Constructing a Fairy House

Do you believe in the magical power of fairies? When the dew is stretched like a tarp across the landscape and sparkles in dawn’s muted light do you think fairies could be living just under the toadstools in the forest woodlands?

I must admit I hadn’t thought about fairies recently, although I do keep Grimm’s Fairy Tales on my writing table against the moment when it might be necessary to slip out of this world and into one filled with enchantment and magic. A place where frogs become princes and pumpkins are transformed into a coach.

One July weekend, as the visiting artist in residence at the Margret and H.A. Rey Center (Curious George Cottage) in Waterville Valley, I spent Saturday afternoon with a group of children who were designing and constructing fairy houses under the direction of Ashley Rovillard.

Ashley had gathered all of the materials for the project including pieces of bark, rocks of various sizes, moss, feathers, sticks, pine branches, shells, glitter, a crystal and a few other totems. Everything is held together using a glue gun.

The house begins with a floor, usually a large piece of bark. There are walls, or not, as the construction can be transparent and made with sticks or branches woven together. There are no rules for fairy houses, so it doesn’t necessarily require a roof. The colors found in rainbows can we created using glitter that sparkles in the sun’s ray.

If you are seeking proof that fairies exist, they appear in Shakespeare’s “A Midnight Summer’s Dream.” There is Oberon, king of the fairies, Titania, queen of the fairies and Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and Mustardseed, the fairies who accompany their King and Queen.

For inspiration about how to design your fairy house and to ponder how creatures live in the woods along the riverbank a good source is Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows.

After we had finished making our houses I walked along the trail just behind the Curious George Cottage. It’s important to step carefully and be observant as under the rocks and nestled in the woods are many fairy houses. In their own words the fairies, “out of this wood do not desire to go. …”

Every weekend there are stories and programs for children at the Rey Center. Information can be found at thereycenter.org. Curious George was, in his own way, a mischievous and enchanting monkey.