Have you ever tried to catch a fairy? Most children in Gear have given it a go, or if they live in the towns and cities have dreamt about trying.

 

Male fairies are about four inches tall and their wings, all four of them, like those of a dragonfly are as long as their bodies. They have incredibly slender arms and legs, with just three fingers or toes on each, all of which end in sharp little claws. Fairies also have a long tail which ends in a sharp stinger rather like a wasp.

Female fairies or Queen fairies as they should be called are considerably larger than the males, but as there’s only one in a hive they are much rarer.

If all this description is new to you, it is probably because you’ve never gotten a really good look at a fairy. They are masters of camouflage and quicker than a flitting bird, you probably will have seen a flash of movement in the corner of your eye, but then when you look there’s nothing there. That’s how fairies stay hidden, they are small and quick.

Fairies also use camouflage, in the far north they will glue, with their own sticky residue, clumps of moss to their body in the summer and in the winter they cover themselves in the fur of small rodents which they hunt. Northern fairies build their hives inside hollow trees or in small caves, where they can be sheltered from the worst of the cold.

Those in the Garnett desert cover themselves in sand all year round, they build their hives out of glue, sand and any shiny objects they can find. Travellers have mistaken the hives for castles or cities seen far off in the distance through the heat haze.

Fairies in the temperate zones change their camouflage with the seasons, taking petal and leaves from whatever is available and gluing them to their body for a day or two, before changing them for something new. In the spring and summer they decorate themselves with flower petals and in the autumn are decked out in colourful leaves. Here they prefer to have their hives in trees with dense branches, where they can build between them, these hives can be constructed from twigs, pebbles, feathers and of course shiny things.

Magic users prize the glue that fairies create, as it is sticky beyond all reason, and can only be dissolved by fairy spit. How exactly magic users of any calibre collect the fairy glue or fairy spit is a whole different matter, but they are both prized materials.

Fairy honey, has many magical properties, it can cure most sicknesses, is an antidote to a lot of poisons, and it can heal flesh wounds in a few moments. Royal jelly from a fairy hive can restore a person on the brink of death back to full health or reverse ageing dramatically.

Now before you run out to raid a fairy hive for the goodies inside, be aware of the dangers, as fairies do not like to share. They may be pretty and dainty, but they are dangerous and protective. A fairy will fight to the death to protect its hive, but your death is what they prefer. The wasp like stinger on the end of their tails delivers a small dose of poison, for most people a single sting will result in a big swelling which will be very painful, multiple stings can be fatal. Fairies operate in swarms, when one sends up the distress call, more will come. Those brave adventurers who have tried stealing fairy honey often run away when facing the onslaught of several hundred angry fairies. If you insist on trying, I’d recommend magical protection, armour, and a bottle of strong alcohol. The alcohol will be useful, you’ll probably want a strong drink before you attempt to raid the hive, and the rest of the bottle you should give to the fairies, they find it very tasty and distracting.

We’ve heard enough now about fairies; we really should get on with the tale.

 

 

A long time ago before the Artens, back in the days when there were few humans, the gods and spirits could often be found walking the world. In an age where it said the animals could still talk, the fairies sang their songs. In a little kingdom which later became a part of Daycut, in the heart of the Stygian Forest, there lived a little orange fox.

The fox was called Finn, his brothers were Huckle and Berry, and his two sisters were called Prim and Proper. Having five hungry little pups to feed Valkyrie their mother was very busy, with Finn being the smallest he often got ignored, he didn’t mind when the others paid him no attention, as this meant he could sit and watch. Whilst his brothers and sisters rolled about and played, he would observe, not only his siblings but everything around him.

By the time Finn was fully grown, he had earned his reputation from all the animals in the forest, as being the most observant and amongst the wisest, although Calliope the owl and Nostradamus the bear, would debate this at length. As well as animal friends Finn had a human friend called Sophie who lived with her father and mother in a wooden cabin, on top of the hill in the centre of the forest. Finn was very fond of Sophie who called him a clever fox, he would have been happy if he could have moved into the nice warm cabin where she lived, but she told him that he was a wild animal and wild animals couldn’t live in houses.

As winter was coming around Finn was giving serious consideration to extending his rather small den, and the merits of adding some dried reeds to the floor. As nice as he made his den, he kept thinking of Sophie’s house with the rug by the fire and a spot to sleep at the end of her bed. As he often did when he had a conundrum, Finn went to sit by the stream. He sat there as still as a statue, for so long that a butterfly landed on his head, then a robin which wasn’t paying attention, he gave neither any mind and continued to think.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash that wasn’t light on the stream, his animal instincts caused him to leap forward and bring his paws down on the scuttling shape at his feet. Lifting one front paw he discovered he’d pinned a fairy to the ground.

“Let me go! I’ll sting you!” squealed the fairy in a high-pitched voice.

“How are you going to do that, when I have your stinger pinned to the ground?” replied Finn calmly.

The fairy swivelled his little head and saw that the fox was right, he couldn’t use his stinger.

“All right, you got me there. How about you just let me go, and I promise you I won’t sting you when you do.”

Finn was just about to lift his paw and set the fairy free, when he remembered a story his mother had told about fairies granting wishes.

“I will let you go little fairy, when you can answer my question.”

“Fair do’s, I will give it my best try.”

“How do I prove to Sophie the human, that I’m not a wild animal and that I should go and live in her house?”

“That’s a hard one, give me a moment,” after nearly two minutes of deep consideration, and a fair bit of muttering the fairy proffered an answer. “Humans put a lot of emphasis on clothes, clothes make the man, or so I’ve heard. What you need to do Mr Fox is wear clothes, that will prove you’re not a wild animal and you can go live in the house.”

“Where can I find cloves in the middle of a forest?”

“Please let me go, I agreed to answer one question and I have already done that,” complained the fairy.

“I could eat you in a single bite. I wonder what fairy tastes like, I don’t think anyone in the forest knows, I could tell everybody.”

“All right you make a point, although I will tell you this for free, fairy isn’t going to taste nice.”

In an effort to force the creature to get to the point Finn growled at him.

“All right, all right,” cried the fairy in alarm. “You’ve just got to use what’s around you. Look at me, I make my clothes every day out of leaves and petals, and I am a dab hand at sticking things together, I’m sure I could make you an outfit.”

The fairy was desperate now and would have promised anything to get free. Slowly Finn raised his other paw and released the fairy, who didn’t immediately take off, instead he circled the fox measuring him up.

“We could start by making you a waistcoat with the dock leaves over there, then a neckerchief with the reeds from the stream, and how about a fancy hat? And gloves of course, you need gloves to finish off a truly sophisticated outfit.”

He darted back and forth collecting leaves, little pebbles and all manner of bits and pieces. In a few short minutes he had fashioned all the clothing he had promised, four or five dock leaves had been joined together with strips of stick to make a waistcoat, an early attempt to use fairy glue on the waistcoat was abandoned, as the leaves stuck to Finn’s fur much to his discomfort and it had taken a long time for the fairy to unstick him. A long length of iris reed had been cut and twisted into a neckerchief, a leaf of wild rhubarb had been fashioned into a hat, and the crowning glory was the gloves and from four large flowers from a digitalis, the same kind of flowers that the fairy was currently using as a cap.

“You do not look like a wild animal any more, I’m sure Sophie will be really impressed.”

“Yes, you’ve done a fine job, I promise not to eat you.”

“That’s if you catch me again, I will be more careful, so this is farewell.” As the fairy spoke, he bowed to the fox before taking off, and in the blink of an eye had disappeared into the trees.

Finn spent a minute admiring his reflection in the stream, then he turned to head for Sophie’s house.

It was a hot autumn day, soon the leaves that made up his waistcoat dried out and crumbled, ripping at the seams. The leaf of wild rhubarb went so limp it covered Finn’s eyes, and he had to throw it into the bushes. The neckerchief made from iris reeds became caught on a low hanging branch, as Finn struggled to get free, he ripped it and it fell away. By the time the fox reached Sophie’s house all he had left was the gloves made from flowers, he just hoped that would do.

 

Sophie opened the door to the log cabin after Finn barked, normally he would just scratch at the door to get her attention, but he didn’t want to ruin his gloves. With the little girl looking down at him, he hopped to his feet and began to trot around in a circle before her, showing off all four of his fancy, pink, flower, gloves. Sophie was utterly delighted by them, and when Finn told the story of his encounter with the fairy she invited him in, announcing to her mother and father that he wasn’t a wild animal as he was wearing clothes.

Sophie’s father wasn’t as convinced as his daughter and insisted the fox must sleep on the rug by the fire, rather than on his daughter’s bed. Finn didn’t mind, this was a step in the right direction, if he proved to be a good houseguest, it would only be a matter of time before he could sleep where he liked and even eat his meals at the table.

As the family prepared for bed, Finn considered taking off his gloves and stretching his ginger paws out towards the fire, but he saw Sophie put on a long white nightdress as she prepared to sleep, so it seemed proper to Finn that he should keep his gloves on, after all they were the only clothes he had left.

 

Now over the course of the night, as the fire burnt down lower and lower, Finn kept shuffling closer and closer to the embers, he couldn’t get enough of the warmth. The digitalis flowers dried out from the heat of the fire until they were as dry and flammable as paper, now it would only take a stray, lingering ember, from the fire to set them ablaze, and that’s what happened.

As Finn got too close to the fire the flowers burst into flame scorching his little auburn feet. His howling and whining woke the whole family and the smell of burnt fur filled the little cabin. Sophie’s father picked up a broom and hurried poor Finn out of the house shouting curses about the smell at him all the way, then he stamped out the small patch of fire which had sprung up were Finn had rested his burning paws on the hearthrug.

Despite his poor burnt feet, Finn ran quite a distance until he reached an outcrop from where he could see the moons. Sitting on the cool ground he tried to lick his feet clean, they had turned black from the burning flowers and were terribly painful, when this didn’t help, he turned his head skyward and howled to the moons. His howl was so sad and awful that the goddess Selene, the goddess of the silver moon, came down from the heavens on a ray of moonlight to see what could be done. She descended from the heavens as a ball of silver light, but when her feet touched the ground, she took on a form suited for the occasion. A large white fox approached the little orange fox on the outcrop, the goddess looked almost like a fox except the tips of each of her nine tails, they were a blueish-grey and there were two blue spots above her eyes. In this form Selene was known to all the foxes and the wolves as Kitsune.

“Little Fox why do you cry at the moons?” asked Kitsune.

“Oh Kitsune, I cried to the moons, because I’ve lost my dream, and my feet have been burnt, they hurt so much.”

“If you promise not to howl so awfully to the moons, I will heal your feet.”

Instead of asking the goddess for more information, which is what any wise or cautious person would do when striking a deal with the gods and the goddesses, Finn agreed without bartering at all.

“I promise I will not cry out to the moons, never ever again, if you help me.”

Tilting her head down Kitsune took each of Finn’s paws in turn and blew upon them, as her breath touched his paws all the pain vanished, but the blackened fur remained.

“Thank you, Goddess Kitsune, but could you not restore my beautiful auburn fur?”

“I could, but the black fur will be a reminder of your promise not to howl at the moons and disturb my sister and I.”

“Can you help me with my dream? I want to live like the humans do.”

“I can do many things, but I cannot change the nature of the world, foxes are not meant to live with humans.”

“But the fairy told me I could, if I wore clothes, that would impress the humans and they would take me in.”

“And what do fairies know about humans? They wear their flowers and leaves as camouflage to stay hidden. They are more like insects than humans, despite their looks. Take my advice Finn, be yourself for yourself and no one else.”

“But how do I do that?” cried out Finn in dismay.

Kitsune did not answer him, she was already ascending into the sky, once more turning into a shimmering orb of silver light

Finn tilted back his head, he opened his mouth to howl in anguish as he had already forgotten his promise to the goddess. As a terrible wailing cry came from his throat, she reappeared before him as abruptly as a strike of lightning.

“You promised not to howl! I even left you something to remember that promise, yet you could not keep it for a single night!”

Last time the goddess, even in her animal form, had been an entity of serene calm. Now the fur around her neck was standing up and she had puffed up the fur on her tails. Small charges of silver white light leapt between the tails as she swished them back and forth.

“I offered to help you in exchange for a little peace and quiet. I cannot take back what I have done, you will suffer in other ways, what befalls you will befall all of your kind.”

With these final words an arc of silver light shot out from the goddess and enveloped Finn.

When he eventually opened his eyes she was gone, his paws remained black and he was certain he would never howl at the moons again.

 

As the sun began to rise he crept back to his den, he felt too ashamed to show his face near Sophie’s home, which could have so easily burnt down due to his carelessness. He felt so bad about his actions, he swore to himself to stay away from her house forever.

 

The next night whilst he was out foraging Finn came across his bigger brothers Huckle and Berry, neither of them were happy.

“Finn, do you have any idea what’s happened to my paws?” asked Berry, as the larger fox spoke, he lifted one of his front paws which was now black.

“We’ve spent all day visiting every fox in the forest, the same thing has happened to all of them,” added Huckle when Finn didn’t reply.

After some consideration, Finn denied knowing anything, he’d realised that he should never have taken the fairy’s advice. He should also have been a lot more respectful to the goddess and worked harder to keep his promise. He only hoped the other foxes wouldn’t be to upset when they discovered they’d lost their ability to howl.

“And another thing little brother, all the animals in the forest tell us that we stink, although I can’t smell anything different,” announced Huckle.

Finn decided it was best not to admit anything to his brothers, he just hoped that in time the other foxes would forget about the way things had been before, and of course that nobody would know about the selfish and careless things he’d done.

 

But of course, Sophie knew the whole story or at least she had guessed at a few bits. After her father had shooed Finn out into the night, she had followed a few minutes later, she’d been close enough to see the goddess in her white fox form, although she couldn’t hear what had been said. After seeing the new black paws on the foxes around the forest, she’d worked out enough to piece together the story of Finn, the fairy and Kitsune.

When Sophie was grown up and had children of her own, she told them the story, they then passed it on to their children. Eventually the log cabin in which Sophie had lived burnt down and was replaced with a stone one, which was altered, added to, and changed by each generation. Over the passing centuries the story of Finn, the fairy and Kitsune was told and retold, changed and altered, before being written down by a scribe in Bruges’s Keep, which now sat at the top of the hill in the middle of the Stygian Forest, where a log cabin had once stood.

During that time foxes had stopped speaking to humans altogether, and they became more wary, but every now and again one will investigate around the humans’ dwellings. Foxes are still curious animals, and they are fascinated by some of the things humans do.

 

I hope you’ve learnt a few things from this tale, chiefly that digitalis gets its common name ‘Foxglove’ from this story as well as the name ‘Fairy cap’. That you shouldn’t trust a fairy who gives you fashion advice, and how the foxes got their black paws. Perhaps the most important lesson from this tale is that you should always honour any deal you make with a god or goddess. They may appear to be all kindness and light when you first see them, but they can change in the blink of an eye, handing out punishments for oath breakers far harsher than perhaps they deserve.

The end