Fairie Ring

Fairie Rings are circles of mushrooms growing in fields or forests, and by far the most reliable gateways to the fairie kingdom. Any human who steps inside one may well be transported to the fairie world, whether they desire it or not.

There are many dangers if one enters the fairie world. Time does not exist in fairie world as it does in the human world. One night in fairieland may be equal to a hundred years in the human world.

The most notorious story of a human being trapped in fairie world is Rip Van Winkle. Though the strangely dressed men he encountered did not identify themselves as fairies, they undoubtedly were. Either the liquor they gave him was a fairie ambrosia, or he went to sleep in a fairy ring. Either way, when he awoke he discovered that twenty years had passed. He did not recognize anyone from the town where he lived, their having grown old and died or moved away.

Moreover, even though a person experiences fairie time in hours, it is possible that he can age as though 'human time' is passing. Two hours spent in fairieland can often age a person by decades, as was the case with Van Winkle, who had laid down a young man and awoke white-haired with a beard. Sime time shifts unpredictably outside the human dimensions, Van Winkle's experience is not always the case, though it should be taken into account before entering fairie world.

Besides tge uncontrollable aspects of sped-up time, the dangers of fairieland include wasting away physically. If the visitor does not eat anything or fall asleep, he is far more likely to walk away from the visit unaffected. There is also the danger of physical attacks, which can be quite vicious depending on which type of fairie is the aggressor. Small winged fairies are usually more mischievous than malicious. Brownies, elves, and gnomes are usually more troublesome, but rarely lethal. though Will o' the Wisps have been known to lure travelers to their deaths in swamps, the visitor to fairieland should be especially careful of trolls and their various cousins (redcaps, bogies, kobolds, goblins, etc.), who are aggressive, ill-tempered, and prone to deadly and unprovoked acts of violence.

Luckily for humans, there are protections that a traveler can take to safeguard himself. Turning clothes inside out, such as a jacket, will discourage fairy and troll attacks. Also, fairies and trolls dislike iron. Even the simplest object made from iron causes physical pain or distress in a fairie creature, and thus makes a particularly effective weapon against fairie folk.