The word fairy came from the old French faerie which refers to the land of the faie or enchantment (Keightley 1860). Fairies were consistently described as tiny human beings who had wings, have the ability to change to whatever form that catches their fancy called as shape shifting and have the power to appear or disappear whenever it pleases them. They were generally portrayed as human in appearance but actual descriptions noted them as strange beings appearing in different sizes and descriptions depending on their nature. Up close these fairies only have four fingers and nostrils without a nose (Stiles 1995). Their sizes range from one to two inches up to several feet only. The size could actually be diminutive to 18 inches, three or four feet tall or as tall as man or even larger.
Their clothing was created from leaves and vines sown together. Fairy women were noted spinners and they weave and spun their own cloth in their cottages. They were usually seen and imagined to be wearing the colors of gold, green or blue. Fairies live in the ground, big trees or forest. They pursued activities similar to those of humans in supernatural speed and quality in their supernatural world. Many sightings of fairies do not include wings in their descriptions but they may be apparently seen either naked or cloth in all styles and colors of clothing. They may be considered as old fashioned but elegant than the dress codes on the districts they were reported to be seen. Fairies follow an outlandish lifestyle. They love to accessorize like decorating their gowns with gold spangles and wearing small pearl coronets. Like humans they tend to dress in the costumes of the country to which they live.
There are fairies that prefer to live in bands called as the trooping fairies. There are those who prefer to live alone. These lone fairies wear simple outfits of fox skins, leaves, green moss, flowers moleskins or cobwebs. The solitary fairies may be old and wrinkled or young and beautiful. The men in the trooping fairies normally wear green coats and red caps. The women in the communal fairies wear grand green gowns and red shoes. They are often young and attractive. Some men wear yellow breeches. The elves love green. Fairies of Manx like blue. White is an occasional color that they wear. Green with red combination is the favorite colors of fairies in Celtic countries. Their hair colors are usually red, brown, black or blonde. Women love to sport long flowing hairs. Their garment varies according to the tribe they belong and as to the rank they hold in their community.
Fairies were recounted to possess magical powers that put them in a leverage to interfere over the affairs of man towards their good or evil desires. They can very well influence a person’s luck by the use of their gift of foresight or foreknowledge. These creatures are definitely enchanting, delightful and charming. They possess the power to cure but are very well noted for their mischief and malice. Yet they were known as shy folks and sacred guardians of nature and all the natural elements. However fairies could only dwell and live in the elements into which they were born. They are both dangerous and terrifying. They used glamour spells during human encounter. No man would ever want to anger them with imprudent action or mere carelessness by the use of speech. Fairies do not like humans because they don’t want to be spied at. They definitely guard their real names. They give false names to humans they meet (Conway 1990).
Sometimes man tends to see objects within the limits that make up their color spectrum of infinite vibrations. Fairies are a race constructed in a material with shorter or longer vibrations. They will continue to be invisible to the human naked eye unless man attunes self to them. But they practically have the option to tone themselves down and allow one to see them. The power of tuning up and adapting may be present to some people which explain their clairvoyant abilities. Fairies were known to give at their whim (Stewart 1823). Old tales of human midwives who were fetched to aid fairy births were rewarded with luck or money. For the unfortunate ones, they barely escaped with their lives.
These strange beings contain a very appealing merry nature and revelry for dance and music. People who follow enchanting and lovely music in the night have the greatest possibility to come across a group of little folks dancing at grass fairy rings. Fairy rings offer a very charming course for a circular ring-a-ring dance (McPherson 2003). Fairy rings are mushrooms, grasses or rocks in a circle. Fairy rings are sometimes described as natural circular-shaped meadow surrounded by blackberry or other bushes. They can also be a hilltop with grasses growing in circular pattern. In these rings fairies celebrate and dance in circles holding hands when no one is around to see them. It was believed that fairy rings are one of the gateways to their fairy world. Gates of old roads and paths are often considered as the place where fairies are seen in Wales.
Fairies keep their side of the bargain but one must be very careful not to offend them or suffer the consequences of the act. They help plants and flowers grow. They also sweep floors and perform magic like curing birth defects. Fairies become mischievous when offended. Poltergeist effects like doors banging, pans falling off the shelves, tangling the hair of the sleepers, stealing small items, leading a traveler astray or even kidnapping of human babies. They then put changelings which is an apparent wooden corpse as a wooden stand in place of the kidnapped humans. Sometimes adults were also taken to be their servants.