Fairy Ring Peril

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 irrepressible 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 the little folk whisk you away 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 a few minutes; when actually hours and hours have passed. You may even be doomed to dance forever ...

Or sometimes, as in the case of Rip Van Winkle (who also partook in a wee bit of fairy mead), only a mere 100 years passed before he "awoke" to his old home ... and all the changes that had come about during his lost years.

Rip Van Winkle, Artist Unknown

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017 / edited 2020