ries, if we may credit what has been said of this singular race of
beings, by those who pretend to have seen them in fairy land.

Not a great while ago, the people of England and Scotland were very
superstitious. It is not two centuries since our good forefathers on that
island were burning witches by scores. At that time, a great many believed
in the existence of fairies, or elves. I have been at some pains to find
out at what time this fairy superstition first appeared among the Britons.
But it seems not very easy to determine. One thing is certain, that the
belief in some kind of spirits--either the same with the fairies, under a
different name, or very nearly related to them--dates back to a very early
period in British history--earlier, probably, than the Christian era.

The fairies are always represented as very small and very
beautiful--generally, as perfect miniatures of the human form. The color of
their dress is uniformly pure green. It would seem, according to the
accounts of these people, some five or six hundred years ago, that they
were kind, amiable, excellent neighbors. Indeed, one of the names they went
by was, "the Good Neighbors," and another was, "the Men of Peace." Still,
they used to do some mischief in those days, if we may believe their
historians, who tell us that the fairies, once in a while, visited the
abodes of men, and carried away captives into their invisible haunts, under
ground. The reason for this kidnapping of human beings was said to be, that
the fairies were obliged occasionally to pay a tribute of this kind to
their king or queen.

The fairies were not always cunning enough to keep their victims, after
they had caught them. Sometimes people would come back from fairy land, and
tell all about what they had seen there. You might suppose that a great
deal would be learned of these strange, invisible creatures, from the men
and women who had been with them and escaped. Well, so there was. But the
worst of it was, the stories did not hang together very well; and there
were about as many different and contradictory accounts of fairydom as
there were different individuals who pretended to have made a visit to that
country. However, all seemed to agree that fairy land was a very merry
country. The people there were great lovers of fun, according to the
general testimony, and used to dance a great deal by moonlight, in the open
air. They are engaged in one of their dances, you see, in the e