Fairy Game

by Zab
(California)

Do some fairies like to play games? I hear that fairies like to play games and host tournaments of their own because they got the idea from humans.

Ophelia Fey says -- The fairy game is very popular. And you are very right about the tournaments. And all kinds of games, for that matter. Just about every fairy has a favorite game. But we didn't get them all from humans. Just some. We have lots of our own -- ones that would be very difficult for humans to play.

Leap Frog, for instance. Except we leap over real frogs who we have to try to keep still. If they jump, we're Out. Unless it's a game of Leaping Leap Frog. Then they're supposed to leap and if they don't, we're Out. Then the frogs themselves play Frog Leap Frog. Quite amusing to watch. Frogs are forever breaking rules so it takes forever for a game to get over.

Races are really popular. Yes, there are frog races, both in and out of the water. Also lily pad raft races. Sometimes they're powered by water beetles. Who tend to get very tired, so they're only good for one race each. And what you would call a bobsled race, except we use a walnut shell or milkweed pod. Or empty tortoise shell, depending on the size of the fairies. We've tried turtle races, but they're pretty boring. We use a variety of birds for racing too, and also large dragon flies. One of the funnest, though, is the flying squirrel. They're very gutsy and you never know what they're going to do next.

Darts with a thistle or porcupine needle is always a hit. We try to recruit a moving target, but sometimes they're hard to find. You have to pay them very well in both food and gems, so that's saved only for a serious festival. And then there's bubble bursting. A sharp pine needle works fine for that. It takes both air fae and water fey to whip up enough bubbles.

We also do a lot of kicking. And can we ever kick. You've never seen anything like it. A couple yards, in fact. Well at least that's a long ways if you're very small. For larger fairies it's almost pointless to play kick games because they kick so far you can't ever find the thing they kicked ever again. It usually gets snatched up and eaten by something the minute it lands anyway. That's because we use berries, nuts, fruit, etc. Sometimes we make balls out of other materials. But actually, they get eaten too. In Faerie we have fae that eat just about anything. Just because they can.

We also have some really good juggling games. Fairies, you see, can juggle dozens of things at the same time. Dozens of different things. Like berries, toadstools, nuts, nut shells, beetles (they love to be juggled), flowers, baby carrots, bottle caps that humans leave around, gold coins, stones, crystals, even a diamond or two. Anything we can find. A particular champion elf has juggled 117 things. You should see his arms move. And he's only 23 inches high. Not bad.

So those are just a few of our games. We have well over 200 to choose from. Maybe I'll have to write about it more on a special web page.

Ophelia Fey, fairy