The Nac Mac Feegle (also sometimes known as Pictsies, Wee Free Men, the Little Men or "Person or Persons Unknown, Believed to be Armed") are a type of fairy folk in the fictional world of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of novels. They appear in the novels Carpe Jugulum, The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, I Shall Wear Midnight, Snuff, and The Shepherd's Crown. At six inches tall, they are seen as occasionally helpful thieves and pests. All Nac Mac Feegles have hair that is red and skin that is heavily tattooed and covered with (blue) woad. Their tattoos identify their clan. They do not possess wings. According to Pratchett, "They speak a mixture of Gaelic, Old Scots, Glaswegian, and gibberish." They are strong and resilient. The males are rowdy and spend their time drinking, fighting, and stealing. They are also very superstitious.
History In The Art of Discworld, Pratchett identifies The Little Grey Men and Down the Bright Stream, both by "BB", the nom-de-plume of Denys Watkins-Pitchford, as possible inspiration, featuring fairies that could talk to creatures, but "there was nothing tinkly about them; they lived in a world of dangers". The Guardian notes that "The Nac Mac Feegle embody the stereotypical Scotsman to great comic effect". The Nac Mac Feegle are often confused with pixies, because they refer to themselves as Pictsies. According to their own history, the Nac Mac Feegle rebelled against the wicked rule of the (or possibly "a") Queen of the Fairies, and were therefore exiled from Fairyland. According to everyone else (including the Nac Mac Feegle themselves if they forget this story), they were kicked out for causing fights and being drunk at two in the afternoon. The Nac Mac Feegle have an innate ability to cross dimensions, which they call "the crawstep". There appears to be no limit on what worlds they can cross into like this, including worlds that exist only in a person's imagination (although they cannot use it to travel within a world—for this, we are assured, they have "feets"). Though they do not exclusively dwell on the Discworld plane, this is where they are most commonly spotted. Or, to be more accurate, where the highest concentration of their victims exist. As the Big Man of the Chalk Hill Gang, Rob Anybody, proudly states: "We've been robbin' an' runnin' aroound on all kinds o' worrlds for a lang time." The Nac Mac Feegle take pride in being able to get into, or out of, anywhere (although getting out of pubs presents something of a difficulty). In A Hat Full of Sky, they claim "the crawstep" is "all in the ankle, ye ken". Those who have actually witnessed "the crawstep" report that the Mac Feegles simply stick one leg straight out in front of them, wiggle their foot, and are suddenly gone. The Ramtops have many legends about the Nac Mac Feegle. One, similar to the legend of Wayland's Smithy, says that if you leave sixpence and an unshod horse at a certain Feegle cairn overnight, then in the morning the coin will be gone, and you will never see your horse again either. Another says that if you leave a saucer of milk out for the pictsies, they will break into your house and take everything in the drinks cabinet. Despite their usual policy of non-contact with bigjobs (humans), Feegles have been known to hire out their services. One of the buzzards, Morag, owned by Officer Buggy Swires of the Ankh Morpork City Watch was trained by the Feegles, for the price of several crates of strong liquor. Among very few other things, they have the rare ability to scare Nanny Ogg's cat Greebo.
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