The Brights
Chapter 27: What's up With the Fungis?, Part 8
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Julia: Wait, I recognise you. I recognise all of you!
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Fun Guy 1: You must mistake us for some other people.
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Julia: Nope, you're Kit! We met just yesterday!
Kit: Ehhh…
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Kit: Plummit.
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Julia: And I've seen you at UBrite's campus.
Fun Guy 2: Wouldn't think so.
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Julia: I've seen you hanging out with Kit before I knew him, so I'd guess that you're in the Biology Programme.
Eric: Okay, fine. I'm Eric.
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Julia: And I've seen you at Foxbury's campus.
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Valeria: Yeah… I'm Valeria.
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Julia: And you're one of the Landgraabs' sons.
Malcolm: What do you mean "one of"?
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Julia: Oh, please, you're a famous family, people know.
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Malcolm: It's just rumours.
Kit: Are you aware that a now famous comedian named Johnny appeared right after Johnny Landgraab "disappeared"?
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Julia: So what're y'all doing?
Kit: If you'd like to know all the details you have to join us. We do need one more member anyway.
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Julia: If it's fun, I'll join! Julia loves fun!
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Kit: We're the Order of Enchantment, a several hundreds of years old secret society, founded by Esther Mudget when she studied at Britechester University.
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Kit: Esther believed in magic, and in her diaries she wrote that she had found small fairy-like creatures around this place.
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Kit: But one day she went missing. No one knows what happened to her, but people reported seeing her using magic.
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Julia: I don't really believe in magic. Can I join anyway, just for the fun?
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Kit: Of course. None of us really believe in magic either, but we think it's a nice tradition to preserve an old secret society like this. You're welcome to join us.
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Julia: This will be so much fun!
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What is a Fairy Ring 🍄 | Scottish Folklore
Historically, there are actually two different things that are called “fairy rings.”
The first I believe is exclusive to Ireland, and is now more commonly called a “fairy fort.” These forts are an elevated ring-shaped mound that is quite large. Some say that humans built a structure originally, then when the humans left, the fairies took it over. Other stories have a more traditional story, which I will talk about in a moment.
You can walk around the large rings yourself, but stepping into the center or causing it disrespect it not a good idea. I once talked to an Irish man while I was at a fairy fort in Ireland. He was still superstitious in the old ways, and said he once saw a tourist urinate into a fairy fort, and did not make it very far before breaking his leg.
The second type of fairy ring is the kind most people today are familiar with; it is a mysteriously perfect circle made of moss, or grass, or mushrooms, or some sort of other living growth.
"The trooping fairies can be large or small, friendly or sinister. ‘They tend to wear green jackets, while the solitary fairies wear red jackets. They can range from the heroic fairies to the dangerous and malevolent SLUAGH or those diminutive fairies who include the tiny nature fairies that make the fairy rings with their DANCING and speed the growth of flowers."
A Encyclopedia of Fairies by Katharine Briggs (1976)
Both these types of fairy rings are often said to be caused by fairies dancing in a circle, or sometimes by fairies riding horses in a circle.
Stepping into a ring or causing it destruction could lead to several different things: including being transported to the otherworld, being cursed, being forced to dance, and more.
If you were trapped, dancing there, you would need a rescuer to help pull you out, or touch you with iron or rowan.
‘I remember how an old woman pulled me out of a fairy ring to save me from being taken.’
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W.Y. Evans-Wentz (1911)
So, to sum it up, a fairy ring could be a place of play where a magic mark is left from fairies the night before, or perhaps it is their portal to the Otherworld. No matter the answer, disrespecting one of these places is said to bring bad things your way, even if not immediately.
"He wha tills the fairies’ green
Nae luck again shall hae :
And he wha spills the fairies’ ring
Betide him want and wae.
For weirdless days and weary nights
Are his till his deein’ day.
But he wha gaes by the fairy ring,
Nae dule nor pine shall see,
And he wha cleans the fairy ring
An easy death shall dee."
A Scottish Rhyme
("Plucked from the Fairy Circle". A man saves his friend from the grip of a fairy ring.)
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So fairy rings are formed by a certain type of fungus feeding on decaying organic matter, right? So can we get a story about some 16th century serial killer who started spreading word that those weird rings of mushrooms were caused by fairies so that no one would disturb the dead bodies buried in them?
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Quick question, if you were out in the woods and were trying to get someone to follow a trail deeper into the woods what would you use to pique their curiosity? Or what would you follow? I got wooden blocks and berry bushes right now but I could use more ideas.
I already lured them into the woods with an old handheld mirror that they could see glinting from the road. What next?
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