Fairy Tale Spotlight: A Fairy Encounter

A strange thing once happened to me. I left my village to go foraging. So there I was in the forest when I came across a man who did not seem normal.

"Are you lost?" I asked him.

The being looked down at me for he was very tall and of a perfect complexion. He only looked at me for a moment. It was as if I was a mere distraction. Once again, I tried to talk to him, "From whence do you come? Maybe I can help you."

Suddenly the being said as to someone else of whom I could not see, "Thirty-six, seven. Three to the right. I have not found the source."

These words did not make much sense to me. I had never heard such gibberish talk before. If I had heard anyone back at the village say such a thing, I would have thought their mind to be fevered. But there was a certain conviction in this tall man's voice that near convinced me that what he said had a purpose.

Wanting to assist him in any way that I could, I told him, "I do not know what you mean by all these numbers, but maybe you can find what you are looking for in my village."

He suddenly held up a large hand towards my face. I was startled! I backed away, thinking he was going to strike me, but he did not. He was not even looking at me. And then he said, "Seven is not correct. Pathways are off by one."

I pointed to the dirt path that I had been traveling on. "But the path is right here. I travel it nearly every day when I--" I was interrupted.

I beg your indulgence, for it is difficult to explain what happened to me next. All that I know is that the man looked me in the eyes. It was a bit more than that. It was like our eyes were connected across a tube of light.

I felt as if he crawled inside of me and began picking me a part from the inside. He was looking around. More and more, I felt disjointed even as I stood there perfectly still. I wanted to cry. It felt terrible. Pieces of me felt as if they were moving aside and even separated completely, yet I could still feel them. They were mere inches away from me. I was broken and destroyed... yet alive and experiencing it all through the magic of this man.

I do not know how long it lasted, but it did come to an end. I blinked and found myself reassembled. The man was still there but looking at something else. I collapsed to the ground and wept. I begged aloud, "Forgive me, master, for I did not know! You have my loyalty! Spare this wretched one!"

Despite my prostration, he seemed to ignore me. And soon I heard him say, "Thirty-seven, six. Three to the right. Seven, twenty-seven, four. Back on track." And with that, he walked away from me into the shroud of woods.

I continued to weep. I was able to move, but I was so oppressed by what had been done to me, that I think I remained there in the dirt for a very long time. I eventually went back home and told the villagers of what I had experienced. They said that the man I met was a fairy, and that sometimes fairies may speak in numbers, and sometimes they will not. It is not for us to know their ways, but we may still tell of them so that others will know.

And so for all my years after it happened, I told the story of my encounter, and others retold it too... but sometimes in different ways. I suppose the gist of it is there. Even when I hear them retell my own story, I still see his eyes... as he looked inside of me... and pulled me apart with his very gaze. How horrible it was.

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