FAIRIES AS AN INVERTED MODEL OF DESIRED BEHAVIOR IN PATRIARCHAL COMMUNITIES

Abstract

This paper is concerned with beliefs in mythical creatures known as fairies ("vile") among the people. On the basis of the "theory" of aberrant individual, this paper relies on the distinctions between this world and the other, as well as those between what is considered normal and what aberrant (or rather, the manifestations of these distinctions in beliefs concerning fairies as a form of apparition), to recognize the elements that constitute an inverted behavior pattern, in comparison to the one that the patriarchal community prescribes for, and imposes on women.