Sprites in Folklore | The Faeries and Folklore Podcast
Episode 1: Small, Everyday Fae: Sprites
The folklore of sprites in a nutshell, how I reimagined them for my writing, and the faery translated into Afrikaans.
Written and narrated by Ronel Janse van Vuuren.
Copyright 2021 Ronel Janse van Vuuren — All rights reserved.
Learn more about Sprites here.
Get the transcript here.
Music: Secrets by David Fesliyan (FesliyanStudios.com) and Dramatic Heartbeat by FesliyanStudios.com
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.
We’re starting this podcast with an exploration of small every day fae.
Today’s faery: Sprites!
Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel
Sprites are tiny creatures from European folklore. It can also be spelled as spright or spriggan. They are depicted as faery-like creatures. In some circles, sprites refer to air elementals while in others they refer to water elementals. I’ve already covered elementals and, as we know, sprites aren’t part of that classification of fae.
In other circles, sprites are the size of large insects with dazzling colour and glistening membranous wings. They live in forests, bathe in dew and eat pests that bother the gardens of the fae.
Shakespeare’s Ariel in The Tempest is a sprite.
Irish folklore holds that sprites love water and can be found near lakes and rivers. As long as you don’t threaten them, they won’t be aggressive. Though beautiful and elegant, their feelings towards humans are ambivalent.
In JM Barrie’s Peter Pan, Tinker Bell is everything a sprite is said to be: capricious, mischievous, quick to anger and spite, but also helpful and loyal to friends and loved-ones. And the author claims that because of her small stature, she can only feel one emotion at a time.
Completely green and dressed in foliage or more reminiscent of colourful insects, sprites are everything small and whimsical we were led to believe about the fae.
And now for my interpretation of the fae in an Origin of the Fae: Sprites
Tiny, green, winged faeries who live in Mag Mell on the same heath as the Galno.
They can change size at will.
They embody the style and mannerisms of the court of Henry the eighth of England.
When they feel hate they turn black, when they feel bloodlust they turn red, when they are happy they turn golden. They struggle to feel more than one emotion at a time.
They have always been solitary Fae.
They are led by their Lady – Juno, the strongest of their kind.
They also have power over the four elements: fire, water, wind and earth.
As a little bonus, let’s look at the translation of Sprites into Afrikaans: Groene-Fee. This is of my own making.
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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