The Legend of the Faerie Who Couldn't Turn Off Her Light

Photo by Anastasiya Romanova on Unsplash

Did you ever hear the story of the wee faerie who could not vanish and reappear?

Gather close, children, and I will tell you the story of Liora, the faerie who was always visible. Oh, she could move fast, like the other faeries, but her light never dimmed.

As you know, here in Ireland, faeries have had a long history, being both a trouble and occasionally a friend to humans, but mostly causing mischief, especially to those who like to think they don’t exist, like adults. This is because the faeries move too fast for us old folk to see them.

Chances are, you may never see a faerie with your eyes alone, anyway, since they make haste to dash off to their faerie forts, or shimmer across the water fooling your eyes into thinking the waning sun is playing tricks on you.

Now, Liora was born during a lunar eclipse, which, as you may know, is a bad sign, a predictor of chaos. At first, all seemed normal as is the case with all faerie babies, but it didn;t take long for Liora’s parents and grandparents to notice that she never blinked off. She was always lit.

Not being able to blink off, dash through the forest unseen, and pop on somewhere else is a dangerous problem for a faerie. A faerie who is always visible can be caught, even if that faerie is fast like Liora. In fact, because she couldn’t turn off her light, she learned how to run faster than all the other faeries. The only way they could catch her was to blink off, and wait for her to bump into them.

So, Liora spent most of the day hidden away in the faerie fort, where she arranged the nuts and berries the other faeries brought in and cleaned up after the raucous faerie parties that took place each night.

One evening, as she sat waiting for her family and friends to return to the fort, she started to worry. She hated worrying. It made her restless. And we she became restless, she needed to run. For Liora, running was her joyful time. But she couldn’t leave the fort, not now, not with everyone gone. So, she ran in a circle around the roots and moss that covered the floor of the fort.

While she ran, her head cleared and all thoughts spun out, away from her, out into the room or beyond. That allowed her to run faster and faster, until she was running so fast she could see herself disappear. She was still running when they returned, and all of them, every single one stopped at the entrance to the fort and called out her name.

“I am here,” she said, slowing to a normal run, and then to a stop. They were amazed, for even the oldest and wisest of the grandparents could not believe that she had become invisible.

Liora was so pleased with herself that she smiled, and her light filled the fort, making everything so bright, the other faeries had to shut their eyes.

“Stop,” they yelled. “You are blinding us with your light.” The next day, as they were getting ready to leave to go out to play, explore and cause mischief, Liora, picked up the broom to start sweeping.

Her grandfather, the oldest of the old faeries took hold of the broom and pulled it from her. “No,” he said, “You will not stay and clean up today. You will come with us.”

“But Grandfather,” she said. “I am not capable of doing what you do.” He smiled, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her on the forehead. “My child, you have a great gift. We need you to be with us. You can guide us in the darkness with the great light you carry within you, and you can run faster than the fastest creature, so fast that you become the wind.

So, Liroa picked up the little bag she uses to store berries, and she waited for them to leave the fort. But they didn’t move. They were waiting for her. She had earned the respect to lead them.

Now, that is not the end of the story of Liora, children. Next time, I will tell you how she saved her baby sister from the goblins who lived in the old dead tree.

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