Normally, faeries do not allow themselves to be seen by mortals, keeping themselves invisible by casting glamour over our senses. But we can overcome this enchantment, and see through faerie disguises, if we rub some faerie ointment made from four-leaf clovers on our eyes!

Be very careful though, because a blast of faerie breath can remove the power of the ointment!
Now, let us be very quiet, and see what faeries we may find!
And this might be a good time to mention that it helps to be cheerful...
for faeries dislike nothing more than grumbling and complaining!
(But it's ok...you're with me...and I'm "nowhiners!" ;-)

Faeries not only do not like to be seen, they do not like to have their names known or spoken. And so they are often referred to as "The Other People." Faeries can be full of nasty tricks. So, often human beings - never knowing when an invisible faerie might be hovering nearby - would refer to them euphemistically as "The Good People" or "The Good Neighbors" in hopes that perhaps the faeries would live up to these names!

Faeries can live anywhere; there are domestic faeries and wild faeries, water faeries who dwell in rivers, lakes and the sea, subterranean faeries who live under the "faerie hills." In Victorian times, it was believed that faeries lived at the bottom of the garden. Faeries are also thought to live in trees, and are most closely associated with the ancient, sacred oak, once worshipped by the Druids ~

"Fairy folks
Are in old oaks..."

Faeries were always thought eager to possess human children, and so it was believed that they would steal an unchristened, unprotected newborn, and leave a changeling in its place. Sometimes the changeling was a piece of wood, carved to resemble a child and cast with glamour to have a temporary appearance of life. Sometimes it was a sickly faerie babe, or an old and withered faerie. Children thought to be changelings were often beaten, left exposed on a faerie hill, burned or otherwise tormented in an attempt to induce the faerie parents to change it back again. Only rarely did the human parents treat the "changeling" kindly, in the hope that their own child might be treated kindly in return.

"Come away! O Human Child!To the woods and waters wild,
With a faerie hand in hand ~~~
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand...."

~William Butler Yeats
"The Stolen Child"

Although capable of wicked deeds, faeries do have their own moral code, which they strictly enforce.
They cannot abide attempts to spy on them, and will punish invasions of their privacy to the utmost of their faerie powers.
Neither do they tolerate the theft of faerie treasure, or a lack of generosity. Faeries applaud neatness and orderly ways,
and will pinch those who keep an untidy home. Faeries also disapprove of bad manners and ill-tempers!
So remember this when you sign my guestbook, and be especially nice, because......

.....you never know when a faerie may be watching! ;-)

Many, many thanks (and faerie favors!) to Chris for this midi of Loreena McKennitt's "Stolen Child!"

For more information on faeries, read "An Encyclopedia of Fairies" by Katharine Briggs,
the source of much of the information shared here.

Many of the faeries here can also be observed (and sometimes captured!) at ~

A lovely site that's filled with magic!

This Clan of the Faerie Web Ring site is owned by nowhiners . Want to join the Clan of the Faerie Web Ring?
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