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| Fairies dance in the moonlight. |
In a charming play of Peter Pan , when Peter advances to the footlights and says appealingly, ''Do you believe in fairies?'' grown people as well as children cry, ''Yes! Yes!'' and mean it, too. For the moment they do believe in fairies - the little beings are too beautiful, too delightful not to be real. To children at certain stages of their experience they are the most enticing, the most important inhabitants of the earth. Every flower cup may be a fairy's bedroom; every mushroom is a fairy's dining-table. The gauzy-winged butterflies are the fairies' airships, and very often in the woods and fields of a summer's morning may be seen the rings where their tiny feet have danced all night. True, the most watchful child has never caught a glimpse of one, but almost every child has felt many a time that he might have seen one had he turned about just a little more quickly. As the little girl in the song says:
I know whenever fairies pass,
Because they lightly bend the grass;
I never see them, so I think,
They must go by just when I wink.
Fairies do not like the cold, so they are not to be found in the fields in the winter, but there is one place where they can always be found, and ready indeed are they at all times to come out and play with the delighted children. From between the covers of the favorite fairy tale book they glide, and with a wave of their wands carry the children with them to wonderful countries - that never were on land or sea. There is Cinderella's fairy godmother; she does not look much like a fairy, but what a powerful one she is, with her wand that can turn pumpkins into chariots! And Jack's fairy that he met at the top of the beanstalk; the beautiful lady with the star-tipped wand; what could he ever have done without her advice? Sometimes the fairies in these wonderful tales carry away a child from its wicked selves; sometimes they bear away to their fairy home some man who deserves punishment, and there make his life a burden to him; or they make it possible for a poor little girl who is out tending the goats, and never has enough to eat, to spread for herself each day a fairy table with everything on it that she likes the most. One thing may be depended on, the true fairies are always found assisting the good people, and no one who is cruel or cross or greedy ever need look for any help from them. If the moral of these tales be very obvious, the children do not mind; that is the way, it seems to them, that the world should be managed.
Fairies may be of almost any size or appearance; indeed, they can look like anything they choose, changing between one moment and the next. A favorite device of a fairy who wants to find out about the worthiness or unworthiness of a person is to appear as a poor old woman seeking aid, and then, when she has found out all she wants to know, to throw off her disguise. The Irish, who seem to know the most about fairies, declare that they prefer to appear as tiny men and women, the men in charming attire of: green jacket, red cap and white owl's feather; the little ladies in gauzy gowns and bonnets made of flower petals. Long after children have ceased to believe that there actually are fairies they love to read of their marvelous doings and to satisfy their inborn sense of justice by gloating over the way the fairies always reward the good and punish the evil in the end.
Should Fairy Tales Be Told? There are people who do not believe in telling fairy stories to children, but the weight of opinion is all in the other direction. Educators hold that, besides giving pleasure, such stories perform a real service in stimulating the imagination.
Fairies For Coloring:
Fairies and Fairylands for Crafting:
Short Fairy Stories:
Classic Fairy Tales:
- Cinderella - ''There was once a rich man whose wife lay sick, and when she felt her end drawing near she called to her only daughter to come near her bed, and said...
- The Sleeping Beauty - ''In times past there lived a King and Queen, who said to each other every day of their lives, "Would that we had a child!" and yet they had none...
Fairly Good Fairy Tunes for Kids:
- ''Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo'' from Disney's Cinderella - Also known as ''The Magic Song''
- ''Let Me Be Your Wings'' from Thumbelina
- ''Fly to Your Heart'' Tinkerbell Tribute by Disney
Read Aloud About Fairies for Young Students:
- ''Mister Fairy!'' read aloud at Vooks
- ''Thumbelina'' read aloud at Little Cozy Nook
- ''The Cloud Fairy's Friend'' read aloud at Toadstool and Fairy Dust
- ''A Birthday Fairy Tale'' read aloud by Bedtime Stories with Dessi!
- ''Lola the Lollipop Fairy'' read aloud by ABC Read to ME
- ''Camilla the Cupcake Fairy'' read aloud by The Storytime Channel
- ''How to Trick The Tooth Fairy'' read aloud by KidTimeStoryTime
Fairy Poems:
