The Daoine Sídhe
“Fairy people” in Yeats’s spelling guide
The fairy folk of Irish tradition: capricious in size and shape, renowned for music and dancing, and associated with raths, seasonal gatherings, and a travelling fairy host.
Quick answer
The Daoine Sídhe are the fairy people in the Irish folklore gathered by W. B. Yeats. His introductory account describes beings whose size and shape can change, whose music enchants, and whose companies gather at raths and travel as a fairy host or cavalcade.
Quick facts
| Tradition | Irish folklore |
|---|---|
| Book | W. B. Yeats, Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry |
| Name in the source | “Deenee shee [daoine sidhe],” glossed as “fairy people” [1] |
| Source realm | Irish raths, roads, villages, and hills |
| Creature type | Fairy folk; especially trooping fairies |
| Form | Not always little; size and shape are changeable |
| Activities | Feasting, fighting, courtship, dancing, and music |
| Other names | The good people; the gentry; fairy host; fairy cavalcade |
What the source book says
Yeats opens “The Trooping Fairies” by explaining the vocabulary of the collection: sidheóg for a fairy and daoine sidhe for the fairy people. He records several explanations for their origin rather than choosing a single one—fallen angels suspended between salvation and loss, gods of the earth, or descendants and memories of the Tuatha Dé Danann.[1]
The account makes variability essential. The fairy people are not always small and may take whatever size or shape pleases them. Their beautiful music can be learned by mortal listeners, but it can also draw people into longing. Their great occasions include May Eve, Midsummer Eve, and November Eve, while the moving company is called the fairy host or fairy cavalcade.[1]
Description and behaviour
Yeats stresses caprice more than anatomy. The fairy folk can reward kind conduct and punish surliness; they dance, feast, contend, make music, and sometimes carry mortals away. Whirling leaves may mark their passing, and fairy roads and raths are treated with care in the traditions he summarizes.[1]
- May appear in different sizes and shapes
- Travel and gather in companies
- Are closely associated with music and dancing
- Can reward, mislead, enchant, or injure mortals
- Belong to named Irish landscapes rather than an invented fantasy kingdom
Source realm: Irish raths and gathering places
The introductory account ranges across remembered Irish places, including County Sligo, the Rosses, and Ballisodare. Raths—earthen forts and mounds—serve as especially charged meeting places, and the fairy host can also be encountered in motion along its own roads. The geography joins familiar countryside to a parallel social world.
Role in the tradition
A neighbouring people
Yeats presents the fairy folk as a society with leaders, gatherings, pleasures, quarrels, and routes. The relationship with humans is social and negotiated, not merely an encounter with isolated monsters.
Courtesy and uncertainty
Euphemisms such as “the good people” acknowledge beings who may bless or trouble a household. Respect matters precisely because their intentions and appearances cannot be reduced to one rule.
Memory attached to landscape
Raths, roads, hills, winds, and seasonal nights turn local geography into a record of tradition. The marvellous is encountered in places people already know.
Books and references
- 1Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry
Edited and selected by W. B. Yeats. Walter Scott Publishing Co. See the introduction to “The Trooping Fairies.”
Project Gutenberg edition ↗