THE ELEMENT ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAIRIES: An A-Z of Fairies, Pixies, and other Fantastical Creatures. Lucy Cooper

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      In Roman mythology she is the goddess of the hunt, the moon, and birth, and is associated with wild animals, the wilderness, and the forest. She was said to dwell in the Forest of Nemi with the nymph Egeria. In Greek mythology she became identified with the goddess Artemis.

      Diana is also a key figure in witchcraft, particularly the Italian witchcraft tradition Stregheria. Aradia: Gospel of the Witches (1899) describes Diana as the great spirit of the stars who made all men, giants, and dwarves, and relates how one night a poor orphan boy saw a thousand little white figures dancing under the full moon. When he asked them who they were, they replied:

       “We are moon-rays, the children of Diana.

       We are children of the moon;

       We are born of shining light;

       When the moon shoots forth a ray,

       Then it takes a fairy’s form.”

       Dinny Mara

      (Pronounced dunya mara.) Manx merman. The dinny mara has a gentler temperament than the English merman. In Dora Broome’s story “The Baby Mermaid,” he is described as an affectionate father who played with his baby and gave her presents. This contrasts with the Cornish legend “Lutey and the Mermaid,” in which the mermaid of Cury herself was harmless enough, but feared that her husband would eat their children if she didn’t get home to feed him.

      See also Ben Varrey.

      Direach, the

      (Pronounced jeeryuch.) The Direach Ghlinn Eitidh is a type of fachan described in J. F. Campbell’s Popular Tales of the West Highlands (1860–1862). Fachans were particularly ugly creatures that had one hand protruding from their chest and a tuft of hair sprouting from the top of their head. The Direach was described as a giant woodcutter with one leg and one eye in the middle of his forehead.

Divs

      (Or Deevs.) Demons of Persian mythology, who are in constant battle against the peris, the good spirits or fairies. According to the Koran, they are gigantic, ferocious spirits ruled over by the evil spirit Eblis. William Finch, in Purchas’ Pilgrims, describes them thus:

       At Lahore, in the Mogul’s palace, are pictures of Dews and Dives with long horns, staring eyes, shaggy hair, great fangs, ugly paws, long tails, and such horrible deformity, that I wonder the poor women are not frightened.

      See also Berkhyas.

       Djinn