Saturday, January 28, 2006


FAIRIES
This little fairy cushion (about 6" square) takes me back to my childhood in England when I believed in fairies with all my heart. I never expected to see one, but felt aware of their benign and gentle presence all around me, in the garden, the park, the woods.
I had a child's cup and saucer, one of a series, with the Daffodil fairy on it.

The Daffodil Fairy
Is ever so shy
That even a bunny
She dares to spy
The closest I came to the fairy world was my Aunty Rose, who was also my godmother. Rose had polio as a child, and had severe scoliosis of the spine. But she was always a happy fun-loving soul. When I asked her why her shoulder blades stuck out so much, she told me that she was really my fairy godmother, and that was where she sprouted her wings at night! I felt so privileged to have a real fairy godmother. Even without any magic, she was the loveliest of people.
There was a rhyme my mother often used to recite with me. No doubt she had learnt it as a child. It went like this.
Down in the garden where nobody knows
The grass is so long that it tickles your toes.
I go a-hiding, and would you believe
I saw a fairy on Midsummer's Eve.
"Will you come home with me Fairy?" I said
"I'll tuck you up safe in my dolly's best bed,
And feed you on drocks if only you'll stay."
But she spread her wee wings
And flew swiftly away.
To this day, I have never been able to find out what "drocks" are. If there is anyone living in parts of England where fairies still make their home, perhaps they could find out for me!!

2 comments:

aykayem said...

hmmm ... I don't know what "Drocks" are either - but a google search turned up this - http://www.harryspractice.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=404&zenid=a5e83934d9ac2a6f5a5b8f2eb3b0fe2f - a brand of "dog rocks" - stuff you can stick in your dog's water bowl so when it has a wee on the lawn it doesn't cause those yellow/dead circles - what will they think of next?!!!!!
(actually I used to like having those funny circles on our lawn when I was a kid - I used to imagine that groups of fairies lived around the edges and the bit in the middle, where the grass had died, was so they had a clearing to dance in ;-)

aykayem said...

I may have found it ... according to this page - http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/L/LelandCharles/verse/breitmannballads/glossary.html (which is a glossary for the website I found this weird poem, containing the word "Drocks" - http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/L/LelandCharles/verse/breitmannballads/freischutz.html ) - drocks are "Drakes, Dragons" ... (according to http://www.dandrake.com/drake.html, and I think I have also read it elswhere some tome in the past, drake is another name for dragon, from the greek word "draco") so I wonder if she was going to hunt and kill dragons to feed the fairy?! lol
- I just can't help myself - seeing a word I don't know the meaning of gets ME curious - LOL
(apparently, from what else I read on that website, the poem was written in a mangled combination of german and english that the german settlers in america spoke in the 1850s)
gee ... I have learnt some interesting stuff in the last hour or 3 (that is how long I have spent getting lost searching google/etc - lol)
gee there are a LOT of types of dragons! - see http://www.blackdrago.com/types.htm and/or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon
er ... I think I better go to bed before it is time to get up ... lol

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