Fairy Talk

Children, Children Don't Forget
by Dora Owen


Children, children don't forget 
There are elves and fairies yet.


Where the knotty hawthorn grows
Look for prints of fairy toes.
Where the grassy rings are green
Moonlight dances shall be seen.
Watch and wait: O lucky you,
If you find a fairy shoe:
For a ransom he will pay
Hobbling barefoot all the day.
Lay it on his mushroom seat
Wish your wish and go your way
If your wish should be discreet,
Never fear for he will pay.

 Of course the fairies won't let me take their photographs.

 I visited an antique barn with a friend yesterday and we meandered through the different stalls.  We didn't buy antiques (I hardly ever do) but I found two felted toadstools.  Don't they fit right in?

 The same stall had lots of fairy furniture, twigs and metal.  I couldn't resist this little dining arrangement.  When I get the wild spinach pulled from the chimney garden, I might place it in the garden.  Meanwhile, why don't you pull up a chair?  I'll open the cake tin and find a lemon fairy cake for you.  Do you like cream and sugar in your tea?

 My friend asked me, "Do you have a fairy for that table and chairs."  I said, "We don't SEE the fairies, Dawn."  The "fairies" in the garden stores don't look like real fairies.  Lisbeth Zwerger knows what fairies look like.  

I think fairies are earthy, not sparkly.  They live down packed dirt tunnels and they hang their clothes on twig pegs.  They sleep in nutshell beds and use thistle down to stuff their mattresses.  
That's why girls like sleeping outside on summer nights.  The fairies play their flutes and whistle poems into slumbering ears.  When they snuff out their campfires and scamper down their tunnels, outdoor sleepers can still smell the sharp essence of moon glow.  You've smelled it, haven't you?

Maria Sangiolo sings lovely fairy songs.  "The Fairy's Wash Day" is my favorite.

If you can't sleep outside, you can sleep by the window.  I think the Fairy Moon will shine on you.