I Love Spriggans in the Springtime, I Love Spriggans in the Fall

You never know when you're going to have the opportunity to be a folklore snob.  Especially since opportunities usually appear when you least expect them.

For instance, last semester during spring break, I found myself with my friends Ivan and Hildi (names have been changed to protect the innocent and to save my own skin).  We were sitting on Ivan’s couch as he explain Skyrim to Hildi.  After Ivan showed her how to kill characters in the game, Hildi took the controller and began happily killing all the village people while Ivan started describing the different creatures to watch out for in the game.

     “Spriggans are the worst,” Ivan said. “I hate Spriggans.  Hate ’em!”

     “So what are the spriggans like in this game?” I asked, a bit sleepily.  It was about three o'clock in the morning.

     “They’re nature spirits. They guard stuff,” Ivan explained.  “They’re nasty fighters and it sucks when they attack you.”

     “Ok, so they’re like real spriggans,” I nodded as the sounds of the game continued, glad that the game was keeping to the good ole antiquated folklore.  Until I realized there was an awkward stunned silence emanating from where Ivan and Hildi sat.  They exchanged a bemused glance.  Only then did I realize my statement was a rather unorthodox one.

     “Real spriggans?” Hildi and Ivan repeated, almost in complete unison.

     “What are real spriggans like?” Ivan asked.

     “They guard things,” I said, rolling my eyes at his amused grin. “They can also change sizes because they have expandable stomachs. Didn’t you know?”

     “I didn’t know that spriggans were real,” Ivan replied, matter-of-factly.

     “Of course they are,” I said, indignant.  So here is a blog on spriggans.

     Spriggans are Cornish sprites.  They are related to piskies, if piskies were the light-hearted cheerleaders then the spriggans would be their goth cousins.  Spriggans are cunning, spiteful and malicious. They are said to be horribly ugly with small, bony, twisted bodies.  Spriggans are excellent thieves, they enjoy playing nasty tricks on humans and will often lead travelers astray off cliffs or into miry bogs.  Spriggans are fierce guardians of treasure, kith and kin.  While spriggins may not care for humans they are always looking out for their fellow fae, forming “part of the fairy bodyguard...ready to dish out summary justice to those who would harm their otherworldly cousins” (mysteriousbritain).  Spriggans can change their size on a dime from being a tiny little sprite to being as big as a bear or a giant.  Some believe that spriggans are the ghosts of ancient giants and it's their former giant existence that allows them to become ginormous at a whim.  In the Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, this size changing talent is attributed to the spriggan’s expandable stomach which contains a nearly insatiable appetite.  Spriggan's, like many of the Celtic and English fae, also steal human infants and replace them with their own ugly brats or even take the place of the child themselves.  According M. A. Courtney in "Cornish Folk-Lore. Part III", "although an innocent baby held in the arms is thought in Cornwall to protect the holder from mischief caused by ghosts and witches, it has no power over these creatures, who are not supposed to have souls" (183).

Sculpture by Marilyn Collins

     Spriggans live in secluded places like abandon castles and mountain crags on the coasts of Cornwall and Ireland.  There is a sculpture of a spriggan by Marilyn Collins in parkland walk.  The sculpture is partially hidden by vines in the arch of an abandoned railway.  Just the sort of haunt a spriggan would love.  Spriggans are also said to cause terrible storms and were thought responsible for blighted crops and diseased livestock. Curiously enough, spriggans cannot touch salt water. I wonder if this aversion to salt water was factored into the video game...

Actually the spriggans of The Elder Scrolls are more like woodland spirits or driads, since they have an affinity with the wildlife and are made of wood and magic.  So they really aren’t like actual spriggans at all. Le sigh...





Resources:

Courtney, M. A. "Cornish Folk-Lore. Part III". The Folk-Lore Journal , Vol. 5, No. 3 (1887), pp. 177-220. JStor. Web. 13 Sept. 2013. http://0-www.jstor.org.www.consuls.org/stable/1252554

DiTerlizzi, Tony and Holly Black. The Wyrm King. New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2009. Print.

Froud, Brian and Allen Lee.  Faeries.  New York : Abrams, 1978.  Print.

Johnson, Craig. “Explore Parkland Walk”. The Archer November 2005: 7. Web. 17 May 2013.

"The Spriggans". Mysterious Britain. Web. 16 May 2013.

Paciorek, Andrew L.. Strange Lands: Supernatural Creatures of the Celtic Otherworld. Blurb. Print.

"Spriggan (Skyrim)". Wikipedia.  Web.  17 May 2013.

Underground History.  http://www.underground-history.co.uk/northernh3.php.  Web.  17 May 2013.