Weiser Books (imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser), ISBN 1-57863-273-0, $9.95
review
by Baruch
To be perfectly honest, I have never seen or otherwise perceived a fairy, elf, deva, naiad or any other member of the folk that Widdershins officially designates "the Fey." However, other members of the staff here honor them, building backyard shrines or indoor altars to them, invoke them in rituals and blame them, in good humor and respect, for missing keys, miscommunications and mischievous moods.
I think they will like To Live With the Fairy Folk, a small, slim disquisition on currying favor with the Fey. It's a charmer, written with gentle humor and illustrated with subtle black and white drawing of animals, trees and gardens. Each chapter title and running head is picked out in elegant calligraphy.
Marina T. Stern, a resident of North Hills, California, brings 30 years of folklore studies and over 10 years of gardening experience to her experiments and observations in the care and feeding of fairy folk. She lays out the reasons she wrote this book in her Introduction, "Why would you want to live with the Folk? That may not be the relevant question. The Folk are ever present, like air. What I propose to accomplish, with this book, is to give an outline of the kinds of behavior and surroundings that will cause the Folk to regard you favorably."
Ms. Stern divides her knowledge into three parts. Part One covers "Etiquette and the Folk." This outlines the behavior that will most attract the Folk. They like people who are respectful, generous, kind and neat. For example, they appreciate efforts to control pests through nonlethal means. Ms. Stern offers some suggestions but warns that many recommended methods of gopher control, in her experience, don't work. What does she do? "I spray with castor oil, reroot the [rose bush] casualties in pots, and keep a dachshund."
A large factor in bringing the Folk to you is creating the right surroundings, and in Part Two, "Habitat for the Folk," Ms. Stern details how. She covers such elements as trees, water, sunshine and shade. The Folk also like hummingbirds and butterflies; Ms. Stern describes the best flowers and shrubs to plant to bring them in.
It isn't enough to know the different elements of a fairy garden, of course; you have to combine them in pleasing arrangements. The third part of the book, "Magical Combinations: Sample Garden Designs," presents a number of such combinations, such as "Spanish Mission," "Prairie" and "Cottage Garden." The designs include suggestions for flowers, trees, artifacts, water features and other elements.
Ms. Stern's writing is compact, specific, to the point and flavored with humor and her own experience as a gardener. Her brevity is refreshing, and she seems to say all that's needed on each subject she approaches. If you want to attract the Fey, or even if you just want to design a charming garden, this book would be a great starting point.
Order To Live with the Fairy Folk from Red Wheel/Weiser, P.O. Box 612, York Beach, ME 03910 or orders@redwheelweiser.com. Small format 5" x 6", 96 pages, black and white illustrations.