Mab in folklore | The Faeries and Folklore Podcast

Episode 210: Irascible Immortals: Mab

The folklore of Mab in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing.

Transcript

You’re listening to the Faeries and Folklore podcast by Ronel.

I’m dark fantasy author Ronel Janse van Vuuren. With nearly a decade of digging around in dusty folklore books, researching creatures of imagination that ignited my curiosity, I’m here to share the folklore in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing in an origin of the fae.

This is the Faeries and Folklore podcast.

Hi, I’m your host Ronel Janse van Vuuren. You can just call me Ronel. In today’s episode, we’re continuing our exploration of the fae realm.

This episode is brought to you by my Irascible Immortals series, available in ebook, paperback, hardback and audiobook. They’ve been alive forever. They’ve been bored for some time. And now they’re showing it. Go to ronelthemythmaker.com/my-books/the-irascible-immortals-series for more.

We’re continuing our exploration of the Immortals.

Today’s immortal: Mab

Folklore in a nutshell by Ronel

From English folklore and early literature, Mab is either the high queen of faeries, the wife of Oberon – the faery king – or, as Shakespeare said in “Romeo and Juliet”, the faery queen of dreams. Michael Drayton had her as the wife of Oberon and queen of diminutive fae in “Nymphidia” in 1627. Even Milton had her as a pixielike faery. In some beliefs, she’s connected to the Scandinavian nightmare creature Mara who, too, can infiltrate dreams, though Mab is usually benign in nature. She’s usually seen as a tiny, mischievous faery who acts much like a will-o’-the-wisp when leading humans through bogs – called “Mab-led” in Warwickshire since 1849; tangling hair – especially that of horses, which could mean she’d gone for a midnight ride on it; and all-out fun like most faeries. Sometimes she’s charged with swapping human children with changelings, though it isn’t clear why she would. Some believe her to be the faery version of a queen from an early Irish race, Meadhbh, though it doesn’t fit that Shakespeare knew this as Irish folklore wasn’t much known in in the sixteenth century by the rest of Britain. Most early writers had her connected to dreams, though, and kept her as the queen of the fae, despite Titania taking that role in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

Origin of the fae: Mab

Mab is the queen of dreams, nightmares and creatures that go bump in the night. These minor fae flock to her for protection as they’d rather be under her rule than be Solitary Fae open to the whims of the Courts.

Her second-in-command is Mara, a creature known to create nightmares throughout folklore.

Mab is connected to the land, the air and darkness, being able to use the magic within it all to create dreams for mortals and fae alike. She’s a powerful faery who can stand up to the Dark King, Dagda and other powerful fae while ruling over her domain – dreams. Her seat of power is Dublin.

She can change size at will. She’s usually a tiny faery who can ride in a carriage drawn by bumblebees. She has wings, though she can hide them. Depending on her mood, she appears as a gothic creature with dark hair and eyes, or a light creature with iridescent wings, eyes and pale blonde hair.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode of the faeries and folklore podcast and that you’ve learned something new about faeries.

Remember that you can get a transcript of this episode in the description. If you’re new to the podcast, why not go and grab your free copy of Unseen, the second book in the Faery Tales series, on my website ronelthemythmaker.com? Loads of folklore, magic and danger await! Take care!

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