Fairies

Fairies occupy the whole of Britain, save the counties of Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. They usually assume the forms of perfect miniature humans, and are able to increase and decrease their size at will., and may sometimes even appear the height of a human adult. They possess the inborn characteristic of glamour, which enables the fairy to remain invisible to humans while actually occupying a parallel dimension running beside ours and to reveal themselves when they please. It also enables them to make themselves totally irresistible to any human, putting him or her at their beck and call, and to cast their various bewitchments on humans, as well as bestowing gifts on human children. It is also possible to see a fairy during a full moon at Midsummer Eve, or by looking at them through a hole in a stone which has been bored naturally by erosion. Fairies usually dress in green with red caps each ornamented with a white feather, and live inside hollow hills or great mounds of earth known as barrows. Each tribe of fairies is governed by a king and queen, and the entire race is under the command of King Oberon and Queen Titania (or Queen Mab, according to other sources). They rule from the fairy kingdom of Hy Brasil. Their currency is fairy gold, which has the displeasing habit of turning into dead leaves when brought into the mortal world. Fairies often undertake the tasks of ensuring a mortal's good fortune (or bad fortune, depending on how the mortal had pleased or displeased the fairy folk), or sometimes simply play tricks on them. Occasionally intermarriages between fairies and humans take place, usually between a female fairy and a mortal male, but such relationships are doomed to failure, for reasons such as the fairy spouse's inability to attend church with her husband (fairies can only pay homage to the Old Religion) and her hopeless housekeeping. Fairies are often portrayed as flimsy and feckless, but the fact is that many of the males are heroic warriors, protecting the tribes from threats of Goblins, Pixies and the like. Fairies love singing and dancing, and have often been seen engaging in these activities together. Their diet of fairies consists of honey, various birds' eggs, berries, fruit, grain, assorted garden produce, cake, dew and nectar, the last of which they drink as an intoxicating beverage. They do not like milk, as they find it too thick for them. They often steal food from farmers, beekeepers and gardeners, but reward them by encouraging the produce to grow. They may also steal a housewife's baking, so it is wise to mark it with a cross to ward them away. However, the most anti social activity which fairies indulge in is the theft of babies before their baptism and leaving ugly, deformed changelings behind, which some people think is a way to increase their numbers. They certainly need as many of their race as possible, though, what with their having to pay a tithe to Satan of a fairy every seven years, and of course, bearing the destructive forces of mankind.