Fairy Ring Peril #fairyring #ripvanwinkle

Almost all folk and fairy tales agree ... you truly must "pay the piper" if you are daft enough to enter a fairy ring!  The folklore on fairy rings, elf rings and witches' circles are replete with stories of mortals foolish enough, or bewitched enough, to join in the irresistible dance inside that enticing ring of mushrooms.  While it may enable you to see fairies, dance with wild abandon and revel in euphoria ... it comes with a price.  Sometimes they take you to fairyland, where you must serve a fairy master or mistress for a year and a day.  Sometimes it feels like you have only been dancing for five minutes, when hours and hours have passed. Sometimes you must dance forever.  Or sometimes, in the case of poor Rip Van Winkle, who also partook in a wee bit too much of the fairy mead - 100 years passed before he "awoke" back to his old home ...  

Rip Van Winkle, Artist Unknown

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017
​                                                                                                                                                                                           (gif courtesy of animatedimages.org)