grandma’s stories…

growing up on a farm in the middle of some mountains and yards and yards of pure green (aka middle of nowhere), you get told a lot of stories. the curious little girl i was, i would always listen to old folk tales my grandparents told me. my grandma was born around the 1920s, and she told me great stories about her childhood.

she was always certain that faeries are or were real. the way she told her stories, youd really take it as reality. so lay back and read, as i share some of the tales my grandma would tell me.

horses with braids…

my grandmas family owned a couple of horses, considering it was a village in the middle of nowhere, horses and (rarely) carriages would be the ideal way to travel far, but since the village was so tiny and everyone knew eachother, everything and everyone could be reached within walking distance.

this meant that the horses would usually just be in their stables, sometimes even for full days. my grandma said that sometimes, as a young girl, she would wake up in the early morning to check on the farm animals, and see that the horses were outside of their stables, with beautiful braided manes. she said that during the late hours of the night, as everyone in the village slept, faeries would come and lure the horses out of their stables with various treats like apples and plums, so they could braid their manes. she even recalled seeing flowers in some of their manes or some sort of luminescent dust, the kind that a moth leaves when you touch its wings. 

in reality, sadly, it was poor people from the village who didnt own any horses. when the village slept, they would steal others’ horses and ride them. the explanation for the braids is because they couldnt access saddles, they would braid the horses mane so they could hold onto it as they rode the horse. the flowers and dust in their manes, however, i still do not have an answer for, which leaves me curious…

empty wine bottles…

in the winter, it was common for families to have their alcohol, food, drinks, etc… outside because of the cold, and at the time refrigerators and freezers just werent a thing in that village yet. during some sleepless nights, she would hear laughter outside, feminine, playful and alluring. she would hear laughter, whistling, singing all night long. she was always tempted to get out of bed and see what was happening outside, but she was scared of the pitch black darkness and the scary wolves outside. the next morning, she would find empty bottles of wine, scattered all around the garden, in front of the house, everywhere. she told me that it was the faeries drinking at nighttime and getting drunk, laughing and having a fun time, hence the singing and laughter.

of course, once again, this was the poor people who would steal from others’ houses, especially the drunks with alcohol. they would drink, get drunk, laugh and party until they had nothing left to drink anymore, and they would leave, leaving a mess behind. but i still like to believe that faeries like to drink and have a good time.

why goblins are ugly…

not only did the folk (mostly the children) believe in faeries, but they also believed in other strange beings, like goblins or pucks. mischievous, ugly, tiny, tricksters who roam in the woods and forests. they make sounds in the forest to scare people, misguide them by changing paths you couldve sworn you remember seeing before, or spoiling the food or milk you had with you. rumor has it, goblins arent actually all that ugly or gross, at least in the beginning. they are even charming and beautiful.

the goblins would roam in the same forests or woods as faeries. the goblins would bother the faeries day and night, flirting, playing tricks on them, and overall just not leaving them alone. the faeries were not tolerating their childish behavior, and would cast spells on the goblins, making them uglier and uglier every time they bothered the faeries. they gave them elongated noses at first, then wrinkles, then big smelly ears, then the green skin that looked like it was rotting. making sure that no other faerie, animal, or even person gets lured in by the usually pretty charming goblins and gets tricked. 

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those were some of the stories i got told as a little girl by my late grandmother. as all of her stories can be debunked, and they can be seen as her just being an innocent, naive little girl, i still choose to strongly believe that they exist, and that maybe, somewhere, somehow, they are braiding a horses mane and drinking wine and singing all night, leaving trails of pixie dust behind, for the sake of my grandma. <3

thank you for reading! it means a lot. feel free to share your own folk tales or stories in the comments *･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

sending lots of pixie dust and joy your way,

lana <3