We first were introduced to the gruagach (GROO-ghee) when we read C.J. Cherryh's fantastic The Dreaming Tree. In that book, we discovered gruagachs were a type of hairy brownie who attached themselves to farms (the gruagach is pictured on the left) and traditionally helped with chores.
We found information on the gruagach in Katharine Briggs' An Encyclopedia of Fairies, C.J. Cherryh's The Dreaming Tree, and a book we inherited from our father, Dwelly's Illustrated Gaelic to English Dictionary, compiled by Edward Dwelly, in which gruagach or gruagaich refers to a brownie or a man with long hair.
The gruagach is a Highland creature. In the Highlands, they were also called grogans or grogachs; in northern Ireland, they were known as grogans. In the Highlands, male gruagachs were sometimes handsome, slender youths, and richly dressed in green and red, but more often they were naked and shaggy. In Ulster, they were also naked and hairy, and about four feet tall.
In the Highlands, gruagachs often had golden hair and watched over cattle; the females were faeries with long, golden hair, dressed in green. Sometimes they were beautiful, other times pale and haggard. They, too, watched over cattle; they were connected with water, and travelled extensively. However, it has been suggested that this type of gruagach is actually a glaistig, and that the term gruagach is an epithet attached to her. Offerings of milk were made to both the female and the male gruagachs. In The Dreaming Tree, food was also given as an offering to keep the gruagach happy.
Just for a change of pace, the gruagach in southern Ireland was actually a supernatural wizard, often a giant.
There are two broad types of faery: the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court, 'seelie' and 'unseelie' being Scottish in nature. The Seelie Court are the 'good' faeries (though one would never want to anger them, and even 'good' faeries can be vengeful), whilst the Unseelie Court are the 'bad' faeries. 'Seelie' means 'happy,' 'blessed,' or 'lucky,' according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seelie_Court).
'The Shining Throng,' 'The Golden Ones,' and 'The Light Court' are other names for the Seelie Court, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classifications_of_fairies#Seelie_and_Unseelie_Courts).
Seelie are (mostly) benevolent, asking humans for help and helping them in turn. They are most often seen at twilight.
'The Host' are members of the Unseelie Court who fly through the night, capturing hapless victims, beating them and forcing them to participate in the Unseelies' activities, which include shooting other men and livestock with elf-shot.
There is also a collection of 'weird and terrifying monstrosities' who belong to the Unseelie Court, according to Froud and Lee (Faeries); these monstrosities are often associated with particular localities.
According to Katherine Briggs in her book An Encyclopedia of Fairies, the term 'faery' (also 'fairy,' 'faerie,' 'fayre,' 'fairye,' 'faierie') comes from 'fay-erie,' a state of glamour or enchantment, and was later applied to the creatures able to use those powers of illusion. (Brian Froud and Alan Lee in their book Faeries also used the term to describe a geographical location, and we, too, use it as such.)
'Elf' and 'faery' can be synonymous, although 'elf' can refer to a male faery. Faeries, at least in America, and at the present time, are widely thought of as small, winged, human-like females, but the term can refer to any denizen of Faery, with the possible exception of hags, monsters, and bogies. Even goblins, hobgoblins, and the like may be put in this category. Conversely, various names may be given to the same species of faery according to the region. For example, the Will O' the Wisp is also called Jacky Lantern, Spunkie, and Ellylldan.
Faeries are also known as 'good neighbours' (called such to avoid their considerable wrath), 'fey (folk),' 'the honest folk,' 'the little folk,' 'the wee folk' (a term which implies harmlessness), 'the gentry,' 'the fair folk,' 'the hill folk,' 'the forgetful people,' 'the men of peace,' 'mother's blessing,' and 'good people.' Again, many of these names were used in order to keep from offending the fey, who would sometimes take deep umbrage at something which we (at least in the modern day) would consider a minor infraction. They did not always, for example, take to being called 'faeries' or 'elves.' An old Scottish rhyme goes something like this:
Gin ye call me fairy,
I'll wield yuir muckle tarry.
Gin ye call me elf,
I bid ye look weel to yerself.
Gin ye call me guid neighbour,
Then guid neighbour I will be.
But gin ye call me Seelie wicht,
And I'll be yuir friend baith day and nicht!
Wendy and Richard Pini's ElfQuest, which we got when we were in high school, is another favourite of ours. Rather than depicting elves as the ethereal sort found in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (another favourite) or going with the legendary, dual-natured type of fey, the Pinis took an altogether different route. They based the culture of their elves in American Indian tradition, giving them names like Dewshine, Cutter, and Skywise; the elves have a tribal culture, as well, and a deep connexion to nature.
That connexion is so deep that they are bonded to their riding animals, the wolves of the elfin Wolfrider 'pack.' Other tribes of elves, encountered later in the series, also have a connexion to animals; there are the deer-riding 'Go-backs' and the giant eagle-riding 'mountain folk.' However, the Wolfriders take it a step further; their culture is centered around the wolves (they refer to spouses as 'mates' and have a ritual wherein a young Wolfrider gets his or her first wolf). They would kill for their wolves. Only the Sunfolk don't have riding animals, nor is there any indication that they are particularly connected to nature at all.
The Wolfriders usually find mates through Recognition, during which the two mates-to-be learn each other's 'soul names' (names which describe all that they are) and become permanently bonded. All Wolfriders can 'send' thoughts to each other, and we learn that some elves can do even more.
This is a detailed series with complex characters and three-dimensional cultures. We're drawn to this version of elves because we relate to the Wolfriders' earthy quality and their passion for nature and freedom. The Wolfriders aren't as magical as legend maintains, but that doesn't matter. They also don't have quite the dualistic nature the legends portray, though the Pinis have hinted that they do, in fact, have a darker side.
We would rank this as one of the best versions of elves found in fiction.
We first were introduced to the gruagach (GROO-ghee) when we read C.J. Cherryh's fantastic The Dreaming Tree. In that book, we discovered gruagachs were a type of hairy brownie who attached themselves to farms (the gruagach is pictured on the left) and traditionally helped with chores. 
