- Photographs of fairies, so far,
- have all been faked.
- It’s hard to escape the obvious conclusion
- that it’s just something about fairies,
- likely due to their reticence
- and evidence of their magical powers.
- A fairy can fly on its own
- or ride on the back of a dragonfly.
- A fairy can charm a person
- though for some persons it doesn’t take much.
- Therefore, they can certainly
- make sure the camera doesn’t see them.
- There are many ways to ward off fairies.
- You can carry cold iron or a piece of bread,
- or sport a four-leaf clover (if it’s not too wilted),
- or wear your clothes inside out.
- There’s no reason to ward them off
- unless you believe in them,
- or maybe you believe in them but don’t want
- to be the photographer of the moment
- when the fairy kingdom decides
- to start diplomatic relations with humans.
- Babies and old people
- are physically similar—
- bald or balding,
- bleary-eyed eyesight,
- no teeth,
- weak,
- bed-wetting,
- and prone to sleeping a lot.
- It makes sense
- at least some babies
- are changlings.
- Elderly fairies
- (therefore, small)
- dumped, like parasitic breeder birds
- laying their eggs in others’ nests,
- into an unwitting family’s
- loving cradle.
- If you could watch them
- carefully enough,
- you’d find them dancing
- and singing fairy charms
- in a language
- you don’t understand.
- People make up their own goblin stories
- as though goblins didn’t really exist.
- They change the ways goblins look and behave,
- checking with no authority and honoring no heritage.
- Goblins in the World of Warcraft game
- are small green humanoids from the Isle of Kezan
- who love money, technology, and explosives.
- Goblins in the Harry Potter stories
- are intelligent and skilled silversmiths and businessmen
- who can perform acts of magic without a wand.
- True goblins are unrelated to Spider-Man’s foe,
- the Green Goblin, and are not created with a Goblin Formula.
- True goblins were not invented for comic books.
- The wide variation in depictions of goblins
- may have arisen because of differences between tribes of goblins.
- Some goblins, like redcaps, are more murderous,
- and some, like hobgoblins, are more friendly.
- A hobgoblin who assumes the appearance of a white cat
- may be understandably reluctant to be seen in its true ugly form.
- It’s also not easy to describe a creature
- who can change its appearance and become invisible at will.
- A certain letter is all it takes,
- given the ritual to harden an intent,
- changing death to life and
- animating a man of clay.
- We should not fear the golem,
- only the intent,
- unless the golem can prove
- that we, too, like clay,
- can be made to do another’s bidding.
- The jinn are not human,
- and they are not alien,
- but they may pretend to be alien.
- They are pranksters that masquerade
- as monsters, fairies, or genies,
- and do not stint when blaspheming.
- They create crop circles,
- make flying saucers fly,
- and trade the weak for their souls.
- They don’t obey our rules
- or do our bidding
- or conform to our ideas of them.
- Young men dream
- Lilith will visit them
- in the night.
- Woman or demon
- what does it matter?
- They will ask
- “How could I help it?
- What could I lose?”
- She’s a monster
- only if you see her
- in the dark.
- When I was a child they told me if I didn’t sleep,
- if I stayed awake, I would see the night raven,
- and it would take me away and eat my heart.
- Its feathers are boggy air that make you sick.
- Its wings are strong like falling trees.
- Its beak is a pair of scissors without a handle.
- That didn’t work. I had an early fascination
- with large powerful birds,
- and tried to stay awake until it came.
- It is said that the Oni
- are souls of the dead
- who must torment the living
- whose intentions are evil;
- however, the ability of Oni
- to judge intentions
- is pathetic and feeble.
- Oni are hairy monsters
- with red, blue, or green skin
- sharp teeth and claws
- and bovine horns.
- You’ll know them because
- they wear tiger-skin loincloths
- and carry iron clubs;
- however, recognizing an Oni
- for the torment it intends
- will do you little good.
- Many people all over have seen a large cat
- where jaguars, cougars, and leopards don’t live
- and in spite of searches for it
- it cannot be found.
- A pet or mascot released into the wild,
- a feline escaped from a zoo or circus,
- no rational origin has been established,
- yet the cat cannot be found.