Folklore and fairies?

the Fair Folk of the British Isles (sometimes referred to as Faerie) came in different sizes--the elves, or Sidhe (Irish word), were usually human-sized or taller, & quite, quite, beautiful. Check out some old ballads for that--Tam Lin, or Thomas the Rhymer, for example, where a human was the Queen's consort. Or Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night Dream."

There were some that were smaller.

Some of the cute-factor came from the simplification of the Victorian age, when legends, folklore, & (fairy) tales were relegated to childhood, and their bite was muted--read the older versions of the fairy tales we grew up with & you should be surprised. I suspect that's when the wings were added to most of them as well.

A number of current fantasy authors have used the "full-sized" fairies or elves--try Mercedes Lackey (Elves on the Road series on her website: http://www.mercedeslackey.com/biblio_series.html), & JRR Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, just to name 2. There's also the Vertigo/DC comic Books of Magic that has its lead character interact with the Faerie from time to time.

I didn't know about the French ones myself, but seems reasonable, considering Brittany's Celtic origins.

The idea of tiny twee fairies started in Elizabethan times and became wide spread in Victorian days when they tended to become sickly sweet guardians of moral virtue.

There are hundreds of different kinds of fairies--there is a great book A DICTIONARY OF FAIRIES by Katherine Briggs, and it's huge!

Some think the British fairies might be folk memories of aboriginal people from the Stone and Bronze age (such as the Stonehenge people). Think about it--the fairies traditionally fear iron...bronze users would have feared this new hard metal and fairies live in the chambered tombs built by those earlier races. These fairies are discribed as being normal height or only slightly shorter.

There are small fairies but usually we are talking about 3 foot high or so, not diminutive. Wings are rare in real fairy lore too.

I don't think their size was being downplayed by others but rather, they changed themselves magically in order to hide or escape the Milesian onslaught ravaging their lands. They now change size and shape at will and appear in all manner of human form or fairy form (as we know it) alike. I know of a story about this and will have to look for it and come back with it.

** Edit **

Some sources describe the Sídhe (fairies) as the remnants of the Tuatha Dé Danann ("people of the Goddess Danu"), who left Ireland to live in the Otherworld after they were defeated by the Milesians. (The Otherworld was underground. To go into the Otherworld would have required magical or even god-like powers and to remain hidden, they would indeed have to be small and unobtrusive.) But the Sidhe remained powerful in their own right. In Irish mythology the Milesians were the final inhabitants of Ireland, and were believed to represent the Goidelic Celts.

The original fair folk (sidhe in Ireland, fées in France) were human size, and not very friendly.

Interesting question, never considered why they became small and squeaky. The work of the Church trying to fight pagan legends maybe as mentioned above?

Edit : To Amethyst, the wings came with the Cottingley Fairy pictures hoax during the Victorian times

The original fairies were the Sidhe and they were quite tall and menacing. They lived under the hills in the Britain and Ireland. In the Christian era, they downplayed the power of the Sidhe (which they would have considered demons).

Go to San Francisco.. You will see they are Human size

I never have heard of that.

as far as I know, they could be the same size as manbearpig.