rocks and even carve stone canoes for themselves. Their name may come from the Ojibwe memii, meaning hairy, or the word memengwaa, meaning butterfly.
Mialuka: Omaha, The Wild People. They’re about 1-2 feet tall, sometimes winged, with only one eye. They may use witchcraft to hurt people or kidnap children.
Monkey People, Tcetin: Ahtna Indians. They have tails, live in trees and caves, and hate humans. The word Tcetin literally means “tailed ones” and has become the local word for monkeys.
Nagumwasuck: Passamaquoddy. Sad-looking, thin, ugly little people with big noses, seven inches toll, who dress in softened bark.
Nirumbee or Awwakkulé, the Little People of the Pryor Mountains. Crow Indians. These mountains Montana and Wyoming are famous for their "fairy rings" and strange happenings. Some people consider the little people to be sacred ancestors of the Crow Indians and require visitors to leave an offering for them.
Nikommo: little people of the forest; more benevolent than the Pukwudgies, and bring good luck and help to those who respect them.
Nimerigar – Shoshone. They shot poisoned arrows and lived in the Wind River and Pedro ranges of Wyoming. In 1932, someone found a 14-inch-tall mummy, which was proven to be the body of an anencephalic baby, but not before people connected it to the legends of the nimerigar.
Nirumbee or Awwakkulé – Crow. 1- to 2-foot-tall goblins with sharp teeth and short necks. Their behavior ranges from mischievous to outright cruel, such as mutilating animals and stealing children. However, they can sometimes return a favor.
Nunnupi - Comanche
Nunne'hi: friendly little people of the Cherokee tribe. They’re very strong and sometimes help the Cherokee in battle. They’re usually invisible. Although they may appear as human warriors or ethereal creatures of human size, some legends describe them as miniature.
Paissa: Miami. Two feet tall, mischievous nature spirits. In some stories they’re more powerful, or even become psychopomps leading the dead to the afterlife. The name Paissa has also been used to describe the Fox and Sauk heroes Lodge Boy and Thrown Away. These heroes are not little people, but magical children who never grow up. In Potawatomi, "Pa'is" is a man's nickname similar to "Shorty."
Pukwudgie: Algonquian, Ojibwe. Mischievous but benevolent gnome, which may be dangerous to disrespectful people. In the tribes of New England, pukwudgies are seen as more malevolent, stealing children and sabotaging things, and facing off against the giant hero Maushop. Pukwudgies are 3 feet tall or shorter, and their name means “person of the wilderness.” Sometimes they smell sweet and are associated with flowers. Their powers vary from tribe to tribe but can include invisibility, shapeshifting, the ability to confuse people, or harming people by staring at them. Some people describe them as grey-skinned and glowing, with the ability to turn into a sort of half-porcupine troll creature or control Tei-Pai-Wankas, similar to Will-o-the-Wisps.
Tonop: Tunica. A mythical dwarf, half the height of a man and half as narrow, with one eye.
Water Babies: California and Western Indians. They inhabit small bodies of water and appear to be human infants, sometimes with fish tails. Other times they’re reptilian creatures that just sound like human babies. Their cry is an omen of death and you really don’t want to pick one up.
Wemategunis: Lenape, Munsee. Sprites the height of a man’s waist; like most little people, benevolent unless you offend them. They’re super-strong and can turn invisible. They may help people who are kind to them or good-natured about their tricks.
Wiwila Men – Lakota. Tiny tricksters who live near water sources. Some say they’re baby-sized gnomes covered in hair, others describe them as three-feet-tall, bald, pale humanoids. Wiwila means “spring grass.” They may be a portent of death, but they won’t bother people, although they can paralyze them. They’re only seen at night.
Wiklatmuj (Stone Dwarves): Very powerful, but usually restrict their tricks on humans to harmless pranks like putting their clothes on backwards.
Woods Elf, Canotila: Sioux. Canotila means “little tree dweller.” Messengers from the spirit world who appeared in dreams.
Yehasuri: Sioux. Yehasuri aren’t very dangerous but their pranks can be destructive, and they’re sometimes used as bogeymen in children’s stories.
Yunwi Tsunsdi – Cherokee. They resemble Cherokee people but are only a few feet high, and have hair that touches the ground. They may trick hunters or abduct wanderers.
The reference book American Elves by John E. Roth is also a good resource. Legends of little people are extremely widespread here, and I have only included a few.
Akeki, or pains: California Indian and Northwest Coast. They look like little fairies, although they can also appear as small animals or inanimate objects. They can be summoned by witches or they hang around certain families. They tend to be powerful guardians, although this can vary by tribe.
Apci'lnic: Innu and other Northern Algonquian tribes. They’re about two feet tall and their name means “little people.” They are sorcerers with the power of invisibility. Although usually neutral towards humans, they can also create lots of damage if they feel insulted. Depending on whether they like you or not, they can make things much easier by returning lost items or warning medicine people of danger, or they can steal and sabotage things. Because of the inclusive meaning of the word “Apa’iins,” it can also refer to the Apisiiyiis, the water sprites called Mannegishi or Memegwesi, or to insect-like fairies called Wiings.
Atosee: Alabama and Koasati folklore. Things that are small and easy to humans are large and difficult to them, and things that are large and difficult to humans are small and easy to them.
Aua: small female shore spirits in the mythology of Greenland’s Inuit. A well-known medicine man, who was named Aua after these beings, described them as “bright and cheerful” and appearing as “sweet little live dolls” no taller than a man’s arm. They wear pointed skin hoods, bearskin breeches, and sealskin coats. They walk on their heels.
- Petrone, Penny. Northern Voices: Inuit Writing in English. 1992. pp. 123-124.
Black Imps or Je su chin, from Achumawi folklore. They live on Mount Shasta and drive off trespassers.
Bohpoli: Choctaw. They are mischievous creatures who get their name from their habit of throwing rocks at people. They may be related to or the same as the Kowi Anukasha, which are also a race of little people in Choctaw folklore.
Cannibal Dwarves, Enemy Dwarves: Man-eating enemies of the Arapaho Indians. Their name, Hecesiiteihii, literally means "little people." They are also known by the Shoshone term Nimerigar. They have super-strength, are child-sized, dark-skinned, and aggressive. They are hard to spot, either because of invisibility or because they move at super-speed. Their murderous habits may come from needing to be killed in battle to reach heaven, or perhaps they just like killing things. They were eventually destroyed in battle.
Duppy folk: Jamaica. Duppies usually appear as ghosts or monsters, but there are some accounts of little people called “duppy folk.” They are white-skinned (like many spirits in African mythology) with large heads and eyes. They live in the branches of silk cotton trees, love singing, and have their own society with a king and queen. People leave out water or small pumpkins as offerings for them.
- Leach, MacEdward. 1961. "Jamaican Duppy Lore." Journal of American Folklore 74:207-215.
Geow-lud-mo-sis-ing, Kiwolatomuhsisok – Maliseet. Their tricks are typically friendly and harmless. If people are nice to them, they return the favor by doing household chores. These sprites may be able to tell the future.
Halfway People, Sabawaelnu: Mi’kmaq. They look like mermaids and can control storms. Their songs predict the weather but need to be interpreted.
Ircinraq - Yup'ik
Ishigaq - Inuit
Jogah, or Jungies. Iroquois. They’re usually invisible; if they do reveal themselves, it’s usually to children, elders, and medicine people. They’re as tall as a person’s knee and are grandchildren of the thunder god Hinun. They can be mischievous but are generally friendly and appreciate tobacco.
Within Jogah, you have some subtypes. Gahongas (Stone Throwers or Stone Roller) are earth spirits who live in rocky environments and move rocks around. Gandayah or Drum Dancers help farmers with their crops and can be detected by the sounds of their drums. Ohdows live underground, taking care of snakes and monsters.
Kowi Anukasha: Choctaw. Literally “forest dwellers.” They can be dangerous, but may also give powers to those who respect them.
Little Giver: A Seminole corn spirit who appears as a dwarf and gave corn to the people.
Lampeqin, Lumpeguin: Maliseet-Passamaquoddy. Little mermaid creatures which may have either legs or fish tails. They can be controlled by anyone who steals their magical clothing, and may be claimed as spouses in this way. They can create food by multiplying a few crusts into a feast or even baking bread from snow.
Lost Elves: Caddo. These are child-sized ghosts who live inside hollow trees and haunt forests. People who get lost in the woods may become Lost Elves.
Makiawisug: Mohegan and Pequot tribes. They can be dangerous but are typically benevolent, and stand about two feet tall. Their name comes from the whippoorwhill bird. They can turn invisible, and like to carve rocks. Their leader is Granny Squant or Squannit.
Mannegishi – Cree. Thin, sexdactylous humanoids with no noses. They are similar to the Ojibwa’s Memegwesi. They live between rocks in the rapids and like to capsize canoes and kill people. May be connected to modern stories of the Dover Demon.
Manogames, manogemasak: Wabanaki narrow-faced river-elves who live on riverbanks. who make their homes in rocky riverbanks. Sometimes their faces are so narrow they’re invisible from the front. If in a less friendly move, they may sabotage fishing boats or nets. They create sculptures in the clay on the riverbank, and unusual stones are a sign that manogamasak live nearby.
Memegwesi: Anishinaabe (Ojibway, Algonquin, Ottawa, Cree, Metis, Innu, Menominee). Child-sized, hairy people with narrow faces and shrill voices, who live on the riverbank. Mischievous but gentle, and require respect. They may have been created from treebark, carve symbols on rocks and even carve stone canoes for themselves. Their name may come from the Ojibwe memii, meaning hairy, or the word memengwaa, meaning butterfly.
Mialuka: Omaha, The Wild People. They’re about 1-2 feet tall, sometimes winged, with only one eye. They may use witchcraft to hurt people or kidnap children.
Monkey People, Tcetin: Ahtna Indians. They have tails, live in trees and caves, and hate humans. The word Tcetin literally means “tailed ones” and has become the local word for monkeys.
Nagumwasuck: Passamaquoddy. Sad-looking, thin, ugly little people with big noses, seven inches toll, who dress in softened bark.
Nirumbee or Awwakkulé, the Little People of the Pryor Mountains. Crow Indians. These mountains Montana and Wyoming are famous for their "fairy rings" and strange happenings. Some people consider the little people to be sacred ancestors of the Crow Indians and require visitors to leave an offering for them.
Nikommo: little people of the forest; more benevolent than the Pukwudgies, and bring good luck and help to those who respect them.
Nimerigar – Shoshone. They shot poisoned arrows and lived in the Wind River and Pedro ranges of Wyoming. In 1932, someone found a 14-inch-tall mummy, which was proven to be the body of an anencephalic baby, but not before people connected it to the legends of the nimerigar.
Nirumbee or Awwakkulé – Crow. 1- to 2-foot-tall goblins with sharp teeth and short necks. Their behavior ranges from mischievous to outright cruel, such as mutilating animals and stealing children. However, they can sometimes return a favor.
Nunnupi - Comanche
Nunne'hi: friendly little people of the Cherokee tribe. They’re very strong and sometimes help the Cherokee in battle. They’re usually invisible. Although they may appear as human warriors or ethereal creatures of human size, some legends describe them as miniature.
Paissa: Miami. Two feet tall, mischievous nature spirits. In some stories they’re more powerful, or even become psychopomps leading the dead to the afterlife. The name Paissa has also been used to describe the Fox and Sauk heroes Lodge Boy and Thrown Away. These heroes are not little people, but magical children who never grow up. In Potawatomi, "Pa'is" is a man's nickname similar to "Shorty."
Pukwudgie: Algonquian, Ojibwe. Mischievous but benevolent gnome, which may be dangerous to disrespectful people. In the tribes of New England, pukwudgies are seen as more malevolent, stealing children and sabotaging things, and facing off against the giant hero Maushop. Pukwudgies are 3 feet tall or shorter, and their name means “person of the wilderness.” Sometimes they smell sweet and are associated with flowers. Their powers vary from tribe to tribe but can include invisibility, shapeshifting, the ability to confuse people, or harming people by staring at them. Some people describe them as grey-skinned and glowing, with the ability to turn into a sort of half-porcupine troll creature or control Tei-Pai-Wankas, similar to Will-o-the-Wisps.
Tonop: Tunica. A mythical dwarf, half the height of a man and half as narrow, with one eye.
Water Babies: California and Western Indians. They inhabit small bodies of water and appear to be human infants, sometimes with fish tails. Other times they’re reptilian creatures that just sound like human babies. Their cry is an omen of death and you really don’t want to pick one up.
Wemategunis: Lenape, Munsee. Sprites the height of a man’s waist; like most little people, benevolent unless you offend them. They’re super-strong and can turn invisible. They may help people who are kind to them or good-natured about their tricks.
Wiwila Men – Lakota. Tiny tricksters who live near water sources. Some say they’re baby-sized gnomes covered in hair, others describe them as three-feet-tall, bald, pale humanoids. Wiwila means “spring grass.” They may be a portent of death, but they won’t bother people, although they can paralyze them. They’re only seen at night.
Wiklatmuj (Stone Dwarves): Very powerful, but usually restrict their tricks on humans to harmless pranks like putting their clothes on backwards.
Woods Elf, Canotila: Sioux. Canotila means “little tree dweller.” Messengers from the spirit world who appeared in dreams.
Yehasuri: Sioux. Yehasuri aren’t very dangerous but their pranks can be destructive, and they’re sometimes used as bogeymen in children’s stories.
Yunwi Tsunsdi – Cherokee. They resemble Cherokee people but are only a few feet high, and have hair that touches the ground. They may trick hunters or abduct wanderers.
CANADA
Dalladadas: Newfoundland fairies described as little men wearing “tossle caps.”
Barbara Rieti suggested connections to the Irish words “adallag” as blindfold and “dall” blind, “which fits well with the flitting fairies . . . who move too quickly for the eye to follow.”
Dallahan or dullahan is a headless spirit. “Dubh dael” and “dara dael” are demonic insects.
Dawnies: a Newfoundland term for fairies. Their name was used as a threat. A similar ominous figure, mickadenies, might have been a combination of “mick” (for the Irish) and “denies.” It could be connected to the Irish word “dony,” or tiny. Dawnies were also a word for nightmares.
Little Johns, littlejohns: a Newfoundland fairy term.
Dalladadas: Newfoundland fairies described as little men wearing “tossle caps.”
Barbara Rieti suggested connections to the Irish words “adallag” as blindfold and “dall” blind, “which fits well with the flitting fairies . . . who move too quickly for the eye to follow.”
Dallahan or dullahan is a headless spirit. “Dubh dael” and “dara dael” are demonic insects.
- Rieti, Barbara. Strange Terrain: The Fairy World in Newfoundland. 1991. p. 78
Dawnies: a Newfoundland term for fairies. Their name was used as a threat. A similar ominous figure, mickadenies, might have been a combination of “mick” (for the Irish) and “denies.” It could be connected to the Irish word “dony,” or tiny. Dawnies were also a word for nightmares.
- Rieti, Barbara. Strange Terrain: The Fairy World in Newfoundland. 1991. p. 238.
- Story, George Morley. Dictionary of Newfoundland English. 1990. p. 135.
Little Johns, littlejohns: a Newfoundland fairy term.
- Rieti, Barbara. Strange Terrain: The Fairy World in Newfoundland. 1991. p. 18, 218.
Mexico and South America
Aluxes, also known as Chaneque, or used interchangeably with the Spanish word duendes. Knee-high spirits from Mayan tradition.
Pichilingis: New Mexico. Similar to duendes or goblins. They played pranks and made messes; Campos relates a vtale which is the same as the European tale where a family moves house to get away from obnoxious house spirits, only for the pichilingis to come along and even hand them the coffee pot they forgot. We are also told that pichilingis guard the site of Noah's Ark, and will imprison any visitors who dare to steal.
Tepictoton: Mexican. According to Lewis Spence, they tended maize and agave plants, but could also be mischievous and appear as spiders or scorpions. Alternately, according to Diego Duran, they were small mountain gods, related to or the same as the rain god Tlaloc's assistants, the tlaloques.
Trauco: from the Chiloé Archipelago off the cost of Chile. A tiny forest goblin and irresistibly seductive satyr.
Pichilingis: New Mexico. Similar to duendes or goblins. They played pranks and made messes; Campos relates a vtale which is the same as the European tale where a family moves house to get away from obnoxious house spirits, only for the pichilingis to come along and even hand them the coffee pot they forgot. We are also told that pichilingis guard the site of Noah's Ark, and will imprison any visitors who dare to steal.
- Campos, Anthony John. Mexican Folk Tales. 1977.
- Castro, Rafaela. Chicano Folklore: A Guide to the Folktales, Traditions, Rituals and Religious Practices of Mexican Americans. 2001. p. 185.
Tepictoton: Mexican. According to Lewis Spence, they tended maize and agave plants, but could also be mischievous and appear as spiders or scorpions. Alternately, according to Diego Duran, they were small mountain gods, related to or the same as the rain god Tlaloc's assistants, the tlaloques.
- Spence, Lewis. The magic and mysteries of Mexico, 1930
- Durán, Diego. The History of the Indies of New Spain. 1994.
Trauco: from the Chiloé Archipelago off the cost of Chile. A tiny forest goblin and irresistibly seductive satyr.
Oceania
Adaro: San Cristoval. Woodland beings similar to Kakamora.
Anjinmar, Nonieb: Marshall Islands. Small, benevolent beings who live in the bushy grass. People sometimes hear them but cannot speak to them. Some of them have married human women.
Boiboi: San Cristoval. Little people of the river.
Chokalai: little folk of Ponape, Micronesia. They have flat noses and dark skin and chatter like bats. They are evil and dangerous and live in the forest or underground. They are thieves who frequently steal from humans.
Hovatu-koiari (from legends of Orokaivans of New Guinea) are one foot tall, have tail attached to navel - ghosts of stillborn babies, live in swamp, cry for mothers. Similar to the Luveniwai.
Kakamora: Melanesia. They are small, but accounts vary; they have been described as anywhere from six inches to five feet. Some are harmless, but others will eat humans. They are thieves and tricksters, love to dance and sing, eat raw food, go naked and live in the forest. They are swift and extremely strong. They may be afraid of the color white.
Similar tribes of unusual people (some small, some large) are Kakangora, Pwaronga, Pwamora (coastal San Cristoval); Toku, Katu, Waitarohia, etc. (San Cristoval); Mola, Tutu-langi, Mumulou (Guadalcanal); Mwasiu (Ulawa Island); Nopitu/Dembit (Banks Islands); Tuki (Buka Passage); Dodore (North Malaita); Mumu (South Malaita); Sakusaku (Mono-Alu).
Luveniwai/Water Babies - from the Rewa River delta. They are the spirits of miscarried children. Maui is an example from Polynesia. In some areas, Luveniwai have blended with the woodland creatures the Veli, who were also "little and handsome," had their own plants, lived in caves or trees, liked to sing on the mountains. Water Babies were definitely benevolent, whereas other little folk could vary
Maeroero: New Zealand. Solitary beings, wild long-haired men who are impervious to bullets and protect natural resources
Malavui: the Banks Islands
Masi: Ulawa, San Cristoval. Masi means stupid; these folk are suicidally foolish. Some collectors have heard they were little, others that they were of average size. The Rere-ni-Mesi of the Saa Islands are the same beings, and similar legends are widespread.
Menehune: Hawaii. Squat dwarves with loud voices. They work and build things (but only at night) and are particularly skilled stoneworkers. They turn people who displease them into stone.
As stories developed over the years, the menehune have begun to combine and mix traits with the akua, or forest spirits. Many ancient structures are attributed to the menehune.
The Eepa, Mu, Wao, and Nawao are similar tribes.
Mimis: Australia. Tall, thin, fragile nature spirits which lived in crannies in the rocks in Arnhem Land in north Australia. They were so thin that a gust of wind could blow them away.
Mola: Guadalcanal. Small with long hair, dark skin. They will stab children with their long nails, put them in bags and carry them off to eat them. They have a queen named Voro.
Mumu: In South Malaita, they are supposed to be small like Kakamora. They had long hair and were afraid of the color red.
Nopitu: Banks Islands. Size not clear, but in one story one of them is small enough to be carried like a baby. They can possess humans or be born as human children. They appreciate offerings of small red yams. Some accounts say they are about six inches tall, love to dance, love anything red (such as food), and can bewitch or bless people - they have been known to give money or the ability to produce money from your hands or hair.
Patupaiarehe: New Zealand. Accounts vary but they are sometimes described as small. They go out only at night and can turn invisible. They are usually peaceful and shy, but occasionally harmful. Golden/reddish hair. They love anything that is red.
Sakusaku: From the Mono-Alu. Thse are nitu (spirits) or bush elves.
Te-tini-o-Te-Hakaturi, Keketoro, Tureho, Tutumaiao - New Zealand forest protectors.
Wirdachi, wardarchi, woodarjee: from the Noongar tribe of southwest Australia. These small, hairy elves can be mischievous or dangerous. Similar beings are the bulyit, mummar, mummari men, njimbin, nambunj, nimminge, junjadee, junjuddis, waaki, bitarr (Kumbainggar), burgingin (Alawa), dinderi (Queensland), net-net (Victoria), nyol (eastern Victoria), winambuu (Wiradhuri), yuuri (New South Wales), or brown jacks (post-colonization).
The bulyit will take away children who are out after dark.
Anjinmar, Nonieb: Marshall Islands. Small, benevolent beings who live in the bushy grass. People sometimes hear them but cannot speak to them. Some of them have married human women.
Boiboi: San Cristoval. Little people of the river.
Chokalai: little folk of Ponape, Micronesia. They have flat noses and dark skin and chatter like bats. They are evil and dangerous and live in the forest or underground. They are thieves who frequently steal from humans.
Hovatu-koiari (from legends of Orokaivans of New Guinea) are one foot tall, have tail attached to navel - ghosts of stillborn babies, live in swamp, cry for mothers. Similar to the Luveniwai.
Kakamora: Melanesia. They are small, but accounts vary; they have been described as anywhere from six inches to five feet. Some are harmless, but others will eat humans. They are thieves and tricksters, love to dance and sing, eat raw food, go naked and live in the forest. They are swift and extremely strong. They may be afraid of the color white.
Similar tribes of unusual people (some small, some large) are Kakangora, Pwaronga, Pwamora (coastal San Cristoval); Toku, Katu, Waitarohia, etc. (San Cristoval); Mola, Tutu-langi, Mumulou (Guadalcanal); Mwasiu (Ulawa Island); Nopitu/Dembit (Banks Islands); Tuki (Buka Passage); Dodore (North Malaita); Mumu (South Malaita); Sakusaku (Mono-Alu).
Luveniwai/Water Babies - from the Rewa River delta. They are the spirits of miscarried children. Maui is an example from Polynesia. In some areas, Luveniwai have blended with the woodland creatures the Veli, who were also "little and handsome," had their own plants, lived in caves or trees, liked to sing on the mountains. Water Babies were definitely benevolent, whereas other little folk could vary
Maeroero: New Zealand. Solitary beings, wild long-haired men who are impervious to bullets and protect natural resources
Malavui: the Banks Islands
Masi: Ulawa, San Cristoval. Masi means stupid; these folk are suicidally foolish. Some collectors have heard they were little, others that they were of average size. The Rere-ni-Mesi of the Saa Islands are the same beings, and similar legends are widespread.
Menehune: Hawaii. Squat dwarves with loud voices. They work and build things (but only at night) and are particularly skilled stoneworkers. They turn people who displease them into stone.
As stories developed over the years, the menehune have begun to combine and mix traits with the akua, or forest spirits. Many ancient structures are attributed to the menehune.
The Eepa, Mu, Wao, and Nawao are similar tribes.
Mimis: Australia. Tall, thin, fragile nature spirits which lived in crannies in the rocks in Arnhem Land in north Australia. They were so thin that a gust of wind could blow them away.
Mola: Guadalcanal. Small with long hair, dark skin. They will stab children with their long nails, put them in bags and carry them off to eat them. They have a queen named Voro.
Mumu: In South Malaita, they are supposed to be small like Kakamora. They had long hair and were afraid of the color red.
Nopitu: Banks Islands. Size not clear, but in one story one of them is small enough to be carried like a baby. They can possess humans or be born as human children. They appreciate offerings of small red yams. Some accounts say they are about six inches tall, love to dance, love anything red (such as food), and can bewitch or bless people - they have been known to give money or the ability to produce money from your hands or hair.
Patupaiarehe: New Zealand. Accounts vary but they are sometimes described as small. They go out only at night and can turn invisible. They are usually peaceful and shy, but occasionally harmful. Golden/reddish hair. They love anything that is red.
Sakusaku: From the Mono-Alu. Thse are nitu (spirits) or bush elves.
Te-tini-o-Te-Hakaturi, Keketoro, Tureho, Tutumaiao - New Zealand forest protectors.
- Luomala, Katharine. The Menehune of Polynesia and other mythical little people of Oceania. 1951.
Wirdachi, wardarchi, woodarjee: from the Noongar tribe of southwest Australia. These small, hairy elves can be mischievous or dangerous. Similar beings are the bulyit, mummar, mummari men, njimbin, nambunj, nimminge, junjadee, junjuddis, waaki, bitarr (Kumbainggar), burgingin (Alawa), dinderi (Queensland), net-net (Victoria), nyol (eastern Victoria), winambuu (Wiradhuri), yuuri (New South Wales), or brown jacks (post-colonization).
The bulyit will take away children who are out after dark.
Asia
Aghoy: East Visayan elf. Fair-skinned, blue- or green-eyed, yellow haired. They live in trees, speak in whistles, and will give human friends magic pots or purses filled with riches.
(Elves in Filipino legend are often small, with light skin, golden hair and/or teeth, and lacking philtrums (the indentation on the upper lip). Some speak in whistles or give humans helpful gifts. They tend to live in trees. They sometimes have backwards feet.)
Anardes: India. In one tale, anardes are tiny fairies who hide within pomegranates and occasionally come out to dance. The queen is slightly larger than the others.
Ansisit: From Ilokano lore in the Philippines. Little old men the size of toddlers, with large heads. They live underground, in caves or in ant-hills. Similar dwarves are common in the Philippines: Aran (Ibanag), Often have red hair or wear red clothing. Their feet are sometimes turned backwards. They often have treasure and like to steal pretty girls away.
Similar: Duwende (Tagalog/Visayan/others – from Spanish “duende”), kama-kama (Ilonggo), kalanget (Ifugao), karanget (Gaddang), karango (Ibanag) laman lupa or “man of the earth” (Tagalog), matanda sa punso (Tagalog), omayan (Mandaya), muntianak (Bagobo), taong lupa (Tagalong, Visayan). The Tianak has one leg longer than the other. The lampong (from Ilongot lore takes deer form and lives in woods and fields
Aran: from Ibanag lore in the Philippines. A little old man as tall as a toddler. Long reddish hair. Backwards feet. He steals rice and will steal away young women if he can; they have to wear necklaces of garlic or crocodile teeth, and have plain names, in order to avoid him.
Bongas: a name for a wide range of spirits in Santal mythology from India. There are several stories of human men taking bonga women to wife. In the story of "The Flycatcher's Egg," a bonga girl lives inside an egg; however, she seems to take human size when she emerges. Others might take animal form such as snakes or fish. Another bonga lived beneath the surface of a lake, in a realm that was dry land.
Chin-Chin Kobakama: In a Japanese folktale, when a lazy or sloppy person shoves used toothpicks into the carpet instead of throwing them away, the toothpicks appear as a crowd of tiny people to keep them awake at night. This persists until the toothpicks are thrown away. A similar story is told of plum stones which were not thrown away.
Dayamdam: Agusanon lore from Philippines. They are incredibly tiny beings of the forest. One must ask their permission before gathering fruit or cutting down trees.
Ebu Gogo: Flores, Indonesia. Small, hairy humanoids.
Enkantada, enkanto (Bikol, Tagalog, Visayan): from the Spanish “Encanto.” A broad term for fairylike beings. Often, they have no philtrum (divot on upper lip beneath nose). They live in trees, which are mansions, where they dance. They smell like wildflowers and seduce humans, but become ugly when humans marry them. They don’t like spicy food. They can be benevolent or malevolent.
Imori: Japan. Gecko yokai, the ghosts of fallen warriors turned into geckos to haunt ruins. In at least one tale, they appear as tiny people about five to six inches tall.
Kaiba-an, kibaan, kaybaan: Ilokano. They are one foot tall, with hair hanging down to their feet, and golden teeth. They steal food from humans and hair from children’s heads, and can hide among the stakes of a bamboo fence. Their feet point the wrong way.
Kamanan-daplak: Zambal, Philippines. They will leave flowers beside human babies who have been left alone. Although benevolent, they may be mischievous, calling people at sundown only to disappear when the person called looks for them.
Kenmun: from the island of Amami Ōshima in the Northern Ryūkyūs. They are the size of a three- or four-year-old child and completely covered in red hair. In some traditions, they have no eyes, eyebrows or ears. They live at the feet of banyan trees. They are similar to the kijimun as well as the kappa (another Japanese water creature); they are often described as having a dish or concave spot on their heads like kappa. They hate octopi. They will travel in large numbers and challenge humans to wrestle, but are cowardly. They constantly drool saliva which glows like red or blue fire. If they offer food to a human, it will most likely turn out to be snails and horse dung. They will eat only one eye of a fish and leave the rest intact; a fisherman who received help from a kenmun was left with a load of fish all missing their left eyes. Kenmun have the ability to strike people with illnesses. They may also be called Kunmon, Kunmu, Gaoro or Nebuzawa.
Kijimun, kijimuna: from the island of Iheya in Okinawa. They are tree or water spirits, the size of children, with mischievous personalities. One alternate name for them is Bunagaya, or “large-headed.” Another is Akakanaza, meaning that they are covered in red hair. They live in hollow trees, especially the gajimaru (banyan).
They are very similar to the kenmun; both are tree spirits who are frequently found in watery places. Both kenmun and kijimun are red in color; red is a good color in mainland Japan, but in these provinces it is negative. At night, they may walk in the shallow water by the shore, carrying lamps. Any fisherman foolish enough to ask for a light will be drowned. However, these creatures are easily warded off by octopuses.
Kobito: Japanese word for gnome or goblin.
Koropokkuru: Ainu little people from Japan. A few feet to a few inches tall, with hairy, reddish skin, big heads and squashed-looking noses. Their name is translated as "people below the leaves of the butterbur plant.” They preceded the Ainu and were short, skilled fishermen who lived in pits with butterbur leaves for roofs. They hated to be seen and would only emerge at night, but occasionally traded with the Ainu. They used stone tools and made pots.
Ragit-ragit: Romblon, Philippines. They are unable to wink and never grow old. They will steal and sicken infants left out after dark; you can cure the infant by putting a black cap on them.
Shinseen: China. Spirits or genii of hills, forests and mountains. They are mentioned in Keightley's Fairy Mythology. According to Alexander Porteous, they are peaceful and appear as old men or beautiful girls.
Ta'ai: Taiwan. Short people or pygmies.
Tianak: Philippines. A dwarf with one leg longer than the other. He disguises himself as a crying baby in order to trick people.
Tirtiris: Ilokano, Philippines. They are little people smaller than a person’s hand. Gold teeth, long noses, light skin, shimmering silk clothing embroidered with gold threads. They live in the bagbagotot bush and come out at night to make merry. People who hurt them will have sore eyes or rashes; for this reason, people should be careful when throwing things out of windows, and call “Go away, go away” to warn any tirtiris nearby.
Yakshas: deities from South and Southeast Asia, appearing in In Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts. They are nature spirits who vary from benevolent beings to predators. In some versions, they are depicted as stout dwarfs. Kubera, god-king of the yakshas, is sometimes shown as a dwarf.
Yanari: Japan. Translated as "house squeaker," the word for poltergeist-like beings which cause creaking or other noises in houses at night. Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, published in 1776, depicts the cause as tiny yokai shaking the house.
Zashiki-warashi ("guest room child"): Iwate Prefecture, Japan. These are yokai or ghosts, which always appeared as young children with red faces. They might play pranks or bring good fortune to the house. Some theories make them the ghosts of infants or young children. They are similar to house spirits of other mythologies. Similar creatures are Chōpirako and Makuragaeshi.
(Elves in Filipino legend are often small, with light skin, golden hair and/or teeth, and lacking philtrums (the indentation on the upper lip). Some speak in whistles or give humans helpful gifts. They tend to live in trees. They sometimes have backwards feet.)
- Ramos, Maximo. The Creatures of Midnight: Faded Deities of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. 1967.
Anardes: India. In one tale, anardes are tiny fairies who hide within pomegranates and occasionally come out to dance. The queen is slightly larger than the others.
- Kincaid, C. A. Folk Tales of Sind and Guzarat. 1925. "Rupsinh and the Queen of the Anardes."
Ansisit: From Ilokano lore in the Philippines. Little old men the size of toddlers, with large heads. They live underground, in caves or in ant-hills. Similar dwarves are common in the Philippines: Aran (Ibanag), Often have red hair or wear red clothing. Their feet are sometimes turned backwards. They often have treasure and like to steal pretty girls away.
Similar: Duwende (Tagalog/Visayan/others – from Spanish “duende”), kama-kama (Ilonggo), kalanget (Ifugao), karanget (Gaddang), karango (Ibanag) laman lupa or “man of the earth” (Tagalog), matanda sa punso (Tagalog), omayan (Mandaya), muntianak (Bagobo), taong lupa (Tagalong, Visayan). The Tianak has one leg longer than the other. The lampong (from Ilongot lore takes deer form and lives in woods and fields
Aran: from Ibanag lore in the Philippines. A little old man as tall as a toddler. Long reddish hair. Backwards feet. He steals rice and will steal away young women if he can; they have to wear necklaces of garlic or crocodile teeth, and have plain names, in order to avoid him.
Bongas: a name for a wide range of spirits in Santal mythology from India. There are several stories of human men taking bonga women to wife. In the story of "The Flycatcher's Egg," a bonga girl lives inside an egg; however, she seems to take human size when she emerges. Others might take animal form such as snakes or fish. Another bonga lived beneath the surface of a lake, in a realm that was dry land.
- Bompas, Henry Cecil. Folklore of the Santal Parganas. 1909. CLIII. The Schoolboy and the Bonga."
Chin-Chin Kobakama: In a Japanese folktale, when a lazy or sloppy person shoves used toothpicks into the carpet instead of throwing them away, the toothpicks appear as a crowd of tiny people to keep them awake at night. This persists until the toothpicks are thrown away. A similar story is told of plum stones which were not thrown away.
- Hearn, Lafcadio, translator. Japanese Fairy Tales: The Boy Who Drew Cats. Tokyo: T. Hasegawa, 1898.
Dayamdam: Agusanon lore from Philippines. They are incredibly tiny beings of the forest. One must ask their permission before gathering fruit or cutting down trees.
Ebu Gogo: Flores, Indonesia. Small, hairy humanoids.
Enkantada, enkanto (Bikol, Tagalog, Visayan): from the Spanish “Encanto.” A broad term for fairylike beings. Often, they have no philtrum (divot on upper lip beneath nose). They live in trees, which are mansions, where they dance. They smell like wildflowers and seduce humans, but become ugly when humans marry them. They don’t like spicy food. They can be benevolent or malevolent.
Imori: Japan. Gecko yokai, the ghosts of fallen warriors turned into geckos to haunt ruins. In at least one tale, they appear as tiny people about five to six inches tall.
Kaiba-an, kibaan, kaybaan: Ilokano. They are one foot tall, with hair hanging down to their feet, and golden teeth. They steal food from humans and hair from children’s heads, and can hide among the stakes of a bamboo fence. Their feet point the wrong way.
Kamanan-daplak: Zambal, Philippines. They will leave flowers beside human babies who have been left alone. Although benevolent, they may be mischievous, calling people at sundown only to disappear when the person called looks for them.
Kenmun: from the island of Amami Ōshima in the Northern Ryūkyūs. They are the size of a three- or four-year-old child and completely covered in red hair. In some traditions, they have no eyes, eyebrows or ears. They live at the feet of banyan trees. They are similar to the kijimun as well as the kappa (another Japanese water creature); they are often described as having a dish or concave spot on their heads like kappa. They hate octopi. They will travel in large numbers and challenge humans to wrestle, but are cowardly. They constantly drool saliva which glows like red or blue fire. If they offer food to a human, it will most likely turn out to be snails and horse dung. They will eat only one eye of a fish and leave the rest intact; a fisherman who received help from a kenmun was left with a load of fish all missing their left eyes. Kenmun have the ability to strike people with illnesses. They may also be called Kunmon, Kunmu, Gaoro or Nebuzawa.
- National Research Council. Scientific Investigations in the Ryūkyū Islands: (SIRI), Issues 1-5. 1952.
- Hendry, Joy and Jonathan Webber. Interpreting Japanese Society: Anthropological Approaches. 1986. P. 172.
Kijimun, kijimuna: from the island of Iheya in Okinawa. They are tree or water spirits, the size of children, with mischievous personalities. One alternate name for them is Bunagaya, or “large-headed.” Another is Akakanaza, meaning that they are covered in red hair. They live in hollow trees, especially the gajimaru (banyan).
They are very similar to the kenmun; both are tree spirits who are frequently found in watery places. Both kenmun and kijimun are red in color; red is a good color in mainland Japan, but in these provinces it is negative. At night, they may walk in the shallow water by the shore, carrying lamps. Any fisherman foolish enough to ask for a light will be drowned. However, these creatures are easily warded off by octopuses.
- Hendry, Joy and Jonathan Webber. Interpreting Japanese Society: Anthropological Approaches. 1986. P. 172.
Kobito: Japanese word for gnome or goblin.
Koropokkuru: Ainu little people from Japan. A few feet to a few inches tall, with hairy, reddish skin, big heads and squashed-looking noses. Their name is translated as "people below the leaves of the butterbur plant.” They preceded the Ainu and were short, skilled fishermen who lived in pits with butterbur leaves for roofs. They hated to be seen and would only emerge at night, but occasionally traded with the Ainu. They used stone tools and made pots.
Ragit-ragit: Romblon, Philippines. They are unable to wink and never grow old. They will steal and sicken infants left out after dark; you can cure the infant by putting a black cap on them.
Shinseen: China. Spirits or genii of hills, forests and mountains. They are mentioned in Keightley's Fairy Mythology. According to Alexander Porteous, they are peaceful and appear as old men or beautiful girls.
- Porteous, Alexander. The Forest in Folklore and Mythology. 2012. page 127.
- Morrison, Robert. A Dictionary of the Chinese Language, vol. 2. 1819. p. 225, 283.
Ta'ai: Taiwan. Short people or pygmies.
Tianak: Philippines. A dwarf with one leg longer than the other. He disguises himself as a crying baby in order to trick people.
Tirtiris: Ilokano, Philippines. They are little people smaller than a person’s hand. Gold teeth, long noses, light skin, shimmering silk clothing embroidered with gold threads. They live in the bagbagotot bush and come out at night to make merry. People who hurt them will have sore eyes or rashes; for this reason, people should be careful when throwing things out of windows, and call “Go away, go away” to warn any tirtiris nearby.
- Anima, Nid. Ilocandia: Land of Contrasts and Contradictions. 1976.
- Ramos, Maximo. The Creatures of Midnight: Faded Deities of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. 1967.
Yakshas: deities from South and Southeast Asia, appearing in In Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts. They are nature spirits who vary from benevolent beings to predators. In some versions, they are depicted as stout dwarfs. Kubera, god-king of the yakshas, is sometimes shown as a dwarf.
Yanari: Japan. Translated as "house squeaker," the word for poltergeist-like beings which cause creaking or other noises in houses at night. Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, published in 1776, depicts the cause as tiny yokai shaking the house.
Zashiki-warashi ("guest room child"): Iwate Prefecture, Japan. These are yokai or ghosts, which always appeared as young children with red faces. They might play pranks or bring good fortune to the house. Some theories make them the ghosts of infants or young children. They are similar to house spirits of other mythologies. Similar creatures are Chōpirako and Makuragaeshi.
Under Investigation
There are many encyclopedias of folklore, and unfortunately not all of them are reputable sources. There are quite a few "faux fairies" who have gained popularity but do not appear in older sources. I've set these entries aside in their own section while I do more research.
Asrai: Cheshire, Shropshire. Small, delicate female faeries who melt away into a pool of water when captured or exposed to sunlight. Their skin was icy cold, and it was said that if one touched you, that spot would never be warm again. These appear in Ruth Tongue's Forgotten Folk-Tales of the English Counties (1970). Tongue has been known as a good storyteller but an unreliable folklorist. Out of her books, Forgotten Folk-Tales in particular is sorely lacking in sources and data. (Oxford Reference)
Robert Williams Buchanan wrote a poem published in 1872 about a white, ghostly race named Asrai that preceded humanity and lived in watery places. "Cold they were as the pale moonbeam" and when the sun appeared, "the pallid Asrai faded away." (However, for Buchanan their "fading" is metaphorical - it's their fading from power and dislike for sunlight. For Tongue, they literally melt in sunlight.) The poem was followed by a sequel, "The Changeling," which developed them further.
Based on all this, I believe the asrai were Buchanan's creation. Tongue could very easily have read his poetry.
Attorcroppe: Edain McCoy in The Witch's Guide to Faery Folk (1994) describes these as bipedal snake fairies, very malevolent. Edain McCoy is not at all reliable, but her fairy material is frequently quoted and spread about online.
Barbegazi: Swiss and French. A kind of small, furry gnome that lives on the highest mountains. It has a long beard and huge feet which it can use as snowshoes or skis. Their name may come from French barbe-glacée, "frozen beard". Their whistles and hoots sometimes serve as warning of an avalanche. Currently, the oldest reference I've found is the highly unreliable Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were by Michael Page and Robert Ingpen (1985, 1987).
Brucie: French word for wood sprite - currently trying to find more citations for this.
Grigs: occasionally described as a cricket-sized fairy. Grig is more commonly used to mean a cricket or a lively person. The Oxford English Dictionary says that it was used in Middle English to mean dwarf. Ruth Tongue declared it a fairy in Somerset Folklore, and in Forgotten Folk Tales of the English Counties, related the tale of "The Grig's Red Cap."
In Transactions of the Philological Society (1864), the editor questions whether the Dorset term "griggling" for picking leftover apples is derived from a hypothetical "Grig" meaning fairy. However, it seems more likely that griggling comes from "griggle," a small leftover apple. In the same way, "scrumping," the act of stealing apples, comes from "scrump" or withered apple.
The Ruth Tongue page contains more information.
Lorialets: French fairies who are the children of the moon goddess Selene, or children born to a woman who gives birth by moonlight. They first appeared in Pierre Dubois' Grand Encyclopedia of Fairies and are probably an original creation. His sources are fictional creations. (Just look at the name - what on earth is the etymology supposed to be there?)
Oakmen: malicious English fairies who guard oak copses and offer poisonous toadstools disguised as food. These were popularized by Ruth Tongue and Katharine Mary Briggs, who cited The Fairy Caravan by Beatrix Potter. However, Briggs misquoted The Fairy Caravan, combining the name of oakmen with the description of a different creature. In addition, Potter's letters and manuscripts reveal that the oakmen were an original creation not based in folklore.
Pillywiggins: tiny English flower fairies, guardians of nature, often connected with bees. The first known mention was in Nancy Arrowsmith’s Field Guide to the Little People (1977) and there is no supporting evidence for such a tradition. The most likely scenario is that this was an accidental combination of the fairy names Pigwiggin and Skillywidden. It may have been attributed to Dorset, England because of a misread abbreviation in the English Dialect Dictionary’s entry for Pigwiggin. Beyond that, all the details – behavior, habitat, appearance, connection with bees – are the result of later authors fabricating stuff based on what they thought flower fairies should be. (Pierre Dubois and Edain McCoy’s versions are the most well-known and have merged somewhat.)
I wrote a series of blog posts over several years as I collected more information; the final one summarizes and lays out my theory on their origins.
Pottons: wood fairies. Perhaps a version of portune.
Saleerandees: Although I've seen these "Welsh lizard fairies" mentioned on a few websites, the only existing source seems to be Edain McCoy's Witch's Guide to Faery Folk (1994).
Vardogl: Edain McCoy claims that thussers are small metal-working, Moon-goddess-worshipping fairies also known as vardogls in Iceland. Thusser would be tusser, listed higher on this page. The vardøger (vardyvle, vardyger, vardogl) is a Scandinavian spirit which serves as a premonition, related to a fylgja or guardian spirit. People believe they've seen someone walk by, but it is actually a spirit with his or her appearance.
Zips: Mayan. Pronounced "seeps." Edain McCoy describes them as tiny, armored fairy men who look warlike but are actually shy, and who guard the wild deer. She may have drawn from Frances Toor's account of the zip as supernatural beings who protect deer, and to whom hunters must pray for success.
According to more widespread sources, Zip, Sip or Siip is the name of a Yucatec Maya hunting god, who appeared as an old man with the ears and antlers of a deer.
Asrai: Cheshire, Shropshire. Small, delicate female faeries who melt away into a pool of water when captured or exposed to sunlight. Their skin was icy cold, and it was said that if one touched you, that spot would never be warm again. These appear in Ruth Tongue's Forgotten Folk-Tales of the English Counties (1970). Tongue has been known as a good storyteller but an unreliable folklorist. Out of her books, Forgotten Folk-Tales in particular is sorely lacking in sources and data. (Oxford Reference)
Robert Williams Buchanan wrote a poem published in 1872 about a white, ghostly race named Asrai that preceded humanity and lived in watery places. "Cold they were as the pale moonbeam" and when the sun appeared, "the pallid Asrai faded away." (However, for Buchanan their "fading" is metaphorical - it's their fading from power and dislike for sunlight. For Tongue, they literally melt in sunlight.) The poem was followed by a sequel, "The Changeling," which developed them further.
Based on all this, I believe the asrai were Buchanan's creation. Tongue could very easily have read his poetry.
Attorcroppe: Edain McCoy in The Witch's Guide to Faery Folk (1994) describes these as bipedal snake fairies, very malevolent. Edain McCoy is not at all reliable, but her fairy material is frequently quoted and spread about online.
Barbegazi: Swiss and French. A kind of small, furry gnome that lives on the highest mountains. It has a long beard and huge feet which it can use as snowshoes or skis. Their name may come from French barbe-glacée, "frozen beard". Their whistles and hoots sometimes serve as warning of an avalanche. Currently, the oldest reference I've found is the highly unreliable Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were by Michael Page and Robert Ingpen (1985, 1987).
Brucie: French word for wood sprite - currently trying to find more citations for this.
Grigs: occasionally described as a cricket-sized fairy. Grig is more commonly used to mean a cricket or a lively person. The Oxford English Dictionary says that it was used in Middle English to mean dwarf. Ruth Tongue declared it a fairy in Somerset Folklore, and in Forgotten Folk Tales of the English Counties, related the tale of "The Grig's Red Cap."
In Transactions of the Philological Society (1864), the editor questions whether the Dorset term "griggling" for picking leftover apples is derived from a hypothetical "Grig" meaning fairy. However, it seems more likely that griggling comes from "griggle," a small leftover apple. In the same way, "scrumping," the act of stealing apples, comes from "scrump" or withered apple.
The Ruth Tongue page contains more information.
- Smith, J. B. "Towards the Demystification of Lawrence Lazy," Folklore vol. 107 (1996) pp. 101-105.
Lorialets: French fairies who are the children of the moon goddess Selene, or children born to a woman who gives birth by moonlight. They first appeared in Pierre Dubois' Grand Encyclopedia of Fairies and are probably an original creation. His sources are fictional creations. (Just look at the name - what on earth is the etymology supposed to be there?)
Oakmen: malicious English fairies who guard oak copses and offer poisonous toadstools disguised as food. These were popularized by Ruth Tongue and Katharine Mary Briggs, who cited The Fairy Caravan by Beatrix Potter. However, Briggs misquoted The Fairy Caravan, combining the name of oakmen with the description of a different creature. In addition, Potter's letters and manuscripts reveal that the oakmen were an original creation not based in folklore.
Pillywiggins: tiny English flower fairies, guardians of nature, often connected with bees. The first known mention was in Nancy Arrowsmith’s Field Guide to the Little People (1977) and there is no supporting evidence for such a tradition. The most likely scenario is that this was an accidental combination of the fairy names Pigwiggin and Skillywidden. It may have been attributed to Dorset, England because of a misread abbreviation in the English Dialect Dictionary’s entry for Pigwiggin. Beyond that, all the details – behavior, habitat, appearance, connection with bees – are the result of later authors fabricating stuff based on what they thought flower fairies should be. (Pierre Dubois and Edain McCoy’s versions are the most well-known and have merged somewhat.)
I wrote a series of blog posts over several years as I collected more information; the final one summarizes and lays out my theory on their origins.
- What are Pillywiggins?
- What are Pilllywiggins? Revisited
- Pillywiggins in Pop Culture
- Pillywiggins, Etymology, and... Knitting?
- Diamonds and Opals: Two Romances Featuring Pillywiggins
- Pillywiggins: An Amended Theory
Pottons: wood fairies. Perhaps a version of portune.
Saleerandees: Although I've seen these "Welsh lizard fairies" mentioned on a few websites, the only existing source seems to be Edain McCoy's Witch's Guide to Faery Folk (1994).
Vardogl: Edain McCoy claims that thussers are small metal-working, Moon-goddess-worshipping fairies also known as vardogls in Iceland. Thusser would be tusser, listed higher on this page. The vardøger (vardyvle, vardyger, vardogl) is a Scandinavian spirit which serves as a premonition, related to a fylgja or guardian spirit. People believe they've seen someone walk by, but it is actually a spirit with his or her appearance.
Zips: Mayan. Pronounced "seeps." Edain McCoy describes them as tiny, armored fairy men who look warlike but are actually shy, and who guard the wild deer. She may have drawn from Frances Toor's account of the zip as supernatural beings who protect deer, and to whom hunters must pray for success.
According to more widespread sources, Zip, Sip or Siip is the name of a Yucatec Maya hunting god, who appeared as an old man with the ears and antlers of a deer.
- Braswell, Geoffrey E. The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. 2004. p. 286.
- Taube, Karle. "Ancient and Contemporary Maya Conceptions About Field and Forest." January 2003.
- Toor, Frances. A Treasury of Mexican Folkways. 1947. Pp. 23, 33, 560.