Also known as Otteermaaner, Alven are water sprites who dwell in the river Elbe. Light and wingless, they wrap themselves in bubbles in the water to move around. As the name Otteermaaner suggests, they are sometimes said to show themselves as otters. They are believed to be the protectors of night-blooming water flowers.

      Alp Luachra

      (Also Alp-luachra or Alpluachra.) Also known as Joint-eater or Just-halver, an Alp luachra is a greedy fairy from Irish mythology. When a person falls asleep beside a stream or a spring, the Alp luachra appears in the form of a newt and crawls into their mouth, feeding on the food that they have eaten.

      In Robert Kirk’s Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies (1691), the Joint-eater is described as a kind fairy that sits invisibly next to its victim, sharing their food, thus accounting for how someone with a large appetite—a Great-eater—can remain skinny:

       They avouch that a Heluo, or Great-eater, hath a voracious Elve to be his attender, called a Joint-eater or Just-halver, feeding on the Pith or Quintessence of what the Man eats; and therefore he continues Lean like a Hawke or Heron, notwithstanding his devouring appetite.

      Douglas Hyde’s Beside the Fire (1890) tells of how one poor soul was infested by a pregnant Alp luachra and her children. To get rid of the mother and her brood, he ate a large quantity of salted meat without drinking anything, then lay down by a stream with his mouth open. After a while the Alp luachra were forced to leap out into the water to quench their salt-induced thirst.

       Amesha Spentas

      The “Bounteous Immortals” in the Zoroastrian belief of Iran. They are the attendants of the Creator, Ahuru Mazda. Similar to the Muses of Greece, each of the six amesha spentas spirits ruled over a specific earthly quality: achievement, inspiration, wisdom, intellect, sensitivity, and love.

      The six spirits are: Ameretat, “Long Life,” guardian of the Earth’s plants and trees, spirit of immortality; Aramaiti, “Holy Harmony,” guardian of the Earth’s fruitfulness; Asha, “Righteousness,” “Truth,” guardian of earthly fire and the sun; Vohumanah, “Good Thought,” guardian of the Earth’s benign creatures, especially the cow; Kshathra, “Rulership,” “Dominion,” symbol of the triumph of good over evil, guardian of the Earth’s metals; and Haurvatat, “Wellbeing,” “Wholeness,” guardian of the Earth’s water and the afterlife.

      Ana

      Queen of the Fairies in Romany gypsy folklore.

      Ana lived in a mountain castle with her entourage, the keshalyi, the benevolent Romany fairies, until the king of the loçolico, evil earth-dwelling spirits, fell in love with her. When she spurned his advances, he sent his horde of minions to devour the keshalyi.

      In order to save them, Ana agreed to marry him. She suffered many years of degradation and gave birth to a succession of monstrous offspring.

      Eventually, she succeeded in negotiating her freedom. The loçolico king set her free on the condition that whenever a keshalyi reached a certain age, she must be given to his minions.

      It is said that Ana retreated to her castle in shame, only occasionally venturing out in the form of a golden toad.

      Andersen, Hans Christian (1805–1875)

      Best remembered for his fairy tales, the Danish author Andersen was also a prolific writer of novels, plays, poems, and accounts of his many travels.

      He was born in Odense to a family of meager means. He was to remain an only child. His father was keen to give him an education that nurtured the imagination and read many books to him, including The Arabian Nights. When his father died in 1816, Andersen’s formal education, albeit basic, was disrupted due to the need to find work to support himself and his mother. Ever since his first visit to the theater, aged seven, he had been hooked on the world of the stage, and at the age of 14 he traveled, alone, to Copenhagen, looking for employment as an actor. He was successful in the Royal Theatre as a soprano singer until his voice broke, and the theater’s director, Jonas Collins, took him under his wing and funded his university education.

      Andersen wrote a few plays and novels, without much success to begin with, but soon his writing career took off. His first book of tales, Fairy Tales, Told for Children, was published in 1835. It was a compilation of tales from his boyhood memories and stories of his own invention. Further books followed and, as their popularity gradually grew, they were translated into numerous languages.

      Among the most famous of Andersen’s tales are “The Little Mermaid” (possibly inspired by the sad love story of the water sprite Undine), “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” “The Princess and the Pea,” “The Wild Swans,” and “The Red Shoes.”

      Angus Mac Og

      A Celtic god of youth, love, and poetic inspiration. One of the sons of Dagda of the Tuatha de Danann.

Anguta

      The father of Sedna, Inuit sea goddess ruling the undersea Otherworld, Anguta is responsible for conveying souls from the land of the living to his daughter’s underworld realm of Adlivun, where he metes out punishment for their previous sins until they are purged.

      Ankou

      A personification of death in Breton mythology, the Ankou also appears in Cornish, Welsh, and Irish folklore. Also known as the grave watcher, he is a fairy version of the Grim Reaper and often appears as a skeleton wearing a black robe and carrying a scythe. In Ireland he is known to ride a black coach pulled by four black horses to collect the souls of those recently passed over.

      According to Breton folklore collector Anatole le Braz (1859–1926),

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