Spriggans are dour and ugly and grotesque in
shape. Although quite small, they
have the ability to inflate themselves into monstrous forms which has led humans to
believe them to be the ghosts of old giants.
Apart from their useful function as guardians of hill treasure, Spriggans are an
infamous band of villains skilled thieves, thoroughly destructive and often
dangerous. They are quite
capable of robbing human houses, kidnapping
children (and leaving a repulsive baby Spriggan in exchange),
causing whirlwinds
to destroy fields of corn,
blighting crop a and all manner of other
unpleasant mischief.
There is a story, told by Robert Hunt in his
"Popular Romances of the
West of England" (1865), of an old woman in whose cottage a
band of
Spriggan thieves used to meet nightly to divide up their booty.
The Spriggans
invariably left a coin for the old woman but she was determined
to have more.
One night she turned her shift inside out, turning clothes being
as effective as iron
or Holy Water in repulsing faeries. In this way she gained
all the Spriggans
loot, although they avenged themselves to some extent as the old
woman
subsequently suffered agonies every time she wore the shift.
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Topaz Moon's Faerie Realm
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