Yes, I have experience of the Pixies. From Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and farther afield I have sensed them and even seen them at times. This of course
explains my interest and the title above my avatar.
Despite the insistence of Hollywood to the contrary, pixies are not tiny gossamer-winged faeries that flit around the woodlands and flower beds in the
style of Tinkerbell. That particular type of fae is not a pixy, but a Pillywiggin or Flower faery. As well as appearing in Disney's "Peter Pan",
they have most recently been seen in the movie "Fairytale", which purports to explain the story of the "Cottingley Fairies". However, Pillywiggins
are not the reason for this essay, being mentioned here merely in order to explain that despite current trends, they are not the same as pixies.
The word "Pixie" is often used incorrectly as a generic term for all British and American faery folk, with books, movies and even computer games
compounding the error - just enter the words "Pixy" or "Pixie" in an internet search engine and see what you get. Actually, the name should be
spelt "Pixy", with the plural being "Pixies", although it has now become commonplace to spell it either way. In Cornwall, the word Pisky is used,
which is a corruption of "Pixy". In the rest of the West Country of England, as in most of the English-speaking world, the word Pixy is used,
although they are sometimes called Grigs or Dusters in East Anglia. Pixies are sometimes also known as Pisgies, Pechts, Pechs, and Pickers.
The original pixies were the little aboriginal folk who inhabited the barrows and cromlechs, and whose cunning - their only effective weapon against
the strength of the Aryan invader - earned them a reputation for magical powers. Over the years these peoples also became linked with the pagan belief
in nature sprites, and the two beliefs merged, giving us the pixy we know today. Remains of ancient dwellings, half sunken in the ground give us an
idea as to why the pixies were believed to live in the underworld, when you consider that when fully built, they resembled a small hill. When seeing a
pixy entering and leaving from the smoke hole in the roof, it is understandable how a passing traveller could mistake them as beings from the
underworld. In fact the word "Pixy" is believed to derive from "Pict" - early inhabitants of Scotland who lived in similar dwellings.




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