Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Fairies' Revenge [Short Story Review]

[I summarize and spoil the entire story.]

"The Fairies' Revenge" is a short story written by Lady Wilde. It is another Irish fairy tale that I have come across recently.

The idea here is about a farmer who does not believe in the fairies and how that works out for him. There was a plot of land that was very green and lovely, and because it was so nice, the fairies loved to spend time there, claiming it all as their own. The farmer buys this plot of land and, despite warnings from the locals, he ignores all the fairy stories and builds there anyhow.

Despite his disbelief in the fairies, they begin plotting against the farmer in order to set him right. As usual, they attempt to test his morality, something very common in these stories. They pretend to be an old lady who simply wants some of their fresh cow's milk, but they tell her that they do not like dealing with tramps. Shortly after, the cows fall to pieces... like their teeth fall out and such. A complete mess.

Later the fairy woman returns wanting a piece of cake, but the farmer has rightly assumed that this woman has poisoned their cows and throws her out, although he doesn't think it is because of any fairy magic. At this point, the fairies set their target on their son.

Every night they take the boy away and rough him up. They beat him and also force him to dance through the night before returning him to his bed. This means that the boy is going to be tired and useless every single day. The boy does know that its fairies that are doing this to him, but his parents are nonbelievers and just think he is sick.

Eventually, things get so bad for the boy that he screams out that he needs a priest. The fairies have resorted on jumping up and down on his body even as he lays in his own bed. Still unbelieving, the parents actually do get him a priest just to give their son some comfort.

The priest does help out and it does comfort the boy, but he soon begins to hear and see the angels of God claiming that they will be taking him away soon. He says this several times before saying to his mother that they are finally here... and then he dies on the spot.

This whole thing completely ruins the morale of the entire family. The farmer no longer tends to the farm and eventually just leaves it. Nobody else will purchase it, and so the fairies take it back with no trouble. After all, all they wanted to do was dance and have fun on land they considered their own.

"The Fairies' Revenge" gets a big recommendation from me. It proves that not believing in the fairies will not protect you from them. Good stuff!

This blog was written on August 2, 2023.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Also stop by my Amazon.com listing by clicking this link: https://www.amazon.com/T.K.-Wade/e/B07BQK9RTZ

Check out my books! Thanks!