Читать книгу Great Book of Fairy Patterns - Lora S. Irish - Страница 18

10

G

REAT

B

OOK

OF

F

AIRY

P

ATTERNS

Every story agrees that Fairies are people of

the night. Coming out from their homes beside an

old tree, a small cave or a deeply cut riverbank,

the Fairies are active until the rising of the sun.

They are seldom seen during the daytime unless

they need to visit the marketplace. Here they go

about their business, dropping a few coins at the

bread maker’s table and taking the freshest of

loaves, with not a word said.

As Fairies do not seem to work at any occupa-

tion, neither tilling the land nor herding beasts, it

must be assumed that Fairy money is magical in its

origins. This assumption seems to hold true as one

story tells of a pocketful of silver Fairy coins that

a boy received from a Fairy in exchange for the

family’s prized cow. The coins then turned into a

handful of corn when brought home to his mother

and father.

Of note in trying to describe Fairies, it is

agreed that Fairies hate lying and sworn oaths of

any kind. One man lied to a Fairy and incurred

such wrath that the Fairy folk tormented not only

him but also his offspring for many generations

hence. For a Fairy to take an oath was considered

foolishness as it bound the Fairy to one place and

one person, contrary to his free-spirited nature.

However, Fairies always seemed to bind humans

to contracts in exchange for little magical gifts. If

you broke the contract, even by an accident that

you did not cause, the gift and all that it had

touched or affected would disappear.

The status of Fairies ranges from the very

poorest, who appears as a goose herder in an early

version of the Cinderella story called Tattercoat,

to the beautiful kings and queens that reside in

lavish palace caves. Yet whether beggars or

princes, Fairies love to dance. Late in the evening

the music from the Fairy ring can be heard as

these little people dance for hours around their

favorite oak, yew or sycamore tree, but never a

rowan tree, for this was said to bring harm to the

Wee Folk.

Laundry Line Gossip,

pattern on page 164

© Lora S. Irish