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Scandinavia Fairy List

Alfar (Nordic)
Somewhat akin to elves of Saxon lore Alfar are closely related to the Aesir and Vanir, the deities of Nordic mythology. They are bound together with marriage and covenants. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elf

Alver (Sweden)
Beautiful supernatural beings who almost always appear in groups. Often considered to be divine biengs whcih are equal to the deities. There are two types of Alver; the lj�s�lfar who live in the sky and are fairer than the sun, and the d�kk�lfar who live in the earth and are blacker than pitch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elf

Biergmand, Biergfolk, Biergtrold (Denmark) 
Dwarf like beings which are able to slip into impossibly small cracks and crevices of hills to seem to vanish or appear suddenly.  

Bergresar (Nordic)
One of the oldest races of beings in the world, and distant relatives of trolls. They are enormously strong and very fast, and massive in size. Those who see them often become poets, speaking of their great beauty and gilded armor. They hate church bells and will often thrown large rocks to destroy churches. They are not always hostile but they don't like ljusalfer (light elves), humans, or deities. To these they can be dangerous. Being knowledgeable of magic they are able to create illusions that even fool the gods. They represent the wild primeval powers of chaos and seek to overthrow the gods. Though some of them have relationships with the gods, including marriage. They can be mercenaries in order to raise money for the castles in which it lives, and they love to party, play games and hunt. 

Bergsr�et (Nordic)
Nature spirits who live in family groups or even in large courts in the mountains. They typically work to make it difficult for miners to obtain minerals by confusing them. Though they aren't entirely opposed to human presence as the will often have sexual relations with them. This, however, was greatly frowned upon by the people of the era. In 1671 a farmhand fell asleep in the woods and awoke to find a woman dressed in white, she gave him food and drink and than had sex with him, and for this the man was condemned to death. 

Draug (Norse)
Supernaturally strong zombie like creatures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draug

Dvïrgar (Sweden)
Small spirits which live under rocks and within cliffs. They represent the still living forces of the eaths interior. Born from the worms which feasted on Ymir's flesh they are small ugly men with long noses, and are the color of the earth. Some Dv�rgar have names which suggest they may have once been the spirits of ancestors. 
They can make themselves invisible through a magical hat or a magical cloak. They are masters of crafting such amazing objects, often making incredibly beautiful halls. They have a superior skill at the forge having made Odin's Spear, Thor's Hammer, and Frey's ship. They hate traveling by boat, liking to keep their feet on solid ground. 
They can be very hostile to people and deities as they are easily enraged, being tough and durable, hard as stone they dislike elves who they see as lazy. 

Enokke (Danish)
A water sprite which appears as an old man with a large beard, a green hat and green teeth.

Fenodyree (Norse)
A fairy who was banished from the fairy court for falling in love with a human maiden.

Fossegrim (Norway)
A water spirit which will teach people to play music so well they can make the trees dance.

G�rdstomte (Nordic)
A spirit of the farm and home who helped farmers gain good fortune. He was often believed to be the spirit of the first man to grow up on the farm. He was typically an older man with a white beard, gray clothes and a hat. Although they were helpful they were also peevish, having a serious temper and would retaliate if the animals were neglected or if people failed to treat him with respect. Above all else he felt it was his duty to watch over the farm animals, helping keep them safe and helping them to thrive. As payment for his work he expected  porridge with a bit of butter. When given new clothes he would consider himself too fine to work and so would stop. 

Havsmannen (Sweden)
A water sprite which aids sailors and keeps water ways safe. They also have children with human women from time to time.

Hulder (Norway)
A supernatural female being which live underground in the forests. They are young beautiful woman who act as sort of wood or forest nymphs. She can at times have lynx ears, or be hollow in the back like an old tree stump. 

Huldra (Scandinavia)
Beautiful female forest fairy type beings.

Jordmorsegna (Norway)
A midwife in noreway who helps a fairy woman give birth to a child and is asked to put ointment in the new born fairies eyes. When she does so she accidently gets some in her eyes. When this is discovered he eye is poked out.

Den ville jeger (Norway)
Known as the Wild Hunter, In one of his tales some loggers, located by the fire in the woods at night, you see a barefoot girl with flowing hair running for their lives just past them. After going two large black dogs neck to the groove her. After a while they heard a shot and then there was silence. Later, they see a great big man with coal-black beard in the light of the fire. He has two dogs in leash and a big muskedunder on his shoulder. On his back hangs girl like another shot hare with his legs bound together and threaded into the stock pipe.

Myling (Scandinavia)
The spirit of unbaptiized children or a child left to die in the forest. They chase lone wonderes, jumping on their back and demanding to be carried to the graveyard so they can rest on hollowed ground. But their weight grows as they near the graveyard until they crush the person carrying them or get enraged and kill a person should they be unable to complete the task.

N�cken (Sweden)
Beautiful shapeshifting watersprites of Scandinavia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck_(water_spirit)

Sj�r�et (Nordic)
A water spirit which is very seductive in the front but which has a hollow back. She uses her beauty to hunt for single men who live near the like, where she delights in clombing her long flowing hair. To protect oneself one could use a sharp iron or steel knife as she could not stand the presence of these. 
They would also sometimes herd their own cattle.
Those who shared their lunch with the Sj�r�et would be given great luck by her, which can be understood as a remnant sacrifice to her. In one tale a fisherman gives a Sj�r�et his gloves and so is warned when storms are coming.

Skogsr�et (Sweden)
Known as the mistress of the forest and the leader of the wild animals. She leads people in the forests astray and tries to seduce men with her great beauty. However her back is hollow like an old tree. 

Stromkarls (Sweden)
Water sprites who are so good at music that they can make benches, cups, sand, old men, and even babies dance. 

Tr�dandar (Nordic)
Tree spirits who were often worshiped as deities in their own right, as such they were given offerings of milk and beer. People would hear them talking in the rustling of the leaves. They could often be seen as beautiful women, owls, or as little people who danced on thre tree branches. They could give people ulcers. 
The souls of the dead would pass into the tree, gaining new life as a tree spirit. In addition to females their was a an old man of the forest.














Discover the motivation and personalities of the fairies in Fairy Tales
Writer's Guide to Fairies

A Writer's Guide to Fairies, Witches, and Vampires uses folklore and belief to explore the backgrounds, motivations, and personality traits people most commonly believed that fairies had.

This book will provide you with tools to understand the fairies in that encyclopedia of fairies with short entries or the fairytales you love.
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