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LEFT FAIBY RINGS 90 FALCON" posed to remain visible on the grass long afterward, and were called Fairy Rings or Circles (q. v.). They were regarded as being sometimes benevolent and some- times mischievous. Croker in his "Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland," describes them as being "a few inches high, airy, and almost trans- parent in body; so delicate in their form that a dewdrop, when they chance to dance upon it, trembles, indeed, but never breaks." They are supposed to live in large societies, governed by a queen; and the peasantry never speak of them but with caution and respect, as the good people and friends, believing them to be present and to hear what is said. The fairy superstition belongs to modern Europe. The pure fairy tales first became popular in the latter part of the 17th century, and the Italians ap- pear to have been the first to take the lead. They afterward became very pop- ular in France; and, at the present, they are more extensive and popular in Ger- many than in any other country. FAIRY RINGS, or CIRCLES, rings occasionally observed in pastures, and usually attributed by the peasantry of western Europe to the dancing of the fairies. They are now known to be oc- casioned by the growth of certain kinds of fungi, which, proceeding outward from a center, render the soil for a time unfitted for the nourishment of grass. FAITH, that assent or credence which we give to the declaration or promise of another, on the authority of the person who makes it. Faith is the means by which we obtain a knowledge of things which do not come under our own obser- vation — things not seen; and in this way faith is distinguished from sight. Faith is also distinct from reason, in so far as it deals with matters which we cannot comprehend by our reason; but, at the same time, while we exercise faith, we must also exercise reason; for it is im- possible to exercise an acceptable faith without reason for so exercising it. The term faith is used in theology for the assent of the mind to the truth of what has been revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. In mythology. Fides was deified by the Romans, and had a temple dedicated to her as early as the time of Numa Pom- pilius. She is at times represented with a basket of fruit in one hand and ears of corn in the other; but her usual symbol is two hands clasped together. FAKIR, a Mohammedan religious mendicant. Among Anglo-Indians, and even among the Hindus, it is often used for a native mendicant of any faith; but specifically it is one of the Mohammedan religion ; a Hindu mendicant being better called a Gosavee. Mohammendan fakirs in the East either live in communities or are solitary. The latter wander from place to place, are of filthy habits, and are regarded by the unthinking Moham- medan multitude as men of great sanctity. In the United States, fakir is a slang name gfven to one of the numerous street merchants and mountebanks. FALAISE (f a-lais'), a town of France, department of Calvados, 15 miles from Caen. The castle, which stands on a precipice, and in which William the Conqueror was born in 1024, is in ruins, with the exception of a tower. FALCON, FAUCON, FAUCOUN, or FAULCON (fa'kn), one of the Fal- coninse, a sub-family of the FalcX)NID.(B. The beak is short, toothed, curved from the base with one or two strong indenta- tions on the margin on each side; wings SAKER FALCON very long. The best-known species is the peregrine falcon. It has always been held in the greatest esteem for hawking. It is of a bluish-gray color, narrowly