NAGAS
Nagas are human from waist up and snakes from waist down, although they are often shown with hooded canopies or seven or more heads. Both sexes are greatly beautiful, and several royal families in India were able to claim descent from them, one of their kings married a nagi (a female naga) in the past. They are in many ways superior to man, and are potentially dangerous, but have promised only to bite humans who are truly evil or destinied to die prematurely. Originally, they inhabited the surface of the earth, but they grew too populous and Brahma sent them to the nether regions, where they now live in a great city filled with palaces beautifully ornamented with gems, called Naga loka, Patala loka or Bhogavati. Their tribal chief is Taksaka, and his birthday is still celebrated in India today as a Hindu holiday. Nagas are associated with water, and can be guardians of treasure. However, Buddhists regard them as minor deities and door guardians.

NAGUMWASUCK
The fairies of the Passamaquoddy Native Americans, these are very ugly and hence try to avoid human sight. However, their interest in the fortune of the tribe leads them to help them by giving them good luck while hunting, fishing, and other activities.

NAIADS
Nymphs of the springs, these also make the earth pour forth its fruitfulness for mankind. A particularly lovely naiad, Daphne was once pursued by Apollo but escaped from him by changing into a laurel.

NATS
Supernatural beings from Myanmar, these may be good or evil and live in the sea, air or land. They are part of a complex system of spirit worship, and the most important of them are are a group known as the "Thirty Seven Nats", the souls of thirty seven legendary men and women, who, like all mortals who become nats after death, died violently. Nats are much more powerful than humans and some may be mischievous, unpredicable, and even dangerous, and will cause trouble if annoyed.

NAVKIES
These piteous sprites are found by lakes in Finland and Yugoslavia, and are thought to be the ghosts of babies who died unbaptised or had been murdered by parents unable to feed them, rather like Utburds or American Angiaks. They appear as pale, pretty girls or young children clinging to the branches of riversdie trees like willows, where they cry and moan unhappily. Sometimes they take the form of huge black ravens that scream in human tones to passers by, begging for baptism. Others may try to lure people into the water by pretending they are drowning. Sacrifices were sometimes made to the navkies who thirsted for revenge against the living, and even today many in the area respectfully ask the navky's leave before jumping into a stream or lake to swim.

NECKS
These deceptive creatures have the outward appearance of a handsome young man, and one can only recognise him by his teeth, which are like those of a fish's. He captures young maidens by asking them to scratch his head, but if they are smart enough to identify him, he will promptly disappear into thin air.

NEREIDS
Nymphs of the sea, these live like female humans in the caverns and grottos beneath the sea and avert shipwrecks from pious navigators. They descend from Nereus, the sea god, and Gaea, the earth mother. Examples are Amphitrite, Poseidon's wife, and Thetis. Peleus, a mortal, fell in love with Thetis. She changed into many slippery sea animals as he held on to her, but he did not let go of his grasp, and she became his wife, bearing him a son, the famous Greek hero Achilles. However, most remain virgins, and mothers should guard their newborn babies against them.

NIÄGRUISER
Little creatures of the Feroes, they wear red caps on their heads and live in houses bringing good luck to the residences, much like British Brownies.

NIBELUNGEN
Literally the children of mist or darkness, these were subterranean Duergar of Norse folklore descended from Nibelung, famous for having slain twelve giants. Jealous and selfish, they hoarded a mass of treasure in their underground lair.

NICKURS
The nickur takes the form of an apple grey horse with hooves reversed, and will gallop of the cliffs into the sea if one mounts them.

NIGHT WASHERS
These fairies of Brittany are seen washing the linen of the dead on the banks of rivers, and may call upon passers by to help them. It is unwise to refuse their request, as they will drag unhelpful people into the water and break their arms.

NIMUE
This mysterious Arthurian enchantress lives on the Isle of Avalon, in the midst of an imaginary lake surrounded by knights and damsels. The surface of the lake was only illusion, and concealed her whereabouts. She raised Lancelot du Lac, bestowing gifts of strength, valour and beauty upon him, presented Arthur with his sword, Excalibur, and was one of the four fairy queens who took him to Avalon to rest.

NISSES
Like the Kobolds, the nisses of Scandinavia do housework and farmwork at night, and punish servants for irregularity. The nis resembles a Troll in appearance, and like them, hates noise. He is half the size of a one year old, but has the face of an old man, and dresses in grey with a pointed red cap, but wears a round cap on Michaelmas day, like the peasants of the area. He likes the moonlight, and in winter he may be seen jumping over yards or driving a sledge. He also loves music and dancing. A nis called the kirkegrim can also be found in every church, who looks to order and chastises wrongdoers.

NIXES
Also known as water people, the nixes live in the lakes and rivers of Germany. The males differ from human males in that they possess green teeth, and are usually seen wearing green hats. The female nix appears as a beautiful maiden, and can be seen on sunny days, sitting on tree branches or the banks of their resident bodies of water and combing her long golden locks. They have also been seen dancing on the surface of the water just before someone drowns. Their abode beneath the water is magnificent, and they may invite humans here as servants. According to the report of a girl who worked for them once, everything in this realm was excellent, but no salt could be eaten with one's food. Female nixes would sometimes go to the market to purchase meat, extremely neatly dressed save the fact that a part of their clothing, such as the corner of their apron, would be wet. One should beware the land roaming nix, as they have been known to carry off women to work as midwives or to tempt men into the waters with their beauty, drowning them.

NORNIR
These three women sit beneath the world tree Yggdrasil and shape the lives of men by spinning them. Their names are Urd, Verlandi and Skuld, who know of the past, the present and the future respectively. They assist at the births of famous men, bestowing upon them gifts of both good and evil and foretelling their fortune.

NYMPHS
This word originally meant a newly married woman, but now generally applies to the nature spirits of Greece. They were almost always female and attractive, and included Oreads, Dryads, Naiads, Limniads, Nereids, and occasionally the Muses. They were honoured with prayer and sacrifice, and had love affairs with mortals occasionally, and are often the mothers or ancestors of heroes and warriors. They are something between goddesses and women, and are long lived because of the ambrosia they eat, but are, like the natural elements, ultimately destructible.

OAKMEN
It is unwise to wander around felled oaks, as oakmen may be lingering around them, angry at the loss of their parent tree. Beatrix Potter described them as red nosed dwarfs wearing red toadstools as caps. They guard the wild animals of the forests and dwell near clumps of bluebells. They may offer delicious food to passing mortals, but this must be refused, for as soon as the fairy magic on them is reversed, you will see they are, in reality, bits of poisonous fungi.

OANNES
Fish headed beings from another world, these were considered to be sea gods by the ancient Chaldeans. Oannes lived among men by day, building the great Sumerian civilisation and teaching art, science and religion, while at night they returned to the Persian Gulf to swim in the ocean.

OBERON
The King of the Fairies and the husband of Titania, Oberon was said to be a three foot high dwarf with a humped back and a charming face. He has been said to be the son of Cephalonia, Queen of the Hidden Isle and Julius Caesar. At his christening, Cephalonia's ladies in waiting bstowed various gifts on him, including the ability to read mens' thoughts and transport himself to nay place in the world instantly. However, an evil fairy cursed him, resulting in his low stature. Still, this defect has not kept Oberon from having numerous affairs with both human and fairy females.

OHDOWS
Ohdows are a race of small well formed people with the features of the Native Americans who live underground in North America and are thus never seen. They possess magical powers which they use to subdue the earth spirits, giants which live in a lower level of the earth. These spirits wish to break out onto the surface, but would wreak havoc on the world if they ever did so. Sometimes these spirits rebel against their imprisonment, and we feel the effects of this as earthquakes or tremors. Luckily, the ohdows always manage to put them back in their place, allowing the world to rest in peace again.

OREADS
These are the Nymphs of the mountains and rocks, and generally dwell on Mount Helicon. An example is Echo, who used to be a handmaiden of Hera and engaged in gossip with her so that she would not notice that her husband Zeus was having a love affair. Upon discovery of the truth, Hera punished Echo by making her only able to repeat the words others said. When she fell in love with a mortal youth, Narcissus, he scorned her because of this curse, and so she pined away, and today only her voice can be heard as the echo in the mountains.

PARAS
Finnish fairies much like the West European Kobolds, the paras steal milk from cows and bring them to the sorceress that they serve, disgorging it in her churn. If troubled by them, it is advisable to find a certain species of mushroom and fry it with tar, salt and sulphur, then beat it with a rod. At this, the sorceress will appear and entreat you to spare the mushroom, who is in reality her para in its daylight form.

PATUPAIAREHE
With fair skin and beautiful voices, the patupaiarehe of the Maoris gave man the secret of fishing with nets, and possess canoes made of reeds which they can change into sailing vessels simply by magic. They are known to fish on the uninhabited island of Rangi Aowhia.

PERIES
Fairies of Persia, these can be compared to the good Jinn of the Arabs. They originated from Zoroastrianism, and are said to live with the Deevs in Jinnestân in the mountains of Kâf. Their province is known as Shâd u kam (meaning pleasure and delight), the capital of which is the beautiful city of Juherabâd (Jewel city). They are of great beauty, and can fly, although they are deprived of this power when their clothes are stolen. They have fantastically long lives, but are subject to death in the end. They wage constant war with the Deevs, flinging stars and fireballs at each other at night, and when captured, are hung in iron cages from the tops of high trees. Here the peri may starve, if other peries do not come to give them perfume, which they live on. This perfume is the scent of aromatic wood smoke from religious sacrifices. They may favour lucky mortals with charms or amulets, or point a path amongst the stars by which the pure in mind can travel to heaven.

PHI
Ancient spirits in Thai folklore, the phi have survived since before the time of the Buddha. They frequent trees and waterfalls, and may influence men's fortunes for good or for evil. One branch of the phi, the chao phum phi, are much like British Brownies, being spirits of the earth and preferring to haunt houses.

PILOSI
Extremely hairy with the lower end of their bodies ending in goats' hooves, the pilosi of ancient Gaul were believed to bring good fortune to the home and so, like British Brownies, were encouraged to sit by the fireside by nailing a horseshoe to the hearth.

PIXIES
The pixies inhabit the far western areas of England, especially Cornwall, and it is said that they were the original inhabitants of England, and fought terrible wars with the Fairies, who arrived during the Roman conquest. They are usually no larger than a human hand, but can increase and decrease their size at will. They have red hair, turned up noses, malicious smiles, and squinting green eyes. Full grown red headed men with squinting green eyes are almost always pixies who pass themselves off as humans. Their costume is entirely green, which gives them camouflage when playing tricks on unwary travellers. To break a pixy spell, one should turn an item of one's clothing inside out, and one should do this as soon as one realises his condition, as the pixies are not above confusing a person so thoroughly that he never recovers, but wanders the countryside aimlessly, babbling in strange languages, a state known as "pixy led". To keep on good terms with the pixies in the district, one should leave buckets of water out at night for the pixy mothers to wash their babies in, leave milk on the table for them to drink, and sweep the hearth clean so that they can dance there.

POLONGS
A Malaysian bottle imp as small as a child s little finger, the polong is made by a sorceror taking the blood of a murdered man, putting it in a wide, round, narrow necked bottle and chanting incantations over it. After a week or two, the pelesit, a cricket shaped spirit, appears. The polong has to be fed on blood, so at night, the pelesit is sent to an enemy of the sorceror s and enters it tail first, the polong following, sucking his blood. The victim falls ill, and a medicine man is sent for. If he asks the polong who sent it, it will reply, saying the sorceror s name in a chirping, high pitched voice.

PONATURI
These sea fairies are spirits of the Pacific, the ogres of the ocean. Headed by the God of the Sea, they have often been at war against the heroes of New Zealand.

PORPOISES
In South France, it is believed that porpoises live in human form on an island in the sea, and can walk on the water in this form. Once, when a man wounded a porpoise, his ship was caught in a deluge and a knight came riding on a horse upon the sea to get him. He took the offender to the island, where he had to remove his weapon from the wound of the knight who had been the propoise, and was then returned. Since then, sailors of that region no longer hunt porpoises.

PORTUNES
Also known to the French as Neptunes, the portunes of England look like old men with wrinkled cheeks less than a half inch high. They wear little patched coats and appear in farmers' houses at night through locked doors, warming themselves at the fire and occasionally roasting frogs on it and eating them. They will help with housework, and, in spite of their size, can carry heavy objects into the house quicklier and better than a human can. They may annoy people (though never injuring them) by taking the reins of a horse they ride and leading it into a neighbouring shough.

PUCKS
English spirits who confuse travellers by controlling their horses, leading them astray at night. They are dressed in green, and are beneficial to all plants, and may sometimes go into a house to help with the housework.

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