Research source

The Druid Theory to account for fairies is less widespread

Date of account: Published 1911
Source: The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
Reference: The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries · selected passage 26
Rights: public_domain
Language: English with translated testimony
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

The Druid Theory to account for fairies is less widespread. It is that the folk-memory of the Druids and their magical practices is alone responsible for the Fairy-Faith. The first suggestion of this theory seems to have been made by the Rev. Dr. Cririe, in his _Scottish Scenery_, published in 1803.[4] Three years later, the Rev. Dr. Graham published an identical hypothesis in his _Sketches Descriptive of Picturesque Scenery on the Southern Confines of Perthshire_. Mr. MacRitchie suggests, with all reason, that the two writers probably had discussed together the theory, and hence both put it forth. Alfred Maury, in _Les Fées du Moyen-Age_, published in 1843 at Paris, appears to have made liberal use of Patrick Graham's suggestions in propounding his theory that the _fées_ or fairy women of the Middle Ages are due to a folk-memory of Druidesses.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

Lattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.

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