A flight of fancy for readers of all ages, this book explores a whole new world charged with the wild beauty of creatures who do not live by human rules. Theirs is a realm of wonder, joy and enchanted danger. The two artists who created this book, Alan Lee and Brian Froud, have studied faerie history, myths, legends and folklore, and embodied their findings in 185 paintings and drawings. All the faerie types are identified and pictured - water faeries, elves, gnomes, pixies, leprechauns, tree faeries, dryads and more. Information on their favourite haunts, pastimes and ways of life are drawn from Celtic stories, oral tradition and from writers and poets. Among these sources are "The Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer", the great poet W.B. Yeats' "The Song of Wandering Aengus", and Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market". Folk stories are traced to their origins, retold and illustrated.
