66 pPant bore, "Isege'r^/, cmGl "bijcic/. 



It was believed that the Fairy folk made their homes in the 

 recesses of forests or secluded groves, whence they issued after 

 sunset to gambol in the fields; often startling with their sudden 

 appearance the tired herdsman trudging homeward to his cot, or 

 the goodwife returning from her expedition to market. Thus we 

 read of " Fairy Elves whose midnight revels by a forest side or 

 fountain some belated peasant sees," 



" Would you the Fairy regions see, 

 Hence to the greenwoods run with me ; 

 From mortals safe the hvelong night, 

 There countless feats the Fays delight." — Leftly. 



In the Isle of Man the Fairies or Elves used to be seen 

 hopping from trees and skipping from bough to bough, whilst 

 wending their way to the Fairy midnight haunts. 



In such esteem were they held by the country folk of Devon 

 and Cornwall, that to ensure their friendship and good offices, the 

 Fairies, or Pixies, used formerly to have a certain share of the 

 fruit crop set apart for their special consumption. 



Hans Christian Andersen tells of a certain Rose Elf who 

 was instrumental in punishing the murderer of a beautiful young 

 maiden to whom he was attached. The Rose, in olden times, was 

 reputed to be under the especial protection of Elves, Fairies, and 

 Dwarfs, whose sovereign, Laurin, carefully guarded the Rose- 

 garden. 



" Four portals to the garden lead, and when the gates are closed, 

 No living wight dare touch a Rose, 'gainst his strict commard opposed. 

 "Whoe'er would break the golden gates, or cut the silken thread, 

 Or who would dare to waste the flowers down beneath his tread, 

 Soon for his pride would leave to pledge a foot and hand ; 

 Thus Laurin, King of Dwarfs, rules within his land." 



A curious family of the Elfin tribe were the Moss- or Wood- 

 Folk, who dwelt in the forests of Southern Germany. Their stature 

 was small, and their form weird and uncouth, bearing a strange 

 resemblance to certain trees, with which they flourished and 

 decayed. Describing a Moss-woman, the author of ' The Fairy 

 Family ' says : — 



'* ' A Moss-woman ! ' the hay-makers cry, 

 And over the fields in terror they fly. 

 She is loosely clad from neck to foot 

 In a mantle of Moss from the Maple's root, 

 And like Lichen grey on its stem that grows 

 Is the hair that over her mantle flows. 

 Her skin, like the Maple-rind, is hard, 

 Brown and ridgy, and furrowed and scarred; 

 And each feature flat, like the bark we see, 

 Where a bough has been lopped from the bole of a tree, 

 When the newer bark has crept healingly round, 

 And laps o'er the edge of the open wound; 

 Her knotty, root-like feet are bare. 

 And her height is an ell from heel to hair." 



