14. A Note from the Faerie Realm

(It's a perilous land)

A sip of inspiration for this Spring-Summer season,
when the veil between the human and fairy realm is at its thinnest,
from the bottomless cup of Tolkien…

“Faerie is a perilous land, 
and in it are pitfalls for the unwary 
and dungeons for the overbold. 
The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high
and filled with many things: all manner of 
beasts and birds are found there; 
shoreless seas and stars uncounted; 
beauty that is an enchantment,
and an ever-present peril; 
both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords. 
In that realm a man may, perhaps, 
count himself fortunate to have wandered, 
but its very richness and strangeness 
tie the tongue of a traveller who would report them. 
And while he is there it is dangerous for him 
to ask too many questions, lest the gates should be shut 
and the keys be lost.”

~J.R.R. Tolkien (from his lecture ‘On Fairy-Stories’ given on March 8, 1939)

My art for ‘Fairy Spell’ (written by Marc Tyler Nobleman)

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Two great true stories for elementary school kids:
The tale of the Cottingly Fairies -
FAIRY SPELL: How Two Girls Convinced the World that Fairies Are Real
How a boy who loved words became the beloved author -
JOHN RONALD’S DRAGONS; The Story of J.R.R. Tolkien

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