Editing Pixie (section)

{{short description|Mythical creature of British folklore}}
{{About|the creature|the American band|Pixies (band)|other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox mythical creature
| name       = Pixie
| image      = Page 83 illustration in More English Fairy Tales.png
| image_size = 300px
| caption    = Pixies playing on the skeleton of a cow,<br />drawn by [[John D. Batten]] c.1894
| Grouping   = [[Legendary creature]]<br />[[Fairy]]<br />[[Sprite (creature)|Sprite]]
| Country    = United Kingdom
| Region     = [[Devon]] and [[Cornwall]]
}}
A '''pixie''' (also called '''pisky''', '''pixy''', '''pixi''', '''pizkie''', '''piskie''', or '''pigsie''' in parts of [[Cornwall]] and [[Devon]]) is a mythical creature of [[British folklore]]. Pixies are speculated to be particularly concentrated in the high [[Dartmoor|moorland]] areas around Devon<ref>R. Totnea: "Pixies", ''[[Once A Week (magazine)|Once a Week]]'', 25 May 1867, page 608, notes the prevalence of belief in Pixies in Devon.</ref> and Cornwall,<ref>"The Folk-Lore of Devon", ''[[Fraser's Magazine]],'' December 1875, page 773ff.</ref> suggesting some [[Celts|Celtic]] origin for the belief and name. However, the word 'pixie' (under various forms) also appears in [[Dorset]], [[Somerset]] and to a lesser extent in [[Sussex]], [[Wiltshire]] and [[Hampshire]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=Joseph |title=The English Dialect Dictionary |publisher=Frowde and Son |year=1903 |volume=4 |location=London |pages=530–531}}</ref>

Similar to the Irish and Scottish ''[[Aos Sí]]'' (also spelled ''Aos Sidhe''), pixies are believed to inhabit ancient underground sites such as [[stone circle]]s, [[tumulus|barrows]], [[dolmen]]s, [[ringfort]]s, or [[menhir]]s.<ref>Imagined Landscapes:Archaeology, Perception and Folklore in the Study of Medieval Devon, Lucy Franklin , 2006.</ref> In traditional regional lore, pixies are generally benign, mischievous, short of stature, and childlike; they are fond of [[country dance|dancing]] and wrestling outdoors, of which they perform through the night.

In the modern era, they are usually depicted with [[pointy ears|pointed ears]], often wearing a green outfit and pointed hat. Traditional stories describe them as wearing dirty, ragged bundles of rags, which they discard for gifts containing new clothes.<ref>English forests and forest trees, historical, legendary, and descriptive, Ingram, Cooke, and co., 1853.</ref> In other depictions, their eyes are described as being pointed upwards at the outer end. These, however, are [[Victorian era]] conventions and not part of the older mythology.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}