These are the fairy people of Ireland, generally supposed to be the dwindled gods of the early inhabitants of Ireland, the Tuatha de Danann, who became first the Fenian heroes and then the fairies. Other names are however given them for safety's sake, 'the gentry', the 'good people', the 'Wee Folks', 'the People of That Town', or other euphemistic names. A good account of these Irish fairies is given by Yeats in the first few pages of his Irish Fairy and Folk Tales.

They are the typical heroic fairies, enjoying the pleasures and occupations of the medieval chivalry. Even in modern times their small size is not invariable; they are occasionally of human or more than human stature. Their habitations are generally underground or underwater, in the green raths or under the loughs or in the sea. These underwater fairies are well described by Lady Wilde in Ancient Legends of Ireland (vol.I, p.68). They are supposed to be those of the Fallen Angels, too good for Hell: 'Some fell to earth, and dwelt there, long before man was created, as the first gods of the earth. Others fell into the sea'.