Leg Years
If you’re ever caught by the enchanted pull of a faerie circle, it is impossible to skip leg day. I’m not saying that you should seek them out to see incredible gains, I’m merely pointing out the facts.
Faerie circles are a part of folklore from western Europe that most people with even a passing familiarity with European myth and legend have heard of. The lore stems from the natural formation of circular rings of mushrooms found in grasslands or forested areas. We now know that these are a perfectly normal occurrences in nature, but in the past, they were seen as places of magic, danger, or otherworldly creation. Areas in continental Europe often associated them with witches, sorcerers, or the Devil himself, but in the British Isles and Scandinavia there were different notions. Scandinavians attributed the circular nature of the rings to the dancing of the mysterious elves, while the people of the British Isles considered them the dancing grounds or homes of the Faeries and it is from this particular idea that the phenomenon gets its English name.
As with most folklore, there are many differing stories and legends about faerie circles, even when they deal with the same concept or come from the same region. The people of the British Isles had developed a substantial amount of faerie lore over hundreds of years. In some areas, faeries were seen as helpful or simply mischievous spirits that would assist people if treated with respect or given gifts, while in others they were seen as dangerous or outright hostile. There is also the fact that beliefs change over time and may subtly or substantially shift views on a topic, as is the case with the Victorian age association between witches and spell casters with faeries and faerie circles.
The earliest clear examples of folklore regarding faerie circles paint them simply as places where the faeries dance or live. Many of these stories deal with individuals that stumble across a gathering of faeries as they dance and the consequences they face for entering the ring themselves. Some tales say that to enter a faerie circle is to invite death, or to be cursed, while others reflect the idea in today’s comic: that the person entering will be trapped there, often by the enchanted melodies of the faeries within. In this version of the folktales, the victim is often unable to escape without outside help, and there is a subset of faerie lore that deals with how to release a person from their spellbound state through the use of herbs or the power of Christian faith. The people of the British Isles even came up with various ideas of how to enter faerie circles safely. These include but are not limited to: wearing a hat backward to confuse the faeries, putting one foot inside the circle while keeping another outside and having someone else step on your outside foot, and running around the circle a number of times sometimes only during certain phases of the moon.
There are also some versions of the folklore that paint the faerie circles as places of benevolent magic. Some believed that allowing sheep to graze within one would cause them to grow stronger and fatter, or that by building on or near a circle would grant prosperity or wealth to the household. There are also tales of people that helped faeries that resided in the circles and received some kind of boon or assistance that improved their lives.
So that’s the intriguing, significant, and conflicting folklore of faerie circles. The lore of faeries in general is even more substantial and would take an awful lot of time to discuss but I’m sure we’ll get to more bits and pieces in the future!
Also hello, it’s been a while. I hope you’re all doing well. <3
Yer not dead! I don’t believe it. We won’t get another comic until a year ha s passed this time won’t we.
Also welcome back
Maybe for Christmas
Yeah! My favourite folklore popularizer! Nice seeing you.
Your artistic, funny and informative work is always appreciated. Thank you
Yay, update! Also useful post for writing for me, so double win!
Nice to see you back again.
You are all very much appreciated! Thanks, gang!
MY GODS HE LIVES! Good to see you again!
Great to see you back with a new comic!
Yay!
I was just beginning to get a little bored reading that last one over and over and over and over and over and over again!!!!
Wait, aren’t fairy (why faerie?) circles supposed to be an absence of grass, and in Autralia and south Africa? The thing you’re talking about seems to be a witch ring, where you can find all kind of nasty things (korrigans, pixies etc), which have a lot of fun fighting, dancing, pranking you (often until you’re dead). But maybe this is only in the Celtic culture?
PS: ALL HAIL, HE ROSE AGAIN! Love your work as always <3
So close! I was actually kind of hoping at this point your next update would’ve been January 1st to 5th, 2018, just to mess with the previous comic you made, and then return to regular updates as usual with no explanation given. =P
Still, good to see you back anyway! I’ve been checking back occasionally just in case! Always nice to see someone who’s pretty win turns out not to be dead after all! Please retain this state of being not dead, or there may be a pair of Italian thugs named Vinnie and Vinny sent to your door to rough up the body some for good measure, if you catch my drift. >=O
Are you implying you have been trapped in a fairy circle this whole time? I’m gonna need to see them legs.
If I were to show these babies off it might melt your brain. Better to wait until they have withered to their normal state, I think.
In Northern California where giant redwoods have been cut down for timber you will see fairy rings of trees surrounding the stumps. (Somewhat larger than the typical ring of toadstools)
Welcome back! This is a good topic to come back on. British folklore is hecka fun.
Welcome back! I hope you’re okay. I thought you’d been dragged off by the vikings for stealing their myths, but they’ve obviously decided not to execute you.
Or maybe that’s Old K after crawling through the sweaty gym…
Welcome back! Great comic as always. Hope you’re doing well!
So lovely to see an update, and to hear from you again! Hope you’ve been well.
So that’s where you’ve been all along ! Welcome back
Holy shit…
Looks like he never skips leg day.