Moss people
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Moss people (also known as wood people, the females known as moss maidens) come from Southern Germanic folklore and are a type of tree elf, tree spirit or fairy. By classification, they were a race of elves, similar to dwarves, the same size as children, "grey and old-looking, hairy, and clad in moss." [1]
They were often but not always the object of the Wild Hunt. According to folklore, in order to escape the hunt they enter the trees that woodsmen have marked with a cross that will be chopped down.[2]
The moss people are similar to a Hamadryad. Their lives are "attached to the trees; if any one causes by friction the inner bark to loosen a Wood-woman dies." [3]
They are thought to be small, with hair and clothes made of moss. In some sources they are said to look old, in other descriptions they are pretty and have butterfly wings.
[edit] Moss people in folklore and myth
- Wild Hunt (Dutch mythology)
- Legend of the Wooden Shoe (Dutch mythology and Dutch folklore)
[edit] Other meanings
Moss people can also mean certain inhabitants of Scotland.
[edit] References
- ^ Classification as race of elves and description, Thistelton-Dyer, 1889.
- ^ Wild Hunt information, Thistelton-Dyer, 1889.
- ^ Thistelton-Dyer, 1889, quoting Thomas Keightley's "Fairy Mythology" 1850:231.
- Helena Blavatsky Isis Unveiled: A Master-key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology
- Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy, The New Statistical Account of Scotland
- Thistelton-Dyer, T.F. The Folk-lore of Plants, 1889. Available online by Project Gutenberg. File retrieved 3-05-07.
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