You know . . . the People of Peace? The Fair Folk? The Little People? Don't you know they don't like being talked about and even when one does one must use euphemisms?
When most people think of fairies they think of Tinkerbell or the Elizabethan/Victorian insectal creatures. They are a bowdlerization of the real thing, which is decidedly more sinister.
The thing that fascinates me about fairies is that they don't really fit into any category. They're not beings from religion, they're not "space aliens" . . . what are they? There's no religious reason people should believe in them (unlike angels and demons), yet they exist in the folklore of all the peoples of the world.
A professor at the local university once loaned me a copy of a C.S. Lewis book that had a chapter on the fairies (the "Longevi," Lewis calls them in the book). My professor friend shared with me his on theory as to the origin and persistence of belief in fairies: he said that medieval man (at least in Western Europe) lived in a world where everything was explained down to the last detail, where everything fitted in, where everything made sense. He said that the human mind rebels against such a situation and creates something that doesn't fit in. I found that very interesting.
The Good People are nothing to be trifled with. The medieval peasant who came upon them during a night trek through the woods would hide, his heart beating at once in joy and fear. And remember the words of Allingham: "Up the airy mountain/ Down the rushing glen/ we daren't go a-hunting/ For fear of little men."
Nah. This ain't Tinkerbell we're talking about.
There's another reason for my fascination. According to my mother, who grew up in a rural area known for unexplained phenomena, her family looked out and saw little women dressed in blue dancing in the road (this was before my mother was born, and down the road a bit from where she actually grew up, but not by much). Of course, I suppose her family could have just made that up, but I don't know.
My mother has this superstitious Greek folk tale/practice that she does when something mysteriously vanishes.
For example she was writing a check and the check fell off the desk and vanished. She looked everywhere for it and could not find it. I helped. Nothing showed up.
So she took out a needle and said while nailing it down that she called out the goblin and she was pinning him down until it returned the check. I laughed. My mom and her silly beliefs.
The next day the check appeared. My mom out of spite kept the goblin/gremlin/fairy pinned a day longer and then let it go in agreement to the bargain.
True story.