The Secret Life of Fairies

My great grandmother would leave out a saucer of milk at night for the Brownie, but nothing more, in case he took offense.

For the fairy folk were capricious, willful and vengeful. They were quick to anger and easily insulted over trifles, therefore many little rituals had to be played out in the domestic chores to appease the watchful sprites, and my great grandmother knew them all.

How she actually knew all this is somewhat of a mystery. Did a Brownie accompany her father from the Hebrides back in 1845?

There was no need for such fairies to journey to Australia, for this ancient land has many Nature Spirits, there are Elementals in the rocks who are far older than the Celtic Sprites.

Whatever the reason, no matter how the journey was taken, some fairies arrived.

There may be times when you wish the assistance of the fairies. There are various means of calling them, for example the next time you're churning the butter, you can repeat this simple arraignment a few times.

"Come, butter, come, Come, butter, come, Peter stands at the gate, Waiting for a buttered cake, Come, butter, come!"

These days the opportunities to churn butter are becoming scarce. You may wish to try this while you make some yoghurt, but I warn you that so far I've had no luck with it.

Please let me know if you have some success.

These fairies were known as dryads to the early Greeks. They are female spirits of nature, nymphs, who preside over the groves and forests.

Each forest nymph is born connected to a certain tree which she will guard, either living in, or very close to it. Should the tree perish, she also dies.

Sadly, many dryads have been lost to the world in this manner, but the gods will punish thoughtless mortals who would harm the trees.

Your garden is a miniature forest, and every flower, every tree, every plant, has its own fairy.

These benign and beneficial garden spirits need a spot to rest and relax in natural surroundings. If you want to attract fairies, keep a little wild part available, add a few beautiful beach shells and pretty stones to it, and a small earthenware bowl to collect fresh rainwater.

In some blessed parts of the world, a typical garden fairy can be a Leprechaun

You doubtless know about Brownies, the small, hardworking fairies of houses and barns.

The Ancient Roman household brownie was one of the benign guardian spirits, the penates, lares and genii who kept watch over the family.

In Scotland the Brownies took on practical household management by spending the night finishing the housework that was left undone. (In the Brothers Grimm, it is the helpful Elves who finish the work of a poor shoemaker overnight, for there are no Brownies in Germany).

A changeling is the offspring of a fairy, left secretly in exchange for a human child. The habit is widespread, children are stolen away from Japan to Skandinavia, and all across the British Isles.

It's especially rife in Ireland!

Changeling stories are folk legends in which mortals are the unwitting foster parents for faery children. The tales are set in an actual past of the same country as the teller.

They are told as true stories of the historical past, part of the ancient belief system in which fairies are not tiny delicate little sweeties, but very real, and very dangerous.

• Teeth
  Always check the teeth. About two weeks after their arrival in the household, Changelings will grow a full set of teeth.



• Skin
  Changelings have yellow, parchment-like skin which becomes progressively more yellow and more parchment-like as they grow older.



• Eyes
  Changelings have very dark eyes which betray wisdom older than their supposed years. If you look into the eyes of a Changeling you will be struck by the depth of wisdom.



• Bad Temper
  Changelings are nasty and ill-tempered, screeching and shrieking in a voice as powerful as a grown man...



• Ravenous Hunger
  A Changeling will eat as much as three men and one horse and then wail for more.