Legend of Saint Collen
© Virginia Marin
ales and legends containing little people were not originally written for children. They were intended for adults and as such were written to reflect the culture in which a particular people lived. Pre-Christian writings were of a religious nature and interwoven with specific gods and goddesses. They were also used for general cultural teaching and entertainment...
But when Christianity crossed the waters and came into the British Isles the legends of fairies changed. One of the first noted changes had to do with the nature of these beings. Fairies either became demonized or associated with angelic beings. They also took on a special relationship with spirits of the dead.
One tale in which fairies were associated with demons is the Legend of Saint Collen. Saint Collen was a Celtic Saint who lived as a hermit in a small cave-cell in Glastonbury Tor.
One day while walking in the forest, he passed two men who were espousing their ideas concerning a certain King of Fairies and how he often engaged in an exchange of dialogue with demons.
Some distance down the road, Saint Collen was approached by a stranger carrying a peacock. The peacock advanced an invitation to Collen to join the King of Fairies for a dinner. The Saint refused three time before finally deciding to accept the favor.
When Saint Collen, the stranger and the peacock arrived at the top of a hill, Collen saw a beautiful palace that he had not previously seen. He entered the castle and found the king waiting for him but his two companions had vanished.
When the King asked Collen to eat some food, Collen announced that he did not eat dry leaves and worms.
The King then asked Saint Collen what he thought of his beautiful blue and scarlet liveries. Collen told the King that blue was the color of eternal cold and red was the color of the flames of Hell from which he, the King, had come.
After his dissidence, Saint Collen took a bottle of holy water from his robe and threw it on the Fairy King. When the water touched the King, he disappeared as did the food and the castle with only a demonic-like bird seen to be flying through the air.
This is one of the early tales in which no harm was dropped onto a visitor who broke the etiquette of Fairyland. It clearly shows how fairy folk were demonized but just as clearly, it illustrates that good triumphs over evil.
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