Sidhe

pronounce shee

The faery people of Ireland. A short version of Daoine Sidhe, the People of the Hills. Sometimes (most inaccurately) confused with elves. Usally considered to the the Tuatha de Danaan, the original children of the goddess Danu, one of the mother-goddesses of Ireland; or descendants of those children. Some legends identify them with weak-minded fallen angels, too good to be damned, but too failible for heaven. They are deathless except by violence, and are expert in some forms of wizardry, especially music, shapechange, illusion, and the manipulation of time. They are always referred to by the Irish by euphemistic names like "the Good Folk," "the Good People of the Parrish," "the Gentry," or other nicknames meant to avoid offending them by using thier real names directly. (In Irish magical tradition, as elsewhere in the world, to name a name directly is to contro., or attempt to control, the thing named.)

A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane

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