The Spriggan is the ugly, dangerous guardian-fairy of Cornish folklore — a grotesque, sour-faced sprite, the guardian of treasure, ancient barrows, and standing stones, a bringer of storms and misfortune, and a thief of children. Able to swell from a small size to a monstrous, giant bulk, the Spriggan is among the most feared of the Cornish fairy-folk, the grim and grotesque guardian of the old places.
The Grotesque Guardian
The Spriggans are described as ugly and grotesque little beings — wizened, grim-faced, and unpleasant, said in some traditions to be the ghosts of giants, which would explain their fearsome nature and their connection with the ancient monuments. Their most remarkable power is their ability to change size: normally small, a Spriggan can swell and grow to an enormous, monstrous bulk, looming up huge and terrifying to frighten or overpower those who cross them. They are the guardians of treasure — the hoards buried in the old barrows and cairns and beneath the standing stones — and they fiercely protect these places and their riches from human intruders.
Bringers of Misfortune and Stealers of Children
The Spriggans are dangerous and malevolent. They guard the ancient sites and the buried treasure, and woe to the one who would dig for the gold or disturb the old stones — the Spriggans would punish such trespass with terror, storms, and misfortune. They were blamed for bad weather (raising storms and whirlwinds) and for the destruction of crops and buildings. And they were dreaded as child-stealers: like other fairies, the Spriggans were believed to steal away human children and leave their own ugly offspring — changelings — in their place. Thieving, storm-raising, treasure-guarding, and grim, the Spriggans were the dark and dangerous side of the Cornish fairy-world.
The Dark Fairies of the Old Stones
The Spriggans belong to the Cornish fairy-tradition alongside the merry Pixies and the mine-dwelling Knockers, but they are the grim and fearsome members of that company — the guardians of the ancient, the bringers of harm, the ugly cousins of the fair folk. Their association with the prehistoric monuments — the barrows, cairns, and standing stones that dot the Cornish landscape — reflects the deep folk-sense that these old places are charged with power and danger, guarded by spirits who do not welcome the living. As shape-shifting, treasure-guarding, child-stealing fairies, the Spriggans embody the perilous and the uncanny in the old land.
Legacy
The Spriggan endures as the grim guardian-fairy of Cornish folklore — the ugly, shape-shifting sprite who guards the treasure of the ancient barrows and stones, raises storms, brings misfortune, and steals children. In it the people of Cornwall gave form to the danger and power of the old places and the dark side of the fairy-world. As the grotesque, swelling guardian of the buried gold and the standing stones, the Spriggan remains one of the most feared and fascinating of the fairy-folk of the far southwest.